Cassandra's lips curled into a predatory smile as she twisted her staff in a slow, deliberate circle. The air hummed with dark energy, and the ground trembled beneath their feet. Skeletons clawed their way up from the dirt, forming a tightening ring around Liam and the two girls. Bone rattled against bone, cutting off every path of escape with chilling efficiency.
Liam's heart hammered in his chest as he scanned the circle, eyes darting from gap to gap. There, between two slower-moving skeletons on the left flank, where the formation hadn't fully closed. The weakest point.
"Girls, that opening on the left!" he shouted, voice steady despite the fear clawing at his throat. "Go now. Push through and don't look back!"
