52
I stared at the four children for a moment before remembering how to speak.
“To the river,” I said. “We have to move as quickly and quietly as we can.”
“Come on, Cinni,” the tallest girl said to the one beside her. “We’re going to run as fast as we can, all right?”
The girl nodded.
I cut around them, heading east.
I couldn’t look back to check on them as we raced through the woods.
I could hear their panting and the steady, heavy thumps of Finn’s boots, but there were too many branches and roots to dodge to allow me to watch the children.
We were miles from the river. Finn, Evie, and I had already run for miles. I wanted to stop, to ask the children if they needed to stop, but I didn’t know how close behind us the townspeople were.
I pictured the whole forest catching on fire i
