Sebastian

alone.
    "Sebastian?" Lynnea whispered from behind him.
    This time he gave her hand a hard squeeze, a command for silence. His heart pounded as he stared at what the room contained.
    They hadn't had a chance. Something had attacked them so fast, most of the girls hadn't had time to try to run.
    He shook his head, as if that would erase the carnage in the room. This couldn't be real. These were the Landscapers, the women who were supposed to be able to protect the rest of Ephemera's people until the Eater of the World was destroyed. For him to be looking at the aftermath of a slaughter inside their school…
    Then it hit him. The bodies weren't fresh. Unless they were holed up in another part of the school and were still under attack, the other people who lived here should have removed the bodies by now instead of leaving them to decay.
    If there was anyone left.
    Cold conviction wrapped around him. This wasn't an isolated attack. If he dared spend the time checking more rooms in this building or the other buildings, it would be the same. Death. Slaughter. Maybe most of the Landscapers escaped to their gardens and crossed over to other landscapes. Maybe the Bridges were able to get away before whatever swept over this part of the school reached them. Maybe.
    It didn't matter if most of them had escaped or were still here among the dead. Right now, the absence of other people meant one thing: He and Lynnea might be the only people alive at the school.
    Which meant they were the only available prey.
    Spinning around, he pulled Lynnea to the outside door, desperate to get out of an enclosed space where they could be cut off from any chance of escape. Once they reached the demon cycle, they'd be able to outrun whatever was here before it sensed their presence. And once they got away from the school…
    They were out the door and running toward the demon cycle when they both jerked to a stop, frozen by the sight in front of them.
    The front end of the cycle was submerged in a pool of murky water. There was no sign of the demon, but something floated belly-up, just visible below the water. In the dusky light, the creature was too dark in color to make out its size or shape, but the paler belly was still visible and showed the lethal slashes of sharp claws.
    The demon cycle had fought, but it hadn't won.
    "It's like the horse," Lynnea whispered. "When Ewan left me on the road, I ran after him. By the time I got to the bend in the road near the bridge, the horse was struggling in a pool of water and… something pulled it under."
    The ground looked solid enough around the pool. They could skirt around the water and make a run to the main gate. Except…
    "That funny-colored sand," Lynnea said, her voice barely audible. "I saw that sand on the road, too. It wasn't there when I first ran to the bridge. It just appeared while I was trying to decide if I should cross the bridge or go back down the road to find help."
    For a moment he was back in the alley in the Den, feeling sand beneath his feet.
    "The Eater of the World is free in the landscapes again… The landscapes that were sealed up with It aren't sealed anymore."
    The Eater of the World was here , right now, changing the Landscapes' School into pieces of Its own dark landscapes. But It hadn't changed everything yet. As long as he and Lynnea stayed on ground that was still part of the school, they had a chance of getting away.
    Even as the thought formed, he watched the land beyond the sand and pool of water change into a bog that stretched back to the stone walls that enclosed the school.
    A feeling too primitive for words made him look back at the building. Was that just a shadow on the wall? Or was it a predator that blended in so well it was almost invisible?
    Releasing Lynnea's hand, he eased the pack's other strap over his shoulder to settle it on his back. More sensible to drop it, but he didn't want to leave anything behind that might be used to trace them.
    Guardians and Guides! How were they supposed to get out of here?
    Sebastian's breath caught as the answer came to him: Glorianna's garden.
    They'd have to go deeper into the school, run straight into the enemy's lair.
    Rustling sounds of things moving closer, hidden by the fading light.
    Only one chance.
    He reached for Lynnea's hand. Both of them would get out of here or neither of them. He wasn't going to let her fall behind and die like the people he'd seen in that classroom.
    He led her back toward the