Sarah Bennett's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Sarah Bennett crouched low and studied the ferns behind her. A wide, crushed path cut through the brush, marking every step she had taken since sunrise. She had come into this valley on a stupid dare, and now she needed to leave it alive. The trail she was leaving made that harder. Something heavy was moving in the brush behind her. She could hear branches snap maybe a hundred yards back. Whatever it was, it was following the broken ferns straight to her. Then she smelled it — sweet, floral, wrong out here. The small glass bottle in her pack had cracked. Perfume soaked the canvas and dripped down her leg. She was leaving a scent trail a child could follow. Sarah stripped off the pack and shoved it deep under a rotten log. She wiped her leg with dirt and leaves. Up the slope, she spotted a dark opening in the rock — a cave mouth half-hidden by stone. She climbed fast, stepping only on stones so her boots left nothing. Inside the cave, the air felt cold and still. She pressed against the wall and listened. The snapping branches passed below, paused near the log, then moved off toward the broken perfume. Her trick had worked. But when she turned, her hand brushed something flat and hard on a ledge — a thick book bound in dark leather, silver symbols catching the last gray light. She was not the first person to hide in here.