Audrey's POV
I stand on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the sharp rocks and the swift- moving water far below. I sigh and glance behind my shoulder, making sure that nobody was there, even though I'm in the middle of nowhere. I close my eyes, take a deep breath, and jump.
The crisp, morning air wakes me up, and I open my eyes. Everything is a blur. I'm getting closer and closer to the bottom. If I screw this up, I'm dead. I start to count down in my head. " Five... four... three... two...
I pause and say out loud- " One."
My wings snap out and break my fall like a parachute. I spread them out and I start to soar, just a couple of feet above the rapids and razor sharp rocks. I start to flap my wings up and down and I move up, keeping up my speed. The air rushing on my face makes my eyes tear up a little. This is what I live for. The speed, the adrenaline, the freedom. You can only have so much freedom nowadays.
I slow down a bit when I find a small area of land next to calmer waters. I gently descend on to the pebbles and I quickly get to work. I explore an area by some trees and I find some blackberry bushes. A huge grin spreads on my face. The boys and I haven't had blackberries in years. I pull a large peice of cloth I had stuffed in my hoodie pocket and I set it down on the ground. I start to pick all of the berries I can find. I set them down on the cloth and I wrap them up. I take one last glance at the bushes. I'll have to remember this place. I take off, heading back to the cabin.
***
The look on Matthias and Finn's faces where priceless. They immediately started eating the berries by the handful. "Guys, leave some for me!" I laughed, grabbing a handful of the berries. I ate them one at a time, savoring them. Before I could take some more, they were all gone. Both had juice dripping from their mouths. "Audrey, you deserve a medal," Finn said, picking seeds out of his teeth. I just smiled a little and began to eat some of the jerky Matthias made earlier in the week. We all crashed on the old mattresses lying on the floor after making some small talk. We were all exhausted and it was getting dark outside. Finn turned out the battery operated lantern and we all began to doze off.
Finn suddenly jumped out of bed. "Guys, we need to get out, now!" He yelled. Matthias and I quickly got to our feet. "Finn, what's wrong?" Matthias asked. Finn pointed at a small blinking red light. My eyes widened. We all grabbed our bags and bolted out of the cabin, continuing our sprint outside.
BOOM!
Our home blasts into smithereens. We keep running; deeper into the forest to avoid the people who did this.
It wasn't long before a white, windowless van caught up to us and stopped in front of us. Two men hop out; the driver and a man in the back. They're both in hunter's uniforms. I swear under my breath, looking for a way to escape. One of them runs up and tackles Matthias, and the other grabs me and pins me up against a tree. I squirm a bit, but I can't punch him because he's holding my arms down. I think for a moment then I knee him between the legs. He doubles over and I push him down to to the ground and kick him several times. Matthias took care of the guy that attacked him. We glance over at Finn, who had slashed their tires with a knife. The boys break into a sprint, but something catches my attention.
There's a girl my age sitting in the passenger seat of the van, staring back at me. We make eye contact for a moment and all of a sudden I start to get red in the face.
She's gorgeous.
She has pale skin, dark blue hair that's almost black, and these beautiful gray eyes. She glances over at the men on the ground, and her eyes widen. She mouths something to me.
"Run."
I bolted away from the scene just as the men start to get up. I manage to get away before the see my path. I hear them swearing and yelling. My stomach feels like it's going to jump out of my throat.
I catch up to the boys and we start to walk and find a place to camp out at. We find a tree to sleep under and as the boys sleep, I lie awake, thinking about the girl. I want to see her again. I toss and turn and eventually go to sleep, thinking of her.
