A/N: All the characters and everything else that you recognize from Tamora Pierce's books are hers. Everything else is mine. Since my italics don't work anything written like this: *example* is supposed to be in italics.

He was perched atop a thin beam suspended high in the air. One misstep would cause him to plummet to the ground below, though he seemed unaware of it. His attention was fixed on one thing, a girl and her dog.

The girl knew he was there, even without looking up she could feel his gaze on them. Judging by the dog's barking, he felt it too. She whispered a word and they both vanished into the crisp night air, just as he leaped.

The creature unfurled giant bat-wings and sped towards the earth. He landed on razor-sharp claws, roaring his fury over missing his targets. . .