Adelia nodded as she rose from her crouch, rubbing her lower back. “He sounds dangerous. We should be vigilant.” She grabbed her bedroll. “We should also be rested. Goodnight.” Without another word, she stalked away from the fire. Archie caught Hero’s eye, her brows raised. Hero shrugged in reply.

“She’s right,” Houndstooth said, rolling up the map. “We should sleep. We ride at dawn—we want to get through the Gate without drawing too much attention to ourselves.”

Cal grabbed his bedroll, walking in the opposite direction from the one Adelia had chosen. “Five hoppers on six hippos,” he said, loud enough to be heard by all the hoppers. “Shouldn’t draw too much attention at all. Real subtle-like, this crew.”

* * *

Adelia took the hippo’s tusks during the night, presenting the cleaned and polished ivory to Archie before dawn.

“I couldn’t sleep anyway,” she said, bracing the small of her back, her eyes on the water. “The niña kicks me awake.”

Archie watched the water, too, rather than watching Adelia’s face. Her eyes shone. “I suppose he’s still at the bottom.”

Adelia shrugged. “There are alligators here, I think. They would not bother us while we are riding, but who can say? I’m sure they get hungry, too.”

Archie turned white and went back to polishing Rosa’s saddle. Adelia stayed watching the water, chewing her lower lip, until Houndstooth’s sharp whistle cut through the morning mist. They left the islet behind before the sun had finished rising. Not a one of them looked back.

* * *

The Gate was a thirteen-mile-long grate dividing the Harriet from the southern tip of the Mississippi River. It stood as a testament to Man’s Victory over Nature—a brand seared into the landscape, marking it as the property of the federal government. It crossed the narrowest part of Louisiana’s Mississippi River and extended inland by six and a half miles, just outside the overland range of all but the most determined ferals.

The openings in the grate were alligator-wide and fish-tall, designed by the finest engineers the government could subsidize to allow everything but boats, hippos, and law-abiding men to pass.