An earthquake?

Miriam stood up and went outside, where Davis stood looking pale and Anbel was panicking.

"Oh," Caleb remarked casually. "I guess we didn't need a distraction from you, after all, Anbel."

"Guess again," said Davis, pointing to the end of the alley where a very large, blue lion was trying to squeeze through.

Anbel looked at the lion, threw the balls and ran in the opposite direction. Caleb, Davis and Miriam followed him, with Echo taking a moment to look at the pretty explosions that threw the massive beast backwards before chasing after them.

"Did he see me?" Anbel asked Davis. "Do you think he saw me?"

"He won't care," Davis told him. "He's after me."

"You?"

Davis pulled down the scarf, revealing his whole face and grimaced.

"You're...Oh. I am so dead."

Caleb promised Anbel that he would put in a good word and veered right. Davis nearly fell trying to follow him, Miriam did. Echo picked her up. Anbel kept running straight without saying goodbye to any of them.

They ran until they were nearly on the fence. Then Caleb stopped.

"Wait!"

But it was too late. Davis had grabbed Miriam and jumped over the fence with her, not trusting her to do it on her own without hurting herself. They landed in the soft sand and almost tumbled forward. Echo bounded over it easily after them. Caleb cursed and jumped over it. He rushed passed them.

"Keep running!"

Miriam needed the reminder. She was watching the fence. It had begun to move of its own accord. It was twisting and writhing, metal scraping against metal making it scream. Echo got her hand, dragging her forward. But Miriam had already seen.

The metal had twisted itself into the skeleton of a wolf. Its body consisted of flesh-tearing barbs and a coat of rust. It pushed forward on its powerful legs. It was faster even than Caleb. It would be on them in seconds.

Then the ground split and it fell into the earth.

They kept running into the sands. When Miriam ran out of breath and couldn't keep up, Davis hauled her onto his back. He ran until he fell. Echo pulled him up as Miriam rolled off of him, Caleb hissing at them to keep up.

Miriam didn't understand. She had seen the thing fall into the ground and be covered by the sand that followed it into the hole but still they pressed on.

Finally, eventually, they could not continue. They collapsed on the ground. They were too tired to talk. It took a long time for Miriam to be able to breathe comfortably. It took longer for Davis, who had carried her. Even Echo seemed to be a little red in her face. Caleb was away from them all, curled up and shivering on a rock.

Miriam sat up, suddenly.

Echo covered Miriam's mouth, holding it closed to stop her screaming at all of them. Miriam tried to shake her, to open her mouth, but the girl was too strong.

Then she screamed in her closed mouth, which did nothing but increase her frustration. Then she cried. Echo didn't let go of Miriam until she was finished. Echo didn't even look sorry about it.

"I get it," said Davis. "You're pissed off. We're all pissed off."

Angry tears still streamed down her face but she relaxed. Echo released her and lay back down. Davis sat next to her.

"That was a sentry," he explained. "Put there when it was a town to stop people sneaking in or out. It's not a living thing, so being buried won't kill it. It'll crawl out and come after us. It'll chase us until it breaks apart or until it catches us. We can't kill it. So we're going to keep running from it. It won't be able to go near the palace so the plan's the same."

Davis stopped and took a few deep breaths. He looked away from them, out over the sands surrounding them.

"I know where Jace is," he whispered.