“That’s a resonator,” he said. “It scrambles… what I am.”
“Faster,” Leo urged. He let go of her hand and began to climb on all fours, disturbingly quick, his fingers finding holds that shouldn't have existed. A twig snapped fifty yards behind them. Then another. Closer. run to witch mountain
The ground beneath their feet split open—not violently, but like a zipper. A stairway descended into glowing crystal. The men in suits halted at the tree line. Their leader, a woman with a serpent tattoo coiled up her neck, lowered her resonator. “That’s a resonator,” he said
“They’re coming,” Leo said, his voice unnervingly flat. A twig snapped fifty yards behind them
They ran down the stairs. The crystal walls pulsed with light, and Tessa realized the mountain wasn't a mountain—it was a ship. A dormant ark, buried for a thousand years, waiting for the code only a human dream could carry and only a star-child could activate.
She pointed down the mountain, toward the distant lights of the sleeping town. “Home. But we take the long way.”
“Give us the boy,” she called, “and the girl walks free.”
