"Hadley! Wake up!"

Hadley's vision was blurry when she opened her eyes, her cheeks wet.

She'd had the dream again. The one she'd woken up to in the underground clinic. The one where she was back at the Compound. Back at the Initiation and Exaltation Ceremony. But this time, she'd been five years old, and it wasn't just a dream – it was a memory. She'd slid her hand into Jamila's as the names of the new Elders were called out. Jamila had squeezed Hadley's hand tight enough to hurt, but Hadley had barely noticed. It was their mothers' Cohort facing Exaltation. Hadley had wondered if she should be feeling awful knowing that she would never see her mother after that day – because she didn't.

It had been obvious that Jamila's and Jael's mothers would be chosen from that Cohort as the new Elders of the Compound. Just like their mothers before them. It was fitting too. Jamila's mother had been one of the best and most kind-hearted people in the Compound, not to mention a talented Horticulturist, responsible for some of the best Compound harvests. Everyone had loved her. As for Jael's mother, she was a talented Repairer who could fix virtually any machine in the Compound, while also being an amazing mother and mentor.

Jael's mother had been chosen, as expected. But not Jamila's mother. Instead, it had been Aadya, Hadley's mother and best Educator, chosen as the second Elder from their cohort.

Five-year-old Jamila had fallen apart at Hadley's side at the loss of her mother, collapsing to her knees as her body shook with silent tears...

"Are you okay, Hadley?"

Hadley turned to the voice.

Drew.

"What?" Hadley whispered as the dream/memory bled away and their current predicament slowly replaced it.

"You're crying," Drew said, concerned. "Are you okay?"

Hadley tentatively reached for her cheek, surprised to find a river of tears still flowing from her eyes. The profound melancholy from her vivid dream clang to her like smoke from the campfire and more tears fall. She wiped them away and fought to focus on the little boy.

"I'm fine, Drew," she said, her voice clogged with emotion.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Hadley cleared her throat and nodded, not trusting her voice wouldn't betray her. She looked around. They were still in the small space between a fig tree's roots, hiding from the Healer and whoever else might have been searching for them, like the "floating monsters". Drew's explanation of them was wanting. Not his fault. He was just seven, and the rainforest wasn't a Progeny's usual surroundings, not to mention the fact that it was a frightening place for any sane adult, let alone a child.

It was early morning. The sun's rays were just making their way through the jungle canopy. A few birds tweeted out calls and the wind whistled gently past the trees.

"We need to keep moving," Hadley told Drew.

Brownie was already up and furtively looking back at them and then towards the forest, clearly anxious to move too.

"Okay, Hadley," the little boy said cheerily.

He held out a hand. She took it and stood up. With no map, no plan, no supplies, and no idea of where they were, Hadley had to figure out exactly what they were going to do next, because they wouldn't survive the forest on their own for too long. Not even with a vampire dog on their side. These trees hid a world of evil! But unseen monsters weren't the only danger they faced. Despite those two juicy maggots she'd shoved down her gullet the previous day, Hadley was starved, and she was lost in more ways than the obvious.

They walked for days without meeting a single soul.

It was a haunting walk, but the company was pleasant. Hadley was swept away by Drew's contagious enthusiasm. All that surrounded them was fun and exciting for him. She was also getting better at handling her constant panic, which meant she wasn't forcing them to run all the time trying to get away from those unseen monsters. They would even stop occasionally for odd reasons. If the little boy found something interesting to observe, like a centipede fighting a spider or ants crawling back and forth from their hill, they'd stop and observe it together. Or he would spot a tree that was "absolutely perfect to climb" and they'd spend a few hours doing that, playing made-up games. Hadley had never had so much fun before.

This was what Hadley had dreamt for her daughter! A childhood of freedom and carefree jubilance far away from the Compound and its stifling rules and suffocating walls. Watching and caring for Drew gave her a sense of self-confidence and hope she never imagined she would experience. She hoped he'd keep his exuberance. Hoped he'd be a friend and good influence for her daughter if he did. And not just him – the dog too.

