“I’m a witch,” Hope said. “I have a very open mind.”

“But why Monks?” Kosar asked.

“A warning.” The witch fell silent, perhaps realizing that the mimics’ appearance was not really a cause for celebration.

“They showed us six Monks, then they headed west,” A’Meer said. “If it’s a warning, I wonder how near they are?”

“And why would the mimics warn us?” Rafe asked.

“I think you should know that, boy,” Hope muttered. “It seems news of our journey and what we carry is reaching far beyond the human world.”

“Whatever and why ever, we should be moving, not standing around talking,” Kosar said. “If these things came to warn us, there must be good reason. Unless they’re a part of it. What if they’re with the Monks?”

“I’m sure they’re beyond petty allegiances,” Hope said. “They’re as far from us as we can imagine. Hive organisms. We probably just saw more mimics than there are people alive in Noreela now. They have their own reason for issuing such a stark warning, and that’s the magic that Rafe carries.”

“But they could just as easily be leading us to the Monks, not from them.”

“I’m sure they could have destroyed us themselves. I’ve heard stories.” Hope said no more, but the silence implied tales too gruesome for the telling.

“Well, let’s move,” A’Meer said. She took up the two horses’ reins and led them forward, walking straight toward where the mimics had manifested just moments before.

They followed. Kosar looked down at his feet, trying to see whether the ground had changed where those things had melted down into a moving carpet of life. Was the heather stripped to the stems or made richer? Was the soil denuded of goodness or enriched? But darkness hid the detail, and his feet were only shadows moving him ever onward.

AS THEY WALKED Trey took a finger of fledge. It was very stale now, bitter and sickly, and he felt his mind swaying as it cast itself from his body. He kept walking, kept his eyes open, and he only had to move slightly to touch on Alishia.

Are you there? he thought. Are you still alive?

Still here, still alive, but I’m being filled! Her voice was very distant, and it sounded very young.

Alishia! Trey called in his mind.

She shouted back, but it was not any louder.

What’s happening? Trey asked. I’m all alone out here. I miss your company, and you sound strange, lost—

Lost and found again, Alishia whispered. Never really lived, but now I’m filled with everything.