One thought kept surfacing through the exhaustion no matter how hard Takoda tried to push it away.
"Grandma..." The word escaped her in a hoarse whisper, her throat raw from shouting, her body aching from bruises, cold, and hunger.
Every part of her wanted to curl up against the wall of the pit and sleep until someone found her. But deep down, she knew she could not afford that luxury.
The Nightshade search teams were looking for her. Her father was looking for her. She believed that with every part of her heart, yet believing and surviving were not the same thing. The pit had protected her from the rogues, but it had also hidden her from her rescuers— if the helicopters and wolves above could not find her while she remained trapped underground, then staying there might be the very thing that kept her from being found at all.
