Wesley would have gone to him, but he was finding it hard enough to stand straight and keep himself from falling over. His body felt depleted and it required all the ego he had to keep anyone from noticing.

The trek from Tisvgen to the Uncharted Forest had not been an easy one, and Wesley had forgotten how average a swimmer he was until he had propelled himself into the Onnela Sea.

He’d also forgotten until now that he still wasn’t wearing any shoes, and the moment he remembered his feet began to throb.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Bastian said.

Wesley tried to make his voice sound breezy. “I bet none of it was good.”

“But all of it was true,” Saxony said.

Wesley only shrugged and turned to the old lady. “And you are?”

“This is my amja,” Saxony said.

“I’m not expected to call her that, am I?”

Wesley didn’t think referring to a lady he barely knew as his grandmother was the right way to go.

“Most people do,” the lady said.

“I’m not most people.”

“He says that a lot,” Tavia said. “You’ll get used to the pride. Wesley likes to think he’s special.”

Saxony’s amja looked at him strangely, her eyes soft and white enough that he could almost see his own reflection back in them. Wesley looked away, but then she took his hand in hers.

There was something to the way she looked at him that made Wesley feel unsettled, and when she clasped his hand, the trees hummed softly in the background.

“He is special,” Saxony’s amja said. “He escaped Dante Ashwood and made his way here in one piece.”

Wesley wasn’t sure he was in one piece.

“Speaking of the escape,” Saxony said. “How did Karam and the others manage to get you out so quickly? Are they getting healed somewhere else in camp?”

Wesley paused. “Karam didn’t get me out of anywhere.”

“She went to get you,” Saxony said slowly, as though perhaps Wesley had misunderstood. “A busker we questioned mentioned you were in Tisvgen and she took Arjun and Asees and a few other Crafters there to save you.”

“You mean my old bouncer tried a rescue mission?” Wesley said. “I’m flattered. That would have saved me a trip out of a window.”

And that was when any color faded from Saxony’s face.

“Are you serious?” she asked. “They left three days ago. If you’re here, then where in the fire-gates are they?”

Wesley only shrugged. “I jumped out of a building all by myself and then I just followed the sound of you sighing in my direction. I never saw anyone.”

“Maybe they just missed each other,” Tavia said to Saxony, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

For some reason, that gesture seemed to make them both stiffen.