Emma's scream tore through the orchard.
It was loud in her own skull and thin in the world.
Blood streamed steadily from both of her ears, dark against her skin as it ran down her neck. Her red panda ears were flattened tight to her head. Her mouth stretched wide as she forced sound out of a body that no longer knew how to hear itself.
She could not hear Snow Team shift into formation.
She could not hear the low rustle of wings or the faint scrape of boots across the dirt.
She could not hear her own voice breaking.
But she could see.
She saw Josh's body on the ground.
She saw Robert beside him.
She saw Sarge standing between her and Felicity.
And she saw Felicity watching.
Emma staggered upright, her balance uneven. The silence pressed against her from all sides. Her throat strained again as she screamed, but the sound was distorted and hollow.
"She is pretending," she shouted, unaware of how it landed.
Her finger lifted and pointed directly at Felicity.
