Prologue
A teenager around the age of fourteen glances around warily as she peeks out from her hiding spot. No one. Time to go home.
She slips out of the shadows, too busy checking for them that she doesn't hear the barking of dogs. The barking quickly gets louder. Soon a dog's face pokes through the blackberry bushes, berry juice smeared across its nose.
The girl gasps, only to be muted by a rough hand clamped down on her mouth.
"I got you now." With his free hand, the boy attempts to try to punch her. The hand hurls at her, and she quickly ducks down, but not fast enough, for he connects a blow to her cheek, causing her to cry out in surprise and pain. He dives at her again, trapping her in a squeeze, almost like a snake suffocating a mouse.
She wriggles free, satisfied that she was still wet from the swim in the lake. She turns tail and runs, hearing him call after her, "You can run but you can't hide! Remember, I know your name, Mina!" He yells the name scornfully and the girl named Mina winces.
Mina keeps running, crashing through the brambles, flinching every time a thorn gets her. Suddenly she trips, and a flash lights up the forest. A sudden mist fills the woods, and when it clears, an astounded brown she-cat stands in the place Mina used to be.