"Step down on what?" I asked.

  "One of the skids." Davis gestured out the door.

  My stomach clenched at the thought.

  "Jumping is hard and landing is difficult, but at least we're about the same height. Boone's going to have a hell of a time with Rider." She adjusted a few more straps around my legs. "I think you're set. Looks like Vincent has Rider set up. I'll go check on him."

  In a few moments, Vincent joined me. He started testing the harness.

  He was all business, but my stomach fluttered when he pulled at the strap on my waist and checked the tightness of the cinches around my thighs.

  "Don't worry," Vincent said. "Boone wouldn't have paired you with Davis if she wasn't good at this."

  "I'm sure it'll be okay." With Vincent at my side, my anxiety about jumping had been replaced with nervousness of another sort. Maybe if I kept him close I wouldn't stress out about dangling from a helicopter.

  Once we were loaded and the door was closed, the helicopter took off. Boone spoke with Rider about what they were going to do, then he tested Rider's harness.

  When Boone came over to check on me, Vincent stayed close as he put on his harness. I could feel that Vincent was uncomfortable with Boone being there, but he didn't say anything and didn't hover.

  "Did Davis explain everything?" Boone asked.

  "I think so."

  Boone nodded and went around to each person, checking everything over, and giving last-minute instructions to his team.

  I tried to put on a facade of calm, but I'm not sure it worked. Vincent could sense I was nervous, but he almost always knew what I was feeling; one of the benefits of sharing a soul—or drawback, depending on how you looked at it.

  Far too soon, they were opening the doors. Tolman and then Renick disappeared over the edge. One by one, I watched them go. The equipment went down next.

  When Vincent stepped down, I held my breath until he was out of sight.

  Pushing my fear back, I followed Davis. She showed me how to step down, and even though I had watched everyone else, I appreciated the instruction.

  Boone hooked us together. "Don't hold on too tight."

  Davis steadied herself. I held on, and the moment my feet left the skids, I'm pretty sure my heart stopped. Closing my eyes seemed like a good idea, yet I couldn't help but look around. The forest was beautiful.

  The drop wasn’t free fall, but my stomach flipped as though it was. Before I knew it, we thudded down on solid ground. My insides felt as though they were trying to catch up. Renick unhooked us and helped me out of my harness. It surprised me that he didn't have some annoying comment. However, I guess when it was time to get to work then he did just that. That made me feel a little better about him.

  But only a little.

  The harness and the lines went up.

  "This way," Davis said.

  She led me to our supplies. Back in the hanger, there hadn’t appeared to be a lot, but now it looked like so much stuff. In the past, our few days here and there in the woods had been short trips and we hadn't needed to carry weeks’ worth of food and supplies.

  Davis passed me a rifle and I slung it over my shoulder. After that, I pretty much just stayed out of the way. About ten minutes later, Rider joined me. His eyes were like saucers and his hair looked wild.

  "What did you think?" I asked.

  "Jumping straight from the helicopter would be easier. If they had gone a little lower, we could have."

  "Landing the helicopter and stepping out on firm ground is my preference."

  Rider started to look around once he was handed weapons. I watched the helicopter fly away. When the noise died down, it felt as though our final cord to civilization was severed.

  In a way, that's exactly what happened.

  When I turned around, Rider was gone.

  "Rider?" I called quietly.

  He stepped out from behind a tree yards away.

  "Stick close, okay? This isn't like the woods back home."

  "It smells like..." Rider breathed deeply and exhaled loudly. "It smells like the forests in my world."

  Rider never spoke much about his home in the other dimension, but I knew things weren't good when he left. From what it sounded like, when his father died, his family had gone to pieces. His brother killed his sister and would have killed Rider if he hadn't left.

  "Where did you put your gun?" I asked.

  Rider tapped the holster on his leg.

  "The other one," I said.

  He went to a tree and picked it up, but held it out to me, arm outstretched. "The chemicals in these tranquilizers smell different than ours."

  "I’ve got live rounds. I'll trade you," I said. "Bring it here."

  While we traded guns, Boone came over. "We have a few hours of daylight left. Tolman and Renick are checking the immediate vicinity. Rider, Logan said you'd know where he is."

  Rider cocked an ear and listened for a moment. "He is in that direction." Rider pointed. "Not far."

  "He told me he'd stick close," Boone said, nodding.

  "Where are Vincent and Davis?" I asked.

  "They're checking reference points to make sure we know where we are."

  "I'm glad someone knows," I muttered, looking around.

  "You didn't get a chance to try out your pack back at the base," Boone said. "Let's get it fitted now."

  "Fitted?" I asked, setting the tranq rifle to the side. "I thought they were pretty much one size fits all."

  "Sort of," Boone said. "But if you have them adjusted wrong it's a lot more work to carry around."

  Boone lifted the pack and I put my arms through the straps. When Boone let go, it felt as though the thing was filled with lead. Having been stuck in the middle of nowhere recently with almost no supplies, I decided I liked the weight. It was a reminder that things weren't too dire.

  Boone adjusted the clasps at my waist, then buckled the straps together across my chest. "How's that feel? Too heavy?"

