I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THE ROAD TOWARD THE “Guest Village” for what feels like a good half hour. The night is so dark I can’t see much of what’s around me, but the little moonlight there is shines off the pavement and leads me along.
I have a harder time when the pavement ends and a gravel road picks up where it left off. But after a minute, I see firelight in the distance, and heading toward it, I pick up my pace.
I can almost make out the adobe houses in the firelight when, from right behind me, a man’s voice says, “Stop right there and drop your weapon.”
I freeze, and then slowly place my crossbow on the ground and lift my hands in the air.
“Who are you?” the voice asks.
“A friend of Juneau’s,” I say, not daring to turn around.
“Why are you carrying a loaded crossbow to our camp, then?”
“I was afraid of wild animals,” I reply.
I hear a low laugh. “Fair enough,” the voice says. “I was able to get within two feet of you—you’d be easy prey for whatever’s out there. You can drop your hands and turn around. I’ve seen you before. I know who you are.”
I turn to see a tall thin boy with a close-cropped Afro. The moonlight reflects off the star in his right eye. He stands there, arms crossed, with a bemused expression on his face. “You don’t even have a weapon,” I say.
“Looks like I didn’t need one,” he responds, holding up his empty hands and wiggling his fingers. He points to my face. “Nice war paint. Trying to camouflage yourself?”
I ignore him, glad he can’t see me turn red under the dried mud. “What did you mean you’ve seen me before?” I ask.
“I fire-Read you. Saw you with Juneau a couple of weeks ago—before they took our amulets away. Don’t know your name though.”
“I’m Miles.”
He sticks out his hand. “Kenai,” he says. I shake his hand, and he bursts out laughing. “No way . . . this really works? Dennis told us people used to greet each other shaking hands . . . I mean still do. You know what I mean.”
I can’t help but smile. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” I admit.
“Juneau’s not here—Whit took her to the ranch house,” Kenai says, suddenly serious.
“I know,” I reply.
“So what are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to the clan.”
“Well then, come on.”
I bend over to scoop up my crossbow, and Kenai leads me toward the fire where a dozen or so people are gathered. They watch as we approach, and one man stands to greet me. No starburst in his eye, so I figure he must be one of the elders, although he looks the same age as everyone else—between twenty and thirty. He is looking at me closely, more closely than the others are . . . checking me out. Looking at me intently, like he’s trying to read me from the outside in.
And then I see something familiar in his face. “You’re Juneau’s dad,” I say. He nods and shakes my hand like he’s actually done it before.
“You’re her travel companion,” he says. “We’ve seen you.”
“I just came from Avery’s ranch house,” I say. “I was able to get in without being noticed. Juneau and Whit are both being guarded. I heard them talking. Sounds like Avery made them give him the Rite. He’s death-sleeping and they’re being forced to stay and wait until he wakes up.”
No one says a word, although a lot of looks are thrown between the people around the fire. “There’s a small boy being kept in the ranch house—Badger, a boy from our clan,” Juneau’s father says.
“I saw him asleep in one of the upstairs rooms,” I say.
“Is he guarded?”
“A woman is in the room with him. But she’s not armed.”
Juneau’s father exchanges looks with a woman in the group. From her anxious expression I guess she must be Badger’s mother.
Just then I hear a cawing noise coming from above, and look up to see Poe descending in the firelight. He lands on the ground in front of me, and ducks his head as I reach for the pocket on his harness. There are two notes inside, and after glancing at the first, I stick it into my pocket for later. I read the second one quickly and then look up at the group in front of me.
“I came to tell you that I turned the electric gates off.” I hold the note up. “And less than a mile away a friend is waiting with her truck. She’s willing to make a few trips back and forth to take people to a nearby city, where the guards can’t find you. I thought the children and those accompanying them could go with her.”
I look Juneau’s father in the eye. “And I was hoping the rest of you would go back with me to get Juneau and Badger.”
45
JUNEAU
I AM LIMP WITH SHOCK FOR A GOOD FEW SECONDS. Then I try to jerk my arm away from O’Donnell, but he’s got me in a death grip. He grabs my other hand and pins them both behind my back as Mr. Blackwell walks over to me, looks me up and down, and sighs.