Page 89 of Rejected Hollow

This sound was different.

There was pain in it.

Varga raised the staff, but he was too slow.

Silas struck once. His claws tore through the wood and continued into Varga’s forearm.

Varga hit the sand screaming, one hand clamped over the wound while blood ran through his fingers.

The class scattered.

Students scrambled for the rope ladders and began shifting as they climbed. A wolf shoved past a lynx while two badgers fought for space beneath them. Someone near the upper tier was shouting for Oda.

Silas remained in the center of the Pit with blood on his claws, his chest rising and falling violently as his head swung from side to side.

I searched his eyes for some sign of him and found nothing.

There was no recognition in them.

Jax was on his feet beside me despite his ribs.

Across the ring, Kaelen vaulted down into the sand. His fingers were already lengthening, his eyes bright gold as he moved between Silas and the bench where I was sitting.

I stood up and climbed onto the ladder.

“Wren,” Jax said behind me. I had never heard him sound like that before. “Wren, no.”

Kaelen turned at the sound of my name. When he saw what I was doing, the color left his face. “Hale. Get back.”

“No.” I climbed down another rung. “You’ll make it worse. Both of you stay where you are.”

I didn’t know why they listened.

Maybe it was because I used the same voice I had used at work when a frightened Rottweiler was cornered on an examination table and everyone else in the room needed to stop moving. Calm, level, and leaving no space for argument.

Kaelen froze where he stood, every muscle in his body drawn tight, his claws still half extended. Jax stopped halfway down the ladder.

I stepped onto the sand and began walking toward Silas.

I didn’t approach him head-on. You never walked directly at a frightened animal unless you wanted to give it another reason to feel trapped.

Instead I moved at an angle, keeping my pace slow and my body loose. My shoulders stayed low, my hands open at my sides where he could see them.

I didn’t meet his eyes.

I watched the ground just ahead of his feet and kept moving, one careful step after another, while I spoke in a low, steady voice.

“Hey. It’s all right. I know it hurts. Nobody’s going to touch you. It’s just me.”

The half-bear turned toward me.

His red eyes found me.

A warning sound rolled out of his chest, low enough that I felt the vibration through my jaw.

Every instinct I had told me not to go any closer.

I took another step anyway.