The forest smelled different in the morning.

  Ruby noticed it the moment they stepped beyond the tree line.

  The air was colder there, shaded by tall pine and ash trees that stretched high above them like wooden towers. The ground was soft with fallen needles and damp earth, and somewhere deeper in the woods a distant woodpecker tapped steadily against a hollow trunk.

  Ruby adjusted the bow in her hands.

  It still felt strange.

  Not unfamiliar exactly—Ryan Anderson had done archery in Boy Scouts once—but strange in the way all things felt when you held them with the body of a ten-year-old girl.

  Darius walked ahead of her, moving quietly despite his size. Ruby had watched him long enough to notice the way he stepped carefully, pcing each boot where leaves were thinest so they wouldn’t crunch.

  He gnced back at her.

  “You’re doing alright back there?”

  Ruby nodded.

  “Yes.”

  “Your shoulders tight?”

  “A little.”

  “That’s normal. First hunt.”

  Ruby shifted the bow again.

  “Okay.”

  They walked in silence for a few minutes.

  Birdsong drifted through the branches above them.

  Then Darius spoke again.

  “So.”

  Ruby looked up.

  “So?”

  “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

  Ruby blinked.

  That question hit her strangely.

  Because the honest answer was simple.

  I want to bring my dead family back.

  But she couldn’t say that.

  And she couldn’t think of another answer.

  So she stayed quiet.

  Darius noticed.

  “Hard question?”

  “A little.”

  He chuckled softly.

  “Well your mother and I have been talking.”

  Ruby’s ears perked up immediately.

  “Oh?”

  “About you.”

  That made Ruby suspicious instantly.

  “What about me?”

  Darius stepped over a fallen log and motioned for her to follow.

  “You’re ten now.”

  “Yes.”

  “You read more books than the vilge priest.”

  Ruby shrugged.

  “Books are useful.”

  “They are,” Darius agreed. “But they also made your mother and I realize something.”

  Ruby waited.

  He looked over his shoulder at her.

  “It might be time you start learning a trade.”

  Ruby’s face twisted slightly.

  “A trade?”

  “Or an apprenticeship.”

  Ruby immediately disliked the sound of that.

  “What kind?”

  “Well,” Darius said thoughtfully, “you use fire magic.”

  “Yes.”

  “That opens some options.”

  Ruby’s stomach sank.

  “You could apprentice with the bcksmith.”

  Ruby imagined spending the rest of her life hammering metal.

  She hated it instantly.

  “Or,” Darius continued, “fire magic is useful in kitchens. Some noble houses employ fire mages just to keep ovens running.”

  Ruby felt her soul recoil.

  “A kitchen maid?”

  Darius shrugged.

  “It’s honest work.”

  Ruby stared at the ground as they walked.

  Every option sounded terrible.

  Her only goal in life was still the same.

  Find dark magic.

  Find a way to speak to the dead.

  Find Emma.

  Find the kids.

  But she couldn’t say any of that.

  Darius gnced back at her.

  “You’re quiet again.”

  Ruby kicked a pinecone.

  “I don’t like those options.”

  “Fair.”

  They walked a little further.

  Ruby finally said,

  “I could be an adventurer.”

  Darius stopped walking.

  Slowly he turned around.

  “Your mother would die of a heart attack.”

  Ruby crossed her arms.

  “You did it.”

  “Yes.”

  “And Grandma supported you.”

  Darius barked out a ugh.

  “No she didn’t. Well you're mother's mom did. Mine did not."

  Ruby blinked.

  “What?”

  “My parents hated it.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yes,” Darius said. “They didn’t really enjoy hearing stories about how I nearly became basilisk food.”

  Ruby snorted.

  “Or wyvern baby food.”

  Ruby nodded slowly.

  “Right.”

  He crouched beside her slightly so they were eye level.

  “If that’s really what you want, Ruby… you could.”

  Ruby’s eyes brightened slightly.

  “But.”

  There it was.

  “But?”

  “Your fire magic wouldn’t be enough.”

  Ruby frowned.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’d have to get very close to monsters to burn them.”

  Ruby looked down at the bow.

  “And this?”

  Darius tapped the bow lightly.

  “This helps.”

  Ruby nodded slowly.

  “I can practice.”

  “You will.”

  They walked again.

  Then Ruby suddenly raised a hand.

  “Shh.”

  Darius froze instantly.

  “What?”

  Ruby pointed slowly ahead.

  Between the trees stood a deer.

  A young buck grazing quietly.

  Darius crouched.

  Ruby followed.

  He leaned close and whispered.

  “Okay.”

  He pointed carefully.

  “See the shoulder?”

  Ruby nodded.

  “That’s where the lungs are.”

  He gently adjusted her elbow.

  “Draw slowly.”

  Ruby lifted the bow.

  The string creaked softly as she pulled it back.

  The Boy Scouts memory surfaced automatically.

  Breath steady.

  Focus.

  Release.

  She let go.

  The arrow flew.

  Thunk.

  The deer jumped violently.

  But the arrow had struck too far back.

  The deer bolted into the forest.

  Ruby winced.

  “...butt.”

  Darius sighed.

  “Yep.”

  They stood.

  “Now what?” Ruby asked.

  “We track it.”

  They followed the blood trail through the trees.

  Small dark drops dotted the ground.

  Ruby felt a knot in her stomach.

  “Did I hurt it badly?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will it suffer?”

  “Not long.”

