The Wild Hunt (Downworlder Series, #1)

Chapter One: Safe Haven

I hurried down the corridor, doing my best to keep myself from running, running was not allowed in this sector. My sneakers slapped against the ground at a steady rhythm that almost kept even with the fast pace of my heart. I kept my eyes focused on the finish line, the senate offices. No one knew what happened behind closed doors, unless they had the right authorization.

"You're going to lose, Sutton." Claudia sped past me, her arms swaying quickly along with her body, making her look like she was doing some weird kind of dance. She glanced back over her shoulder at me, dark eyes sparkling with excitement and her tongue sticking in a childish taunt.

"You know what they say about looking back when you're racing!" I called back to my best friend with a wide grin. She had suggested we skip the rest of our placement classes today to play hooky and I had happily agreed.They were a bunch of bullshit anyway, the final exam was the only thing that actually mattered, everyone knew that. The classes were just meant to keep us out of trouble, daycare for a bunch of teenagers.

Her thin eyebrows furrowed and she turned her attention toward the victory line only to run straight into one of Haven's peacekeepers. He glared down at her, "This sector is off limits to civilians." She let out a nervous laugh as she backed away before turning and running towards me. Claudia grabbed my hand as she jetted past, pulling me along behind her.

"No running! Cease and desist" I could hear the Peacekeeper yelling behind us but it was quickly lost in the sound of slapping sneakers and buoyant laughter. We ducked into the cafeteria to catch our breath-still laughing.

She pushed me playfully. "You idiot! We could have gotten in so much trouble. My parents would have grounded me until the next rotation cycle."

I rubbed at my shoulder, smiling at her in a teasing way, "Yeah right, all you'd have to do is mention your brother's name and that peacekeeper would have let you go. Probably would have ushered you straight to the office." Her brother had just won the election to the senate seat for our sector, everyone loved him. She rolled her eyes-Claudia had some kind of sibling rivalry with Timothy, apparently her parents were always comparing her to him. She complained about it to me often enough, 'Perfect Timothy'.

I didn't know much about that, being an only child, and my parents were completely overbearing. I wished I had been lucky enough to have a sibling to take away some of their attention. I loved them but they could be suffocating at times.

"Whatever..." She looked away to survey the crowd in the room. I followed her attention, spying some of our friends sitting together. Her ex-boyfriend, with them-talking happily with his arm around another girl. I took a peek at Claudia, noticing the way her cheeks turned pinker with embarrassment and her eyes darted in another direction. She had been really in love with him, or so she had cried to me on several occasions after they broken up. I hadn't experienced anything beside quick crushes myself and they had all passed quickly, thankfully.

"Come on. Let's get some moon pies and go eat out in the observation deck-we're way too cool for them anyway." I wrapped my arm around her shoulder in an attempt to distract her attention away from her embarrassment. I pulled her towards the food line and she snorted at my comment, shoving me away as she grabbed a few food items. I tried not to smirk at the fact she was completely oblivious to the distraction.

"I'll race you to the deck. You'll lose but you can attempt to best me." She stuck her nose into the air playfully before she winked at me.

"Oh I will best you!" We bolted towards the exit and I took one for the team, letting her beat me to the observation deck. I'm sure she knew what I had done but she still rubbed it in my face as she danced around like an idiot for a few minutes while I laughed at her. She handed me the extra moon pie she snatched when the cafeteria worker wasn't looking, she knew I loved my sweets and she couldn't give two shits about them. That was what made the moonpie so much more meaningful.