  "It's not bad."

  He moved the bag around some and made some more adjustments as Davis joined us.

  "We've noted three points," Davis said, speaking louder and more forceful than I expected.

  "Excellent," Boone said, pulling a strap to take away some of the slack. "Good work. Let's gear up and move out. Rider, do you want to... Where's Rider?"

  "I am here," Rider said, coming back into view from the other side of the clearing.

  "At least you have your gun with you this time," I said.

  Rider nodded, but he wasn't really looking at us. His eyes roved everywhere and he really seemed to like what he saw.

  "Let me know when Logan's on his way back," Boone said. "I'm assuming he can find us, right?"

  "He said he will catch up to us very soon."

  "Rider," I said, watching him walk into the woods again.

  "Yes?" He asked.

  "Will you stick with us?"

  "I will," Rider said.

  "In sight, please," I said.

  Rider stepped back into the clearing. "Your sight or mine?"

  "Mine."

  Rider frowned, but nodded.

  Vincent and Davis had already donned their packs and Boone was putting his on.

  "Grab your stuff, Rider," Boone said. "Let's move out."

  Boone led the way and Vincent followed. Rider picked up his bag and tossed it over his shoulder as if it weighed nothing.

  Davis was watching him, as though she were sizing him up. When she saw me looking at her, she waved me over. We followed behind the others.

  The clearing had grass—dense, tall, and heavy. Once we stepped under the trees, I saw there were vines coming down and bushes or small trees going up. Even following people that had already forged a Path, it was difficult to navigate.

  "Do you mind if I ask you something?" Davis asked, speaking low and watching the others in front of us.

  I kept my eyes firmly glued to the ground, making sure nothing unexpected tripped me up.

  "Sure," I said, uncertain if I actually minded or not.

  "I've seen Vincent's eyes go black, and I've seen them swirl with a kind of dark color, like ink spilled across water. Why do they do that?"

  "Sometimes it's just a natural response to what's in front of him. When did you notice this?"

  "Back at the base when we first saw him. His eyes were flat black. Then, when he and I came into the clearing to report to Boone, they started to turn black, but stopped."

  I sighed before I could stop myself. Vincent and I really needed to have a talk about Boone. He was seeing something that wasn't there. Why had he needed to spend so much time away? We could have worked it all out by now if he had talked to me.

  "Did I say something wrong again?" Davis asked.

  "No, he probably saw something he didn’t like.”

  Rider wasn't in sight again. He was usually partnered with Vincent, and Logan and I generally teamed up. The four of us only worked together on larger cases. I felt the need to keep track of my friend.

  "And Rider?" Davis asked.

  "What about him?" I asked, trying not to get preemptively defensive once again.

  "How much can he lift?"

  "Um... I'm not sure, really. More than most people would expect, I know that."

  "Davis, is the team on their way back?" Boone called.

  Davis halted and I stopped next to her. A faraway expression appeared.

  "They are," Davis called up to Boone.

  "Mind if I ask you a few questions?" I asked once we started moving again.

  Davis grinned. "Only seems fair."

  "How do you know if they're on their way?"

  "It's hard to explain. The three of us can kind of... sense one another."

  "What about other people?"

  "No, just them."

  I wanted to ask what else she could do, but felt that would be really invasive. It would also leave her open to be able to ask me, and I didn't want to have to try to explain.

  "The undergrowth is thinning out," I noted, trying to change the subject.

  "Good," she said. "It would suck to have to walk through that crap all day."

  "It's going to get dark quick under the canopy," Boone said. "I want us to get as far as we can tonight."

  "Are we going to the village?" I asked.

  "Not the one you’re thinking of. A survivor turned up in another place, so we're going there first," Boone said.

  "Why didn't we land there?" I asked.

  "These people are primitive," Boone said. "Extremely primitive. If we go in by foot, we might be welcomed. At the very least someone should talk to us."

  "What language do they speak?" I asked.

  "Most of these tribes have their own language," Boone said. "Some of them can be pretty hostile, so we have to keep up our guard."

  "So, how do we talk to them?" I asked.

  "I'll be able to help there," Logan said, striding up behind us.

  Davis jumped and turned, but tried to play it off once her brain caught up with the fact that it was Logan.

  "One of these days I'm going to remember the bells," I said under my breath. I knew both of my light-footed partners would be able to hear me.

  "You think you'll know their language?" Boone asked.

  "Could be," Logan said, passing Davis and me. "What was your plan for talking with them?

  "Sometimes there are people in the tribe that deal with outsiders. Someone might know Spanish or Portuguese."

  "Let me try first," Logan said. "We might get further if we're actually speaking their language."

  "Do we want to see them tonight?" Rider asked.

  "No," Boone said. "There's not enough daylight left."

  "We should stop here," Rider said.

  "There might be a decent spot on one of the rises," Logan said. "Rider, why don't you check it out?"

  Rider smiled and bounded off, almost immediately disappearing.

  "You don't think we can get any closer?" Boone asked, turning back to us.