Brownie loved the endless forest walk, joining in the fun when they'd play tag, yipping cheerily while chasing them through forest trails. He did disappear into the woods every so often, leaving them afraid as they faced the world wielding only a penknife and fire, but he always came back and usually with a blood drained rabbit or possum that Hadley forced herself to eat to stay strong, despite a visceral aversion she developed to the roast meats. The dog was feeding a lot more often than Ruqwik did. She wondered if that was because the vampire dog, being of a different species, needed to feed more often or if it was because it wasn't feeding on human blood.

Despite Hadley's current implicit trust in the creature's intent, she would sometimes find herself worrying if it would one day want more than the few drops of blood from its meagre prey, and then she'd find herself extremely anxious about the possibility of the dog attacking her, her daughter or Drew.

In these moments – stuck with her new overwhelming emotions – she would lose her ability to picture a future where she wouldn't feel devastatingly hopeless and numb and would question every step forward. It was embarrassing that she could only get through this by leaning on little Drew and the responsibility of taking care of him. Embarrassing that she wasn't strong enough to do that for herself.

How could she take care of her daughter if she couldn't take care of herself?

The ability to feel everything so deeply seeped into every fibre of her being, but the most awful part of it was the nightmares. The worst was getting stuck in those last moments at Mrs. Smith's workshop when Ruqwik broke her trust and her mind. In the nightmares, her new capacity for emotion amplified the rage that had swallowed her whole when the Venom possessed her and made her do things to Mrs Smith that would forever blemish Hadley's image of herself and what she was capable of – the cruelty she held inside. She hated that the most and it was the one reason Hadley wished she couldn't feel emotions anymore.

Wished for her darkness back.

Hadley was dreaming a lot more than she ever did before, but not all her dreams were nightmares. Some were actually fun, exciting and interesting, while many were memories from her life at the Compound, with the emotions dialled all the way up. The "memory dreams" were an experience Hadley came to cherish – a new lease at life by rewriting her memories. Hadley especially loved reliving the memories with Jamila, which had always felt incomplete because she could never connect to the moments in the same way Jamila had. Recalling old memories with this new capacity of emotion helped her connect deeper with those moments, drawing her closer to Jamila, even though Hadley didn't know where Jamila was, if she was okay, or if they would ever see each other again.

"Hadley?"

Hadley's whipped her head to find Drew peering at her strangely.

"Is everything okay, Drew?" she asked, her heart racing as she searched around them for danger. She'd been lost in her intense thoughts for a while.

"You're burning it," Drew said, looking at the squirrel she was roasting.

Hadley pulled the roast off the fire and scraped off the burnt bits. This was definitely not getting past her throat. Bile was already clawing itself up her throat.

"Oops, sorry about that. I was just... tired and not concentrating," she stuttered. Her thoughts had unexpectedly morphed from warm memories with Jamila into an intense fantasy that didn't just involve Jamila, but Ruqwik as well, which she abhored because she didn't want to think about the vampire in that way but couldn't help it. This was not something she would ever share with the boy, so she went silent and focussed on chipping off charred bits of squirrel.

This new camp was near a small stream. It was cold, but the fire kept them toasty, and they'd made a wonderful shelter, having practiced for many nights, using palm fronds and a ton of fern leaves to create a comfortable cot. Hadley had even used the penknife to whittle two bowls, cups and chopstick pairs from bamboo stems and fallen branches.

"Hadley? I heard a weird sound," Drew said, in a worried voice. "Then Brownie just stood up and ran to it. He's been gone for a while. I think something is wrong."

Hadley looked up, noticing the dog's absence for the first time, and berating herself for slacking at keeping watch over them both. She lowered the roasted squirrel to a stone on the fire and shot to her feet. Before she could question Drew on what direction Brownie had headed, they heard a bark a short distance from the camp.

Brownie would yip cheerfully, but he rarely barked.

"It's Brownie!" Drew whisper-shouted, clutching Hadley's hand.

"Stay here." Hadley said to the boy.

