Darkness Falls Read Online Free PDF

he’s going to be okay at all. I can’t be sure, but I think I heard his bone break.”
    As she said this, Twitch slumped onto his side, his injured paw still raised protectively. He licked it, whining, his body shuddering.
    Lucky glanced back in the direction of the valley. It was concealed beyond the forest. Above the trees, the dark cloud in the sky hovered. Its body was spreading out and breaking apart, but that didn’t make Lucky feel any better about its presence.
    What if Alpha is right? he thought. What if the black cloud is an angry Sky-Dog? And could Twitch’s injury have been the Earth-Dog’s doing?
    He had taken comfort in the thought that the Spirit Dogs were watching over the Packs, protecting them from harm. Now he wasn’t so sure.
    It was starting to feel like the Spirit Dogs were against them.

CHAPTER THREE
    The dogs padded through the forest , twigs and dead leaves crunching beneath their paws. Their pace was slower now, allowing Twitch to keep up. The injured dog limped after the others in silence, holding his paw close to his chest. His littermate Spring offered to help support him but he snapped at her—“Keep away!”—and she took a few paces back.
    Drifting to the rear of the group, Lucky studied Twitch from the corner of his eye. He wasn’t sure if the floppy-eared dog would make it to the new camp, or how he would survive if he did. His damaged paw had already put him at a disadvantage, and now he would struggle more than ever. Lucky’s own wounds from the fight with the foxes still smarted, and pain shot through his leg if he put too much weight on it—how must Twitch be feeling?
    Bella dropped back so she could walk at Lucky’s side. She, too, threw a worried look toward Twitch, and Lucky knew she was thinking the same thing. The Pack advanced without talking as the Sun-Dog bounded over the sky. The overhanging branches carved shadows in the light.
    Lucky peered through the gloom. He had the uneasy feeling that something was creeping, lurking behind the veil of darkness. It’s this place , he thought. All these shadows make you imagine things that aren’t there .
    A short distance ahead, the Pack had stopped. Lucky and Bella went to investigate.
    Bruno was standing at the front of the group, where the trees ended abruptly. They’d traveled around the lake and now they’d come upon the shore. From here, Lucky could see the land curving around the shimmering body of water. He could just make out a large rock face at the distant shore.
    â€œWhere to now?” asked Bruno, looking at Lucky.
    Lucky felt a wave of frustration. This is the dog who helped to pin me down so that Alpha could brand me a traitor. If the black cloud hadn’t appeared when it did, I would have carried a permanent scar. And now he’s acting like nothing happened? Now he’s asking me for help?
    â€œWhat do you think, Alpha?” asked Snap.
    Lucky turned to look at the dog-wolf. He was standing a short distance from the others, gazing back through the forest in the direction of the dark cloud.
    â€œHow about over there, where the water meets the big rocks?” Bella barked. She was standing by Lucky’s side, the other dogs converging behind her.
    Lucky could see that the rocks formed an overhang. “Yes,” he agreed. “Even if the cloud comes, those rocks should give us good shelter.”
    â€œBut it’s so far away,” whimpered Sunshine. Her long white pelt was matted and dotted with burrs, and her tail was drooping. She gnawed ineffectually at a burr that had become lodged in the fur by her paw pad. The conversation reminded Lucky of the first time they’d left the city, when he had to coax the dogs every step of the way. Not again! Not after everything that’s happened .
    â€œCan’t we stop here for the night?” Whine put in. “The trees will shield us from bad weather and the black cloud