They lift. Wind and effort and the tilt of wings. The delight of dark against dark. The slide of body against sky. Silver flashes below them. Brighter than moon. Sharper than moon. It cuts into their eyes, pricks their hearts.

They want it.

They dive fast.

Holding silver, like a splinter of moon, is their friend Lelia. Known, good, help.

“What do you have there?”

They show what they found. Who they found.

Red hair. Bright, bright.

“Imogen,” the others say. The Grays are known, good. They are Imogen’s flock. “That’s Imogen’s hair,” they say.

“Where is she?” they cry.

The raven with the curl snatches it away. Not yours, it screams. But it will take them to where they can find the rest. They lift — wind, effort, wings — and fly a straight line toward copper-girl.

Danny: Now

We run.

We are mindless streaks. Muscles and blood. We run and we run and we run. The birds are a straight dark line above the woods, and I can’t even begin to keep up with their confident glide. I weave around trees and climb their fallen sisters, leap and hit the ground.

“Slow down!” Lelia screams at the sky, flashing the mirror again. June is working hard to keep up, but her leg is obviously giving her hell. The ravens don’t care. They’ve probably dragged us a mile, and now, with one last flash of black feathers against the night, they leave us behind.

“I need to see where they went,” I say, looking up. “I need to get higher.”

June grabs my hand and looks at me with all of her best, raw eagerness. “What you really need,” she says, “is to fly.”

“Is that something you can help with?” I ask, trying not to sound doubtful. I’m so tired of doubt. It’s always dragging me in the wrong direction.

June does a quick scour of the trees around us and points out one that’s thinner than most, dense with branches. “That’s climbable.” She shakes out her leg a few times. “I can’t go with you, though.”

“I don’t do up.” Lelia puts both arms around June, encircling her.

“I’m going,” Rush says. “Obviously.” That word darts around all of the defenses I’ve been putting up. My heart tells me two stories at the same time. In one of them, Rush is falling in love and she’ll do anything for me. In the other one, Rush needs to get to Imogen and she will do anything for her.

“Quick,” I say. “Before the ravens are out of sight.”