e lost our  back. trackers and dogs arrived first, poking about t s came to take pograpprints left in t. A er e, filming ter and rod pato ted every discarded possession and carted t ter, anotting a srees to collapse tunnels, dig turning til top ran orange  clay. t t summer, not asons of a ferees.

    Sucruction did not temper to return  sleep  ttern of stars and sky framed by branc-sound—a snapped t scrabbling turbed my rest, and in too, training beo relieve ts. Smaolacimes eacricate clessness lessness. Kno still, as if ore our lives. y set in. e ime and again to he bones.

    op of tall oaks or scattered in pockets along tness and  campsite ed since t Frencraders, ribes at tral territory. ed a for good.

    e o early autumn. t difficult and unsafe, so  s togetoo far from to danger. Ragno and Zanzara ted by a surveyor oo fast. Dump trucks brougo line t road carved from to our old clearing. Cone  ten o dra driver may be tween humb and finger.

    On truction site tes resting on t seat of an empty truck. Quiet as a mouse, tered over, and as o steal t trikes as to a nearby out open, and tugging up rousers, srespasser. led over to truck, searc i , Luc resist any longer and struck a matcer t drag, o duck gun again, long after my friend o t of t.

    After ts, Béka clamped do alloo travel alone, nor could . ricted any forays into to of fear of detection. By day, taccato of o illness invaded. I longed to run ao ts comforting privacy. I missed my books and papers, and my materials ion book, a dra, a ters. Numbed, I  ing, eitime passed unrecorded. In a  did not exist at all.

    to gatoget, and after mucrial and error, o capture a brace of grouse, ying t large fire of to roast our meal and providing comfort on a cool nig, signs of anxious ired eyes, but talizing. As t dotled upon us, like a blanket drahers.

    iping  to summon our attention. tc and marroopped at once. quot;e  for a long, long time. It o lose t boy, but ill  place.quot; e imes before, but Onions, e, played to his Lear.

    quot;But t; she asked.

    quot;S. t; Kivi said, joining t;But  .quot;

    quot;t about t under asp. t stop looking for us until tes,  oads and terrapins. Once it  unusual to see a man s drying by  and cake it all a;

    ttered and crackled . e o our ne accept  t paying attention, but dra ick.

    quot;You tter t; Béka yelled doo ;You knoo do, and o keep us alive?quot;

    Smaolac  into th.

    quot;I am t,quot; Béka continued. quot;By rig accept anyone cy.quot;

    Speck raised ;Nobody questions t;

    Continuing to make ly as to almost not be  all. quot;I am merely sion, as I estimate it from time traveled and by calculating tars in t to be our leader, and to tell us ;

    it, Béka took Onions by to t remember ever seeing a map before. Curious as to  ed, I leaned for once t tood for er o make of tly straig crossed the sand?

    quot;tquot;—Smaolaced to t side of t;ts knoo t is ty. And I can only guess t ty is  is out. tion is: Do o t ourselves off from to; ed ick to t of squares.

    quot;If o cross t;

    quot;tell t,quot; C;to Oscar Love.quot;

    Lucernative. quot;But  kno anoto;

    quot;e need to be near ter,quot; I volunteered, and put my finger on the wavy lines.

    quot;But not in ter,quot; Speck argued. quot;I say nort, stick to till it bends up.quot; Sook tick from o th.

    quot; bends?quot; Chavisory asked.

    quot;Ive been t far.quot;

    e looked at Speck ared back, defying anyones c;t and September some years, but ern.quot;

    t;I vote for t from to to;

    quot;, you kno; said Lucting  a?d ty pouc. quot;e need tos tell Béka  to stay by t;

    a finger to o ter time, in a more generous mood, but Speck, for one, never ience. S and roused him from his slumber.

    quot; do you  no; o leaderstempted to appear bigger trying to imply a t by rising to .

    quot;e are tired of t; said Speck.

    quot;Of never wo nig; said Chavisory.

    Luc;I   man nearly s off my ;

    Béka raked o pace before us, teps to t, pivot, teps to t. opped and folded   to ion, but  listen to suc refusals. A breeze rattled trees.

    Smaolacepped up to ;First of all, nobody respects and admires your leaders us from  of darkness, but  ter nearby and a o civilization. e decided—quot;

    Béka struck like a snake, c of tence. rapping , il my friend dropped to ;I decide. You decide to listen and follos all.quot;

    Co Smaolac ill standing, Béka pointed a finger to t;I ; liking Onions by trode off into t. I looked to Speck for reassurance, but  spot, as if so her memory.