Chapter 53

The forest is eerily quiet, except for the twigs and eucalyptus bark that snap and crunch beneath my feet. Occasionally the creek gurgles over a rock or a bird screeches somewhere high above, startling me. I've never been in a forest like this. The ones back home were thick and green with pine, spruce, and maple. This one has tall, thin trees with gray mottled trunks and branches that hang like the thin bones of skeletons. Large chunks of their bark peel away like cheeks that need to be smoothed back into place.

I follow the creek, since Bone said that would lead me back to the house. I'm still bare-chested, and feel the fingers of cool shade sliding through the forest.

A snap.

A screech.

I look up and see the shadow of a wing flying away.

And then a hmmm.

I stop. A chill tickles my neck. I look around.

Hmmm.

I turn my head, listening.

"Is someone there?"

Only silence.

Was it just a breeze quivering the leaves that I heard?

I look to either side of me, through the hundreds of shadows of thin, bony trees. The forest is empty, but it doesn't feel like I'm alone.

"Hello?" I call. "Bone?"

There is no answer. I decide not to ditch the knife in my pack. I hurry along the edge of the creek, kicking up rocks and leaves so there is plenty of noise to distract me.

Hmmm.

The last fifty yards, at the first glimpse of the house through the trees, I run.