Let's Hunt Her (Book #2)

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Sehun and I move quickly across town. He follows me though backyards and side streets, not attempting to talk to me about what just happened. And even thought I don't want to discuss it, I also hate the silence. Every familiar inch of this town does nothing but remind me of Jisoo and the life I'm giving up. When I was in the Academy all I wanted to come back here, and now that I'm here I want to shut my eyes, crawl under my covers, and cry. I bite my lip, trying to physically hold back my upset, and I blink away the wetness in the corners of my eyes.

Sehun stops when we reach the edge of the forest that leads to my house. He gives me a hard look. I'm certain he's thinking that going to Jisoo's was a terrible idea. But he doesn't say it; he doesn't have to. We both know.

"We need to retrieve whatever your dad left you in that tree," he says instead.

The shock pulls me out of my thoughts. "Hold on, now?"

"Now," he says, and I can tell he's frustrated with me. "We can't sneak back into your house in the pitch dark, because we'll have no idea if someone is following us. Because you didn't even known that I was following you."

"All of our stuff -"

"I stashed our bags at the edge of the woods. We just need that note and we need to leave." What he doesn't say is "before you cause any more troubles."

"Okay, let me see . . ." I scan the woods, mentally planning the best route to the tree and twisting eomma's ring on my finger. I can navigate these woods with a blindfold on, then I can definitely do it with only a little moonlight. "I've got a plan, but it'll require us climbing through a few branches that are much thinner than the ones we practice on at the Academy. You okay with that?"

He nods and I exhale. Sneaking out to see Jisoo was one thing, but sneaking into woods that might have a Strategia in them is something else entirely. My pulse is racing and I'm sweating under my winter coat.

I weave us through the familiar forest, going around area that are overgrown with brush and littered with fallen branches. Even so, our steps aren't completely silent. It's impossible to avoid making noise in the dark when there is so much leaf and plant debris on the ground. And every crunch we make zings through me like a jolt of electricity, making me feel increasingly worse than I put us in this position.

I lead us around a patch of particularly thick brush near my house and our steps get louder. Sehun touches my arm and brings his fingers to his lips. I stop moving. He scans the forest and my heart pounds so hard in my temples that my vision blurs momentarily. Doe he hear something? I desperately want to ask him, but I have no intention of talking, given the possibilities of exposure.

I take the most deliberate steps of my life, counting them off as I go, like there is a magic number where this horror ends and we get out safely. We're still a good couple of hundred feet fro the cluster of large trees that grow close enough together that we can climb from limb to limb. At least when we're off the ground, our sound and visibility will be reduced. When I count off eighteen steps, a particularly dry leaf crunches under my boot. I freeze, holding my breath.

One excruciating second passes and I scan the trees around me. I cautiously lift my foot, but before I can take a step I hear a faint hum and Sehun pushes me to the ground so fast that I barely get my hands under me to break my fall. As I land in a pile of cold leaves, there's a telltale thud as an arrow strikes the tree in front of me. The arrow hits exactly where my chest had been only a half second earlier.

"Run!" Sehun says, and we shove ourselves up, my legs moving so quickly that I'm shocked they don't slip out from under me. An arrow flies by my head, so close that I feel its win on my cheek.