Aria had thought facing humans with bad maps was exhausting.
Turned out, keeping six overexcited wolf children from tumbling into a half‑thawed river was worse.
“Rule one,” she said as they gathered at the edge of the clearing the next morning. “You stay where you can see me. If you can’t see me, you’ve gone too far.”
“Rule two,” Lio chimed in, bouncing on his toes. “If you fall in, you’re a popsicle.”
“That’s not a rule,” Aria said. “That’s a consequence.”
The oldest of the group, a lanky girl named Fen, rolled her eyes. “We’ve walked the ridge before,” she said. “We’re not pups.”
“You will be very un‑pup‑like when Rowan yells at me for losing you,” Aria replied. “We’re practicing scent‑tracking, not cliff‑diving. Let’s go.”
They started up the familiar path, moving slower than she
