“I have already left coin at his desk and a note explaining our earlier-than-planned departure. We will have to rather permanentlyborrowhis boat, but I left enough for him to purchase another.” She had to have slipped out when I fell asleep to do that. I realized sheneverplanned for the innkeeper to ferry us anywhere; Hesper only wanted people to think that. In case anyone listened, they’d lose our trail.
She adeptly slipped through the open window onto the roof below. I turned back to the bed, scanning the room for any forgotten items.
“The seed pack and your books are accounted for, Clara. We have to go.”
I hopped through the window, not caring to look back at the gathering darkness in the room. I fumbled my landing, tripping down the steep, sloping shingles. Hesper caught my arm, but not before a shingle broke off and shattered on the ground. The silence of the night broke. We all waited with bated breath to see what would come next.
A low growl sounded from the distance. Edge whispered something to Hesper I couldn’t hear and flew off, presumably to get Warty and meet us elsewhere.
“Follow me,” Hesper whispered. She all but carried me off of the roof and onto the rain gutters, then motioned for me to hop onto her back. We wereveryhigh up, and the drainpipe we needed to scurry down was quite slender. But still, I could do it myself.
“I don’t need—”
“Donotfinish that sentence,” She grabbed me by my waistbefore I could protest. Which was all well and good, seeing as our lives were in danger and, though my parents didn’t like me, I was still an only child and sometimes—apparently—I acted like it.
We landed on the ground without a sound, slinking back into the shadows. But they offered little comfort. Any piece of darkness could besomethingelse.
We edged our way behind carts and through the empty market streets. Thank the Goddess everyone was inside their homes, safe—for now. The thought settled in my stomach like a rock. We should have never come here. Sleeping in forests might have gotten us killed, but at least it didn’t put anyone else in danger.
Growls echoed in the night. Hesper and I stilled our walking. We hid behind a cart that smelled like jasmine and sage, but even that couldn’t calm me. Every breath felt like a nail in my own coffin. Soft thuds rang through the street, inching closer with each moment. Hesper was a skilled warrior, there was no doubt about that, but the thought of bloodshed in these streets felt like a desecration.
A loud squawk came from the skies. The hounds were still out of view but based on the slowing of their paws against the pavement, their pursuit had halted. They were so close I could hear them sniffing the air. The squawk then turned into a whisper. Edge was leading them away from us as best he could. For a moment, I thought they wouldn’t take the bait. But then a growl came from farther down the street. The hounds raced forward, following the presumed leader.
How could they not have smelled us? If they could track a scent through a heavily wooded forest, they could do so inthe market. That’s when I noticed the smell surrounding me wasn’t from the market cart. It was from my cloak. The seer, she must have laced this cloak with herbs that would hide my scent—possibly even Hesper’s, too, if she was close enough.
We made a run for the docks. The moonlight shone so bright that the entire street looked bathed in silver. The shoreline lay just ahead, no sign of the hounds at our backs yet. I could still hear Edge distantly, whispering through the skies. Maybe Warty was throwing his quills after all.
Hesper hopped onto a small sailboat, barely big enough for two. She hauled me up and over the side of the boat before I could even get my boots wet.
Finally, the hounds came.
Their racing paws sounded like thunder, the whole pack cloistered together. Hesper whipped out a blade, cut the rope from the docks, and began to set sail. But not before she whistled out to the racing hounds, taunting them.
“What the hell are you doing?” I spat.
The hounds came into full view, the moonlight highlighting every gruesome part of them. They were larger than wolves, with inky-black matted fur and maws with teeth so hooked and jagged, they couldn’t close their own mouths without cutting into their jaws. They were something out of a nightmare. Margast still took the cake for most terrifying, but several small Margasts could do as much mental damage to my dreams.
We were well into the water now, not that it would make much difference. The hounds splashed into the sea, paddling faster than seemed possible.
Which must have been Hesper’s plan all along. She didn’twant to leave these hounds here, either. No, she would let Marielle’s waterways do the dirty work, ensuring Lore was safe from the hounds and their blood.
A low, earth-rumbling moan came from beneath our boat. My heart leapt into my throat.
The boat caught a night breeze, and we cut through the water. The sound emanating from below was so loud that even the waves were sloshing oddly at the disruption. The hounds ignored it, gaining on us despite the wind in our sails.
A pink tail flipped out of the water to our left. We both ran over to it so quickly, the boat tipped dangerously.
Marielle’s head popped out, a wicked grin on her face.
“Thanks for the late-night snack,” she said, razor-sharp teeth now glimmering in the moonlight.
Growls turned into yelps. A flash of green in the moonlight, and a hound disappeared. Another flash of purple and two more hounds were gone. Soon, a frenzy of vicious mermaids took each hound under until only the leader pursued us. His eyes burned coal red, just like Margast’s.
The leader was larger and faster than the rest. His head sliced through the water like a shark’s fin, intent on its prey. The moonlight glinting off the lapping waves brought the leader into full view. Margast was terrible, yes. But this leader, thisthing, was raw and pure hunger. He left his legion behind, intent on tearing into Hesper and me, not caring that his fellows met their end right in front of him.
He licked his maw, deeply slicing open his tongue on his own jagged teeth. Blood and gore dribbled into the water—dark, swirling pools of it clouding around the monster.
“One moment,” Marielle sang as she dove into the water,the final hound mere feet away from our boat. I grabbed onto Hesper, who already had her crossbow aimed at the beast. Just as he closed in enough for her to shoot down his bloodied throat, he sank into the inky black water. A single bubble rose to the surface, the only hint at the fight raging beneath us.
