SYDNEY

The ground beneath her feet was chilly and licked up the skin of her bare legs. It looked to be made of clouds and fog and crawling mist. The sky overhead was dark, like one was on a moist morning with a storm leaving the vicinity. The place smelled of wet dew and freshly cut grass, despite the lack of vegetation other than a handful of weeping willow trees that emerged out of the cloud like ground and the small patches of grass surrounding them. The trees swayed in a light breeze that had Sydney wrapping her arms around her body. It was then that she realized she was only covered in a thin white slip, but with the sluggish feeling that overcame her body, she was convinced this was a dream.

"Young One," A silky voice addressed.

Sydney turned around to find a man with shaggy black hair that fell around his naked chest. His chest was a sandy brown, and it seemed to have a shimmer as though he was made from sand itself. He wasn't looking at Sydney but moving to sit on a thick stone bench.

"Hello? Who are you?" Sydney inquired heading in the direction of the man.

"The question is do you know who you are Sydney?"

She felt her lips bow down at the deviation of her question.

"You look to be wounded, the animal spirits are already not treating you kindly."

She scanned her body to find blood dried along her shoulder and down her arm and chest. Gliding her hand gingerly, she found scabbing over her aching neck as well.

Memories of Elliot brutally attacking her and the events of Mat and Jay coming to her aid crashed into her.

"What happened?"

"Come sit," he patted beside himself. "I have much to tell you."

Hesitating, she slowly and cautiously walked over to the mysterious man's side. She was unnerved by being scarcely dressed, but this place stuck her as familiar. Maybe she had dreamt it before.

Surprise took her when the man grabbed her hand and placed it between both of his large ones. He turned her palm to face upwards and with a gentle brush the tip of his finger traced the lines of her skin.

"How do you know my name? And what do you mean 'do I know who I am?' Of course I do. Actually, where are we, that's my first question?" She asked him.

"We are in what our kind calls the Expanse."

"And where is this Expanse?" Sydney was beyond perplexed.

"It is the layer of the universe that connects all life."

"What does that mean? Is this the afterlife?"

He paused the tracing to chuckle, "No, Young One, you are not in what the humans have cultivated to be the afterlife."

Pulling her hand from his hold, she crossed her arms defensively. "Am I dying or not?"

"No, Young One, you're not deceased or in the process of expiring."

"Expiring, that's an unpleasant way of putting it."

Another quant smile graced the man's lips. "An animal spirit by the calling of Elliot bit you. Young Jaycen and his friend discovered you and brought you to their packs home. You fell unconscious upon your arrival."

"What do you mean 'pack home? And how do you know about...?"

The savage memories of the crazed man in the forest had her body tense but hands trembling.

"Oh how the Old Ones' are mischievous when it comes to their plans. I wish the others were here at the moment, they would surely know how to handle this situation."

"You aren't answering any of my questions."

He didn't say anything for a few moments, "You see that?" He pointed.

Sydney looked up to see the most utterly breathtaking view of the sky. Peeking between a break in the clouds, it looked like pictures from NASA of outer space blown up on a massive screen for her to view, and her alone. The stars were all different in size and brightness, while their background was a dark purple which had fades of black and dark blue with the occasional streaks of red. But blooming from the stars, were vines of light that reminded Sydney of lightning in slow motion.

"That is breathtaking."

They sat there in silence, Sydney somewhat expecting the man to give her answers. Instead he tore his gaze from the sky to something over his shoulder.

"Sydney," She turned and looked at the mystery man.

"Yes?" She prompted.

"You must return to Young Jaycen. Someone is intruding on our plane."

Before she could ask him what he meant a dark black mass began to form right in the direction he had looked before. He rose from his seat, the silky white fabric wrapped around his waist whipped in the air.

"You are not welcome here!" His voice was thundering, an enormous contrast to the gentle tone he was using just moments ago with Sydney. She stood up behind him to try and see what was approaching them.

A black mass rolled and tumbled towards them, and it was when they were within fifteen feet of them, that Sydney gasped in fear and horror. A wave of black spiders were circling towards them, crawling over one another and moving in a chaotic horde.

