Havenfall (Havenfall #1)(51)

Once everyone is dressed and has their weapons strapped on, Willow makes the rounds, handing us each one more thing from a cloth pouch at her waist. A Byrnisian whistle, sleekly carved from what looks like onyx.

“We’ll split up in the woods to cover more ground,” she explains, raising her voice just enough to be heard above the rain. “The gravity barrier has likely stopped the Solarian from leaving the grounds, so we should expect to find it. But whoever does, they are not to attack the beast alone. Blow the whistle, and the rest of us will come to aid.”

Fear roils my insides as Graylin opens the front door, and the rain and wind and sound of distant thunder gust into the hall. Outside, against the dim not-quite-dawn, the pine trees dance frantically in the wind.

Graylin catches my arm as I go to file out, the rest of the group already spreading out over the lawn, shadowy figures disappearing into the rain. “Maddie,” he says, voice rough from lack of sleep. “You don’t have to do this. No one is expecting you to.”

“I know.” I smile at him as best I can and walk outside, flinching at the freezing rain that immediately splatters my face. “But I’m not doing it for anyone else.” I’m doing it for Havenfall.

Graylin and I part ways on the lawn, and I don’t let myself stop and think, but plunge straight into the trees. I can do this.

I know these woods. Brekken and I played here as kids, too many hours to count spent dodging between the trees, turning sticks we picked up off the ground into swords and wizards’ wands, chasing squirrels and pretending to be Byrnisian warriors after a squall-storm, or crouching very still in the undergrowth, imagining ourselves Fiorden hunter-warriors. I’ve spent days alone out here trying to catch glimpses of foxes or deer, wandered the grounds after dark to see a meteor shower or the night-blooming Byrn flowers Willow planted in the woods.

I have never, not once, felt afraid here. But now I am nothing but fear. It crawls under my skin, feeling like it’s going to burst free any second, changing the familiar shapes of the trees and bushes into shadows strange and threatening. At least the overhang of leaves stops most of the hail. Small animals scuttle through the undergrowth and the distant shouts wrap around me as thunder shudders my bones. I listen for a whistle, but the woods seem to swallow sound, like a stone sinking through water without leaving a ripple.

The woods are dark, the light level more like twilight than sunrise with the swollen gray rain clouds. I cut in the direction of Mirror Lake, so that the ground slopes slightly downward under my feet.

And something blue flashes up ahead of me. As my head snaps up to look, my foot catches on a root and all at once I’m sprawling, hitting the ground hard on my ribs and elbows and rolling. The carpet of dead leaves and pine needles absorbs the blow, but not by much, and stars burst in front of my eyes as the back of my head slams into the earth. A coppery taste fills my mouth as I roll back around and heave to my feet, grasping for the whistle and blowing it. The shriek cuts through the air, blasting my ears.

Another flash of dark blue through the trees, and terror spills through me. It’s here.

I stagger backward. Hail spatters the ground around me. The blue flash was maybe twenty yards away. My hand flies to my waist but I feel only my belt, the sheath light and empty. Where’s my revolver?

I see it lying on the ground to my left, just as the Solarian bursts into view up ahead.

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.