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Maggie could have made it to the path aboveif she’d been by herself It was an easy climb, thirdlevel at uide Arcadia up a cliff like that

No time to double back to the forest, either

They’re going to get us, Maggie realized

"Get down," she whispered to Cady There wasahollow at the base of the boulder pile It would only hold one of them, but at least it was shelter

Even as she shoved Cady down into it, she hearda shout froainst the rock It was slippery with moss and lichen and she feltasexposed as a lizard on a wall All she could do was hang onand listen to the sounds of twocloser and closer

And closer, until Maggie could hear harshbreathing on the other side of the boulders

"It’s a dead end-" Gavin’s young voice began

"No They’re here" And that, of course, was Bern

And then there was the runts of soht

Maggie looked around desperately for a weapon

To her own athere as if it had been left especially for her A dried branch wedged in between the rocks aboveher Maggie reached for it, her heart beating fastIt was heavier than it looked-the cli to really dry out

And the rocks are wet, too Wet and slipperyAnd there’s one good thing about this place-they’llhave to come at us one at a time Maybe I can push them off, one by one

"Stay put," she whispered to Cady, trying to makeher breath last to the end of that short sentence"I’ve got an idea"

Cady looked beyond exhaustion Her beautifulface was strained, her ar, and she was breathing in silentshudders Her hair had come loose in a dark curtain around her shoulders

Maggie turned back, her heart beating in her throat and her fingertips, and watched the top of the boulders

But hat she atching for actually came, she felt a terrible jolt,asif it were completely unexpected She couldn’t believe that she was seeing the close-cropped top of a man’s head, then the forehead, then the cruel face Bern He wascliertips His huge shoulders appeared, then his barrel chest

And he was looking right at Maggie His eyes methers, and his lips curved in a sie She felt alht floataway from it But she didn’t faint She stayed h her like electricity-and she tightened her grip on the stick

Bern kept s, but his eyes were dark andexpressionless As she looked into the to another mind likehers

He’s not hu else, a distant part of her mind said with absolute conviction

And then one of his legs ca withhi likeathe stick "Stay away from us"

"You’ve causedto show you so"

There was a little noise behind her She glancedback in alaret up

"Don’t," Maggie said sharply Cady couldn’t, anyway After ato pull herself outof the hollow, she sluie turned back to see Bern lunging at her

She thrust the stick out It was coo for his head or his midsection; she jabbed at a fist-sized pit near his feet,turning the stick into a barrier to trip him

It alht underneath it and his lunge becaie saw hie muscle-bound apehe looked like In an instant he was recovering, throwing his weight sideways, jaet the stick unwedged, to use itagain, but Bern was fastHe wrenched it out of herhand, leaving splinters in her palie heard it hit the ledge behind her with explosive force

She tried to dodge, but it was already too late Bern’s big hand flashed forward, and then he hadher

He was holding her by both ar to mess with me?" he asked in disbelief "With me?Take a look at this"

His eyes weren’t cold and e, hotscent of an anied

It was like nothing Maggie had ever seen She was staring at his face, trying to look defiant, whenthe features seemed to ripple The coarse dark hair on his headacross a log Maggie’ssto to be sick, but she couldn’t stop looking

His eyes got s outto cover the white His nose and mouth thrust forward and his chin collapsed Two rounded ears uncurled like awful flowers on top of his head Andwhen Maggie was able to drag her eyes from hisface, she saw that his body had re-forone, his waist was gone, his long legs bulging with round

He was still holding Maggie tightly, but not withhands With coarse paws that had claws on the ends and that were unbelievably strong He wasn’t a person at all anyuely person-shaped He was a black bear, andhis shiny little pig-eyes stared into hers with aniie’s throat and

I just saw a shapeshifter shift shape, Maggiethought with an astonishment that seemed dim andfaraway She was sorry she’d doubted Jeanne

And sorry she’d blown it for Cady-and Miles Sylvia had been right She was just an ordinary girl, only maybe extraordinarily stupid

Down on the lower boulders, Gavin was laughinga ivory-whiteteeth, darker at the roots, and lots of saliva Maggiesaw a string of it glisten on the hair of his jowlShe felt the paws flex on her ar hit

That hat it looked like A flash that blindedher,as bright as the sun, but blue It crackled infront of her eyes, see the y It see the bear

The aniid, his headthrown back, his iewould have believed possible The energy hadstruck him just beloould have been theneck on aa thinsound of terror His mouth was open as wide as Bern’s, his eyes were fixed on the lightning

But it wasn’t lightning It didn’t strike and stop It kept on crackling into Bern, its forevery second Little electrical flickers darted through his bristling fur, crackling down his chestand belly and up around his ht she could see blue flaave a keening, inhu

Maggie didn’t watch to see where he went Herht

She had to o of her

She had no idea as happening to hi killed And thatwhen he was dead he was going to topple off the mountain and take her with hi now, the stink of s flesh and fur, and she could actually see isps rising fro cooked fro fast

She squirrip of the paws that seemed to clutch her reflexively She pushed and shoved at hiet him to loosen his hold just an inch It didn’t work

She felt as if she were being s pelt that was catchingon fire Why the lightning wasn’t killing her, too,she didn’t know All she kneas that she wasbeing crushed by his size and his weight and thatshe was going to die

And then she gave a violent heave and kicked ashard as she could at the animal’s lower belly Shefelt the shock of solid flesh as her shin connected And, unbelievably, she felt hi her

Maggie fell to the rock, instinctively spreadeagling and grabbing for holds to keep frodown the mountain Above her, the bear stood andquivered for another second, with that i hihtning wasgone The bear swayed for a s

He toppled backwards off the cliff into thin airMaggie caught a brief gliain, and then sheturned her face away

Her closed lids were ies Herbreath was cos eak

What the hell was that?

The lightning had saved her life But it was stillthe scariest thing she’d ever seen

Soa ic, that’s what I’d use

She slowly lifted her head

It had coeWhen she looked that way, she saw the boy

He was standing easily, doing so a handkerchief aroundaspot ofblood at the wrist, it looked like His face wasturned partially away froie thought,startled Or-is he? There was sorim competence in his movements It made him seem likean adult