Page 59 of Winter’s Teeth

Squaring back my shoulders, I stood my ground and growled, “Well? You just gonna glare at me? Come on!”

The beast launched off its hindquarters. It bared shark-sharp teeth that could snap me in half.

I stumbled backwards, unable to run away when I tripped over my own feet and a root.

Just before imminent death came, a giant paw clubbed the beast upside the head, knocking him down mid-lunge.

I yelped, the air catching in my throat, but Fox was on the other beast a second later, turning the tables and raking his massive claws across the creature’s chest. He barely scuffed up fur, let alone flesh and sinew, but it was a good warning, because the creature squirmed and wriggled free to take off running as fast as he could, tail between his legs.

For a minute—or maybe a time-bending eternity—I remained frozen on the ground. I had always heard about out of body experiences, but this was definitely my first encounter with one.

After the other creature ran off, Fox crouched, and his form rippled back into that of a young man’s. Fully clothed, to my slight disappointment.

He clutched a hand to his bleeding shoulder. Every drop of blood that hit the ground sizzled and steamed, like boiling water hitting the stove range. “He probably ran off to get backup,” he rasped, but the words were muffled, like I was hearing them through a bubble.

“Rae.”

I inhaled sharply, and everything came back into stark focus. The crisp sound of whistling air and no other life in the forest. The rustle of Fox’s feet when he shuffled closer. The creak of a window shutter on the cabin.

“I’m weak, you’re vulnerable. We have to run.”

Somehow, I let him get within a few inches, but when he reached out, I flinched backward.

He might have saved my life, but he was still... He wasn’t human.

He wasn’t normal.

He wasn’t safe.

Once I was moving again, I scrambled back further and lurched to my feet. My head snapped to the cabin. “I have to get her.”

A hand clamped down on my bicep and began dragging me away.

“They’re coming,” he wheezed.

“But— Everly!”

“We’ll come back, but we can’t stay here,” Fox snapped hotly.

Distantly, I thought I heard crashing in the forest beyond. I knew in the back of my mind that he was right. That more enemies were coming, and Fox was in no condition to hold them off again. He’d almost died just fending off one.

My aim with rocks wasn’t the problem.

“Everly!” I screeched as Fox threw me over his good shoulder.

Beating on his back, I raged and screamed. I reached for the cabin even as we plunged into the thick of the forest again, getting further and further from my sister.

I still didn’t know if she was in there, but it was the closest we’d come to finding her.

And we were turning away.

“I promise I’ll find you! I promise I’ll come back!”

The cabin disappeared, and keening howls that weren’t even close to any animal I knew echoed through the forest.

If we didn’t make it out of here alive, I wouldn’t be coming back to save anyone.

“Fox—” I gasped. “Put me down, I can run faster.”