Bearclaw Valley in the end i danced with a ghost

she shakes her head at the question, though it feels more challenge. she declines all the same. "too early t' be chasing you." with that, the dark woman is already moving, dragging herself up with the slow, careless energy of a cat stretching in the sun. twitch watches her go, something coiling tight in her chest. fair enough.

she doesn’t care. twitch shakes out her coat, shifts her weight, and readies herself to do the same—to leave, to let this whole thing settle into nothing. then she notices where vail is walking. only a pace of two ahead of her, where the soil is disrupted. it is faint, so faint, but she sees it.

"i wouldn't go that way if i were you," vail doesn't know it, but she’s stepping right toward one of the pits. one of cole’s traps—dug deep into the earth, meant for coyotes and scavengers.

the girl does not seem to care, not really, and a pang of dread rattles through twitch. her paws carry her forward faster than she can stop them, all to shoulder the girl away from her impending doom by near inches. lithe paws skid against soil, kicking up rocks that roll atop the trap. it sinks to reveal the spikes beneath. "'s a pit."