“You know, it was Candle who saved us,” Sparrow said suddenly. “She was the one who warned us about Hawk going out alone. She was the one who found Angel and brought her to help us.” She gave the little girl a broad smile. “You’ve got your instincts back again, don’t you? Just like they used to be.”
Candle blushed and nodded. “I don’t know what happened.”
“It doesn’t matter what happened,” Sparrow pressed on. “You’re back to how you were and you can warn us now when we are in danger. That’s a very big thing, little girl.”
Candle suddenly looked uncomfortable.
“Sparrow,” Owl said softly. “Don’t make Candle feel she has to do anything different from what she’s been doing. She’s always tried to warn us. It just didn’t happen for a time. And if it happens again, that’s all right, too.”
“It won’t happen,” Candle declared, determination mirrored in her blue eyes. “I won’t let it.”
“Of course you won’t,” Sparrow agreed. “Everything’s fine now.”
River exchanged a quick glance with Owl, both of them thinking the same thing. Everything wasn’t right and wouldn’t be right again for some time. Certainly not until they reached the promised safehold, a place where they might at last be able to stop thinking about demons and once–men and monsters out of nightmares stalking them across the devastated landscape of their former home. Certainly not until then.
“Has Hawk said anything more about how close we are to where we’re supposed to be going?” River asked.
No one spoke. Then Owl said, “I don’t think he knows yet.”
“He isn’t even himself,” Sparrow offered suddenly. “You didn’t see him out in that storm, when we were fighting that demon. He looked as if he didn’t even know what was happening. I’ve never seen him like that. He just stood there, almost like he was unable to move.”
“I think he was afraid,” Candle said.
“Well, that’s not like Hawk.” Sparrow looked around for confirmation, but the others were quiet. “I mean, he’s always been strong for the rest of us.” She seemed to want to say more, but then just shrugged. “I just think something might be wrong.”
“What’s wrong is that he’s supposed to save several thousand people by finding a safe place for them and he doesn’t even know for sure where it is and there’s demons and once–men chasing him and trying to kill him and we’re all saying there’s something wrong with him when maybe we ought to just stop saying these things!” Candle clenched her fists for emphasis. “I’m just saying, Sparrow,” she finished, mimicking Panther.
Sparrow stared at her for a moment in surprise, then nodded. “You’re right. I’m not helping, am I?”
“Maybe it’s our turn to be strong for Hawk,” Owl suggested. “Maybe we need to let him know we still believe in him. He’s carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders.”
Sparrow stood up abruptly. “Let’s go find him right now. Let’s tell him how we feel.”
River, sitting next to her, took hold of her hand. “Let’s not. He’s with Tessa. Maybe they need to be alone. We can tell him tomorrow.”
Sparrow hesitated and then sat down again. “Okay. Tomorrow for sure, though.”
Their talk quickly turned to other things.
PANTHER walked through the mostly sleeping inhabitants of the camp, searching for Catalya. It took a long time before he found her. She was sitting alone on the bumper of an old truck near the front of the caravan, wrapped in her gray cloak and staring out at the night. She didn’t see him approach–he was sure of it–but she seemed to sense his presence anyway.
“Go to sleep, Panther,” she said without looking at him, her face concealed by the hood of her cloak.
He sat down next to her. “How’d you know it was me?”
“I could smell you.”
“Ha, ha. That’s funny. You make me laugh, being so funny.”
She looked at him now, and he was surprised at how haggard her face was and how sad her eyes. “Go to bed,” she repeated.
He looked away self–consciously. “Can’t. Too wound up from this afternoon. You come that close to dying, you don’t want to sleep for a while. The two seem too much alike, I guess.”
She nodded. “You were lucky.”
“Huh. Staying alive is always about luck. You didn’t know that?”
He flashed her a quick grin. “You taught me, remember? Back when we went looking to rescue Logan Tom from that other out–of–control Knight of Whatever—He—Thought—He—Was?”
“That was a long time ago,” she said, looking away again.
“Not so long. Hey, I missed you. Got no one else I can rag on like I can on you. I might have been jealous, too, you know. You choosing to stay with Logan instead of coming with me, I mean. ’Cept I’m not like that.”
She kept her gaze averted. “You don’t need to be jealous of me. There’s no reason for it. Now go to bed.”
“You think we’re getting any closer to where we’re supposed to go?” he asked, ignoring her.
“If I had any idea where it was we were going, I might be able to answer that. Go ask your friend Hawk.”
“Ah, Bird‑Man won’t say anything. He’s not over our fight with the demon yet. Something happened to him out there. He won’t say what, but something. You could see it. He was all froze up when we found him. He couldn’t move, even to defend himself. Like he lost his nerve, something I didn’t think he would ever do. He was just standing there, waiting to die.” He paused. “I don’t know about him. Might be he can’t even find his way anymore. He’s got that look, as if everything’s a mystery and nothing he does will make it clearer.”
“Maybe you should try to help him out then. You and the other Ghosts. You’re his family, aren’t you?” “Naw, he won’t listen to me. Never has. Never will.”
She glanced at him, irritation mirrored on her face. “Better that you go try to change the situation there than continue sitting around here annoying me. Okay?”
“Hey, I’m just trying to—”
“Panther, are you listening to me? Do you understand what I’m saying to you? I’m telling you I want to be alone. Got it?”
He went silent then, staring at her in confusion. His anger surfaced in a hot wave, but he tamped it down quickly. “Sure, I got it.” He gave her a nonchalant salute. “No problem, Kitty Cat. See you later.”
He got up and stalked off, stung by the rebuke. He hadn’t quite gotten to where he couldn’t look back and still see her when the last vestiges of his anger gave way to concern. Something was wrong. He almost turned back, wanting to know what it was and if he could help her deal with it.
But he knew what her response would be, how she would treat him, and he didn’t feel like he wanted to risk that. So he continued on.
He would try again tomorrow, he told himself.
WHEN sunrise broke and the camp began to stir, Panther went looking for Catalya once more, determined to get to the bottom of things. If there were something wrong, he would find out what it was and what he could do to make it better. He wasn’t entirely sure what motivated his thinking except that it bothered him when she was like this. He knew things had changed since she had first come into the camp and he had called her a Freak. He knew all that was behind him, and that he genuinely cared about her. What he didn’t know was why. It wasn’t as if they were all that much alike or anything. Really, they were about as different as you could get. But there was something between them. Sometimes he ached with knowing it, with wanting to be friends, needing her to realize that he cared and to respond to what he was offering. Maybe it was the admiration he felt for her, a girl with skills like that, with courage and composure and determination.
Any way you looked at it, she made him feel things that no one else did.