She woke up to blinding sunlight and the taste of blood in her mouth. 

She wasn't quite sure when she'd fallen asleep. Hell, she wasn't even sure where she'd fallen asleep. Aubrey blinked a couple times and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, taking in her surroundings. 

Much to her surprise, Aubrey realized that there was a path up ahead. An actual designated path,  paved with small pebbles and lined with tree branches to indicate its route. Which meant she was close to civilization. Or, at least, she was close to other people. 

Her tongue probed the inside of her cheek absently, and Aubrey winced at the feeling of ragged flesh. She must've bit her cheek while she was sleeping. It was a bad habit of hers, one that popped up whenever she was anxious even in her sleep. 

Aubrey stood up carefully and peeled away from the side of the tree trunk she'd been slumped against. After a quick scan of the area, she stepped onto the path. She wasn't sure whether to follow it left or right, but—well, it had to lead somewhere eventually. Didn't it? 

As she made her way along the bumpy path, doing her best to ignore the throbbing of her bruised heel, she reflected upon the events of the night before. She struggled to separate reality from her dreams, not quite sure what had been a mere product of her subconscious. There was no way that shadowy figure had been real. It didn't feel possible. And yet, as Aubrey remembered how it had grazed her cheek, the whispering voice urging her onwards, the way her magic had been snuffed out...

It certainly hadn't felt imagined. 

Judging by the position of the sun in the sky, it was late in the afternoon. Aubrey found herself wondering how long she'd been sleeping for—her dream had only felt like a couple minutes, but the sky had been pitch black still when she'd fallen asleep. 

Maybe Aubrey was just tired. It would explain all of these strange occurrences. She'd been run out of town. She'd killed people. She'd been trapped in a forest for... how long was it, now? Two days? Three? Four? If she was being honest with herself, the time was starting to fold into itself, blurring and fading around the edges. She was starting to lose track of everything. 

And she was hungry and thirsty and smelled worse than the latrines back home and was somehow still exhausted, even after sleeping for god knew how long. 

So was it really so unusual to be seeing shadow people in the dark? 

She didn't have to walk for very long before the scenery started to change. The ground became a bit more level. The wide, sprawling oaks she'd recognized from earlier had been replaced by slender trees stretching upwards, still young. She could hear the faint sound of a stream in the distance. And she kept stumbling upon the occasional piece of garbage—a half-eaten sandwich abandoned on a boulder, a torn scarf dangling from a tree branch, a crumpled piece of paper caught in a shrub. 

The memory hit her abruptly. Saltwater air, gray water, and the love poem. Aubrey suppressed a sigh as she walked, wondering why that dream kept plaguing her. It felt so vivid, so real, and so very impossible. And she couldn't quite seem to shake it, even when she was wide awake. 

Aubrey cast aside all thought of the dream when something caught her eye in up ahead—a crumbling wall, made of smooth chunks of granite and held together by cement. It was split in two by a dramatic wrought-iron gate. And beyond that...

Aubrey couldn't suppress the wide grin that split her face as she broke into a run. Her heel screamed in protest as she picked up the pace, pausing just in front of the gate smiling and breathless. 

She peered through the gate excitedly. Between the twisted iron bars, she could see the entire little village laid out—winding roads and small restaurants and vendors lining the streets. And even further than that, so far in the distance that she could barely see it, was a massive mountain range. Even though she wasn't close enough to see the signature waterfall, she'd studied enough maps to know she'd made it to Amber Falls. 

Unlatching the gate carefully, Aubrey entered the village. She made sure that her sleeves covered her arms. Though her magic seemed a bit tamer today, she knew just how volatile it could be. 

The pebble path bled easily into one of the main roads. Aubrey knew she must look a mess, but no one seemed to pay her any heed as she wandered around. Amber Falls was bright and colourful, full of life. People had better things to do than pay attention to a filthy girl walking down the street, she supposed. 

In fact, the townspeople seemed mostly focused on some kind of fuss downtown. As Aubrey made her way closer to what she assumed was the city's heart, she noticed more and more people clumped together on the sidewalks, whispering amongst themselves. 

Aubrey's heart lodged in her throat when she noticed the silver-robed figures milling about town square. Her magic stirred, restless, and she did her best to will it away. She pulled a few strands of her bedraggled auburn hair over her face—a weak cloak, but it was all she could manage for now. 

Town square was packed with bodies, but Aubrey managed to slip through the crowd. She kept her head low as she approached the centre of all the commotion, making sure to steer clear of the Wardens. 

Goosebumps rippled across her skin when she saw what had been tacked up on the front of town hall. 

It was a lazy, sloppy rendition, but Aubrey's face was unmistakable on the "Wanted" poster.