It roots me to the ground, the sight of it. And shockingly the first word that pops into my head as the Solarian freezes ten yards away from me is beautiful. It has a long, tiger-like body. Shifting muscles under fur the blue-black-gray color of an arctic ocean. Eyes like flames.
Lots of things that can kill you are beautiful. A high cliff. A lightning strike. A freezing cold night on the mountains.
That doesn’t change the fact that this is the same kind of monster that dragged my brother away, leaving me and Mom nothing but blood on the floor and my life snapped in two. Before, after.
The beast and I lock eyes. I can see the intelligence there, the cunning. It’s faster than me. Bigger. Stronger. It could rip me in half if it decided to.
It’s not moving now; maybe it doesn’t think I’m a threat. That gives me a chance. Just one small sliver of light. Shoot the thing. Get everyone the hell inside.
Fear weighs me down like ice. Tells me I can’t move, that I’ll die if I do. But there’s nothing else for it, no one else in sight. And besides—this is my job. This is what Marcus would do, anyway. If he sent people out into the woods after a monster, he would lead them. He would fight.
I take a slow, deep breath, careful to make it silent, not show my body moving. My blood roars in my ears, blotting out all other sound.
I dive for the gun. I hit the ground hard, but my fingers close on metal. I twist to see blue and flame bearing down on me.
Aim.
Shoot.
The Solarian’s scream drowns the echoes of the gunshot. It’s the same scream I heard from my bedroom that first night, but now it’s right there, and the gun clatters to the ground because I’ve clapped my hands over my ears. I can’t stop myself. But the monster is already gone, crashing a path through the underbrush. The scream is gone, but echoes bounce through the trees, inside my head.
I sit up shakily. My ears ring and my chest aches and my blood races through me so fast I feel like it’s going to jump out of my skin. But after a few seconds, everything around me is silent. The woods are still, all life fled or hidden.
Until Graylin bursts from the shadows and stops in front of me, knife in one hand and revolver in the other. His alert gaze sweeps the clearing and lands on me on the ground, and his eyes widen. He sheathes the weapon and kneels next to me.
“What happened?” he asks, taking a moment to blow the warning whistle. His eyes scan me from head to toe, and I know he’s checking for injuries.
“I—” My voice shakes. I scoot backward to sit against a tree and stay there, trembling, my hands clutching air. I strain my ears for more distant screams or movement. “I shot the Solarian, I think.” Scared it off, but clearly didn’t slow it down.
It’s okay, I tell myself, knowing I’m lying to myself, but it’s all I can do with the adrenaline still rushing through me. Someone else will finish it off. And besides, my ankle throbs—I must’ve twisted it and not realized—and my ribs ache when I gingerly prod at them. Bruised, or even cracked, I can’t tell. It’s not like I could have given chase, anyway. Shock and exhaustion push my fear down to a low, muted buzz—ever-present, but not overpowering—as I pull myself together and Graylin loops an arm around my shoulders. I don’t strictly need help, but I’m glad for his closeness on the way back to the inn.
When I stumble out of the woods, I see that Sal and the Silver Prince are under the gazebo with a couple of the security guards, Ricky and Kara. They’re all looking at something, their backs to us, and I give Graylin a worried glance as we head over.
My heart drops when I see what they’re looking at—who they’re looking at, sitting on one of the damp benches with her head in her hands, her blond braid trailing over the shoulder of her jacket.
Taya.
“Hi there,” she says weakly.
“What are you doing here?” I blurt out.
The Silver Prince steps forward, looking furious. His jaw is tight, his silver hair shining with rainwater. “I was on my way to respond to the whistle when I ran into this servant,” he spits, and I cringe at the word. “She claims she was out walking in the woods.” He looks hard at Taya and then from me to Graylin. “Did either of you see it?”
“I did,” I say shortly, not wanting to think about my failure to take the Solarian down. After I let it get away, it found Taya—it must have been sheer dumb luck that the Prince was there, and it didn’t kill her. “I shot at it, but I guess not straight enough.”
I feel sick as everyone looks at me and I try to figure out how to do damage control. I told Taya to quit it with her midnight strolls. But I also lied to her about why—that stupid mountain lion story which she probably saw right through. Why did I expect her to stay in when I hadn’t told her about the real danger?
Taya and the Silver Prince lock eyes, which only makes me feel worse.
“I just saw the Solarian down by Mirror Lake, so it must be close,” I say to the Prince, trying to break the tension. “I’ll handle Taya,” I add, not needing to fake the glare I shoot her way.
“Inside.” I turn to her. “Come on, it isn’t safe out here.”
She nods, mouth pressed into a thin line. Suddenly I realize how oddly she’s sitting, hunched over with her left arm in front of her. How she’s slow to stand. She’s hurt. But she doesn’t say anything, just falls into step beside me as we walk back toward the inn. Fear climbs bitterly up the inside of my throat as we walk. I offer an arm, but she shakes her head, jaw set.
“I’m fine. Just need to sit down for a bit.”
“What are you even doing out here?” I ask her, shaking rain out of my eyes. “This isn’t a midnight walk, more like a midnight swim.” I try to keep the annoyance out of my voice, but it’s hard. Her inability to sit tight like everyone else at the inn just made me look like an idiot in front of the Silver Prince. Like I can’t even keep our staff inside for a few days, much less run the whole inn.
“Looking for the Solarian.” Her eyes flash defiantly, cutting off my argument before I can make it. “And I found it.”
“What?” Shock pulls the word from me. “How do you even know about that?”
“I put two and two together. It wasn’t hard.” Irritation and pain mix in her voice. “You told me the door was open and that there was something dangerous on the grounds. I can shoot. I can fight. I want to help, even if it got me first this time before running off. You promised to help me find Terran. I can help you with this.”
I flinch at the memory. It seems like a dumb, empty promise now, in the daylight. Why did I promise Taya to help get her brother back when everything is falling apart around me? Will we even live that long?
“But you’re hurt.”
Taya nods, not meeting my eyes. “I guess I do need to work on those shooting-and-fighting skills.” She pulls her jacket closer to her body. “I’d say it’s just a scratch, but unfortunately that’s not actually the case.”
I still catch a glimpse, a mess of shiny red at her shoulder, and my stomach drops.
Wordlessly I take the lead, steering her inside to a heated back porch that Willow has converted into a temporary infirmary. The healers must still be outside. From the porch, we can see the town of Haven laid out beneath us like something out of a toy train set, untouched by the storm. It looks strange to see the sun on the distant buildings while thunder still shakes Havenfall’s foundations.