Chapter Two
Poppy woke up feeling hot. Her skin was on fire, and her mouth was parched.
She turned her head and took in the dim room, and the warm, wooden walls.
Her head was fuzzy. Where was she?
Memories of pain and agony filled her.
And memories of him.
Her pulse raced. Where was he? He said he wouldn’t leave her.
But she was very much alone.
With all the questions echoing in her head, she slid off the bed, feeling the cool wood under her feet. Her legs collapsed and she landed on her butt on the floor.
Ow. She felt so weak.
Think, Poppy. Her head was a big ball of confusion, but she knew she was good at thinking. She hated not knowing things.
She stumbled to her feet, testing her legs. There was a weird feeling inside her. Like a clawing in her gut.
She wore finely woven, loose pants and a shirt, both in a pale blue. She scraped a hand through her shoulder-length hair. It felt lank, and her throat was painfully dry. She scanned the pretty room, searching for clues, but the soothing green walls and the rumpled bed didn’t tell her much. There was an empty armchair beside the bed.
A side table held some instruments. Her brow creased. None of them looked familiar, but they appeared to be vaguely medical. She snatched up a small knife that reminded her of a scalpel, and slipped it into her pocket.
Her head throbbed. There was someone she should be looking for…
The pain increased, like a pressure on her brain. Stumbling toward the door, she stepped into a hallway. It was painted in soft greens and there was a framed painting on one wall. A gorgeous landscape of a dense forest, with mountains in the distance.
Nothing looked familiar.
She staggered down the hall, through an empty area filled with chairs, and opened the front door. She stepped outside.
The building was made of wood—it looked like a wood cabin, with an A-frame roof.
Then she turned, and was assaulted by sensory input.
Poppy winced and shielded her eyes. She could barely think. The light of the sun was way too bright, spearing into her eyes. She looked up through her spread fingers and noted the sun had a reddish tint.
Argh. Sounds bombarded her as well. And smells. Below her, a small city lay nestled in the dense trees of a wide valley. Small cabins were dotted here and there, along with larger buildings that dripped with greenery. Platforms and buildings were set up in the highest trees, several with wooden walkways linking them.
In the distance, a green-covered hill had several narrow waterfalls falling from it, and semi-circular platforms built into the side of it. As she watched, a brown ship flew toward one platform. Her breath caught. It had a solid body and two long wings that flapped gently, almost like a bird. As it neared the platform, the wings folded upward and it landed.
She’d never seen a ship like that before.
Where was she?
“Think, Poppy.” Her usually quick mind felt like sludge. Everything smelled green—the lush scent of trees, leaves, flowers. For a second, it reminded her of her parents’ farm in Kansas.
But this place was nothing like Kansas.
She watched people walking on paths that wound around through the trees. The people moved with a smooth, liquid grace. The smells of people, animals, and cooking cut through her head like a blade. The noise level increased. She whimpered and clamped her hands over her ears.
It was too much. In her ears, she heard a thousand conversations, and someone hammering something.
Tasting bile in her throat, she stumbled down the steps, and noted a few people eyeing her strangely.
Probably because she was barefoot and felt tiny compared to everyone. They were all giants—big, tall, muscular.
She charged on. Her man had been big, too. She shook her head. She must’ve imagined him. She felt a sharp pain inside at the thought.
He’d felt real. He’d promised not to leave her.
More sounds made her head throb. She felt a sharp pain in her hands, along her fingers. Like something was trying to break free.
She stumbled off the wide path and into the trees.
Instantly, the sound level lowered, and she released a breath. Better.
It was vital she clear her head so she could work out exactly where she was and how she’d gotten here.
The smells were fresher here, crisper and cleaner. She had no idea where she was going. She stumbled down the narrow path that wound its way through the forest. She needed to find…someone, but her brain wasn’t clear enough to work out who that was.
She staggered through some bushes. They looked different. Some had round leaves, stacked together like a deck of cards. Others had round, bulbous flowers in a brilliant purple.
An animal darted out in front of her. Poppy barely stifled a shriek of surprise. It stopped, looked at her with huge eyes. It was fluffy, about the size of a cat, and had…six legs. It made a squeaking noise and darted into the bushes.
Poppy swallowed. She’d never seen an animal like it.
Either she wasn’t on Earth, or this was one crazy dream.
She kept going. The ache inside her grew until it finally made her stop, and she bent over and vomited.
Another wave of dizziness hit. There was too much input; she was drowning in it.
She swallowed a sob. For a second, she was ten again. Moving up several grades in school because she was too smart. The kids were far older than her, and they’d teased and bullied her.
No one understood her. Her farmer parents had been baffled by her.
Her teachers had been frustrated when she finished her work so fast and sometimes corrected them.
The only person who’d accepted her as she was, had been her younger sister. Laurel, known as Lo to her family and friends, had always championed Poppy. My super-smart big sister. Lo had been like sunshine.
But she was gone now. Had died a long time ago, leaving Poppy alone.
She’d developed a thick skin, and a prickly attitude for protection.
The dense trees thinned out, and she stepped out on the edge of a cliff. She gasped.
The scene before her looked like something out of a fairytale.
The ribbon of a wide river wound through the valley down below. The mountains were steep and forested, and in the distance, she saw some strange, man-made structures, rising up by the river. They looked like the sails of a yacht, gleaming white in the sun.
Then she heard noises behind her, voices.
Poppy turned her head, and her chest hitched. She had to keep moving. She had no idea where she was going, but she needed to find… Poppy rubbed her temple. A woman.
The voices got closer. She heard laughter.
“Aamir, I’m going to find you,” a young female voice called out.
The woman was close. Adrenaline spiked, then Poppy felt another flash of pain. Suddenly, her fingers were tipped with claws.
She blinked, her throat closing. That wasn’t possible.
She heard a body moving through the bush, in her direction.
Hide.
She gripped the tree nearby, and rammed her claws into the bark. Then she climbed.
Poppy was pretty sure she’d never climbed a tree before. As a kid, she’d always been too busy reading or studying to play outside. She hadn’t been sporty, either. Even now, the closest she got to a gym was buying yoga pants.
But it was like her body knew what to do. She moved quickly up the trunk of the tree, feeling a strength and speed that she’d never felt before.