He was amazed.
Astonished at how easily she dragged him out of it.
With one tug, one step, one glare… she broke the chain he hadn't even tried to shake loose.
And now, even as his legs trembled beneath him, even as fear clung to the edges of his thoughts like fog, he followed.
He didn't know where she was taking him. What lay ahead.
One thing he knew for sure—whenever he was with her, he felt... satisfied. Or at least, that's what he thought.
Thirty minutes later, they were standing in front of the same dead, leafless tree. For the fifth time.
Kaya and Cutie stared at each other.
Same look.
Same emotion.
Pure emptiness.
Kaya finally broke the silence. "Wait… you've actually lived here for years?"
Her voice carried the kind of calm that hid a very specific kind of rage.
Cutie blinked at her, totally blank.
"I thought you knew the way…"
And then, like a lightning bolt to the brain, a realization smacked Kaya right in the face.
