The world came back to me in fragments.
Pain hit first, a throbbing and nauseating ache at the back of my head that pulsed with every heartbeat, spreading like fire across my temples.
My limbs felt wrong. Heavy. Pinned.
When I tried to move, something rough and sharp bit into my wrists and ankles. Rope. They'd tied me up.
A metallic taste coated my tongue. Blood. My lips were dry and cracked, and the cool night air stung my damp skin.
My lashes fluttered open.
Darkness swallowed everything, except for the pale slash of moonlight cutting through the trees overhead.
No polished floors, no chatter from the dorms. Just the endless forest, wild, cold.
And then I saw them.
Shapes. Three of them.
No, not shapes. Wolves.
My breath caught in my throat, the air slicing me open on the way in.
They weren't wolves like I'd seen in documentaries or storybooks. No, these were wrong, too big.
