Stalking Shadows by Cyla Panin

Author:Cyla Panin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2021-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

A crack of twig, the hoot of a far-off owl, the flitter of a moth at the corner of my vision. The sights and sounds of a forest in its primal hours. The dark, moonless night draped us in its cowl. Three bobbing lights marched toward us from the village, and I prayed the glow of their flames wouldn’t reveal our hiding place.

My hand slipped to Sebastian’s knee and he shifted beside me. We crouched behind a wide oak where we could still see the outline of the girl’s body lying in the snow.

I thought I might feel Ama first—the vibrations of her footsteps, the pounding of her wild heart. But I didn’t.

She twined around the trees with her long, elegant body. Her steps never faltered nor made a sound. Her black nose was bent low to the ground and the beautiful crest of fur stood thick and proud around her neck. I knew it to be golden—even if the night now stole its color.

Sebastian followed my gaze and tensed beside me. His chest rose and fell frantically with quick, silent breaths. I gripped his knee again, urging him to stay still.

Ama nuzzled the dead girl’s hair. She licked her cheek with a long, pink tongue. Then she softly, gently, nipped at the bloody skin at the girl’s stomach. There was no wildness here—instead, a precision I’d never seen before.

“Eat,” Sebastian whispered. His eyes darkened with anticipation.

I untangled my legs and stood. Sebastian pulled at my coat and tried to bring me back down to him.

“What are you doing?”

I ignored him and kept my eyes trained on Ama. Her black nose and shining eyes. The teeth curving from her top lip. The long, strong legs with the tufts of golden fur at the back of each hock. She looked like the lions in the church’s painting, Daniel in the lion pit, but she was more than that. More human. She didn’t completely lose her normal shape when she transformed. She wasn’t like any kind of animal I’d ever seen before. She was like an artist’s imagining. The sense of awe never went away—no matter how many times I saw her like this.

“Ama,” I breathed.

Her head dipped delicately, and she sniffed as if smelling my voice on the breeze.

“Ama, it’s me.”

My sister padded one large foot in front of the other and turned toward me. She lifted her nose and stepped closer. The light in her eyes gleamed and her white teeth shone even without moonlight. I stumbled toward her and she ran for me. I opened my arms to her, but she kept going. She leapt through the air toward Sebastian.

His hands shot up over his head and he crouched into a ball. It wouldn’t matter once Ama was on him. Her teeth were like razors. And all Sebastian had to protect himself was a musket he couldn’t fire from close range.

I slipped the knife from my belt and aimed. I might hit him, but if I didn’t do this, there would be no uncertainty—Ama would tear him to shreds.

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