The woman with the short blond hair stepped forward to greet him. “I’m Helen Rice,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m leader of this camp.”
“Logan Tom,” he replied, taking her hand in his own. Her grip was firm and reassuring. He liked how it felt. He shifted his gaze to Kirisin and the young woman he was hugging. “Angel Perez?”
The young woman gave him a quick smile. Then she whispered something to Kirisin, who immediately released her and stepped back, blushing as he did so. “Sorry,” the boy mumbled.
Angel Perez reached out and ruffled his hair. “I’m glad to see you, too. We were worried about you.” She extended her hand to Logan, who took it in his own. “I’m Angel,” she affirmed. “It’s good to have you here, Logan.” She paused, looked past him, and then looked back again quickly. “Only the two of you? I was expecting quite a few more. What’s happened to the rest of the Elves?”
“It’s a long story,” Logan said, shrugging.
“Let’s go somewhere else for that,” Helen Rice suggested. She glanced at the Ventra. “Someone will bring your AV along later.”
She led them back through the barricades and guards and into the camp beyond. Logan took in the sprawl of tents and makeshift shelters, cooking fires, fenced-off areas of supplies and equipment, and armed guards who stood watch almost everywhere. Children were gathered in small groups within the perimeter of their cordon, working and playing, heads turning at his approach, eyes studying him briefly before shifting away. The children looked better than he thought they had a right to given the obvious lack of adequate food and shelter. Some even smiled.
Helen Rice took them into a large tent where they took seats around a folding table. “We can talk here,” she told them.
She brought bottles of water for Logan and Kirisin, and then sat down next to Angel to listen while they related what had happened to the Elves. The Knight of the Word and the boy took turns explaining the parts they had played, the boy the more effusive, the Knight the more reticent. It took some time to cover it all, and both Angel and Helen stopped them often with questions along the way. But in the end they got through it, and it was their turn to ask questions.
Kirisin was first, unable to wait any longer. “Has Praxia reached you? Did she get here before us?”
Angel shook her head. “None of the Elves has gotten here yet, Kirisin. We’ve been wondering what happened to them. Now we know. I guess they’re still trying to fight their way clear.”
“But Praxia has the Loden!” The boy was beside himself. “We have to find her!”
Logan put a hand on his shoulder to calm him. “Right after we’re done here.” He looked back at Helen and Angel. “What about a group of street kids called the Ghosts? Are they here?”
“For several days now,” Helen Rice answered. “The boy Hawk said to look for you, that you would be coming.”
Then she explained what Hawk had done some weeks earlier to gain a crossing for them over the bridge, how he had used some sort of magic, how astonishing it had been to witness. They had been convinced about him then, but now confidence was eroding. He claimed he was there to lead, but so far he hadn’t taken them anywhere. What he had done was lead a monster to their camp, and the monster was killing the children.
“This monster is probably a demon,” Angel added. “It killed Larkin Quill in his cottage, Kirisin. I was there when it happened. I couldn’t stop it. I’m sorry about that.”
Kirisin looked stricken, but didn’t say anything. Logan guessed that everything he was hearing at this point was just another piece of bad news to add to what he was already dealing with. He hoped the subject of Simralin wouldn’t come up.
“I can tell you about this boy,” Logan said to Helen Rice. “He was born a gypsy morph, a thing of wild magic. But his past was hidden from him, and he only just found out the truth about himself. He was sent to lead these children and their caregivers and some others who will join in the march to a place of safety.”
He paused. “The end is coming for this world and its inhabitants. Most will be destroyed in a cataclysm more devastating than anything that’s occurred yet. We have to get to where we are going before that happens.”
“Hawk said just this morning—finally—that we can leave,” Angel offered. “Whatever was holding him back isn’t doing so anymore. We’re preparing to set out tomorrow.”
“Tell me about this monster that you think is a demon,” Logan said. “You said you saw it?”
Angel nodded. “I saw it from as close as I am to you. Too close. Big and mutated—a human once, I think. It came through the floor to get to Larkin, and then it came after me. I used the staff’s magic, but even that was barely enough.”
“I’ve heard of a demon like that. It travels with the old man, the demon that’s tracking you. But what does it want?”