Chapter 45

The air was cool against Talin's skin. The sky, a bright blue over her, was smeared only with a dust of cloud. The grass didn't make a sound under her boots, as if afraid that she'd strike them if they didn't bend to her will. She'd been released from the container not long ago, shortly after The Offering's rules were announced. And now she wandered aimlessly, her sense of direction thrown off.

There were no birds on the sky to tell her which way was dangerous, which path she shouldn't...