My night mare took off after it, the shades falling in behind us as we neatly cut around to the front of the hunt, blocking Fell and the others.
“Leila? What the—” Fell broke off into a string of expletives that were actually the sort of thing I’d like to scream at him as I shook him until his teeth jostled loose.
But violence is never the answer! Until it is, anyway.
Unlike Fell, Comet and I kept pace with the stag, practically riding on his tail.
The shades with us surged forward, creating a half circle behind the stag as they kept pace.
I saw the stag move to follow a much more narrow trail that broke off to the left, and I shouted “Block him!”
Whiskers leaped from a tree, his body stretched long as he released his angry goblin scream. He landed in the center of the path that split off, and the stag veered straight again.
“Hey, hey, hey!” I called into the forest.
Please be there. Please be there!
Three night mares emerged from the dark patches of the forest, streaking ahead to box the stag in.
They didn’t stop him—we couldn’t risk him slipping out of our trap because this was likely going to be the only chance we had.
But with the stag completely surrounded, we could more easily control what direction we wanted him to go.
The trick was finding a spot where wecouldcorner him.
Come on, Eclipse.My heart pulsed in my throat as I looked over the formation.
Faintly, I heard the high pitched, glass-shattering scream of a night mare.
“There!” I shouted. “Next left!”
The night mares obligingly parted, creating a slight gap in our formation.
When the stag charged left, they let him zoom up the path, running shoulder to shoulder with him.
Please, please, please, please.My breath hitched as the stag almost left our careful circle.
Like shadows, Muffin, Patches, and Fluffy surged out of the underbrush, screaming at the stag as their fangs gleamed in the faint light of the forest.
The stag jerked back, falling back into our formation as we moved in the direction Eclipse had called from.
We did it. The trickiest part of our trap was over. Now for the most dangerous part.
I loosened my death grip on my reins and ignored Fell—who was still complaining loudly somewhere behind us.
I could see the bright line ahead where the forest opened up into another field. A smear of black marked out Eclipse.
We bore down fast on the field—the stag’s breath sounding more and more labored.
Once we burst out of the forest I had to blink in the early afternoon sunlight to adjust my eyes, then I saw the giant rock formation.
A pile of massive boulders the size of cars had been clustered in a curving line, creating a sort of rock wall.
That was our target.
“Drive him!” I shouted.
The night mares opened up at the front, creating a clear path to the rocks, while the glooms pressed hard from the side.
