The vibration of the black-feathered arrow echoed in the dead silence of the clearing. For a fraction of a second, nobody breathed. The bright pink water-lily tucked behind Tao Zi's ear suddenly felt completely absurd against the backdrop of sudden danger.
Hóng Yè was the first to break the paralysis.
"GET DOWN!" the seventeen-year-old roared, his voice cracking with a mixture of teenage panic and protectiveness.
He lunged forward, throwing his lean body over Zhēn and Tao Zi, tackling them into the dirt just as a second black-feathered arrow sliced through the exact airspace where Tao Zi's chest had been.
"Intruders!" A-Li shouted, his panther instincts taking over as he pushed Xiao Hei and Miao Miao behind the thick roots of the iron-wood tree.
Ruì Xuě, completely abandoning his buffering state, grabbed Yòu Lín by the collar and dragged the fox kit into the ferns. "Stay low! Papa said always stay low!"
