The dog that had initially attacked her struck first. It took a swipe at the other dog with its front left paw. The other dog snapped back with its claws. Before long they were both on the ground. They grappled with each other, tooth to claw.

Prudence saw this as her chance to make her escape. No longer concerned with the rain or her hair, she got to her feet and bolted from the scene. It didn't take long before she heard a howl of anguish, followed closely by a crash through the brush.

Prudence forced herself to run faster, as fast as she'd ever run before. She flailed with her arms to swat any branches in front of her aside. That didn't help, as the branches still caught her wet hair and dress. She plowed ahead, ignoring the pain in her scalp and along the midsection from where the branches caught her. She had to keep moving or that dog would catch her.

Still she heard it getting closer. She risked a look over her shoulder and saw the dog's yellow eyes fixed on her. This time nothing would stop it from tearing her to pieces.

She turned around just in time to avoid slamming into a tree trunk as big around as herself. She stumbled as she tried to avoid the trunk. She managed to stagger a few feet before she pitched forward.

Prudence expected to land in a muddy heap or even a puddle. She didn't expect the ground to give way entirely or to find herself plunging underground. She barely had time to scream before she hit something solid hard enough to knock the wind out of her. She flopped onto her side and then struggled to take in a few breaths.

As she did, she looked up at the sides of a deep hole. She felt around with her hands for a ladder or rope or something to haul herself up with. Her hand touched something smooth and cold-a rock? She grunted as she tore the object from the muck. Her grunt promptly turned to a scream as she saw a human skull in her hand. She tossed the skull away and then tore at the sides of the hole with her hands to free herself.

The sides of the hole were too steep and at the moment too slick for her to get any purchase. After a few minutes of frantic scrabbling, she gave up. She was trapped. Though she couldn't know for sure, she was fairly certain this was one of Pryde's hunting traps. At some point one of the other children must have tried to escape and fallen in. She put a hand to her head and tried to remember, but she couldn't. Reverend Crane had given them all something to erase their memories whenever he made them younger. The skull she'd found could have belonged to a child who had died centuries ago for all she knew.




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