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Then something impossible happened.

“Hello,” said the Skullstalker, surprised.

Briar squeaked. Sense flooded back into her, and she prepared to run.

“Wait,” said the Skullstalker. Its voice was deep and gruff and oddly… polite.

An arrow slammed into the Skullstalker’s shoulder. It rocked back slightly, head jerking up to see the bounty hunters closing in on the cave.

Any meekness it had displayed drained out in an instant. Its inky eyes flickered blood-red. It hunched over, its huge body shaking. Its wings snapped out, scraping the cave walls.

Briar ran out like death was on her heels. Which, in her defense, it was. If the Skullstalker didn’t get her, the curse would. She could feel the fire climbing her bones, working toward her heart.

The Skullstalker emerged into the woods with a mighty bellow. Horrified yells echoed it, and arrow after arrow sailed toward the monster. It reared out with its wing and knocked a bounty hunter into a tree, snapping the trunk in half.

“Help, damn you,” Renault screamed at Briar. “Or we’ll all be killed!”

Briar ignored him. She’d achieved her task; they were too distracted to care about her. Now she just needed to find someplace safe.

She ran as fast as she could, fingers locked around her pack straps, lungs burning in a way that had nothing to do with the curse slowly taking hold. She just had to hope the Skullstalker was too busy with the bounty hunters to bother chasing her down. If she could just outrun it before it noticed her again?—

A loud flap of wings made her stifle a frightened yell. The bounty hunters were still clamoring, Renault was shouting at them to get out, but they were getting further away.

The wings, however, were getting ever closer.

Don’t look back,Briar told herself as she ran.Don’t look?—

She looked back. Barely a second, but enough to see the horrifying blur coming at her.

Clawed hands closed around her shoulders. Briar didn’t even have time to reach for her weapons before it was slamming her into the dirt, her pack wedged painfully under her back. All the air whooshed painfully out of her lungs.

The Skullstalker reared up and roared, fangs glinting. Its eyes were still blood-red, its wings flared out to block the moon from view.

So, this is how I die, Briar thought, dazed.It’s even more dramatic than I expected.

The Skullstalker lunged.

Briar squeezed her eyes shut.

A bright glow lit up the darkness. For a confused moment, Briar thought the monster had folded in its wings, letting the moonlight through.

No fangs closed around her face. No claws tore into her throat.

Briar pried her eyes open.

The Skullstalker’s eyes were black again, reflecting the white light between them.

Briar looked down. That bright light wasn’t the moon. It was her amulet, glowing milky white in the dark.

The Skullstalker shuddered. Briar tensed, waiting. At least she wouldn’t go the way of the curse, burning from the inside out.

“Hurt me,” the Skullstalker growled.

Briar paused. This monster seemed intent on saying impossible things tonight. Was this a trick? A monster playing with its food?

“What?” Briar asked weakly.

“Hurt me,” it repeated. It struggled up, kneeling over her, twitching all the while. “I cannot—control—my blood. Hurt me and r—run.”