Avery Rhiannon's Arc

Chapter 10 of 17

At dawn, Avery found a trail of damp webbing strung between the stones outside the clinic door. It led to a hollow shape woven against the rocks, glowing faintly from within. Inside lay a creature she could not name — long-limbed, breathing in slow flutters, a torn patch along its side. She knelt by the cocoon and felt her training fall short. No book in her bag matched this shape. She ran to the small stone cabin near the slope, swept the shelves clear, and lined the floor with soft cloth. A quiet room. Reinforced walls. A door that closed. Avery pulled on a pair of worn leather gloves, the fingertips reinforced, the inner pockets stuffed with gauze. She lifted the creature slowly. It did not bite. She carried it to the cabin and laid it on the cloth, cleaning the wound with water alone, since she did not know what else was safe. By afternoon, the creature slept. Avery sat outside the closed door with her notebook open, no name yet written. Tom came up the slope and stopped. She met his eyes. "I don't know what it is," she said. "But it's alive. And it's ours now."