“Ready?” Hayden asks. He is watching me closely.
“I’m with you tonight?” My voice is sharp, like the crack of a whip.
I wonder if Hyde requested not to be with me. I wonder why I feel jilted and depressed when I was the one who balked at what he offered. Which was tenderness and poetry and smiling kisses.
Good job, Brooke. Because those things are all so horrible.
Can this day get any worse?
A laugh bursts out of Hayden. “I’m glad you’re so happy about it.” He gives me his back before I can respond, and breaks into a jog, threading his way up the steep switchback path to the bluff.
“Thrilled,” I mutter, catching up to him.
My walk with Hyde last night on this same trail felt contemplative, but Hayden attacks it. He is muscular and long-limbed like Hyde, but more energetic. Louder and more aggressive. The pace he sets forces me to focus on my footing and my breathing in order to keep up with him.
In minutes, sweat rolls down my spine, but I relish it. Since we’ve been in the cave, we haven’t run like this. Everyone is always shuffling around, looking miserable.
You can’t be miserable when you’re running. It’s such a simple and pure way to feel alive. As we put miles behind us, my mood begins to lift.
Gren and Reef aren’t far to the north, and Hyde and Straggler are just south of us. We have reinforced our patrol numbers in all posts, but most substantially here on the eastern approach—the shortest distance to the cave. If Wylan is coming, this would be the most direct path, the one that would give us the least amount of time to react. This is where we are most vulnerable, so Perry appointed the Six to guard it tonight—the Six and me.
I am with these warriors because I am one of the best, but that distinction brings me nothing but pride now. It’s an honor to be regarded as their equal.
After an hour of running, we stop to catch our breath and drink water. My eyes drift to the range of hills to the north, and dread seeps through me. The Aether looked fierce last night, but today its threats are not empty. The sky there flashes with funnels. Along the ridge below, a glowing orange line has appeared.
Fire.
Land is burning. Tide land. Mine.
I’ve been so focused on the trail ahead of me that I didn’t see it.
“Do you think Reef and Gren are in that?” I ask. Then I gulp water, trying to slake my thirst.
Hayden’s Seer eyes take in the distant hills, and then settle on me. He shakes his head. “They were swinging south to avoid it.”
I focus my attention on the trees around me. The flutter of their leaves and the sway of their branches. “The wind is blowing our way, Hayden. You do know what that means?”
He takes another deep drink from his water skin and nods. “Why do you think I’ve been in such a hurry?”
“You knew the fires were going to blow our way?”
“I had a feeling.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I wasn’t sure.” He smiles. “But now I am.”
I shake my head at him. “Great.” The dry creek bed we followed from the cave is pooling with smoke. Our path is disappearing behind us. “We can’t go back.”
“No. But we better keep moving.”
We have no other choice. The fires to the north—the source of the smoke that’s blowing our way—show no sign of abating.
We run again. The wind continues to build, blowing hot, thick smoke that swirls past us. Black pieces of ash and glowing embers flutter by, some as large as leaves.
My lungs ache when Hayden finally stops. I have to press my thumbs into my eyes for a few seconds to relieve the stinging.
Still trying to catch my breath, I scan the distance for our position. I want to see the wooded slope where Hyde and I posted up last night, but I find that I can’t see more than three hundred yards away. I know this territory as well as I know Clara’s face, but with smoke billowing past, nothing is recognizable.
I bite back a curse. Sight is my gift. When I can’t see, I’m not happy.
“Well, I’m terrified,” Hayden says. “How about you?”
I look at him. “Where are we?”
“Definitely lost.” He kneels, pulling his quiver over his shoulder. Sweat drips off his forehead. He swipes at it absently and withdraws a compass from a small pocket.
Relief washes over me. “I could hug you right now.” That small instrument may have just saved our lives. It’s easy to lose direction when you can’t navigate by sight. As disoriented as we are, we could get turned around and head directly toward the fire line.
“A nice thought, but unnecessary.” Hayden checks the compass. “We haven’t gone off course by much. We’re still heading east.” He points straight ahead and stands. “Let’s keep going. We have to get clear of this smoke.”
As we run again, he doesn’t state the obvious. We aren’t protecting the tribe anymore. We are no longer looking for signs of Wylan and his group. Our mission has shifted. We are running to save our own lives.
The night becomes snatches of foreign-looking woods. The dirt beneath my feet and Hayden running next to me. I have the feeling we’re getting swept out to sea. Away from safety and everyone we know.
I don’t know how long we’ve been running when my energy begins to flag. Unable to keep up anymore, I slow down. Hayden notices immediately. He hooks his arm into mine and yanks me forward, giving me the boost I need to climb a small hill.
We collapse at the top, sprawling on the dirt.
I lie there for a while, facedown, trying to catch my breath. Then I roll on my back and stare up at the Aether.