Riley Hawkins's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

The crows came in a black spiral, shrieking above the pines. Riley pressed flat against the moss, gauntlet humming blue at her wrist. Their cries would carry for miles. She heard a thin voice below the noise — a boy, calling from a pit of tangled roots. The beast would hear him too. Riley raised the runed gauntlet toward the circling flock. The stones flared. A pulse rolled out, and the infected crows dropped silent into the brush, wings folded mid-shriek. She slid down to the roots and cut the boy free with quick hands. He clung to her, shaking. The woods went quiet — too quiet. Somewhere past the ridge, something heavy lifted its head and started moving toward them.