“Yeah, but they don’t feel the same way about us. I think they’re trying to murder us.”

But what if the owls were just regular animals, albeit ones enlisted by Zomuri to discourage anyone from going farther into the caves? That would explain why the tunnels were so confusing; they were built to look natural but also to make people lose their way. After encountering the labyrinth and the owls, most people wouldn’t venture deeper.

Most regular people. Not taigas or ryuu.

Sora remembered then that she’d had a plan for these ghost faces.

The emerald path veered to the left up ahead. She purposefully ran the wrong way, to the right.

A hundred yards later, she skidded to a halt. “Broomstick, stay close. I’m making us invisible.”

She dropped to the ground and curled into a ball. Broomstick ducked right next to her. Sora commanded the ryuu particles to infuse them both.

The rush of magic flooded their cells at the same instant the owls swooped into that part of the tunnel. She checked on Broomstick. He stared at her intently, as if afraid that losing sight of Sora would loosen her magic on him.

The owls flew past them.

Sora exhaled.

Broomstick stood, looking a bit intoxicated from the feel of ryuu magic on his skin.

“You need to blow up this tunnel to block it,” Sora said. “Then we’ll go the way we came and take the other turn.”

He looked at her but with a goofy smile on his face, as if he wasn’t quite seeing her.

She slapped him on the cheek. Nicely. Or as nicely as possible in this situation.

“I know ryuu magic is a bit of a shock the first time you feel it, but I need you to get ahold of yourself and set off your bombs.”

“Oof, sorry.” Broomstick rubbed his cheek but held out his hand. There were three small explosives shaped like eggs.

The owls’ screeches and beating wings were getting louder again.

“They’re coming back this way!” Sora said. “Throw them now!”

He flicked a match on the bottom of his boot and lit the fuses.

As the first ghostly faces reappeared in the tunnel, Broomstick hurled his bombs one after the other at the ice above them. The bombs burst on impact, and the tunnel ceiling crashed down in a fury of icicles and smoke, trapping the owls on the other side. The ground quaked, and Sora fell.

Broomstick grabbed her hand, pulled her up, and they sprinted.

After a minute, though, the rumble of the cave-in stopped, and Sora and Broomstick did, too. She leaned against the wall. Her throat was raw, and her side ached from running.

“Let go of the invisibility spell on me,” Broomstick said. “You need to conserve your energy.”