Temra and I share a look. We hadn’t even thought to grab Kellyn’s possessions before taking him.

Temra looks the scholar up and down. “Are you hiding a weapon in there somewhere?”

“No,” he says, puzzled.

“Do you know how to use a weapon?” she asks.

“No.”

“Are you skilled in hand-to-hand combat?”

“Um, no.”

“Then how exactly are you going to help us?”

“We can help each other! Another body on the road never hurts to deter bandits, and you could help me with my book.”

“Absolutely not!” I say.

But Temra says, “Excuse us for a moment, Petrik.”

With Reya’s lead in one hand and my shoulder in the other, my sister steers us off a ways.

“What?” I whisper.

“I think we should bring him along.”

“Why would we do that? We’re about to be hunted!”

“Because he’s a leading expert on magic, remember? And we need to get rid of a magic sword! This is perfect. You can pick his brain on the road.”

Oh …

“How am I supposed to pick his brain without revealing just how powerful our cargo is?”

“You’re smart; you’ll figure something out.”

I hate that she’s right. I don’t want another stranger with us.

“We’ll be putting him in danger,” I say. “We can’t do that. What if he’s caught with us?”

“If I could just interject.” Petrik raises his voice to be heard. “There are other ways I can be of use! I may not look it, but I’m strong. I carried all these books across two regions just to find you. I can help with any chores. I know how to build fires and cook. I can—”

“You can cook?” Temra and I ask simultaneously.

“Yes, one of my many duties at the Great Library was being in a cooking rotation with other novices.”

Temra and I share a glance.

Temra hands me Reya’s lead. “I’ve got this.” She returns to Petrik. “You may come with us, but we have some conditions.”

“Name them,” he says.

“You don’t ask questions about where we’re going or what we’re doing. And you need to know that dangerous people are after us. It might not be safe for you if we’re caught.”

Petrik’s hands drop from his shoulder straps as he deliberates. “How dangerous?”

“Very.”

He only thinks about it a moment longer. “Well, then, I guess I just can’t stick around too long.”

“Really?” I blurt. “You really still want to come?”

“If I’m being totally honest, it sounds very exciting!”

He’s mad, is what I want to say to Temra, but I can’t tell her that now without Petrik overhearing.

“Then we can’t delay any longer,” Temra says. “You have to keep up.”

And we resume running.

Even when the sun rises, we don’t dare make camp. We’re all tired, especially Reya, who’s carrying all the supplies as well as the mercenary’s bulk. We stop at a nearby stream to let her drink and graze a little but not for long. Temra picks the long grasses along the journey and feeds them to her as we walk.