  Ruby nodded quietly.

  Eventually the forest opened into a clearing.

  The deer stood there.

  Frozen.

  Barely breathing.

  Darius crouched immediately.

  Ruby did the same.

  “Okay,” he whispered.

  “Another arrow.”

  Ruby nodded and slowly nocked another arrow.

  “Good.”

  She drew the string again.

  The deer twitched weakly.

  “Steady…”

  Ruby released.

  The arrow flew—

  —but before it could reach the deer—

  The forest exploded.

  Something massive burst from the bushes.

  A giant sabre-tooth mountain lion smmed into the deer.

  Its jaws crushed the animal’s abdomen in one horrifying bite.

  Ruby froze.

  The lion’s golden eyes lifted slowly.

  And locked onto them.

  The sabre-tooth mountain lion moved first.

  One second the clearing was silent except for the dying deer’s ragged breathing.

  The next second the beast lunged.

  “Back!” Darius barked.

  Ruby stumbled backward as the creature’s enormous body unched forward, its paws tearing into the earth. The lion was massive—far rger than any mountain lion Ryan had ever seen in documentaries. Its shoulders alone reached Darius’s chest, and its curved fangs were longer than Ruby’s hand.

  Darius drew his sword in a fsh of steel.

  The bde sang as it cleared the sheath.

  The lion swiped.

  Darius twisted aside just in time. The creature’s paw carved through the air where his chest had been a heartbeat earlier. The force of the swing alone knocked leaves and dust into the air.

  Ruby’s voice trembled.

  “We should run!”

  Darius ughed.

  Not fearfully.

  Almost happily.

  “No,” he said, eyes bright with adrenaline. “I’ve taken down bigger.”

  The lion roared and lunged again.

  Darius met it head-on.

  Steel fshed.

  The sword cut across the creature’s face.

  A thin line of blood opened across one golden eye.

  The beast roared in fury.

  Its paw shed out again.

  This time Darius didn’t quite dodge fast enough.

  The cws raked across his chest.

  Cloth tore.

  Blood followed.

  Ruby felt the world tilt.

  “Dad!”

  “I’m fine!” he barked back.

  The lion lunged again.

  Darius ducked low and ran forward.

  He slid across the dirt beneath the creature’s massive body.

  Ruby’s heart stopped.

  The sword fshed upward.

  A long, jagged gash opened across the beast’s stomach.

  Not deep.

  But ugly.

  The lion staggered backward roaring.

  Darius rolled across the ground and sprang to his feet.

  For a moment it looked like he was winning.

  Ruby’s heart pounded.

  He’s going to kill it.

  Then the forest exploded again.

  Another shape burst from the trees.

  A second sabre-tooth.

  It smmed into Darius from the side like a falling boulder.

  The creature’s jaws cmped onto his shoulder.

  Ruby heard the bone crunch.

  Darius screamed.

  His sword flew from his hand.

  Ruby froze.

  Everything inside her stopped.

  Her father—her new father—was being ripped apart in front of her.

  The sound that came out of Ruby’s mouth was not dignified.

  It was not calm.

  It was not controlled.

  It was a scream.

  A raw, terrified, utterly unmanly scream.

  She couldn’t stop it.

  Fear flooded her body.

  Her hands shook as she grabbed another arrow.

  Nock.

  Draw.

  Release.

  The arrow struck the second lion’s side.

  It barely noticed.

  The beast lifted its head slowly.

  Its golden eyes locked onto Ruby.

  “God why…” she whispered.

  “Ruby RUN!” Darius shouted.

  He smmed his fist into the beast’s snout with his free hand, forcing it back just enough to roll away. Blood poured down his arm as he scrambled across the dirt and grabbed his fallen sword with his left hand.

  Ruby was hyperventiting now.

  The lions stood side by side.

  Both enormous.

  Both staring at them.

  Hungry.

  The wounded one bled from its eye and stomach.

  The other rolled its shoulders, muscles rippling beneath its tawny fur.

  They were preparing to pounce.

  Ruby’s hands trembled violently.

  She couldn’t breathe.

  Her vision blurred.

  Her brain screamed one word over and over.

  Run.

  But she couldn’t move.

  Her father stood in front of her.

  Bleeding.

  Barely holding the sword with his off hand.

  If she ran…

  He would die.

  Ruby’s mind shattered.

  If she died here…

  Maybe she could finally be with her family.

  Her chest tightened.

  If she died here, what would happen to her new family. Her mom and sister would be alone in this horrible world.

  No. She had to try, at least get rid of these things from the forest before going.

  Her mana surged.

  Ruby made a decision.

  If she was going to die—

  Magic was better than teeth.

  She reached inward.

  Deep.

  Deeper than she ever had before.

  Years of training.

  Years of building mana slowly like filling a reservoir.

  She grabbed all of it.

  Every drop.

  Pain exploded through her chest.

  Her hands ignited.

  Not a candle fme.

  Not a ntern glow.

  A storm.

  Liquid fire erupted from her palms.

  Molten psma bsted forward like the cork exploding from a shaken bottle.

  The clearing vanished in light.

  The fire roared across the ground in a tidal wave of bzing orange and white.

  It engulfed the lions.

  It engulfed the deer.

  It engulfed—

  Her father.

  The heat was unbearable.

  Ruby screamed.

  The world became fire.

  Then nothing.

  Her mana was gone.

  Her body colpsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

  Darkness swallowed her whole.