Sam let out an incredulous little laugh when Dorothea was done talking. "You have an evil stepmother? Of course you do. Why wouldn't you?" Sam also had a stepmother. And a stepfather. Neither were evil, of course. It didn't work like that. At least in her world they didn't. "So...this Liam guy? What's he like? It isn't like some kind of arranged marriage is it? Do you actually, like, love him?" She didn't believe much in love. Not since her parents had divorced when she was a child. It had been messy and by the time she had turned eight she had watched her mother and father fall completely out of love. Her parents seemed fine enough now with their new spouses, but she'd never forget the fighting or the yelling. Sam didn't like the silence between her and Dorothea though, especially in this place, and wanted to keep a conversation going.

She stubbed her toe on something and grimaced. It hurt a lot, even through her boot. She felt like a idiot, stumbling through this forest, stepping on twigs and nearly tripping over rocks. Sam was a city girl, and she had never spent long anywhere else outside of a couple of vacations to see her mother's parents in Florida. She certainly had not spent much time in any sort of wilderness, including forests. And this particular forest seemed like it was endless. Plus it was getting darker by the minute. "How far is it to this castle again? A few miles?" She frowned at Dorothea. "You sure about that?"

Dorothea's head had swiveled around to look behind them. Sam didn't think much of it until she heard Dorothea tell her to run. "What why?" she asked looking over at her as the cat secured herself on her shoulder and neck. There was only one reason she could think why. Dorothea, with her cat's ears, had heard something behind them. Namely the Marshal and his two henchmen. Sam couldn't stop her heart racing in a panic and, as Dorothea suggested she not fall, she started to run. She had run track in high school and the adrenaline was also kicking in in this situation, but neither of these facts changed the fact that Sam had no idea where she was going. She was dodging trees, climbing over logs, doing her very best not to trip and send them both toppling to the ground. She had no idea if she was still even going in the right direction anymore. 

She came to a stop for a moment as she tried to catch her breath. "Dorothea," Sam whispered uneasily, trying to keep the panic out of her voice, "There is no where to go." She started glancing around, looking for any place to hide and seeing nothing. It didn't help the sunlight was nearly faded. In a desperate moment Sam lifted Dorothea from her shoulder and set her up on another tree branch. "Climb this tree. Hide or...or something. Maybe they won't care about me."