She ran towards the barking. Drew ignored her and followed, but she didn't stop him. They found the dog backed up against a tree, tail between its legs, facing a group of heavily armed humans. Every single one of the humans was holding an axe. They weren't just armed with axes – their clothes were embroidered by symbols of axes as well. One was about to throw his weapon at Brownie, but Hadley jumped in front of the dog and the man changed his trajectory at the very last second. The axe flew past Hadley, missing her by less than an inch.

"Are you crazy!" the man shouted. "I almost killed you!"

"Correction," Hadley said in a calm voice, even though her blood was roaring as adrenaline pulsed through her. "You almost killed Brownie."

"You're protecting that monster?"

"He's not a monster!" Drew protested.

The little boy had run up to Brownie and wrapped his arms protectively around the dog's neck. Hadley stood in front of them both, a pathetic looking figure in a filthy papery gown torn to shreds and barely protecting her decency.

"The boy is right," Hadley said. "Brownie isn't like those other dogs. He protects us."

"That's not possible." This voice belonged to a woman standing next to the man who had thrown the axe. She brandished her own axe, swishing it in a tight curve. "They're all monsters."

"Then why hasn't he killed us yet?" Hadley asked the woman. "Why would I protect him if he was a danger to me or the boy? Take a second to think that through."

"We don't know who you are! You could be working with vampires and these monsters or even the Scavengers for all we know! Making sure we let our guard down!" the man said.

Scavengers?

Drew sniffled behind Hadley. The helpless sound pierced through the noise, and everyone went silent for a moment. Hadley pointed at her tattered gown and at the sobbing boy.

"Look at us. Do we really look like we're out here trying to attack you?" she asked, calmly.

The woman next to the man, who seemed to be the one in charge, eventually stepped forward and offered Hadley her hand.

"I'm Brielle. You have to understand our need for caution. These woods have become a hunting and killing ground for vampires, vampire dogs and Scavengers," the woman said. She looked up and down at Hadley. "I have clothes that'll fit you. Something a little more comfortable than that."

Someone yelled from the middle of the group. "Is no one going to comment on her freaky blue eyes? Or the fact that she's the goddamned photocopy of Queen Aadya?! That is a bonafide Fisher, if I ever saw one! And she's got a vampire dog with her to boot! Why are we trusting her?"

Murmurs rippled through the group, and it was only then that Hadley realised most of the group was in the shadows, out of sight. Only ten or so had confronted Hadley, Drew and Brownie.

"Shut up, Chasina," the woman who'd called herself Brielle said with an exasperated sigh. She was still holding her hand out to Hadley.

Sensing trouble from the group, Hadley backed away, turned to the tree behind her and pulled out the man's axe embedded in it. She turned back to face the group, brandished the weapon, and crouched, ready to defend herself, Drew and Brownie. It made sense that these people would know her mother's name – her mother had been a Wildling after all – but that woman, Chasina, hadn't spoken the name with endearment, even though she had referred to Aadya as a "queen".

And there was that name again.

Fisher.

Brielle raised her hands in submission and moved away from Hadley.

"We're not going to hurt you," Brielle said. She looked at the boy and the dog behind Hadley. The dog was growling ever so slightly. Hadley didn't have to turn around to know that Brownie had his hackles raised, probably dropping his fangs in response to Hadley's defensive stance. Brielle moved further back. "We're not going to hurt any of you."

"I'm finding that hard to believe," Hadley said, swinging the axe as more people stepped out of the shadows, their own axes out and in the ready.

Brielle slowly pulled her backpack off and rummaged through it. She produced a neatly folded set of clothes similar to what she was already wearing – a cream shirt, a light brown coat, black pants and a pair of black moccasins. They were worn, but intact. Hadley narrowed her eyes as Brielle carefully walked forward and placed the clothes on the ground between them before moving back again.

"They're yours," Brielle said, her hands still in the position of surrender as she backed farther away. "If you want."

Hadley was desperate for anything that wasn't the scratchy, torn up gown barely clinging to her frame, but she didn't move.

"I have nothing to trade," she said.

"That's okay," Brielle said. "It's a demonstration of our good will. You don't need anything to trade for it."

"Then you'll let us go?" Hadley asked.

Brielle took a while to respond.

"Where are you coming from?" Brielle asked instead.

Hadley stood from her fighting stance and walked towards the clothes.

