Blacktail Deer Plateau Your journey has only begun

For a moment, Pied couldn't catch her breath; she felt as if someone had kicked her in the stomach. She sipped in little breaths of air, trying to focus on Peregrine's voice so she wouldn't lose her wits. He asked her what she saw and her eyes instinctively flicked upward, to the pile of dead puppies. They then dropped and she squeezed her eyes closed, fat tears still leaking out between her damp lashes.

"I... I see fi—five dead pups," the Tau replied. "Four are... are white and... underdeveloped. The fifth is black. Some ghosts move and speak. They—aren't," she explained in a dead tone, eyes still pressed closed. Quietly and without looking up or moving otherwise, she asked, "Do you believe me, Perry?"