Moon was already regretting her decision to leave the Greenville academy immediately. The feeling had come as soon as she left the gates, and the wind tore at her coat like invisible claws.
Since then, it was a struggle just to keep going. Every breath that she drew burned her throat. The snow fell thick and fast, each flake stinging the uncovered part of her face like grains of salt on a wound. Her feet hurt so much that she thought they would fall off.
Traveling had been easier when her father was beside her_melting the snow with his warmth, keeping her wrapped in a bubble of heat. Now, every step she took sank her deeper into the snow, and the cold gnawed at her bones like hunger itself.
But she could not turn back. Admitting defeat was not her style. She had to make it and prove to her father that he had made the wrong choice. So, she gritted her teeth and kept going.
