CHAPTER 11: A PLACE TO BREATHE

The wind bit through Seraphina’s coat as she waited outside the student commons, her phone pressed to her ear, as her breath curled in front of her like smoke. It was barely past nine in the morning, but the sky already looked like it was turning in for the day—low and grey, clouds heavy with something that wasn’t quite snow, but close.

It should have been cold, but Sera was actually enjoying the fact that the creature inside of her stopped her from feeling it. That would prove crucial when it came to what came next.

"Yes," she repeated into the phone. "Something rural. Not suburban. It doesn’t have to be huge, just... private. One bedroom, maybe two. Somewhere off-grid would be fine. Wood stove, if possible."

The real estate agent on the other end of the line hesitated. "Most people don’t want to be snowed in during winter."

"I’m not most people," Sera said, forcing a smile on her face even while she was only on the phone. "And I’m willing to pay in cash."

Apparently, cash was still king, so that helped a lot. Within thirty minutes, she was in the back seat of a salt-dusted sedan driven by a woman named Marla, who wore a puffy red parka and smelled faintly of coffee and dog hair. Her clipboard was already marked up, listings circled and highlighted in blue.

"The market’s quiet this time of year," Marla said as they drove past clusters of bare trees and half-frozen streams. "But you’re in luck. A few owners decided to sell early instead of waiting for spring. Let’s take a look."

-----

The first cabin was barely more than a shed.

Tucked behind a frozen blueberry field, the structure tilted slightly to one side like it had given up. A single room inside, with water-stained plywood walls and a rusted cot shoved in the corner. There was a wood stove, but no firewood—and Sera could see her breath inside.

"I’ll pass," she said flatly.

Marla didn’t argue.

------

The second cabin had potential from the outside. A nice ’A’-shape frame made from wood. However, the moment she stepped inside and saw the pink insulation spilling out of a half-collapsed ceiling, she couldn’t help but wrinkle her nose. The pipes had burst last winter, and the owner had never come back to repair them. Mold was creeping up one wall, and something small and dead was curled in the fireplace.

"Nope," grunted Sera, shaking her head.

-----

The third cabin sat at the edge of a frozen lake, tucked into a pine-covered ridge like it had always belonged there. The drive in was steep and winding, but the tires held, and the silence that greeted them was... clean.

Not empty. Not dead.

Just quiet.

The front porch faced the lake, with frost-laced windows and a heavy oak door. Inside, it was instantly warmer—heavily insulated and paneled in golden wood, with thick beams running across the ceiling and a small stone fireplace already stacked with wood.

The kitchen was simple but complete: a gas stove, a cast-iron kettle resting on the burner, and cabinets made from reclaimed wood. The bedroom had a hand-carved bedframe, covered in thick quilts and flannel sheets. A desk sat by the window, its legs slightly uneven, but sturdy. The back door led to a woodpile, a tiny shed, and the start of a trail winding into the trees.

No neighbors.

No power lines.

No noise.

Sera stepped into the living room, turned slowly in place, and breathed in deep. The air smelled like cedar and pine smoke, and something beneath it—old paper, maybe. It was perfect.

"This one," she said, almost before Marla could finish pointing out the backup propane tanks near the shed.

"You sure?" the agent asked. "There’s a newer build coming up next—three bedrooms, more open concept—"

"I don’t want open," Sera said. "I want quiet."

Marla flipped a page on her clipboard, chewed the end of her pen. "Owner’s asking thirty-eight. Probably willing to come down a bit since it’s off-season."

"Thirty, in cash. If they say yes today."

Marla nodded her head. "Fine, I’ll contact the selling agent about your offer. However, I still think it is best if we keep going to the other two homes. That way, you can be sure. Thirty thousand dollars is still a lot of money, especially for something like this. The other two that I showed you were half the price."

"I know what I like," Sera replied, a tight smile on her face. "But I am willing to see the other two."

------

The fourth and fifth cabins blurred together.

One had better plumbing but was too exposed; there were neighbors all around and even a big box store down the street. What she wanted above all else was to be alone... and this wasn’t it.

The other cabin had a wraparound deck and a second bedroom, but the road in was pure mud and snow. That didn’t bother her nearly as much as the giant streak of honey dripping down three out of four walls and the amount of animal feces on the ground.

None of them were the third cabin. Even if she was willing to put in the effort and make it more ’hers’, they still would never come close to the third cabin.

By the time the sun began to dip behind the tree line—though it never really rose that high in the first place—Seraphina was back in the sedan, fingers numb from flipping through paperwork and her heart pounding harder than she wanted to admit.

It wasn’t just the cold.

It was the logo on that syringe. The apple. Everything that happened this morning with her roommate had lit a fire under her ass.

Hydra had found a way in again.

But not here.

Not in this cabin. Not if she could claim it before anyone else did.

Marla dropped her back off near the commons and promised to call once she had a firm answer from the owners. "You’ll need to get up there soon if it goes through," she said. "Cabins like that don’t come around often."

Sera nodded, but her mind was already there—picturing the frost on the windows, the thud of boots on the wooden floor, the snap of the fire in the grate.

Somewhere the world couldn’t reach her.

Somewhere that didn’t have shared walls, nosy roommates, or seven-headed dragons printed on medical labels.

Somewhere to think.

Somewhere to breathe.

Somewhere to prepare.

Somewhere to just...be.