I wake to the sound of scraping.

I stretch languidly, wiping my eyes as I glance around the room. Kierra is kneeling in front of her carving table. She has changed into brown leathers and tied her hair back with a leather strap, a few strands falling into her face. Her attention is focused on the featureless shape of wood in her hands as she carefully chips away splinters to give it character.

That intensity is so mesmerizing that I can’t do anything but stare dumbly at her until she takes a break several minutes later and happens to catch my gaze. Her face is lit with a smile. I think I’m getting addicted to that sight. If she could bottle that thing, she’d make a fortune.

“Lou! How long have you been awake for? You could have said something you know.” She stands up and comes over to the bed, taking a seat on the corner. Her finger brushes across my cheek. “For someone so surprised that I sleep during the day, you slept pretty hard.”

“You’re very good at that.” I nod to the work table. The hunk of wood she was working on has started to take the shape of something. I’m not sure what it is meant to be but I’m sure I can see the beginnings of a wing.

“Hmm. It keeps me busy. Aside from hunts, there is not much to do out here. Another reason for me to take such an interest in you.” She grabs me by the hands and pulls me to my feet, leading me to the ladder. “If you’re going to get to the border of the forest safely, we have a lot of work to do!”

-

Outside, the sun is approaching the horizon. I face a grinning Kierra who stands with her hands on her hips, eyes bright with amusement. “Alright then, Lou. If I’m going to get you to the border, I need to know what you can do.”

I stare at her and she raises an eyebrow questioningly. Oh, was that an invitation? Am I supposed to do something now? Crap. Time to own up. “I really can’t do much of anything.”

“Nothing?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Not a thing?”

“Nope.”

Kierra shakes her head. “You can’t mean that. Come on, Lou. If something were trying to kill you, what would you do?”

“Run. As fast as I can.”

“Is that what you did with the wolves?”

“Yeah.”

“See. There you go. That’s something right there. Green wolves are very fast and organized. To escape from them, you must be pretty quick on your feet.”

“But it caught me. The first one, I mean. It tackled me to the ground but I kicked it off before it could bite down.”

“You kicked it off?”

“Yeah. I think I’m a lot stronger than I used to be.”

Kierra stretches. “Hmm. Well, one at a time. Let’s start with the running first since that happens to be a specialty of mine. I’ll give you a forty-second head start.”

Huh? Forty-second head start? Is she going to chase me? That’s ridiculous. “Are you about to chase me?”

“Yes.”

“That’s crazy. I can’t outrun you!”

“I’m not saying you have to be faster than me. You just need to avoid me for, hmm, shall we start with one minute? That’s not nearly enough to survive on your own in the forest but small goals.”

“That’s still impossible.”

“Forty.”

“Hey.”

“Thirty-nine.”

“What happens if you catch me?”

Her eyes narrow into a glare that matches the intensity she showed during her carving. Her tongue goes across her bottom lip and I shiver at the controlled violence I can almost feel radiating off her. The saintly image is gone. Here is the huntress that has countless trophies hanging on her wall. This is a game and something tells me I don’t want to lose.

“Thirty-eight.”

I turn and sprint through the trees, heart hammering. I quickly lose sight of Kierra but that doesn’t set my mind at ease. Her confidence tells me that simply being out of sight is no great advantage. I need a trump card.

Maybe the same trick that worked on the wolves will work on her? It’s worth a shot.

Jumping, I imagine my arm reaching for one of the branches and it turns into a tentacle that easily reaches my goal. I haul myself onto it and crouch against the tree’s trunk, my eyes scanning the surroundings for my pursuer as I count down the seconds in my head.

Something slamming into my side forces the breath from my lungs. The ground rushes toward me but before I hit it, the world spins. There’s a loud thump as Kierra takes the impact and then the world spins again as she rolls me onto my back, pinning me by my shoulders.

The elf is hovering over me, grinning toothily. What the heck? How did she reach me so quickly? She expects me to outrun her, even for a minute? Impossible.

“Lou, that was just a poor effort. Using a trick I have already seen? The predators here aren’t like the mangy dogs your farmers have to contend with. Some of them are intelligent and many of them are good climbers. Simply crouching on a branch isn’t going to help you.”

“This is impossible.” I’m whining but I don’t feel bad about it. This feels impossible. It’s like asking a four-year-old to cast a spell. Even if their life depends on it, it’s just not going to happen.

Kierra coos and lightly trails her fingers down my cheek. “None of that. You want to get home, don’t you? That means there’s no other choice but to do it. Surpass your limits.”

Wah. That sounded cool. The exact opposite of what I am. I’m a slacker who just wants to coast through life doing as little as possible and having a good time. But Kierra’s watching me with a warm, expectant gaze. I don’t want to disappoint her so I find myself nodding in consent. Maybe a little bit more. If it’s really that bad, I can just quit tomorrow.

“That’s a good girl. Now I’m going to provide you with some motivation. Elf children are usually made to do strength training until they collapse if they fail so terribly but I’m going to let you off easy.”

Before I can ask what she means, Kierra opens her mouth wide and bites down on my neck. Hard. As in, she draws blood.

I yelp and try to squirm away but she’s got a firm hold on my shoulders, her legs on either side of my waist preventing much movement. She finally lets me go only to shift positions and bite down again, equally as hard. This continues for several minutes, the elf’s surprisingly pointy teeth shredding me while she ignores my whimpers of pain and pleading.

When she finally lets me go, I scramble away, a hand going to my neck as I stare at her with betrayed eyes. Kierra takes it with an easy smile, wiping away a bit of my blood from the corner of her lips. “Did you enjoy your lesson?”

What lesson? That you shouldn’t trust smiley elves that invite you back to their treehouse because they like to play mind games? “No! What kind of lesson was that?”

“The feeling of being trapped, powerless. Something bigger than you pushing down on you with an overwhelming power you can’t escape. The fear. The pain. That, Lou, is what it feels like to be preyed upon. Is it something you enjoy?”

That intensity that I saw is back, even stronger now. I can almost feel her gaze like a physical thing. This conversation is doing something to her. The look in her eyes is wild and her chest is heaving from her panting breaths even though she wasn’t winded when she tackled me off my branch.

Some force has a hold of her and it’s reaching out to me, tying my tongue and burying my apprehension beneath an excitement I can barely understand. I shake my head minutely.

“Then I suggest you run, Lou. Run harder and run faster than you ever have. Because if a real predator catches you, you won’t get away with just scratches. Forty seconds.”

This time, I don’t wait for her to start counting down before I take off into the trees. My heart pounding in my ears, I don’t notice the way the trees blur beside me or the wild laughter of Kierra as she sees prey worth hunting. The only thing I can think about is the look on Kierra’s face after pinning me down and the conflicting desires to escape or get caught so I can see it again.