Sometimes, Seraiah questioned if she would truly go as far as she said she would for Sterling. Now was one of those moments.

But it was originally your idea, she reminded herself as she paused to take in her surroundings.

No, she couldn’t give up now. Sterling would surely put herself in harm’s way to protect her if their situations were reversed.

The underbrush was thick here. If anything approached, it would have to get through the bushes, and she would hear it. There were plenty of trees, but not too many that it made fighting with a sword difficult.

This was as good a place as any, she decided.

Silently, she counted to ten, giving Kestrel and Kai a chance to get into place.

While she counted, Seraiah studied the trees around her, turning slowly in a circle. She knew the two elves were there with her, but she couldn’t detect them.

Good.

If she couldn’t find them, then hopefully the creature wouldn’t know they were there either until it was too late.

Kai had decided since her weapon skills were so abysmal, she would act as bait, drawing the creature to her. It was more likely to seek her out if it thought she was alone. A single person was easier prey than a group. It also didn’t hurt that she was small and harmless looking—an easy target.

If they were lucky, it would go for Seraiah, rather than pursue Sterling and her kidnappers. While she liked the thought of the creature tearing her sister’s kidnappers limb from limb, she didn’t want it to do the same to Sterling.

Reaching ten, Seraiah stopped turning and sucked in a deep breath of cold air.

Then she screamed, long and loud.

It was the fastest way she could think of to draw attention to herself. A nice big ‘here I am, come and get me’ to anything lurking within hearing distance. If Sterling and her kidnappers were nearby, it would also act as a warning. They would hear it and avoid the area.

After her scream faded away, the forest sounds returned to normal again. Business as usual.

And she waited.

Seraiah rubbed her sweaty palms on her dress, her eyes darting around.

Would it come? Was this going to work?

She fidgeted nervously.

A few more seconds ticked by. Birds chirped in the branches above her.

This was a terrible idea.

What if she got them all killed? Who would save Sterling then?

Seraiah shifted uneasily, looking back over her shoulder, alert for any signs of movement. Something crunched in the bushes to her left.

Whipping around, she faced the wiggling bush, her heart threatening to beat out of her chest.

A moment later, a small brown hare appeared, pausing to eye her before scampering off again.

Her body sagged with relief. It was only a rabbit, nothing to fear.

Her heart was just returning to its normal speed when she noticed the silence. The birds were no longer chirping, and not even the wind disturbed the trees.

It was unnatural.

The sound of her ragged breathing filled her ears. Something was out there watching her, and the forest knew it. It was like it was holding its breath, trying not to draw attention to itself.

A twig snapped nearby, making her jump.

It was here. She could feel it.

Her eyes swept over the surrounding underbrush, looking for movement, but everything was still. Another twig snapped, and then a frightened squeak came from the direction the rabbit had disappeared.

The image of the mangled arm flashed through her mind again.

Seraiah curled her hands into fists, her nails biting into her palms. The pain helped her shake the image—helped her focus.

She was doing this for Sterling. Kai and Kestrel were there with her, and everything would be fine. She would not end up like the poor person that arm belonged to.

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She wouldn’t.

The bushes crunched and shook as something large moved through them, stalking closer to her. Unwittingly, she took a few steps back, keeping her eyes on the movement. She caught a flash of gray-brown fur and a glowing yellow eye before Kai appeared beside her.

“About time,” Seraiah murmured.

He drew his sword, the metal singing as it left its sheath, and they waited together.

Kestrel was still hidden somewhere in the trees. She was to circle around behind the beast, while they drew it forward, trapping it between them.

The beast growled, and Seraiah felt it in her bones. This was undeniably it—the creature from her dream.

“Get behind me,” Kai ordered, not taking his eyes off the bush. “Your job is done. Now you need to keep out of the way.”

Seraiah wanted to do what he said and flee, but her body had frozen like a scared rabbit. It was the cart incident all over again. Not a muscle would move.

The stench of it reached her first, almost a rotten meat smell, but not quite. It reminded Seraiah of her step-mother’s sickroom in her final days of the fever.

Then, the creature made its grand entrance.

It was large, easily as big as a bear—maybe bigger—and covered in gray-brown fur that was matted in places with something dark. She didn’t want to think about what that could be.

Its face reminded her a bit of a dog, but there was something odd about it. It pulled back its lips, snarling at them, to reveal multiple rows of razor-sharp teeth.

The urge to scream bubbled up in her chest, but Seraiah tamped it down. Screaming would not help her now.

The monster rose on its hind legs, swiping at the air with clawed hands. Those were definitely fingers she was seeing, oddly human looking, but double the size of normal hands and tipped with pointed talons.