"I'm going to take those clothes," Hadley replied. She swung her axe. "And this axe, and then the three of us will leave."

Hadley grabbed the set of clothes, hugged them to her body and continued speaking.

"And if you really mean it when you say you don't want to hurt us," Hadley continued. "Then you'll let us leave and we'll go our separate ways. Deal?"

Brielle took a deep breath then sighed.

"Okay," she said, resigned. "Deal."

Hadley gave her a nod and finally turned to Drew and Brownie.

"Let's go Drew. Hold Brownie and make sure he follows us," Hadley said to the little boy.

"Okay, Hadley," the boy said, his voice sounding beyond relieved.

The three walked back into the jungle and then started running as fast as they could at Hadley's admonition, hoping to create as much distance between them and the Wildlings as they possibly could. By the time they stopped to rest, because Drew was too tired to keep running, Hadley's feet were trashed, her torso filled with cuts and bruises from branches reaching out onto their path, and her mind was racing. She barely registered her healing wounds, looking around for any signs of the Wildlings, while at the same time quickly pulling on her new set of clothes.

Queen Aadya.

The concept of royalty wasn't practiced in the Compound, but she knew what the word meant. It was a form of leadership. Like the two oldest women in the Compound – the forty-five-year-olds. The ones who ran the Compound, in charge of everything that went on. The oldest of the Elders.

But how could her mother have been in charge of the Wildlings? Her mother had arrived at the Compound at twenty years old. It was much too young to lead a tribe of Wildlings! Much too young to lead anyone! At the same age, Hadley herself had failed to lead a group that numbered a little more than a dozen through this rainforest, having lost everyone but Drew and Brownie. So, why did they call her mother "queen"? Did it really mean the same thing as she thought it did? And why had Aunt Zee never mentioned any of this to Hadley? Never mentioned the word 'Fisher' and how it was connected to Hadley or why the name would be on everyone's lips outside the Compound walls the moment they lay eyes on her?

Hadley spent the next few days marinating in these thoughts on their continuing sojourn through the jungle wilderness, a neat addition to the main thought already plaguing her.

Where were they even going?

She obviously couldn't trust the Wildlings now after her time with the eyepatch Wildling Healer who imprisoned her in the underground clinic and that acrimonious encounter with the axe wielding Wildlings a few days ago had finally fully rattled her resolve to find a new home with them, a demoralising realisation, especially now, months into her pregnancy.

She wasn't sleeping well, waking up to intense heartburn, wild cramps, extreme nausea – when she could stomach any of the food Brownie brought back – not to mention the constant need to pee. She wasn't coping well, desperately craving the comfort, support, and care of a loving community available to every pregnant woman at the Compound – a sacred duty.

And now she was courting a new anxiety: this emotional and physical stress wasn't good for her baby's health.

Hadley stopped walking.

Drew ran into her and wobbled before catching his balance. "What's wrong?"

Hadley hushed him, holding out her axe in a defensive pose and slowly walking a tight circle to carefully study the jungle around them. "Come close, Drew. And hold on to Brownie too."

Brownie began to growl, throwing Hadley's pounding heart into her throat.

The air was so thick with tension it made it hard to breathe.

Brielle came flying from the trees' shadows, landing on her back at Hadley's feet. The woman was beaten black and blue and barely coherent. She hit the ground hard, but despite the pain she must have been in, she was immediately scrambling away from Hadley. No, not Hadley. Brielle's frightened eyes were fixed to a spot behind Hadley. A spot further in the shadows. Hadley turned around just as a large mass exploded from the jungle.

A vampire dog!

It sailed past Hadley and landed on Brielle, but it didn't maul her. Instead, it placed one of its massive front paws on Brielle's chest, pinning her to the ground, and waited.

Hadley didn't get a chance to process what was happening.

Twoother bodies hit the ground in front of her. One was the man who had tossed theaxe at Brownie and missed. The next body belonged to the woman Brielle hadcalled Chasina. Both were followed by vampire dogs who pinned them in place andwaited, just like the first, their snouts held high. All three dogs faced thesame direction – towards the shadows behind Hadley.