The Raven Game by Jessica Sorensen

Raven

I’m scared out of my damn mind as I sprint through the forest. My heart is slamming against my chest, and branches are tearing at my flesh, like claws peeling away at my security. Thank God, the branches aren’t claws, since the shadow feeders currently chasing me have claws. Poisonous ones. I would know since one nicked me a day ago, and I died. The only reason I’m here is because the guys made a deal with Jaxon’s dad in exchange for the antidote.

Speaking of the guys …

Zay hasn’t let go of my hand since we took off into the trees. Hunter is close to me, sticking right by my side. And Jaxon is ahead, trying to figure out where the fuck we should go. The card that was left for us said to look at the map. The problem is that there is no damn map anywhere.

“Jax,” Hunter pants out as we duck and veer around trees and branches, running deeper into the forest.

The sky is pitch black, but the moon is an orb in the sky, casting dim light across the branches. If it were a cloudy night, we’d be unable to see a damn thing.

“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” Hunter continues. His blond hair looks nearly white in the moonlight, but other than that, he’s nothing more than a dark silhouette.

Jaxon is even more difficult to make out with his dark hair and his all-black outfit. Well, minus the droplet of red of his tie. Red and black, our colors, according to the guys.

The blade of Hunter’s knife also glints dangerous in the moonlight. So does Zay’s and Jax’s knives. I haven’t pulled mine out yet, since I’ve been too busy swatting branches away from my face. But I can feel the cold metal pressed against my thigh, begging me to arm myself.

“No,” Jaxon replies with the tiniest hint of worry in his tone.

It might not seem like he’s scared, but for Jaxon to show any sort of emotion at all is a big freakin’ deal. Hearing that this situation has clearly affected him has my heart rate accelerating even more than it already is. I’m honestly starting to worry the thing is going to give out on me.

“Well, we need to figure out something,” Zay snaps while casting a glance over his shoulder.

Every so often, we can hear the sounds of shuffling in the distance behind us, a reminder that we’re being chased.

Or hunted.

“No shit, man,” Hunter says with a trace of annoyance.

“Don’t start arguing,” Jax warns as he ducks underneath a set of low branches. “We need to keep it together until we can figure something out.”

“Was there a place we used to hide?” I decide to chime in as I reach for my knife.

“Maybe—”

Zay cuts himself off when a hooded figure suddenly lunges from the trees.

A shadow feeder.

And it’s about to tackle Zay.

I react on pure instinct as I chuck my dagger straight at it. The aim is perfect as the blade slams straight into the shadow feeder’s forehead.

Everyone freezes, and Zay’s eyes are huge as he glances from the shadow feeder to me.

A beat of silence stretches by.

“Jesus, baby,” Hunter breaks the silence, looking from the shadow feeder, that’s now lying on the ground, completely motionless, then locking with me.

He stares at me soundlessly, and I start to squirm, wondering if he thinks I’m a killer or something. He might be right. Who the hell knows anymore?

Jax is dissecting me, too, his face a shadow against the darkness. Zay is looking at me, as well, but I can’t see his face, just feel his gaze searing into me. And I can hear his breathing—quick and rushed.

The corners of Hunter’s lips suddenly quirk upward. “You’re amazing. You really are.”

Okay, now I’m full-on squirming. But my discomfort with his compliment is quickly distracted by a loud howl reverberating across the sky.

Horror whips through me. “What the hell was that?” I peer into the trees around me, searching for the monster that the sound belongs to.

“I … I have no idea.” The uncertainty in Jax’s tone sends a chill down my spine.

I hear someone gulp, and then Zay releases my hand, bends down, and yanks out my knife from the shadow feeder. He returns the knife to me, his gaze welded with mine. We stare at each other for a beat, but the connection breaks as another howl slices through the night.

We all simultaneously start moving again, running through the trees as howls and footsteps echo around us. Zay takes my hand again, his pulse hammering through his fingertips, an indicator that he’s afraid.

I’m starting to wonder if perhaps we’re going to die out here when Hunter abruptly lets out a string of excited curses.

“Fuck, I just remembered …” He trails off as he quickens his pace.

“Where the hell are you going?” Jax calls after him as we all veer in the direction that Hunter took off in.

My boots scuff against the dirt as we quicken our pace, darting through the trees as we try to catch up with Hunter. He’s basically sprinting at this point, and Jax is jumping over fallen tree trunks to keep right at his heels.

I’m struggling, mostly due to the fact that …

“These boots are killing me,” I mutter as I struggle to keep going.

Zay is sticking by my side, our hands stilled grasping each other’s. “Are you okay? Do you need me to carry you?”

I blink, shocked by his offer. Part of me wants to accept it—that part being my heels and the cuts and blisters forming on them—but my prideful part is like hell no.

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks for the offer, though.” I feel bad because he has to move slower because of my dumbass. “You can catch up with Jax and Hunter, if you want. I’m totally fine taking care—”

“No,” he cuts me off. “I’m not going to just fucking leave you.”

“You wouldn’t be leaving me,” I assure him, out of breath. Dude, I really need to stop smoking stuff. “I can catch up—”

“No,” he cuts me off again, more sharply this time.

His hand is trembling in mine, and his voice is also laced with fear. Zay afraid? Yeah, I never thought I’d see that. And, usually, I would be all up for arguing with him, but now doesn’t seem like the best time to go all badass Ravenlee. Well, unless I’m going to be kicking some ass—

I trip over something and nearly face-plant. Zay manages to catch me by tightening his grip on my hand, but I end up scraping my knee on a sharp object. My skin splits open, and I feel the warmth of blood trickle down my knee.

“Shit,” I curse as I stumble forward.

Zay clutches my hand even tighter to keep me from falling down. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“I think I just cut my knee on a branch.” I tug on his arm, a signal to get going. “Come on; let’s go.” One step forward, though, and blinding pain sears through my leg.

I gasp, my hand constricting Zay’s, my fingernails piercing into his flesh

“Just a little cut, my ass,” Zay grumbles as he reaches for his pocket. He takes out his phone and flips on the flashlight. Dim light kisses the darkness around us, and I get a good glimpse of his face, the scars on his skin and his worried eyes.

“We said we wouldn’t use flashlights,” I remind him as I hunch over. Right after we ran into the woods, we decided that to not only save the power on our phones but because it would make it harder for the monsters to find us.

“Let me look at it.” Zay guides me down until I’m sitting on a fallen tree. Then he kneels down in front of me and shines the flashlight onto my leg. “Shit.”

Shit is right.

A hole is just above my knee, and blood is trickling out.

“A tree branch couldn’t have done this to you,” he mutters then spotlights the light in the direction where I hurt myself.

That’s when I think the reality of the situation really hits me. I mean, sure, I knew this was bad. Like really, really bad. But I hadn’t quite processed it until now.

Because lying in the dirt, just a few feet away from us, is a body.

A dead, human body.