Lead Me Astray is now published as a Wattpad Book! As a Wattpad reader, you can access Wattpad Books Edition upon purchase and the Original Edition for free.
"Ambitious and fiercely original. Sondi Warner is the exciting new voice we've all been wai...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
September 11 | Night
Surrounded by darkness, I reached for the only source of light—the bright, searing stars of pain exploding at my temple. I blinked awake. The first thing I noticed was the stark absence of other people's emotions. It convinced me I was in bed at my apartment, the one place where the outside world couldn't intrude.
But that wasn't right. I smelled the rich odor of dirt, dead leaves, moss, pine straw. There was thunder in the distance, and raindrops broke through the haze of my awareness. Something slithered across my forearm, and I yelped several times and shook off a centipede as I sat up. I wasn't in my home but the woods.
"Aurie?" I called out shakily.
Moisture trickled down my face. Touching it, I stared at the dark smudge on my fingertips. There wasn't enough illumination for me to see what it was, but I knew. When I placed my fingers near my nostrils, the whiff of blood was overpowering.
Injured and in a daze, I felt around the soft earth for the first aid kit, calling louder for Aurie. A gnawing sense of dread ate at me, but even if I'd had the strength to search the surrounding forest for her, the swelling laceration at the side of my forehead required triple antibiotic ointment and at least a butterfly closure strip until I could get real medical care.
I battled confusion. Flashbacks of what had happened unfurled bit by bit as I tended the wound. Tegan. She had struck me with the butt of Zyr's gun, hard enough to knock me out. I knew that shit took serious force. Wincing, I found my useless revolver beneath my ankle. Tegan had done a number on us.
Us? Aurie was gone. The realization knifed through me. Tegan had captured her in a magic glass bottle. I couldn't process it. It was too surreal. I patted my pockets for my vape pen and took a long hit. A temporary sense of calm flooded me as clouds of vapor floated past my lips. Just as swiftly, my distress returned. I didn't know what to do.
I rifled through the supplies for my personal cellphone, salvaged from Tegan's thieving hands. The battery slid into place, and it lit up, but I had no service whatsoever. I suppressed a powerless scream and took off toward the main road. I didn't dare use the mobile flashlight. Fext soldiers could be raking the forest. Shadows made every step a pitfall. Yet, somehow I managed to find the highway.
By the time my feet touched the asphalt, I felt like I was moving for the sake of motion. For a second, the weight of grief rendered me too weak to continue on.
I stood in the hushed rain as more than raindrops coursed down my cheeks. Images of Aurie's face the night I met her swam before my eyes, and I remembered why I had taken her in. She had reminded me so much of myself—afraid, confused, alone, but brave enough not to lay down and die. When Zyr had stepped into our world, I knew I was doomed. He was fierce and gentle, and he made me feel safe outside the walls of my home.
I had never desired to get this involved.
I had spent a considerable portion of my life pushing people away. I had used cynicism to block the painful emotions that made life ugly and unbearable. In the process, I had also blocked out love. Zyr and Aurie had blown my ambivalent wall to hell and back and made it impossible not to fall for them.