"You have made a grave mistake," The man's hands began to shine and Sydney watched as his fingertips shone a bright gold light that extended into talons.

"Sydney leave now. I will deal with this."

"But ho-" The question didn't finish leaving her lips as she fell backwards as the man stepped forward, fingers radiating light.

The last thing she knew of the misty world was his roar and the cold as she fell.

She didn't jolt awake, but felt as though she had closed her eyes from the dream and opened them to find herself in her plush bed.

That was until she saw the door to her room wasn't where her door was supposed to be. Sydney pushed herself up into a seated position and looked around and scanning her surroundings.

Moonlight leaked through the window as the blinds were pulled all the way up and the curtains were drawn back. The white curtains drew her gaze to the furniture decorating the room which consisted of a large dresser with a massive flat screen attached to the wall above, two side tables on either side of the bed, a desk with piles of papers on it, and the king size bed she laid on which was all made of dark black wood.

Another looked around the room and she came to the conclusion. "This isn't my..." the whisper left her lips.

Her eyes landed on the foot of the bed, and capping off the end of the bed on the floor swaddled in a thick blanket was a dark figure. The air in her lungs caught, and she froze, pulling the sheets close to her body. While she was concerned with the person in her room, she noted she was wearing an oversized shirt, and was not quite as bare as she was in the dream.

Quietly, she slid a leg out from under her and moved to get off the bed. The hardwood floors thankfully did not creak under her pressure. Sydney went to crouch when her muscles argued stiffly.

Step by step on her bare feet, she found herself looking at the sleeping face of Jaycen. His arms were bandaged and although he was asleep, his face was slightly contorted as though in pain.

A sense of sadness and frustration hummed in Sydney. Though she didn't exactly remember what had led to her being here, she knew he had helped her from the woods, and to see him in pain troubled her. Her hand itched to reach out and sooth his furrowing brows, but she knew better and was sceptical of why she was here.

Why not take me to a hospital? Did he know the person who attacked me? Was this payback for that stupid prank?

Those thoughts immediately erased her desire to comfort him let alone wake him up. She turned away from Jaycen and further investigated the room for any of her belongings. Concern struck a chord through her when she saw there wasn't. Biting the tip of her thumb she silently made her way to the window to see exactly where she was.

No help.

The room faced a stretch of forest. The sight had her blood pumping.

I will never go in the woods again.

While she could see what appeared to be Jaycen's back deck with a stone fireplace surrounded by beautiful seating, nothing that was going to help her leave.

With how dark it was Sydney finally decided she was going to grab a pair of Jaycen's shorts, and just go out the front door. He couldn't live that far from school, and if she saw someone she could ask to use their phone.

Rachael and Aaron must be going out of their minds.

She hastened her search for bottoms, and when she settled on what she should have realized were excessively long sweatpants, she rolled the elastic cuffs and tightened the string to cinch at her waist.

Dressed to her satisfaction, she left the room, softly opening and closing the door before adjusting to the darkness of the hallway. Thankfully the stairs had full length windows, and she took down the hall after finding the stairwell to down stairs.

The lights were on downstairs and voices drifted up to her. Sydney was at a loss on what to do.

Try and find another way out the second floor? Run downstairs past everyone? Just try and sneak by?

The decision was made for her when her eyes found the front door just sitting at the bottom of the stairwell calling to her. She wouldn't have to escape by anyone. She could just walk out the door and after that she would figure out her next step to getting home and puzzling together what really happened in the forest.

At the bottom of her descent, she saw the lights of the foyer and the living room were off, but past their doorways in the kitchen she could see the yellow-orange hue of the lights and people gathered in there. Their voices were low. If she had to guess, what to do with her after Jaycen and his buddies took revenge too far. With light steps and trying not to move too quickly as to catch someone's attention, Sydney made it to the front door, and reached behind her, fingers searching for the handle or the lock.

It was then she realized with a start that she could make out some of what they were saying from over thirty feet away.

