We rode out as the moon peered between the clouds, warning of the approach of midnight only hours away. Most people wouldn’t dare travel in the dark, especially not where we were heading, but the other two had come to rely on my eyes and ears as our nighttime armor. No pressure or anything. (See? Sarcasm.)

Nothing but crickets disturbed our ride for hours, the clink of the bits and creaks of the tack, and the steady clop-clop of the horses’ hooves forming a rhythmic backdrop ...