Blue's Arc

Chapter 2 of 5

The compass had led Blue north for hours when the sky turned against her. Black wings cut through the falling snow. Three huge birds dropped from the clouds, their eyes burning red, their claws dark as old blood. The first one screamed and dove. Blue ran. Her cub clung to her shoulder and spat bubbles of pale light behind them. A claw raked her sleeve. Blue stumbled and nearly dropped the compass. Ahead, a dark slit split the rock face. A cave. She sprinted for it. The birds wheeled for another dive. Her cub leapt from her shoulder and flooded the air with glowing bubbles. The screens of light hid them for one breath. Blue dove through the opening as talons scraped stone behind her. Inside, the dark swallowed her. Wings beat at the mouth of the cave, then faded. The birds could not follow. Blue pressed her back to the wall and breathed hard. Her cub pressed against her leg, its bubbles dimming. A bowstring creaked in the dark. "Don't move," a voice said. Flat. Calm. Blue froze. A boy stepped from the shadows. He wore black from his coat to his boots, metal plates over his chest, a wooden crossbow raised at her. His hair was black, his eyes dark purple. He was not much older than she was. "I'm not a monster," Blue said. "The birds chased me." He studied her, then the cub. The crossbow lowered an inch. "Glacier condors. They hunt what's lost out here." He nodded at the cave mouth. "You led them to me." "I didn't know you were here." "No one does." He lowered the bow fully. "I'm Raven. I hunt things that shouldn't exist." He turned back into the dark. "Stay quiet." Blue followed. The cave bent deeper. Then light stopped her. A crystal sphere sat on a flat stone, as large as her two hands. Star-shaped points crowned it. Blue energy pulsed inside. As she neared, a beam of light shot from its heart and struck the far wall. The beam spread across the rock. Lines formed, glowing blue. Mountains. A frozen river. And at the end, a cluster of broken towers marked with human runes. "A map," Blue whispered. The runes matched the ones on her compass. Raven looked at the wall, then at her. "You can read that?" "Some of it." Blue's heart raced. The towers were the old human ruins. Another site, far past where she had planned to go. "My grandmother taught me the shapes." Raven was quiet. Then he said, "The thing I'm tracking came from those ruins." He slung his bow. "We're going the same way." Blue looked at the glowing path on the wall. The compass had brought her to more than shelter. It had brought her a map, and a hunter who wanted the same ruins she did. But the condors still circled outside, and now someone else knew where she was headed.