Just ahead of him, Tessa reappeared suddenly, turned all the way back, saw him, and stopped. Then she waved to him and started back to where he stood, smiling in a confused sort of way. She glanced back momentarily in the direction she had been going, as if looking for something. He desperately tried to figure out what was wrong. Everything she was doing was completely out of character. He glanced back over his shoulder for the caravan, but it had disappeared in the storm. There was no sign of the vehicles or their occupants. There was only the emptiness of the plains, a vast roiling sweep in the grip of the wind and dust. He felt a moment of panic. Even his tracks had been blown away. His sense of direction was so skewed that he wasn’t sure he could find his way back even if he wanted to. In fact, he was quite sure he couldn’t.

As she came up to him, she said, “I thought you were still ahead of me. I must have gotten turned around.”

He stared. “Ahead of you?”

“Well, you were ahead when you motioned for me to follow you out of the camp. Why did you bring me out here, anyway?”

He looked around quickly, dark suspicion sweeping through him. A huge bulky form materialized from the haze, one he recognized instantly. The monster that had been tracking him for days. The monster that had taken all the other children. The demon. It stood not a dozen yards away, and he realized with sudden clarity what had happened.

The demon was a shape-shifter. It had lured them away from the others by pretending to be something it wasn’t, isolating them out on these flats in the midst of a concealing dust storm. It had deceived them as it must have deceived the other children—by assuming the form of someone they cared for. That was how it had gotten to Chalk, even though he had been warned of the danger, even though he knew what was out there. It had taken the shape of his best friend, Fixit, and drawn him out to be destroyed. This time it had taken Hawk’s form, tricking Tessa into following it. It must have been its intention to kill her and leave her for him to discover. But having him follow Tessa, in turn, was an unexpected bonus. Now it could kill them both.

He was suddenly enraged all over again. All of those children had been lured to their deaths by false images of loved ones, of friends, of family. It was so hateful to him that for a moment he forgot his own peril and thought only of how much he would like to see the monster destroyed. But he was carrying no weapons, and he knew already that even with his magic he was no match for this creature.