The storm reached us just as the last of the ash stopped falling. The wind howled through the ravine and tore at the tree line, carrying the cold bite of something unnatural. We took cover beneath a rocky overhang that jutted out of the cliffside like the jagged jaw of a long dead creature. Snow drifted around us, caught in small spirals near the stone walls. The girl clung to my side, her breaths shaking and shallow.
Talon scanned the valley before crouching beside us. His expression held a hard edge, but his eyes kept slipping toward me and the child as if he expected either of us to crumble.
The girl pushed her face into my shoulder before whispering, “They are waking.”
Her voice was small, almost lost beneath the wind. Ryn knelt in front of her so he could hear better. “Who is wakin
