The Shattering (Guardians of Ga'hoole) by Kathryn Lasky Page A

breathtaking inverted spike. Eglantine followed.
    Above them, they heard the screech of not just the few Barn Owls who had been in the hollow but what sounded like an entire squadron. It was one of the Pure Ones’ elite forces—the Nyra Annihilators.
    How long can we last with them on our tails? Eglantine dared not guess. Oh, Glaux! Let the smoke stay!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Hostage Egg
    I t was Otulissa who had first told Soren that he must have starsight. He and Martin had been in a fierce and brutal encounter with the moonfaced owl. They had survived, but barely. As soon as the moonfaced owl and the other attackers had been driven off, he realized that he had dreamed of this very same moonfaced owl called Nyra before he had met her in battle. He had dreamed of the encounter in an odd, fragmented way that had made no sense to him at the time. He told Otulissa about the dream later. She had been quiet for a moment and then looked at him curiously. “You have what they call the starsight,” she had said. “You dream about things and sometimes they happen. The stars for you are like little holes in the cloth of a dream.” Otulissa had told him it was a gift. But it was a very strange gift, and one that stirred his gizzard with the deepest of fears.
    So when this dream from early summer came back to him, piece by piece by piece, it had all begun to makedreadful sense. And because the members of the Chaw of Chaws and the other owls of Ga’Hoole knew of Soren’s strange gift, they listened to him. It was Soren who now flew in the point position, and it was Soren who now gave the command to Gylfie and another small Elf Owl along with Digger and assorted trackers to begin to fly low.
    “We need all the low fliers we can get,” he said. “If you can fly beneath this smoke you’ll see more.” In Soren’s dream, there had been a brief clear place that he had flown into where the air was limpid—free of smoke and almost translucent. They had to get to that place now.
    Huddled in a hole beneath a large rotted-out tree stump, Eglantine and Primrose peered out and up into the thick layers of smoke.
    “You were right, Primrose. It’s pretty clear down here. I hope they don’t get the same idea. That squadron is scary.”
    “Well, so are we,” Primrose said defiantly. “Let’s just hope that the smoke doesn’t clear off for a while.” She paused. “We’ve got to think.”
    The situation was complicated. If it cleared off they could be found. But if they could steal away under the cover of the smoke and somehow get out over the Seaof Hoolemere with the egg, well, then they would be almost home free. And what power they would have. Eglantine looked down at the egg. I’m an aunt! The idea seemed very weird. Who knew how this owl chick would hatch out? A monster like its parents? And if it weren’t, what chance would it have? It was all very sad. If they could get the egg back to the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, the poor thing might have a chance at a decent life. Eglantine began to think about eggs and chicks and hatching and what made owls the way they were. Why had she and Soren been born one way and Kludd another? Mrs. Plithiver had said that from the time he had first hatched, Kludd was trouble. He had been insanely jealous. How is one born jealous? Distracted by these thoughts, Eglantine had not noticed that the smoke above them was thinning.
    “Great Glaux, it’s clearing!” Primrose exclaimed.
    “Oh, no!” Eglantine looked up nervously. She could see the sky, which meant the Pure Ones could see them.
    “Maybe we’ll be safe here. This hole is pretty well hidden. Can we go deeper into it?” Primrose asked, trying to sound calm.
    “I’ll check,” Eglantine said. “Watch the egg. But it might not be a good idea to go deeper. They could trap us.”
    “You’re right,” Primrose replied in a taut voice.
    “Maybe there’s a back way out. I’ll see if the hole tunnels through to the other side,”