Page 19 of Moonmarked

Branches tore at my arms as I ran, half-blind from my hair and the leaves. Not sure how long we kept going until I heard the sorcerers—screaming or chanting or laughing—and it wasn’t justoneby the sound of it. There were more, and they were close. Far too close.

As I ran, I looked for a place to hide, aplace that looked safe, but the woods all looked the same. Trees blurred past, snarling roots and thorns catching at my jacket, but the dog who still ran ahead dodged with such precision I had trouble believing my own eyes.

Nowhere to go.

The sorcerers were right behind me, and I had no doubt that the dog would be long gone by the time they captured me. Thank God. At least one of us would survive this place, and the dog already had a better chance of getting out of Mysthaven anyway, so I wasn’t even mad.

No, I was just terrified.

And then the dog came to a halt abruptly just ten feet away from me.

I tried, too, when the trees just ended in a straight line, and I suddenly found myself at the edge of a cliff.

But I couldn’t stop. The space between the edge and the last row of trees was very narrow, and I already had a lot of momentum, and the ground beneath my feet was suddenlyslippery, so I couldn’t stop moving.

The scream stuck in my throat. I pushed myself back, but I was still going to fall off the cliff, when…

Something grabbed me from behind by the edge of the velvet jacket and pulled me to the side violently. I did a full circle before I fell on the ground on all fours, to see the dog by my side with the jacket still locked between his jaws.

Fucking hell, did that just happen?!

He saved my life. The edge of cliff wasjust there,right behind me, and if the dog hadn’t pulled me to the side, I’d have fallen.

“Fuck,” I choked, shaking from head to toe. “Thank you, thank you, little guy. Thank you…”

The dog let go of my jacket and bared his teeth as he stepped forward, looking at the trees, at the darknessbetween them—at the sound of footsteps approaching, and those voices as well. The laughter or chanting or whatever it was they were doing.

The sorcerers were so, so close.

My heart thundered in my chest. My legs nearly gave out when I pushed myself to my feet, still hopeful, still trying to find a way to survive—anything at all.

Except there was nothing there. No safe place. Nobody would even hear me if I screamed at the top of my lungs. Ahead of me were only trees, and behind, possibly thirty feet below the edge of the cliff, there was only cracked earth and sun-bleached stone—a barren riverbed if I had to guess, a mile wide, and trees continued on its other side, too.

That’s it. That’s all I could see around me.

And I thought, maybe if I jumped, the fall wouldn’t be fatal. Maybe, if I wrapped my arms around my head, I could make it with just a couple broken bones.

But then how would I run?

A growl that vibrated throughout me as if the sound was coming from deep withinme,not the dog who was still baring his teeth at the trees.

No, not the trees.

The sorcerers were already here.

Every instinct in my body screamed at me at the same time. Big dark eyes, sharp claws, fangs, dark clothes—they were almost the same, or they looked the same at first glance. But one was taller, and one had hair a walnut brown, and one had large breasts that she’d pushed up almost to her chin with a tight corset around her waist—but the one in the middle held my attention the most. Greasy grey hair, dark eyes like endless pits, a smile that could make the devil himself turn the other way…

She took a step forward, coming out of the tree line, mouth still twisted in a cruel smile.

“End of the line, girl,” she said, her voice low, curling like smoke around my ears. I backed closer to the ledge, and the dog stepped back, too, snarling.

“You thought you could steal from me and walk away?” Another step.

“Well, now you didall of usa favor,” said the one with the corset, waving a clawed finger around, her other hand around her hips, her smile even more terrifying because she lookedhappy.Purely happy to be there.

“Get her, Eurith,” said the sorcerer with the brown hair. “Let’s get on with it—get her.”

The dog growled again. The sorcerer raised a brow.

---