"Do you see something tall and strange, watching, lurking in those dark woods...?"
WC: 233
The green-eyed hybrid stepped out of Old Brassard Church, his body shivering from the cold. The frigid, winter air nipped at Falcon’s exposed fur. He swore he’d heard something… Hadn’t he? Maybe it was just the wind. What else would, or even could, it be? Falcon sighed, pulled his shawl around him tighter, and turned his back to the icy streets of Winterwynd.
A low, eerie howl rose up from the edge of town, swelling up dark alleyways and roaring at the frozen church. “Sedona, are you home?” Falcon called out, his snow-dusted fur standing on end. He glanced at the cattle rancher’s house, at the light shining through its old, thick windows, and hoped she’d answer. The frozen wind whistled above the snowy town, heralding ominous echoes from the southeast. Falcon was young, but he knew those weren’t normal winter sounds.
The frightened Crowstooth worried his skirt for a moment before darting over to Sedona’s house. ”Sedona! Sedona let me in,” he pleaded, resisting the urge to bang on her door, ”Or come out here, please!” Falcon knew it was probably—no, definitely—nothing, but he didn’t want to lead whatever it wasn’t into the church. What would his mother think? She’d tell him to stop crying, be brave, and go face his fears; if only she’d meant it.