I looked up. Fang was watching me. We still hadn’t talked about the Incident of the previous night. Nudge was shifting from one foot to another, the way she did when she got hungry. Total was taking a potty break in the bushes. Everyone looked tired, and we still needed to rustle up food.

Jeb had said that he and my mom trusted me and thought I was doing a good job. He’d said to trust my instincts.

My instincts asked me if he was playing another angle.

Chapter 18

18

AFTER A LAME DINNER of scavenged food, we settled onto various branches of the tallest trees we could find. Did we sleep in trees a lot? Yes. Had we ever fallen out of a tree while asleep? As amusing as that would have been, no.

I was exhausted, still pretty hungry, and clueless about what the next day would bring. But I double-checked my flock before I let myself relax. Angel and Total were snuggled in the deep vee of an enormous oak. Iggy and Gazzy were close together in the same tree. Nudge was stretched out along a thick branch, one arm hanging down. Fang was —

I looked. He’d been right there a second ago. Now, no Fang.

“Where’s Fang?” I tried to keep alarm out of my voice — don’t panic till you need to — but I’m so not into the whole missing-flock thing.

Angel and Gazzy looked around, and Fang said, “I’m right here,” sounding surprised. And there he was, straddling a branch with his back against the trunk.

I blinked. “I looked — you weren’t there.”

“Yes, I was,” he said, eyebrows raised.

“No,” said Nudge. “I looked for you too. Were you behind the tree?”

“I was right here!” Fang insisted, waving his arms.

“I didn’t see you either, man,” Iggy said with a straight face.

I rolled my eyes at him, then said, “I’m rolling my eyes, Iggy.”

“Well, I was here the whole time,” said Fang, shrugging.

Five minutes later, he disappeared again.

“Fang!” I said, peering all around. True, it was dark, but thanks to raptor vision, we can all see perfectly well at night. Every other flock member was there, clear as day.

“I’m here,” said Fang.

There was nothing where his voice was coming from.

“Behind the tree?” I was starting to get irritated.

“Are you blind?” Fang demanded. “I’m right here!”

And there he was. Complete with a brand-new skill. Let’s hear it for spontaneous mutation, folks!

Chapter 19

19

NO, FANG COULD NOT actually make himself invisible. It was more like his natural stillness and darkness just sort of made him fade into the background till he kind of disappeared. As soon as he moved again, he was visible. If he stayed still, we could search for an hour, but our eyes would skate right over him.