  I had forgotten that Boone always tried to look for an explanation as to why a suggestion was made, unless he really trusted that person. I thought he trusted Rider in that way, but I must have been wrong.

  "Rider would know better than the rest of us," Logan said. "Sounds like we have a place to bed down for the night."

  Without another word, Logan disappeared into the woods.

  "That's a good point," Boone said. He started to follow, but then stopped. "Cassie, do you mind leading the way?"

  If he was asking, it was because Logan really had disappeared. I wasn’t sure of the specifics, but elves are really good about disappearing, and they make no noise when walking in the woods.

  Logan probably hadn't appreciated Boone second guessing Rider, so he was going to let him figure out where to go on his own.

  "Sure." I closed my eyes and mentally stretched, making the jump into the Path. I tried to hold back some of the strength, hoping it would hide me from other things that lived in the Path. I knew if I could see them, they could see me, but I didn't know if they could see me at any other times.

  Looking around, I spotted Rider's Path, which was the easiest to find and follow.

  The rest of the world was too much of a distraction to actually move. The green canopy above glittered and swayed. A current of swirls wound through the area, showing the Path the air took. Streaks filled the sky, possibly left by birds from earlier in the day.

  "Cass?"

  The truly unique thing about the Path was the fact that it was virtually untouched.

  "Cass?" Vincent's voice snapped me back to the group.

  "Right. Yeah. We're going this way." I followed Rider's Path up the hill, though I couldn't help but watch my surroundings. Animal trails crisscrossed the forest floor and ran up the trees.

  I didn't drop the Path when we walked onto a rocky area where Logan and Rider were waiting. The most vivid orange I'd ever seen in the Path came through here. Usually, animal Paths were weaker because they ran on instinct and didn't think deeply enough to make an imprint on the world around them.

  The glittering orange flow called to me. I could see that it was an animal Path; the instinctual fluctuations were still there.

  This is their world. The Path remembers them so deeply because it belongs to them. We shouldn't be here.

  Looking back, I noticed the Paths of the others contaminated the surrounding areas. It was almost sad to see. I turned to follow the orange thread and found Rider blocking my way.

  Chapter Eight

  He didn't say anything, but then again, he didn't have to. With a sigh of regret, I took one last look at the world around me, then closed my eyes and stepped back into the real world. Color bled out of the surroundings and the vibrant forest turned drab.

  "Your home was like this?" I asked him.

  "Parts of it were," Rider said. "The best parts."

  "I can see why you keep wandering off into the woods."

  I sat the rifle to the side and started working my way out of the straps. Once I put the bag aside, I realized how worn I felt. I wondered briefly how far we had gone today. Looking around at everyone setting up, I realized I was probably the only one that didn't actually have a clue as to the distance of our hike.

  Is judging distances something that can be learned? At this point, if I hadn't learned it yet, I probably wouldn't be able to.

  I rolled my shoulders to loosen them and opened my bag. Water was my main goal, but I also dragged out my hammock. There were plenty of trees, but not all of them far enough apart to be useful for hammocks. As the camp began to take shape, I saw that we were scattered around the area.

  While I was working, Renick and Tolman caught up.

  “What kind of knot is that?” Vincent asked.

  I raised my eyebrow to see if he was kidding. “The knot kind.”

  He had trouble hiding the grin on his face. “Mind if I rework those?”

  I shrugged. “Sure. I’d rather not have my tarp falling down on me in the middle of the night.”

  “Oh, it would stay up,” Vincent said as he started trying to untie one of my knots. “It just might not come back down tomorrow when it’s time to leave.”

  “I see.” I started to untie the other end.

  Looking around, I saw that no one seemed to be paying much attention to us.

  “We should talk,” I said.

  “We need to,” Vincent said.

  Neither of us said anything for a while as Vincent worked on retying his side.

  When he was finished, I handed off my side to him.

  “We don’t know how long we’re going to be out here,” Vincent said.

  “That’s true,” I agreed. “Hopefully it won’t be longer than a week.”

  “The point is,” Vincent said, testing the new knot he’d easily put together, “we’re going to be working with this new team.”

  “We are.” I was leery of where the conversation was going. I grabbed my tarp, ready to throw it over the new guideline.

  “I think things might work better, you know, as a team, if we kept our distance.”

  My mouth fell open. “What?”

  “It’s not what I want,” Vincent said, grabbing my hand that was holding the tarp. “But they’ll get along better with you if you aren’t around me.” He took the tarp and stepped away, throwing it over the guideline.

  I took a quick look around the camp. “If they don’t like it, that’s their problem.”

  “It’s only until we get home.”

  I didn’t say anything. At that moment, I didn’t trust myself even to open my mouth.

  “Look, I’ve seen the way they stare at me. It’s for the better. They need to know they can trust you and vice-versa.”

  If I opened my mouth, it was either going to be to cry, which would embarrass me to no end, or to yell at him, which wouldn’t be much better.

  He finished staking down the tarp, then came back over to me.

  “We’re okay, aren’t we?” he asked.

  “No,” I said through clenched teeth. “We really, really aren’t.”

  Worry pulsed in the Path. I could feel it without the need to Read.