Something huge and black and monstrously heavy lunges in front of me.

I wrench the handlebars to the side.

The smoking tree trunk crashes down inches from my bike. Falling branches swipe my face. Needles lash my arms.

The bike tilts. I catch myself on my left foot, just managing to stay upright.

Another few inches and the bike might have been crushed.

I wipe the rain from my eyes.

And that’s when I see it. Just for a fraction of a second.

It’s crouched on top of the fallen trunk. Limbs long and dark furred and strong. Face like an elk’s skull, but with a carnivore’s jagged teeth. Crown of black antlers. Long fingers. Claws.

Its eyes are like hailstones. Empty. Dead white. They stare down at me.

I don’t move.

I stare back.

But the spattering rain finally makes me blink.

And it’s gone.

I scan the woods. No sign of it now. Of anything. The road is only a vague blur in the distance. The beacon of Anders’s taillights has disappeared.

I breathe deep.

They’ve made their move.

I’ll have to make a move of my own.

Anders

I skid around a wide bend of the highway. The rain’s hard enough to make the roads slick, and the Nissan’s wipers barely keep up. I don’t touch the brakes. I roar toward town, sometimes feeling like something is chasing after me, sometimes feeling I’m chasing something else. Either way, I can’t slow down.

I’m headed toward the studio.

Flynn was waiting backstage in the tiny greenroom when we finished our set tonight. He’s played the Crow’s Nest himself, so he knows the way in. He was beaming so hard that I could see all of his teeth.

“That was amazing, man!” He grabbed my arm and pounded me on the back, speaking over the noise of the crowd that was still screaming beyond the door. “Amazing!”

I could feel my arm vibrating in his grip. The adrenaline of the show was still surging through me. I could have flown through walls.

“That new one? ‘Minotaur’? Awesome,” Flynn went on over the noise. “One of the best solos I’ve ever heard you do.”

“Thanks.” I bent down to put Yvonne in her case, which let me hide my face for a second. I was grinning like an idiot. It was one of the best solos I’d ever done. Clean and strong and lightning fast. I could feel it. “I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight.”

“Yeah. I thought I’d surprise you.” Flynn leaned closer so that Jezz and Patrick and Ellie and Lee, who’d snuck into the back room, too, couldn’t overhear. “There’s somebody you need to talk to tonight.”

I blinked at him. “What?”

“She was here. She heard the whole show. Now she’s waiting for you at the studio.” Flynn grinned. “I set it up. Hope you don’t mind. We thought it would be easier to talk somewhere quieter.”

Flynn’s words could barely reach me through the noise and the buzz. “She?”