Bet and Ezra must have noticed the eyes as well. Their conversation died away, and Will heard Bet’s voice as it trembled with insecurity.

“What… is that?” she said.

Neither Will nor Ezra answered. They didn’t need to. The creature was emerging.

“Backward may be better.” Ezra’s voice was drained of emotion.

A long, greenish-brown nose appeared, followed by a wide, toothy mouth. It didn’t completely reveal itself, but instead decided to test the air. A slick, red tongue flicked from it’s mouth several times before it quickly disappeared.

“Okay, back. Definitely back,” Bet said. Still, none of them moved. It was as if they were frozen by curiosity.

The creature licked the air a few more times, then pulled itself into view. Two large green claws dragged it from the cave’s mouth. It was a huge lizard. It turned it’s head toward the three of them, totally aware of where they were. It gathered itself fully into the sun, and then it’s body began to shift. All across its body, its skin changed to match the color of the broken rock beneath. It had camouflaged itself, though Will could still see it clearly.

“That’s a Sarat,” Ezra sounded surprised.

“Couldn’t be. Sarat’s don’t get that big,” Bet said.

“I think… somehow they do.” Ezra was beginning to back away. “Come on, let’s go!”

Before Will completely turned to run, he saw the lizard begin to scramble its way toward them. It was fast. Fast enough to catch them.

Swoop left Will’s shoulder. It didn’t surprise him, since she often did that when he ran, but she didn’t go ahead. She instead flew toward the lizard. Will stopped and spun around.

“Swoop!” He didn’t know what to do. He watched as Swoop burst into multiple shadows of herself. The three of them twined around one another and began to fly directly toward the lizard’s face. The Sarat dragged to a stop and began to snap at them in the air. “Wait!” Will called to Bet and Ezra.

The two of them stopped.

“We can’t outrun that lizard,” Will said.

“We don’t have a choice.”

“Maybe we do.” Will said. “Look at Swoop, she’s distracting it.” The shadows still flew around the Sarat, keeping it highly confused. “If we can get into the cave without being followed, could we then close up the entrance?”

“Possibly,” Ezra said. “But it’s a gamble. We don’t know what the cave is like inside. There could be no place to hide and more importantly, if the opening collapses, we could crush ourselves.”

“Do you really think we can outrun it?” Will said.

“We might if Swoop keeps it occupied.”

“I’m not leaving her,” Will said. “She can’t keep doing that. It’s going to get her eventually.”

As if to prove Will right, the Sarat snapped in the air, completely biting through one of the visions of Swoop. Will’s throat tightened and his stomach lurched. He breathed a sigh of relief as the Sarat’s mouth twisted away and Will could see the puff of black smoke that remained in the air. It had bitten one of the shadows.

“I understand,” Ezra said. “Scoot to the far wall, and let’s make our way to the cave. Hopefully Swoop can keep it distracted ‘till we call her in with us.”

The three of them nodded in agreement, then sprinted toward the opposite side of the ravine.

“C’mon, Swoop.” Will said under his breath. “You can do this. Just stay alive a bit longer.”

NO QUESTION