Branches whipped past the car in a frenzy of motion. The engine screamed as Sam pushed it harder than it was ever meant to go, tires grinding against the narrow forest road.
But no matter how fast they went…
The hounds were faster.
Violet sparks flickered between the trees, glimpses of jagged limbs, elongated skulls, bodies that shifted shape with every bound. Their howls split the night air, wrong and many-layered, like multiple creatures trying to speak through the same throat.
In the back seat, Emerald clung to consciousness. Every bump in the road jostled the instability inside her. Her magic writhing like something half-awake and furious.
Sara held her steady, arms wrapped tight around her waist. "Stay with me, Em. Just breathe."
"I....." Emerald choked, doubling over. Her vision pulsed green. "I can feel them. Every single one."
Noah twisted around from the passenger seat, pressing one hand on the dashboard to brace himself. "They're gaining. Sam, please tell me you have a plan besides 'floor it and pray.'"
"I always have a plan," Sam snapped.
"Does this one involve us not dying?"
Sam gritted her teeth. "…Working on it!"
The Sentinel braced itself in the trunk area, runes glowing brighter each time the hounds howled. "Do not allow them to flank us. If they surround the car, the Queen will open a path through you."
"Fantastic," Sam muttered. "Love that for us."
Noah squinted into the mirror. "Wait...what does that mean? She'll....open a path?"
The Sentinel's voice dropped. "She will rip you apart. Piece by piece. Until she reaches Emerald."
Sara held Emerald tighter. "Sam, speed up!"
"I am speeding!" Sam yelled, slamming the pedal harder, though the car was already at its limit.
A hound burst from the right side of the road. It landed in a spray of dirt and pine needles, a tangle of bone and shadow. Its face, if it could be called that split open, revealing spiraled rows of violet light.
Emerald's magic jolted violently in her chest.
Sara gasped. "Sam!"
"I see it!"
Sam swerved hard. The creature lunged and struck the side of the car with a thunderous crack.
Emerald's head whipped back. Pain shot through her skull.
"Hold on!" Sam shouted.
Another hound vaulted from the left, its claws raking along the passenger door with sparks that glowed violet instead of orange.
Noah slammed his shoulder against the door instinctively, as if he could keep it shut by force. "Sentinel! Any time you want to jump in, now would be great!"
The Sentinel reached one arm out the broken back window. Its runes flared silver, forming a circular glyph in midair.
A pulse of energy erupted...
...but the hound dodged, phasing halfway into the trees as if slipping through a second layer of reality.
Emerald gasped. "They're crossing… between the planes…"
The Sentinel's runes dimmed. "Correct. The veil is weak. They can phase freely."
Sam cursed. "So they can jump through trees and we're stuck on a crappy dirt road? Perfect. Love this game."
From deeper in the forest, more violet lights flared.
Dozens.
Maybe hundreds.
Sara's breath hitched audibly. "Sam. Sam. Please."
"I know, I know!"
Emerald's pulse hammered. Her magic thrashed harder, reacting to the hounds like a fire reacts to oxygen.
She felt one of the creatures' attention on her sharp, focused, intimate. As though its mind brushed against her own.
She flinched violently.
"Emerald?" Sara asked, voice cracking. "What is it? What do you feel?"
Emerald shook her head, panting. "Something?...one of them...it's speaking. I can't understand the words, but it's calling to me."
Noah turned pale. "Like… to surrender?"
"No." Emerald shut her eyes, terrified. "More like… recognition. Like it knows me."
A howl ripped through the air. The largest hound yet burst from the darkness ahead, its body towering over the road, violet cracks splitting its ribcage like molten seams.
Sam slammed the brakes.
"Everyone brace!!"
The car skidded sideways, tires shrieking.
The hound landed in their path with a thud that shook the entire forest. Pine needles rained from above.
Its head lowered.
Its violet eyes fixed directly on Emerald.
Sara grabbed Emerald's hand. "Don't look at it! Emerald, don't."
Emerald couldn't look away.
Her magic rose unbidden, flooding her veins, lifting the hair on her arms.
Inside her chest, something ancient stirred.
Not just magic.
Power.
The hound inhaled, and violet smoke curled from its jaws.
The Sentinel climbed halfway out the window, runes blazing like fire. "Sam. When I say now, turn the wheel sharply right."
"Got it!"
The hound tensed its muscles, preparing to lunge..
The Sentinel fired a bolt of blinding white energy.
"NOW!"
Sam yanked the wheel.
The bolt hit the hound square in the ribs. The creature reared back, roaring in a fractured, many-voiced scream as the car swerved around its massive form.
They shot past it, barely missing the creature's claws.
But as they passed..
Emerald felt it.
A tether.
Invisible. Cold. Binding her to the hound.
Pulling at her magic.
The creature had marked her.
She choked on a sob. "Sam...drive...faster...please..."
The tether tightened, draining her strength like siphoned heat.
Sara pulled Emerald into her lap, holding her as if she could anchor her to the world by touch alone. "Stay with me. Emerald! Hey, stay with me."
Emerald shook violently. "It's drawing power from me… through the mark. I can feel it."
Noah turned in his seat. "Sentinel! How do we break it?"
"We cannot," the Sentinel said grimly. "Only distance weakens the siphon."
Sam pressed the accelerator to the floor, her knuckles white around the wheel. "Then we put a whole continent between us and that thing!"
The car roared forward.
But the forest ahead glowed faintly.
Violet cracks spreading across the air itself.
Noah's breath caught. "The veil… it's splitting in front of us."
The Sentinel stiffened. "The Queen is trying to cut off our path."
Emerald's magic surged again...violent, wild.
Sara felt it and cupped Emerald's cheeks gently. "Em. Look at me."
Emerald forced her eyes open.
"I'm here," Sara whispered. "I won't let go. Not now. Not ever."
Emerald's breath shook. "Sara…"
Sam's voice cut through the moment. "Hate to interrupt, but we're about to drive into a tear in reality! Anyone got ideas?!"
A hound lunged from behind them, claws catching the back bumper and tearing metal like cloth.
Noah screamed, "Sam!!"
Emerald squeezed her eyes shut.
She didn't want this.
She didn't want to be hunted.
She didn't want anyone hurt because of her.
Her magic bucked inside her chest...
..and something inside her snapped.
Not breaking.
Releasing.
She sat up abruptly, eyes blazing green.
"I'll hold the veil."
Sara stared. "What? How?"
"I don't know," Emerald said. "I just know I can."
The Sentinel looked alarmed, but didn't stop her.
Emerald reached out with both hands;
Not touching the physical world.
Touching the barrier.
The tear ahead pulsed.
The hound on the bumper shrieked.
Emerald screamed.
Her magic poured out of her like a tidal wave of green light, hitting the fracture in the veil head-on.
The tear shuddered.
The creatures behind them recoiled.
Sam drove straight through the fading crack.
The world snapped back to normal.
The hounds vanished behind them.
Emerald collapsed into Sara's arms, eyes rolling back, breath shallow.
"Emerald?!"
Noah twisted around, panic flooding his face. "Is she breathing? Sam! Pull over."
"No!" Sara cried. "We can't stop. They'll be back."
The Sentinel leaned forward between the seats, its voice low and grave.
"She is alive. But the hound's mark has not faded."
Sam cursed. "Meaning what?"
The Sentinel stared at the road ahead.
"Meaning they can always find her now."
Sara pulled Emerald tightly against her chest, tears spilling down her cheeks.
And Emerald, half-conscious, heard the Sentinel's final words drift through the darkness.
Words that chilled her even through the pain:
"The Queen will not need scouts next time.
She will come herself."