The roots came up out of the earth all around them.
They were thick as a man's body, gray and cracked, and they moved slowly. But there were dozens of them, and they came from every side at once.
"Thread!" Maya shouted.
Silver lines snapped out from her hands and tied every one of them together. There were nineteen people on one line, the eight Spirit Lords and the eleven from Brightwater. Nobody could be dragged away now without dragging the rest.
The first root swept in low across the ground.
Noah jumped it. Kira did not get high enough. It caught her across the legs and threw her sideways, and the Thread went tight and stopped her before she hit the trunk.
She came up holding her shin. Her trouser leg was torn open, and there was a long red scrape down the skin underneath.
It did not bleed much. But it did not start to close, either. It simply sat there, open and raw, as if time had stopped inside it.
"Kira!" Noah shouted.
