Stretching toward a barren gray sky, the spidery limbs of the trees stretched far above Auburn's head as she worked in the little clearing. Though the forest floor was littered with decaying leaves and frost crunched beneath her pale bare feet, Auburn took little notice of the cold that had turned her nail beds a soft purple that mimicked the hue atop the lids of her tired eyes. The cabin was close by and she would be done soon enough. There were logs that sat waiting near the stone fireplace and a hearty potato and mushroom soup in the small refrigerator. That could all wait, she had something she needed to do while the sun-though unseen-was at the apex of the sky.
Around tree trunks, and looping around thin branches of slumbering bushes, a thin vermillion strand of yarn circled the clea
