Fire Red Squirrels 1636 File

They stayed submerged until the worst passed—perhaps an hour, perhaps a day. Time had melted.

But Rust did not run. He had seen the deer bolt and the birds flee. He had seen the panicked scattering of his own kind—siblings and cousins chittering, stuffing their cheeks with last-minute stores. They did not understand. This was not a storm or a fox. This was the mountain waking up. fire red squirrels 1636

He dropped from the oak and ran toward the smoke. They stayed submerged until the worst passed—perhaps an