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A brush of soft lips met the thundering pulse in my neck as Ginger leaned in to be heard. “Don’t be startled. I’m going to wipe the dirt away from your eyes.” Then, a quick swipe of white fur washed over my eyes, removing the soil splattered from the uprooted tree.
I dodged and weaved, traversing the mountain, losing all sense of direction as the terrain forced my path. My heart galloped and I prayed to the goddess Sola that the cave entrance was near and unblocked.
“Go straight, JayJay.”
The ground turned smoother. My ears rang from the constant rumble, and the blue snow thickened into a blizzard that stung my eyes and blurred my vision. A bright spot in the chaos. I trusted Ginger’s steady voice to guide me with a singular focus.
“Now up past that clump.” Her hand darted out to point. “Just a bit farther.”
In the grove’s shelter, I paused. Ginger tapped me on the shoulder from where I cradled her against my stomach. Bent over and gasping, my legs trembled beneath me. Lungfuls of her intoxicating scent filled my heaving chest.
The adrenaline pumping through my body slowed. She motioned behind us, and I dragged my reluctant gaze from her hazel eyes to where she pointed down the mountain. We’d made it past the edge of the slide, but if we’d been caught any higher up… I pushed those thoughts away.
Unsettled ice rumbled in the distance, the mountain loosening its grip. It echoed like the call of the wrongly convicted seeking vengeance—calmer now, but my heart still beat like a stampeding herd of mantu, where her head rested.
Below us, a scraggly row of trees disguised the cave entrance. I’d overshot the entry when I’d launched us across the mountain, searching for an escape, and Ginger had found it. The way her lips tipped into a shy smile, so out of character for Ginger, hit me like a sucker punch to the gut.
I needed to get her out of my arms. That smile, her hazel eyes, her guiding voice… It was all too much.
Rocks shone magenta bright against the mountain as dusk arrived. Though splattered in mud, Ginger’s white hair shone more brilliantly than it all. I paused to take her in, unwilling to put her down, though the logical part of my brain prodded me to.
“Are you injured?” With one arm cradling her, I patted down her legs and arms. She seemed unharmed.
“I’m good.” She took off her mitt and wiped a thumb across my forehead ridge, frowning when it came back covered in blood. “But you’re—”
A screech rent the air.
My stomach plummeted, and the sickening feeling of having my worst fear realized turned my feet to lead. No weapons…no soldiers…alone with a female. The vibration from the snow slide must have drawn the monster from its lair.
“Is that what I think it is?” Ginger’s hoarse voice could barely be heard over her teeth knocking together.
Blanting hell, I was failing miserably at keeping my charge safe. As if rooted to the ground, I couldn’t break free of fear’s grip to walk us to the safety of the cave.
When I said nothing, she carried on, her voice stronger. “Please tell me you dragged me halfway up the mountain because you have a plan?”
I laughed. Her comment re-centered me. This Ginger, with her familiar sharp claws extended, rather than the helpful version who’d guided me through the snowslide, grounded me. I readjusted her in my arms and sped toward the cave entrance. “We hide in the blanting cave.”
Her dependence on me in this moment seeped through my skin like a sudden shower over parched land. I wanted to soak it up and swallow more. It fed something primal inside of me.
“No shit, Sherlock,” she muttered.
Another ear-piercing shriek ricocheted off the rocks. “Blant!” That familiar cry jerked through me like the electric bolt of a blaster. I hurdled a boulder as it rolled in front of us, legs throbbing. “Hellsna!”
When I looked over my shoulder, the beast’s bulbous head appeared over a slanted rock ledge, much too close for comfort. Where had it come from so fast? Ginger clutched my biceps, pumping with every stride though they were solidly wrapped around her.
Faster than me, the hellsna’s nearly opaque white body slithered over every obstacle in its path. My lungs stung from exertion. Ginger’s body stiffened in my arms as she duckedunder my armpit to watch the scene behind us. “It’s gaining on us,” Ginger shouted.
Its cries grew louder. Loose rocks rolled beneath my feet, forcing my usually agile body into a stumble-and-burst pattern as I charged. We’d be safe if I could just make it to the line of bent-over trees.
As if the hellsna could read my mind, it changed course slightly.
Ginger screamed, and her arms tightened around my neck. She had an unobscured view as the hellsna plunged at us in a side attack. “Holy shit, are those teeth?”
Fully visible, the sharp projections spiraled, dripping with saliva and the fetid remnants of its last kill. The sharp points coiled around its open maw, down its throat, and continued through its entire worm-like body. Ginger shuddered, and I clutched her tighter as the hellsna’s jaw clamped down on a boulder the vibrations from its massive body had stirred loose.
We needed to reach the cave. Never had something so close seemed so far away.
“There’s a drop-off!” Ginger pressed her mittens to my chest and seemed to shrink into an even smaller ball.
