Hurrying back to Phlix, I grasp her elbow and urge her back to our fort. “Cavars are watching us. They killed that thing. Let’s get our packs and move.”
“How do you know Cavars killed it?”
“They used recurves,” I growl. “No one else uses those.”
“Why would they help us?” she asks.
“Maybe they want the pleasure of tracking us and killing us.”
“Like sport?” she asks.
“I don’t think we should hang around and find out.” We grab our backpacks and consult our map quickly. Hopping on our flipcarts, we leave as soundlessly as possible. We travel without incident for the next few hours, traversing fields by surfing waves of flowers.
When we stop for a water break, I pull my flask from my backpack and take a sip. There’s not much left. We’ll have to find more soon. Phlix makes a frustrated sound next to me. She’s pulling all the contents from her backpack out. When it’s empty, she glances at me with fear in her eyes. “I think I left my water flask where we slept last night.” I extend my flask to her. She takes it and sips from it. “We’re going to need more water soon,” she says guiltily.
“Then we look for some on the way. Does the map show where we might find some?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “It just shows the basin where we depart Ethar. That’s still at least two rotations away if we don’t increase our pace.”
“Then let’s increase our pace,” I reply. “There has to be some somewhere.”
At the next stop, we waste valuable time looking for water, but come up empty. It worries me. Maybe we can just push through this without water, I think. Then I look at Phlix, whose normally pale face is flushed and sweaty, and I worry that she won’t be able to handle it. She’s not used to this much exertion. I hand her what’s left in my flask and insist that she drink it.
Morning comes, and I find myself licking the dew from leaves to ease my dry throat. Searching for shelter to rest during daylight, we find a niche in a rock formation. It’s only large enough to fit the backpacks and the two of us. We place our flipcarts on the ground inside and lay on top of them, using our backpacks as pillows. Phlix has several muscle cramps during the day that keep her awake. As soon as night falls, we emerge from our hiding place, gathering our stuff together quickly.
“What’s that?” Phlix asks, pointing at a shiny metal object on a nearby stump. Walking to it, she reaches out her hand for it.
“Don’t touch it,” I warn her.
“But it’s my flask! And it’s full of water!”
“Leave it,” I bark.
“Where did it come from?”
“Them,” I say, grabbing her hand and pulling it back from the flask. I look for some kind of trap, but I can’t see one. It doesn’t matter. The water itself could be contaminated.
“Them? Who are they?”
“I don’t know, but they aren’t us, so let’s go.” Right before we get on our flipcarts, I hear the hum of airships. Phlix glances up at the same time I do.
I tug on her arm to pull her back toward the hole, when she says, “Wait!” She closes her eyes and concentrates. “We’re shadows, Kricket. They can’t see us,” she promises.
I wait. Two formations of hawk-like ships pass over us slowly, searching the area. One of the ships I recognize because I’ve been in it before. It’s Giffen’s ship. He’s looking for us. “That airship there”—I point to Giffen’s ship—“belongs to the guy you electrocuted in Kyon’s home.”
“Do you think he’s still angry?” she asks with a weary smile.
“He’s sort of a grudge holder.”
“That’s unfortunate. He’s a bit on the handsome side.”
“He is,” I agree.
We quit speaking when the ship in question dives toward us abruptly. My heart claws at my chest to get out. The ship hovers near us, as if it’s checking us out. I hold my breath, not that it will help, but I have no control over it. Just as abruptly as it descended, it ascends, climbing back to rejoin its formation. When it disappears from sight, Phlix sits down and wraps her arms around her knees. “I thought they saw us for a second.”
I crouch down next to her. “Me too.”
Using her gift has clearly drained her energy even more. “We should go,” she says.
We travel half the night without resting. We stop when the trees get denser and it takes more effort to weave between them. It’s actually good news, because the aircraft that we heard earlier will have a harder time finding us with this much vegetation. I leave Phlix to rest by our backpacks while I scout around for water. She’s listless and has a hard time concentrating on anything I say to her.
“Did you find anything?” she asks with her eyes closed when I walk back to her.
“No,” I reply.
“Okay,” she says and gets to her feet. “We should be there soon. I can make it.”
“We’ll make it,” I say confidently, but I may be lying.
I repack the backpacks, taking the heaviest items from Phlix and putting them in my pack. I lead the way, checking the compass and the map frequently. We come upon a small hill, and just as I crest the top of it, I spot Phlix’s flask in the middle of the path we’ve been following. My flipcart flies over it. I don’t stop. Glancing behind me, I notice that Phlix sees the flask too, but she ignores it as well and we keep going.
Stopping at a big tree, I wait for Phlix to catch up. When she does, she dismounts from her flipcart and sits down with her backpack still on. She leans it against the tree and closes her eyes. I shrug off my backpack and put it next to her. “I’ll go look for water,” I whisper.
“They’re watching us, aren’t they? Taunting us.”
“Yeah,” I reply.
“It doesn’t matter. Even this is better than Pike.”
“We’re going to make it. I promise.”
“Kricket,” Jax says from somewhere behind me. I straighten and turn to see him walking slowly toward me. In his hand, he carries Phlix’s flask of water. “I think you dropped this.” He cautiously moves forward.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Its just water. That’s all,” he replies honestly.
He stops a few feet away and stretches the bottle toward me. I look around between the trees, but I don’t see anyone else with him, not that I thought I would. The only time I’ll see them is when they want me to see them. I take the flask from Jax and back away from him. Moving to Phlix, I unstop it and hold it out to her. “It’s okay,” I say. “Its just water.”
“You’re sure?” she asks.
“Yes. He isn’t lying,” I tell her.
Phlix takes the flask from my hand and takes a sip and then another. She hands it to me. I shake my head, saying, “I’m okay. You drink it.”
“You need some too,” she urges.
“Maybe later,” I reply and straighten.
“Your friend is right, Kricket. You should drink some water,” Jax says worriedly. “You haven’t been eating either. You’re going to be sick. Do you need food too?”