“Now is not the time for arguments,” Soren hissed at the two of them. “Bicker about Diaval’s lack of transparency later. Right now, we have a giant invisible hound to deal with, so draw your weapons and get ready.”

I drew my twin axes. While I still wasn’t nearly as good with them as I was with the bow, it would’ve been foolish to attack an enemy I couldn’t see with arrows. That was how you wasted all your ammunition. I was skilled enough to stay alive with my axes though, and that was all that mattered.

From beside me, Rosamund’s eyes had the glazed look over them again. His weapons were in his hands, but he wasn’t paying attention to the growling or looking wildly around. Instead, his eyes were tracking something that none of us could see, and I had a feeling I knew what it was.

“What’s it look like?” I asked Rose out of curiosity.

“Big, mean, and scary,” Rose supplied. So much for that then, I guessed.

“Okay,” I shouted. “Here’s the plan. Rose can see the thing. He’s going to tell us where it is, what it’s doing, when to attack or dodge. Got it?”

There was a general murmur all around as the others agreed. The paw prints now were circling us, a hound circling its cornered, captured prey.

Despite the many monsters I’d fought in my life, fear leapt in my throat as I watched the paw prints in the mud, knowing that without Rose, we were absolutely helpless. The eerie growling turned into a shrieking cry one more time before the monster became completely silent.

“On your left! Swiping paw!” Rose cried out, and Seppo parried the blow as best he could with his featherstaff. The weight of the hound’s paw had him staggering backward, but he still held his featherstaff strong in front of him, keeping the hound from doing any damage.

Diaval, quick as a snake, slunk under where the massive beast supposedly was and chanted a spell too quiet for me to hear. But whatever it was, it did the trick as the hound yelped and backed off, leaving Seppo room to breathe. His arms shook with the effort of holding back the giant creature’s blow.

“Janneke, Soren!” Rose called out, and immediately Soren and I pivoted until our backs faced each other. My blood was pumping so intensely that the sound vibrated in my ears. I once again pushed down the terror that came with the invisible creature growling and snapping its jaws somewhere we couldn’t see but already so close.

“It’s lunging!” Rose said. “It’s going to reach over to Soren, I think!”