She glanced at the sand clock. Again. Angle three-twenty. Again, she swore the grains flowed up instead of down. Staring at the curved glass of the clock, Shyla pushed her will at it.

Stop.

The grains paused. Ha! She’d stopped time. Now the clock matched her mood. Too bad no one was there for her to tell. A pang of loneliness bounced in her chest. Her thoughts immediately went to Rendor. Argh. She couldn’t wait any longer. Grabbing her sun cloak, she strode from her room and headed down to the dorms on level ten. Only a few had been cleared and Jayden shared one of them with Ximen, Mojag, and two others. Druk lanterns hung in the hallway, casting enough light into the rooms.

Not wishing to wake the others, she crept into the small space and whispered his name. Jayden woke with a jerk. He sat up and brandished a knife.

Whoa. Shyla held her hands up, leaning back.

He relaxed. “Don’t do that.”

“Wake you up?”

A grunt. “Is something wrong?”

“No.”

“Then why—”

“I want to practice hiding in the sand.”

“Now?” Incredulity laced his voice. “It’s still dark and cold.”

“I want to hide near the city’s entrances. Is there a way to see through the sand? That would be a great way to spy on who’s coming out without having to influence everyone.”

“You’re worried about Rendor’s team.”

At least he didn’t just say Rendor. Progress. “Yes, but…I thought it might be a good idea to see if anyone follows them from the city.”

Jayden considered. His blanket had slipped down to his waist, revealing his bare chest and defined abdominal muscles. Rendor also slept without a shirt despite it being ten degrees. She shivered. What was wrong with these guys? Did they enjoy showing off their muscles to sleep deprived and lonely sun-kisseds?

“All right,” he said. “Give me an angle to get dressed.”

She retreated to the common room. A few people sat at the tables, talking in low voices. Others hauled buckets up to the surface. While it was too cold to stay out there for long without being bundled up, short excursions were fine. Especially since lugging heavy sand was hot sweaty work.

Rae and Lian sat in the corner. The ex-acolytes waved her over. When she joined them, Rae said, “Worried about the team?”

“A little,” she admitted.

“We’re insulted he didn’t ask us,” Lian said. “We helped you get through all those guards and down to level seventy-three. That should count for something.”

“It does. You have my eternal gratitude for helping rescue Banqui.” Shyla wouldn’t have gotten far without them, Jaft, and Elek. And that reminded her of another worry—where was Banqui? Was he safe?

“You know what I mean,” Lian said.