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The dog that had initially attacked her struck first It took a swipe at the other dog with its front left paw The other dog snapped back with its claws Before long they were both on the ground They grappled with each other, tooth to claw

Prudence saw this as her chance to er concerned with the rain or her hair, she got to her feet and bolted fro before she heard a howl of anguish, followed closely by a crash through the brush

Prudence forced herself to run faster, as fast as she'd ever run before She flailed with her arms to swat any branches in front of her aside That didn't help, as the branches still caught her wet hair and dress She plowed ahead, ignoring the pain in her scalp and along the ht her She had to keep etting closer She risked a look over her shoulder and saw the dog's yellow eyes fixed on her This ti her to pieces

She turned around just in ti around as herself She stuer a few feet before she pitched forward

Prudence expected to land in a ive way entirely or to find herself plunging underground She barely had tih to knock the wind out of her She flopped onto her side and then struggled to take in a few breaths

As she did, she looked up at the sides of a deep hole She felt around with her hands for a ladder or rope or so srunted as she tore the object frorunt promptly turned to a scream as she saw a human skull in her hand She tossed the skull away and then tore at the sides of the hole with her hands to free herself

The sides of the hole were too steep and at the et any purchase After a few ave up She was trapped Though she couldn't know for sure, she was fairly certain this was one of Pryde's hunting traps At some point one of the other children must have tried to escape and fallen in She put a hand to her head and tried to reiven the to erase their er The skull she'd found could have belonged to a child who had died centuries ago for all she knew