People running, people packing. People praying. Johan led a group in worship, making me wonder if it was Sunday. But the day of the week didn’t matter; the day count did. And prayers were good anytime.
Spying Heesham packing food, I strode over. “Sham, got a minute?”
He nodded. “What’s up?”
“Last night Dex told Charley he saw some kind of big cat, with spots. He was jacked when he landed, so the details are foggy, eh? He’s not sure it was real.” I paused. “But this is Nil, so I wanted to give you a heads-up before you went out.”
“Appreciate that, bro. You tell Johan?”
I nodded. “Stay safe.”
“Got my protection right here.” He patted his thick wooden knife. Miguel had carved it for Heesham, and like the boy who held it, the knife was a beast. “You stay safe, too.”
“Absolutely.”
Heesham strode to Miguel and clapped him on the back. Bartstood by Miguel, shifting his feet anxiously.No surprise there, I thought. Bart hadn’t been on Search in weeks, and now that someone had finally picked him, he was a nervous wreck. At least Miguel had Heesham and Talla as support. Heesham and Talla would pick up any Bart-slack. And the truth was, as much as he annoyed me, Bart had stellar vision. He could spot a gate meters out, which was the point.Pull your weight,I thought, catching Bart’s eye and nodding.For Miguel.
Talla was deep in conversation with Charley, then the two girls shook hands like conspirators. As Charley hugged Heesham, Talla gave me a fierce nod. Then, lookingpastme, her face softened. Two seconds later, Rives picked Talla up, swung her around, and kissed her, hard. Then Rives just held her. To my surprise, Talla actually let him.
Good for you, man. I couldn’t see Talla’s face, but my gut told me it mirrored Rives’s, which was full of quiet emotion.
Heesham whistled. He waved one finger in a quick circle and tipped his head toward Miguel. Talla let Rives go; Bart trailed Heesham like a puppy. Elia’s team gelled in thirty seconds flat.
All three teams rolled out, each heading in a different direction. As we parted ways, I had the eerie sense that no team would come back intact. Hopefully that would be a good thing. The teams were balanced, which was good. And all three Spotters were sharp, which was even better.
But like I’d told Heesham, this was Nil, and you just never know.
CHAPTER
41
CHARLEY
DAY 33, LATE MORNING
“This is where I woke up on my first day,” I told Thad.
We were standing on one of the tallest peaks, gazing at the sea of red. It struck me that the rocks were the exact color of Georgia clay back home. There was my mushroom rock, looking smaller than I remembered. There were the rocks as big as buses, and there was my blood, camouflaged on the red, but I knew it was there and remembered the pain. There was my hidey-hole, where I’d cowered in fear, and there was the path I’d taken when I’d chosen to run. To chase the last shimmer, only to fall short.
I’d never been so happy to fail.
“What’re you thinking so hard about?” Thad asked.
“That I’m lucky I didn’t catch that shimmer my first day here. Because if I’d caught it, I never would have met you.”
“Meant to be.” He smiled, tucking a strand of my hair behind my ear. “So which way?”
“East.” I pointed.
Thad nodded. Cupping his hands, he shouted, “East!” Then he pointed. Natalie and Jason were just below us, and when they heardThad’s shout, they gave a thumbs-up. We trekked down the rise and moved out as a team.
“So this is where you found Kev’s clothes,” Natalie commented.
“Yup.” I smiled. “Waking up here was totally freaky.”
“Wasn’t it?” she agreed, nodding.
Something awful occurred to me, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before. “So we’ll wake up naked on the other side? Back in the world, who knows where?”
