t have run from overgrown dogs like that。 What good would
their teeth be against
his granite skin？
And the wolves should have given Laurent a wide berth。 Even if their
extraordinary size had taught them
to fear nothing； it still made no sense that they would pursue him。 I doubted
his icy marble skin would
smell anything like food。 Why would they pass up something warmblooded and
weak like me to chase
after Laurent？
I couldn't make it add up。
A cold breeze whipped through the meadow； swaying the grass like something was
moving through it。
I scrambled to my feet； backing away even though the wind brushed harmlessly
past me。 Stumbling in
panic； I turned and ran headlong into the trees。
The next few hours were agony。 It took me three times as long to escape the
trees as it had to get to the
meadow。
At first I paid no attention to where I was headed； focused only on what I was
running from By the time I
collected myself enough to remember the pass； I was deep in the unfamiliar
and menacing forest。 My
hands were shaking so violently that I had to set the pass on the muddy
ground to be able to read it。
Every few minutes I would stop to put the pass dowr and check that I was
still heading northwest；
hearing—when the sounds weren't hidden behind the frantic squelching of my
footsteps—the quiet
whisper of unseen things moving in the leaves。
The call of a jaybird made me leap back and fall into a thick stand of young
spruce； scraping up my arms
and tangling my hair with sap。 The