Chapter 12
This time, Ruby counted three. One from the left, one from the right, and one coming at her from the front. The trainers had separated the beasts so that she was almost surrounded.
She moved toward the one to her right. He sounded the closest.
Before the barn doors opened, her instincts had been to pretend that she was sick. But that ploy only ever worked on her father. These trainers were harder than her grandmother, so it was merely a sign of Ruby’s desperation that she wanted to resort to her earliest avoidance tactics. She wasn’t a baby anymore, and even if she was, these men wouldn’t care.
Now that she was faced with life or death, all thoughts of avoidance disappeared. The trainers toyed with her. They’d said she’d fight one. Instead, they released three howlers all at
