Noctisardor Bypass a domino flush to his nose.

ava bolted awake to the sound of a scream. her heart hammered against her bird-boned chest, threatening to break free of the gristle holding it within.  

she cast her gaze around her, the scream fading. 

it was so close. 

so familiar. 

but somehow, not there at all. 

she listened to the sound of the stirring forest; the rhythmical chorus of crickets, of settling cold, the soft sigh of the leaves. 

she was so certain she’d heard it — but as she strained to parse from the background hum of a nightly world alive with sound, ava suddenly wasn’t so sure she’d heard it after all.