A female questioned, "What are we going to do when she wakes up? Does she remember anything?"

"While yes I am concerned for her, she is asleep, and right now we need to make perimeter control plans and reach ou-"

A swift flick of the lock and she pulled the handle ready to slip into the night.

A beep beep, tinkered through the house, and Sydney could faintly hear a gasp followed by, "Hey, someon-"

Sydney was already on the porch and leaping down the stone pathway to the road before she could hear the end of the sentence.

I need to get out off the road, he'll see me right when he gets to the door.

Right as the plan entered her head and she navigated to start a sprint to the side yard of the next house, she looked over her shoulder to see two other men already in the doorway and spotting her. Her heart plummeted into her stomach and she ran as fast as she could to get around the house, with no real plan after that.

Her legs stretched out trying to pull her further from the house, and she felt a new kind of swiftness to her movements. She chalked it up to adrenaline. Feet slapping against the asphalt of the road, Sydney figured instead of trying to hide, that screaming and staying insight of everyone was the best option.

"Please somebody help me! Somebody!"

The blood coursing through her body and into her pounding heart made her aware of the aches of her body. She pushed forward though, a sense of urgency consuming her and her surroundings began to blur around her. She felt the quicker she ran, the more numb the pain was.

"Sydney!" A guy behind called out.

A force threw her to the ground and knocked the wind from her lungs. Fear rung through her body and blood pulsed in her muscles.

"And here you thought you were gonna get away."

A scream tore from her and she violently tried shoving the weight off of her. Sydney refused to let anyone touch or attack her the same way again.

Heat seeped from her chest, almost a physical manifestation of her anger and fear blending. Her fingers tried digging into the blackened asphalt to claw and pull her from under the weight.

How is no one helping me? Tears welled in her eyes at how helpless she was feeling for a second time in such a short span of time, but she refused to give in despite the lack of progress she was making and how her fingers were bleeding.

Above her a male voice started, "Please we're onl-"

Then as if some higher power heard her, the weight was gone.

Sydney propelled herself forward and off the ground ready to sprint again, but instead crashed into what felt like a brick wall. Rather than tumbling backwards from the force, the wall wrapped its arms around her and pulled her into their chest.

Prepared to fight one more, the voice stopped her, "Sydney, it's me Mat, please please calm down."

Looking up from the solid chest she had collided with, she blinked away the cloudiness the tears had caused, and caught sight of her best friend's brown eyes.

"Mat!" A mangled cry left her and she buried her head into the warmth of his body, she found herself trying to crush her form into his.

"Omega what the fuck do you thi-"

"Please. Can't you tell she's petrified."

Jaycen.

Sydney briskly pulled her head from the safety of Mat's chest and while her arms remained wrapped around his waist, she turned her head and saw Jaycen's form heaving. Beside him on the ground was another man and a flock of figures came spilling out of Jaycen's home, and it was then that Sydney saw a sprinkling of people standing in the doorways and on steps of various houses that lined the streets.

None of them came to help me. Fear and bitterness rose in Sydney and she went back to clutching Mat.

She felt his hand softly cup the back of her head and stroke her hair calmly. "Everything will be alright Sydney, just breath."

"Everyone can go back inside, nothing to see here." Someone called out to the bystanders. Sydney could tell people were hesitating but slowly complied and went back inside.

"We should go inside as well and talk this over," Sydney felt Mat tensen at the gruffness of Jaycen's voice.

Mat's hand left her head and ghosted to her back, Sydney pulled back gathering he wanted to speak to her.

"You fine with that Syd?"

She looked over to Jaycen who tried to look away, but she knew his eyes had been on her.

"You're coming with me too though right?"

Mat nodded, and with that she eased away from his hold and settled for clutching his arm.

Jaycen's eyes caught onto the action and Sydney saw heat behind his eyes. Still it was quick and he tore his gaze from them and uncrossing his arms, he led the way back to his house.

Instep with Mat, Sydney couldn't help a small bubble of guilt in her stomach, and another small piece of her wanting to be by Jaycen's side instead of Mat.