I bite my tongue hard just thinking about these wounds. I barely survived back there. I was just lucky enough to escape their claws and teeth.
“Tear her so she's nothing but scraps of meat!” Vasilisa yelled when I was escaping from my kingdom, her green eyes now glowing purple. “If you all want to live, you'll fucking kill her!”
I kept racing through the forest in my dreamscreecher form, leaping over bushes and scrubs. It helps having the body of a panther, but it's not much of an advantage when my chasers had the same form. Then, having dusty purple fur doesn't blend in well with the dark forest.
With my four legs numb, I threw myself at Amara’s protective barrier, diving in horns first. By chance, I had thrown my puma-like body into a weaker part that let me through. I tumbled into the grass and looked through the nearly transparent pink barrier, only to see the dreamscreechers trying to break in.
They screeched as their dark eyes and claws searched for an opening, scratching the barrier and snapping their sharp jaws.Some rammed their horns into it, but it did nothing.
But the border had just been strengthened. A second later, and I would have been ripped apart.
How the fuck did I make it through?
I forced myself up on all fours and bolt, despite Amara’s deadly territory. The Amara Kingdom is a death trap for dreamscreechers, since they think we're ruthless monsters thatneed to be killed. My only chance of survival is getting through to The Kingdom of Stars and Fire, Caelestia, where they treat dreamscreechers like anyone else.
Which means, if I want to survive, I can't mention anything about my past. “I encountered a panther.”
He raises his brows. “Panther? In the city?”
I nod. It's not common to find panthers where there's a lot of humans, but it could happen. Besides I don't think he could tell the difference between panthers and dreamscreechers scratches, since they have the same claws.
He purses his lips before looking back down at my wounds. “How old are you? Do you have any family? Or friends?”
“I'm eighteen.” My heart beats furiously, almost pushing tears at my sockets. “I don't have family…or friends.”
“None?”
“Anyone I've ever cared for is now dead. Besides my mom…but I can barely call her that now.” Barely since she decided to make me suffer.
Images of who I've lost clear all other thoughts. My father, Kaius and Clarissa. Their cries. Their screams. Their trembling, knowing their ending was before them.
Fuck.
Amias sighs. “I’m so sorry.”
I look into those blue eyes again, my vision starting to blur. His eyes only reflect pity. I wipe away tears, my heart wilting in shame. “Don't say that,” I snap. “I'm not someone to have pity for.”
“Okay…” His stare doesn't change.
“I will pop you in the mouth if you keep looking at me like that. I'm not weak!”
“I still don't think you're weak.” He gives me a side glance.
“Just change the subject.”
He examines my wounds again. “I'll take you to the hospital. They can—"
“Hospital?” I spit.
He flinches back. “Yeah. What's wrong with that?”
The truth would be that I'm afraid. I don't know if doctors can tell I'm a dreamscreecher. What if there's a genetic marker I don't know about? Or what if they test my blood? They'd kill me!
But I can’t just say that to him. Who knows what he'd do with that information? “I can't go. It's not safe for me right now.”
He twists his lips. “Is someone following you?”
“I don't know.”
