(Alash Vortex POV)
It had been looking at the three of us in turn, at the centre of each chest and never at a face. Every time its head moved, it moved more slowly, as if each choice cost it more than the last.
I went toward Elizabeth anyway. I crossed the broken stone with my eyes on her, and Daphne came with me, a step to my left.
By the time I reached her, its head had come back to me a fourth time, and this time it stayed.
I don't know why it chose me. Perhaps I was simply the nearest now, standing over her with nothing in my hands.
It sank back a little on its hind legs. I didn't know what that meant.
Elizabeth did. "Alash," she said, or tried to say. There was no breath behind it.
The forelimb unfolded toward me, bending in three places where there should have been one, and reached for the centre of my chest.
I put a Barrier in its way.
