Ira crept out of the cover of the cave first. He moved slowly, like a predator on the hunt, testing the air, eyes and ears in constant motion. After several moments, his head turned back to the rest of them.

“I think it’s safe to come out.”

Shani went first, followed by Kellen and Vex, then Obishi bringing up the rear. They proceeded carefully and scanned their surroundings, even though Ira had just done the same thing. The air was crisp and a layer of icy snow creaked under Kellen’s boots as he walked. To their left, a steep chute of rock cut between two peaks. Without peering over the edge, Kellen guessed there was nothing to the right but open air for hundreds of feet.

“Something isn’t right,” Obishi said. “I am no beastcaller, but even I can feel it in the bones of the mountain.”

Ahead of them, the trail hugged the mountainside and wound out of sight. A powerful feeling of vulnerability gripped Kellen, and an unease radiated from Vex, who was normally confident and carefree.

Kellen stretched out his mana senses, trying to pinpoint what or where the cause for danger might be. It felt like a blanket laying over top of them, suffocating any hint of the threat.

They took a few more cautious steps forward until they stood right in the middle of the base of the narrow chute. Kellen glanced up the steep, rock-filled slope. He could see nothing beyond a thin layer of frost on the pale, corpse-colored rocks. The sheen of the ice glittered from a million tiny crystals in the light of the stars and moon. It was beautiful but sharp, like the edge of a new knife.

“I don’t like this,” Vex whimpered. He popped into his fox form and burrowed into Kellen’s arms. Kellen expected Shani to call them cowards. She said nothing, drawing her sword. In the end, it was Ira that got them moving.

“We should not stop here,” he said. “Let me see what is up ahead around the bend. Be ready to run back to the tunnel.”

Kellen wished he had taken the time to complete a mana dance before they’d moved back out into the open. His only option now was to channel his mana, which he did, forming a shield that he felt reasonably certain he could throw over them if something happened. Ira soon padded back toward them. The coyote wore a relieved look.

“All clear ahead, maybe I worry too much in my old age. Nokom would —”

“Kellen, run!”

Allison’s desperate, shrieking voice cut through the night air like a scythe. The scream reverberated in the rock chute, though Kellen thought he placed her location somewhere above them, overlooking the trail. A moment later, thunder clapped. No, not thunder. Kellen looked up the rock chute and saw boulders of all sizes crashing down toward them.

“Get back!” Ira shouted, running toward them as he stretched out his wings to take flight. He jumped into the air, tattered wings spread. A second later, an all too familiar black shadow crashed into him with, shrieking like death itself.

Shani ran toward the spot where Ira and the black bird had tumbled off the cliff, but Kellen grabbed her arm. “He’ll be fine! We’ve got to get to the tunnel!”

They set off at a run, rocks of all shapes and sizes tumbling down in front of, between, and above them. Obishi led the way. As Kellen sprinted, Vex tucked under his arm like a football. He judged the distance to the cavern. The rocks rained down faster, the larger ones causing them to duck or stop to pass while the smaller gravel got underfoot and threatened to make them slip and fall over the edge. Kellen thought of channeling a shield, then abandoned the idea — they were too far apart for it to do any good.

Somewhere over the rumble of the rockslide, Kellen heard Ubira’s bird let out a terrible shriek. He didn’t dare look back to see how Ira fared. Ahead, a rock the size of a softball struck Obishi in the shoulder and spun him to the ground. The slip gave Kellen, Vex, and Shani time to catch up. While Shani dragged the boy to his feet, Kellen stretched his budding shield between both hands. Like taffy or thick dough, he spread the golden light out and above them, trying to ignore the boulders crashing down all around them. The rockslide roared down on them faster and heavier. Retreat to the tunnel was no longer an option. Unless…

“Stay crouched down and away from the edge!” Kellen shouted over the thundering stone. “Move slow — I think I can hold the rocks off.”

The shield finished stretching out above them just as a boulder the size of a Volkswagen Bug struck the ground just above them. It rocketed over their heads and would have killed them all if they’d been standing, shield or not. An instant later, it was gone over the abyss.

“Slow and steady!” Kellen yelled.

Shuffling along, they made it about two-thirds of the way across the chute, rocks cracking and splintering off Kellen’s shield with even greater intensity. Each one made the golden shield of formed mana sizzle and spark. Kellen didn’t know what would happen if another car-sized stone hit them. They inched forward, but the torrent grew, threatening with a new danger: the wave of rocks pushing them right off the edge. Kellen knew what he had to do.

“When I give the word, run!”

Gritting his teeth, he slid the shield from over their heads until it formed a wall like an offensive lineman, clearing the path ahead. The rockslide poured around it, cutting a path through the wave.

“Go!”

They made it about a dozen paces. Then a rock struck Kellen on the side of the head. He reeled, Vex bounced off the path, the shield flickered out, and the abyss rose to meet him.

Kellen’s arms pinwheeled. Suddenly, a strong grip latched onto his wrist and yanked him forward. He had only a split second to realize Shani had saved his life when an explosion of rock reverberated through air and ground alike. They glanced up and found a boulder easily the size of the mana bear rumbling down toward them. Kellen’s mind sized up the scene. They had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. If they stayed where they were, the rock would smash them flat, mana shield or no.

The boulder lumbered toward them like a great Yo-Yo, so wide it barely fit through the upper reaches of the shoot from where it had been dislodged. But the chute widened and as it did, the dump trick sized rock gained speed.

“Over the edge!” Kellen voice rose to a manic, high-pitched shriek. “Climb over the edge!”

Battered by stone from all sides, the three humans dropped flat on the ledge, fighting against the sliding rock for grips and footholds. It was all a game of chance now. At any moment, rocks of a thousand different shapes and sizes could send them plummeting to their deaths.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kellen saw Shani slip, then catch herself with a wild scrabble. Inching backward on his belly, Kellen felt a cold chill seize him as his legs kicked over empty air. Grasping at the rim of the rock for literally dear life, he glanced up at the massive boulder. It would be on them in seconds. What had he been thinking? They were dead. As certain as these mountains would stand to the end of time, they were dead.

“There’s a ledge below!”

Vex’s shout tore Kellen’s eyes from their impending doom. He glanced down over his shoulder and saw a ledge jutting out from the rock, maybe ten yards wide and almost as long. It stretched out like a wide triangle, but there just might be enough room for them all.

“Better than being smeared on the side of the mountain,” Shani said, catching Kellen’s eye as they both looked up from the ledge. “Drop!”

She was already falling as she said the words. Kellen’s mind raced. What if he hit the ledge and rolled off? What if he missed? What if —

“Kellen, you’re going to die either way if you don’t do anything!” Vex screamed, fluttered inches from his face. “You can make it. Trust me!”

An instant calm filled Kellen. Almost of their own will, his fingers eased their grip.

Kellen closed his eyes and fell into space, rocks raining down around him.