The others did the same, when a roar shook the air ahead of them, causing the swarm of killer fey to freeze in midair. It came again, guttural and savage, as something rattled the wall of thorns, coming toward them with the sound of snapping wood. They could sense hundreds of creatures in the brambles fleeing for their lives. The faeries scattered. Buzzing in terror, they vanished into the hedge, through cracks and tiny spaces between the thorns. In seconds, the whole swarm had disappeared. There was something coming down the trail, ripping through the wall of thorns like it wasn't there. Something black and scaly, and much, much bigger than the spider.

Lise immediately stopped.

She keeps her knife out.

"Thiiiief!" roared a deep, inhuman voice, before a gout of flame burst through the hedge, setting an entire section on fire, making the air explode with heat. Ironhorse bugled, rearing up in alarm. Puck cursed, grabbed their arms, and yanked them back the way they had come.

Lise turned back the way they came. she was definitely not up to become a fried human.

She stays right by them.

They fled down the trail after the strange girl and her muscle-necked companion, feeling the heat from the monster's fire at their backs. "Thieves!" the terrible voice snarled, staying right on their heels. "I can smell you! I can feel your breath and hear your hearts. Give me back what is mine!"

"Great," Puck panted, as Ironhorse cantered beside them, bellowing that he would shield them from the flames. "Just great. I hate spiders. I hate wasps. But, you know what I hate even more than that?"

" Whatever is chasing us? "

She stays silent and just keeps running.

"Dragons! Remind me to kill Grimalkin next time we see him."

The trail narrowed, then shrank down to a tight, thorny tunnel that twisted off into the darkness