It was twice the height of Kai, as it towered over them.

Beside her, Kai whispered a word she didn’t understand, staring at the monster before them in shock. He appeared to be frozen in place just as Seraiah was, making no move to attack the beast before them.

The monster ignored him, instead focusing its yellow eyes on her. There was an intelligence there that no beast she had ever seen possessed. It dropped back down to all fours as it watched her.

Seraiah kept her chin up, meeting its gaze.

Then, as if it had received some unseen signal—it charged.

Startled, she stumbled back and lost her footing, her arms pinwheeling in the air before she landed hard on her already tender backside. Quickly, Seraiah brought her arms up to protect her face as it rushed at her. Squeezing her eyes shut, she prepared for the monster to rip into her.

Its hot breath washed over her, smelling of rancid meat. Vaguely, she heard Kestrel shout something. Why weren’t they doing anything? Couldn’t they see this beast was about to take a bite out of her?

A moment ticked by and nothing happened.

She cracked her eyes open and found the monster hovering over her, a clawed hand planted on either side of her head. Those talons digging into the dirt. Her body trembled as it leaned down to sniff her, a drop of saliva falling from its jaws to land on her exposed throat.

What was it waiting for?

Seraiah had expected it to tear into her immediately, but instead, it held her trapped beneath it. Its stink was overwhelming, burning her nose and making her gag. Its snout brushed her hair as it snuffled at her.

She held as still as possible.

Where were Kai and Kestrel? Why weren’t they doing anything?

The beast growled low, sounding almost like a purr—like it approved of what it was smelling—and drew back its lips, showing off those rows of teeth again, in a fearsome grin.

This is it, Seraiah thought, squeezing her eyes shut again and holding her breath. Hopefully, it would kill her quickly.

But instead of the scrape of teeth, as she had expected, hot liquid sprayed her in the face, her hands blocked some of it, but not all. There was a thump, and then a crushing weight on her body, squeezing out her air.

Her eyes snapped open, and she gasped, trying to breathe with the weight on top of her. Some of the liquid slipped into her mouth. It was salty and metallic—utterly disgusting. Seraiah spat and wiped at her face as best she could. The sight that met her eyes was a grisly one, and she couldn’t stop the scream from escaping this time.

Kestrel shushed her, appearing in her line of sight. “It’s over now.”

Seraiah could very well see with her own eyes that it was over, and that’s why she was screaming.

The headless body of the creature was the source of the crushing weight. Dark blood still leaked from the place where its head used to be.

It was blood that Seraiah was covered in, soaking her dress and pooling around her. That was what had sprayed her in the face, and now leaked into her hair—her mouth.

She turned her face away from the sight in front of her and came face to face with the monster’s head. Its sightless eyes bored into her even in death.

Maybe it was better if she just kept her eyes shut.

“Get it off me,” Seraiah croaked. The blood on her face was already drying.

“I’m trying,” Kestrel grunted, shoving hard at the beast’s body.

It rolled, and then the weight was lifted.

“I hate to tell you this, but I think your dress is ruined.”

Seraiah opened her eyes again to find Kestrel staring down at her with her hands on her hips. She didn’t care about her dress right now. She was just happy to still be in one piece.

“Here, let me help you up.” The other girl held out her hand, and Seraiah reached for it, her own hand still trembling.

“I thought for sure you were a goner when Kai froze up.” Seraiah picked up on the forced lightness in her words. Kestrel was as shaken as Kai, but was trying her best to hold it together.

Kai stood a few feet away, wiping off his blade. Perhaps that was what he’d intended. He’d made his dislike for her very clear.

“Good thing he finally came to his senses because I wouldn’t have made it to you in time.”

Seraiah nodded, not trusting herself to speak yet.

“We will have to burn the body and probably your dress, too,” Kestrel continued, filling the silence. “Don’t want to take any chances, and you’re never going to get all that blood out.”

Seraiah looked down at her dress. She was indeed almost completely covered in blood, as though she had bathed in it. The fabric that had once been brown was now black and heavy.

“What was that thing?” she asked, finding her voice again.

She felt the blood that had dried on her face crack as she spoke. Using a bit of her sleeve that wasn’t completely soaked, she scrubbed at her face, trying to get it off.

“A Varanem,” Kai said, repeating the word Seraiah hadn’t understood earlier. “A dark beast that doesn’t belong in this world.”

“What’s it doing here, then?”

Kai shook his head, looking grim as he stared off into the trees at something she couldn’t see, before finally responding. “I don’t know.”