Addison's Arc

Chapter 1 of 6

Addison crouched low behind a moss-covered wall and listened. The old prison stood half-swallowed by vines and bright mushrooms, its door hanging open like a mouth. She had been hiding here for three nights, planning her return to heaven, planning how to take back what Lucifer had stolen. Now the planning was over. Someone was coming for her. She spotted the first sign at the tree line. A woven net hung from a low branch, knotted tight, swaying in the wind. The hunter left these like footprints. He wanted her to know. Addison moved fast. She slipped through the broken door and into the dark hall. On the floor she found the second sign — a small stone, carved with glowing runes, pulsing soft and blue. It was tuned to her. It was how he had found her. She crushed it under her heel. The light died. The only way out led through the dark woods behind the prison. The twisted trees made a narrow arch, and past them, open ground. If she ran now, she might reach it before he closed the gap. If she waited, she was dead. Addison ran. Branches tore at her arms. Behind her, something heavy moved through the brush, fast and sure. She did not look back. She crossed under the arch of trees and kept going, into country she did not know, with no safe house left and no time to make another. The hunt had begun, and her ascent with it.