Jade Bones's Arc

Chapter 3 of 6

Jade marched north for an hour, the vines on her legs tugging like leashed dogs. Then, between one step and the next, they went slack. The pull died. She stood still in the cold quiet, her arms suddenly light, her boots rooted in moss. In front of her stood a pile of green bones. They were arranged like a walking figure mid-stride, ribs open to the sky. A marker. A joke. The vines had brought her here and stopped on purpose. Jade ripped the tracking compass from her belt. Its roots curled tight around the brass. The needle spun once, then pointed past the bones, toward a stone mansion half-hidden in the trees. Ivy climbed its walls. A blue clock stared down from its peak. She had not seen it a moment ago. A small creature crept out from behind a mossy boulder near the mansion steps. It had a koala's face, a cat's tail, and scaled feet. It blinked at her, then turned its head toward the boulder it came from. Something behind that rock was breathing. She heard it now. Slow. Waiting. Jade drew her knife. She did not run at the boulder. She backed toward the bone marker and crouched low, putting the green ribs between her and whatever watched. Her compass pulsed hot against her palm. The trap had a mouth, and she had walked to its edge. She would not step closer tonight. She marked the mansion in her mind, marked the boulder, marked the silent vines. Then she slipped sideways into the brush. The hunt was no longer hers alone. Now she knew exactly where he was hiding, and he did not know she had seen him.