BEHIND THEM, SMOKEJUMPER CAN HEAR Beetle and Henbane murmuring together.     “What do you think that was?” Beetle asks.     “I don’t know,” Henbane says, miserably. They managed to get her free with a swing of Halftruth’s scythe, severing the malformed courser’s head from its body. The vice-like jaws remained, attaching...

    AT THE VERY BACK OF the group, Henbane grunts when Beetle, just in front of her, suddenly stops. “Move,” she hisses, shoving at his hindquarters. “I can’t get around you.” When he doesn’t move or answer her, she huffs, loud and purposefully annoying, and shoves harder. He stumbles forward a step, and then turns to glare at her over his shoulder, ears pinned.     “Stop being annoying,” he ...

    THE TWITCH OF HALFTRUTH’S LONG ears, rotating to pick up every little sound, paired with the way Brimstone suddenly stops, nose tilted up as he sniffs the air, is what makes Smokejumper stop in their tracks. “What is it?”     The blue light of Aurae bobbing just in front of Halftruth’s chest tints her pink coat purple. “There’s something in here. I can hear… squeaking.” ...