ou don't have to do this. Just come

at and tears streamed down its

ath her foot, and Lila felt the dizzying pul

oice thin with urgency as Percy beg

anger too now that she'd come so far and realized there wasn't anywhere left for her to run from this man who was bad

aptivity... titled bitterly around her as though obl

ing to fall into the dark, uncertain abyss

etween choice and consequence - caught up in their moments of suspended time w

s he looked over the edge of where she had been. The churning blackness below threatened to consume her, drowning out any sign of a saving grace. Adrenaline

ove and obsession. As he prepared to leap, a distant thunder sounded the depths of his resolve as much as i

He imagined her plummeting and swirling into the

nk of the fear, only that desperate knowledge she needed to get away from himwhomever he wasescape whatever love so warped it felt like a tightening noose around her nec

ture left her limbs limp against it. Instinctively, she kicked and thrashed as the darkness moved to take her. The sky above the surface grew darker, and for a

la swam after it as though her life depended on such speed. She thrashed up, gasping and burning as her lungs lunged for th

a feeling of disaster came over her in waves. She saw a crag of rock forming an arm from the bank and almost collapsed wit

did not yet have a safe place. All around, the woods seemed almost impenetrably thick with shadows that moved as i

ght. She paused to compose herself, wiping the moisture off her face and yet tasting the saline of tears entwined with r

ice in her them to have even formed a semblance of consciousness And turned towards whatever was coming out through

ugh it was holding its breath in anticipation. She couldn't linger here. She doubled her resolve, demanding movement from hersel

o a plane bound to New York City; but now slowly unraveling years of guilt and self-condemnation from emotional chains no less confining than flesh forged bonds. For her