The Hunt - Megan Shepherd Page 0,61

around her ankles, slowing her, and she jerked it up around her knees so she could run faster, darting and weaving to make herself harder to shoot. Her feet pounded over stone and tufts of grass, throwing up sand behind her. She ran for the closest hill. If she could get behind it—

A bullet whizzed by her side.

She shrieked and veered to the right, throwing herself behind a tree. She could just make out Roshian on the horizon, still standing by the veranda steps. He had lowered the rifle to reload. Even if the bullets were artificial, they would still immobilize her so that he could slice her throat. Her breath slammed in her chest as she dug her fingernails into the tree.

What chance did she have? He was Kindred, and all Kindred were faster, and stronger, and smarter. Tessela, Cassian, Lucky, and Mali—none of them could help her, because they had no idea that at this moment a twisted creature in a safari uniform was lifting a rifle to aim again.

“Anya,” she thought as hard as she could. “Help!”

For a minute, there was nothing. The sun beat down mercilessly. It was only a matter of time before Roshian would corner her, shoot her, and cut off her hair and keep it as a deranged trophy. No one would be left to run or cheat the Gauntlet.

And then:

“Don’t give up, little rabbit.”

The words batted around in Cora’s chest, giving her just the slightest amount of hope.

“How?” Cora whispered aloud.

“Make a twin.”

Anya’s voice echoed in her head. A twin? No, a decoy! That would work, but Cora had nothing except the clothes on her back. She ripped the heavy golden fabric of her dress at the knees, and then tossed it over a branch so it flickered in the wind. Anya was right. From a distance, it might look as if she was hiding there.

She shoved off and ran for the hill. A gunshot went off behind her, splintering a chunk of the tree. The torn fabric of her dress fluttered again as he fired once more.

She dropped to all fours and crawled through the tall grass. Roshian would soon realize the decoy was just fabric and follow her trail of footsteps through the sand. She needed a way to not leave a trail. If there was a river, she could wade through the water to hide her tracks. If there was a paved road, she could walk on it. But there was only sand.

“The trees offer shelter.”

Cora tossed her head up, squinting into the high branches. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

In the cage, Lucky had taught her how to climb trees—it had been terrifying for someone with a fear of heights, but effective. Now, she gripped the lowest branch of a mango tree and swung up into the branches thick with leaves. She climbed as silently as she could, remembering what Lucky had taught her, trying not to disturb the branches as she leaped to the next tree, and then the next. The trees didn’t stretch far, but she just needed them to span the sandy patch where Roshian would see any tracks she left. It would look as though she had just vanished.

The last tree ended at a grassy patch, where she dropped down and crouched low.

She closed her eyes and listened.

It was completely quiet, except for her own strangled breath. She didn’t dare look over the grass to see where Roshian was. For all she knew, he might be ten feet away, stalking her with his mind.

A twig snapped nearby, and she bolted.

Bullets ricocheted in the grass behind her, spraying sand into the air. He was just on the other side of the mango trees. She tore through the grass, flinching as it twisted around her ankles, threatening to pull her back down.

“The Big Bad Wolf is clever,” Anya’s voice said. “But you have magic too. Use it!”

Magic? Anya must mean levitation, but what was Cora supposed to do, stop the bullets with her mind? She could barely hold a die a few inches off the ground! If only there was something she could nudge, like Cassian had trained her, like a boulder perched on a cliff above Roshian. But there weren’t any cliffs and the only boulders were on the ground.

Another bullet flew by her. She pivoted and sprinted toward the watering hole. At least there were rocks there, where the animals sunned themselves when they weren’t in their cages, and some boulders she could hide