Blink.

Cora walked through a narrow passage where the smell of dirt and grease hung in the air. Ahead, a sickly yellow light beckoned, thrown from a bare bulb against one wall. Then everything faded to black.

Blink.

Low key humming. An old tune that she thought she could regonize if her mind hadn’t been so foggy. Cora’s feet moved woodenly under her. Thump. Thump. Thump. She turned her head to find the source of the humming. Zachary strode beside her, a faint smile on his plain face. She stopped walking. He turned to her, his smile inching up as he took hold of her arm and twined it through his. They walked on, darkness edging her vision before everything went black again.

Blink.

A pitter-patter of feet behind her. The humming had stopped. Cora glanced over her shoulder. A pair of pitbulls trailed her and Zachary. The one with the dark fur was several yards back, Lady almost right behind them. When Cora looked at her, the dog wagged its tail and grinned. She wanted to say, ‘good girl’, but her tongue refused to move.

Blink.

The tunnel widened. A gentle slope led up and out. Cora struggled with the change in angle, but Zachary gripped her waist and helped her out. It was a gentlemanly thing to do, so she smiled at him, and he seemed to appreciate that because he smiled back at her as he brushed a strand of hair from her face with his thumb.

“Welcome to Mexico,” he murmured.

Blink.

A roar. Cora’s eyes sprang open, searching. They found the two dogs, but the sound wasn’t coming from either of them. Wind whipped stinging strands of hair into her face. Cora broke free from Zachary’s grip, but he just watched her with faint amusement as she stumbled back and fell hard on her ass. Lady was beside her in an instant. Midnight stole the world away as a warm tongue lapped against the tears drying on her cheeks.

Blink.

Noise enveloped her. Cora tried to focus on the beast descending from the sky, but it was too big, too monstrous. She realized she was fumbling with her ring, and wondered why. When that bright ruby finally popped off her finger, she watched with vague concern as whoever controlled her body turned and put the ring on top of the still body of a darkly-furred dog.

Good boy. Sleep tight. Don’t let the fleas bite.

She laughed, but the sound cut off as the monster made contact with the ground a few yards away. A silhouette moved toward her, arms outstretched.

Blink.

Hands grasped her arms, pulling her up from the ground. A furious wind swirled around her, yanking at her strange new clothes. A dog yipped and barked nearby, but the sound was almost all but drowned out by the hellish rotors of the helicopter. Her head fell back. Her eyes closed. Softness enveloped her.

Blink.

Her center of gravity shifted. When she forced her eyes open despite their reluctance, she saw the tops of trees and distant mountains. Someone shifted beside her, and she snuggled into their warmth. An arm draped her shoulder, and she jerked as a tonally flat voice boomed in her ears.

“Hush, little Elle. Go to sleep.”

So she did.