“It’s a good one to have.” He looked off into the darkness. “I was talking with Candle earlier, and it got me to thinking. You told me she senses trouble, danger. She has a gift. But she hasn’t used it the whole time I’ve been with you. Not even when we walked into that trap set by Krilka Koos. What do you make of that?”

Owl shook her head. Her brow furrowed and her plain, warm features tightened. “I don’t know. She’s always had the gift. This is the first time it hasn’t worked for her. Maybe it has something to do with you being here to help us. Maybe she thought that was enough and wasn’t paying attention.”

“Maybe.” He hesitated. “I was thinking it might have something to do with Hawk.”

“Why Hawk?”

“Because he wasn’t with us. Hasn’t been since we left Seattle. Maybe she can’t use her gift if he isn’t present. Maybe it doesn’t work then.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. It was working before she ever came to us.” Owl studied him intently.

“Unless something has changed.”

They looked at each other without speaking for a moment, each waiting for the other to provide the answer to the riddle.

“Maybe you could ask her,” Logan suggested.

“She doesn’t like talking about it. In fact, she never talks about it anymore. I don’t know. I think we have to let it be.”

“We can’t rely on her then. We can’t risk it.” He held her gaze. “Sooner or later, someone is going to ask her if she senses anything. What happens then? We won’t be able to trust what she tells us if we don’t know the truth.”

Owl didn’t answer, her eyes troubled. “I’ll see what I can do,” she told him finally. After she was gone, he walked over to the AV, retrieved a blanket from the storage compartment, and stretched out on a patch of dry earth. Slipping off his boots, he rolled himself into the blanket and lay back, staring up at the stars. He thought about what he had asked Owl to do. It amounted to asking her to question the value of one of her children. Who was he to ask that of her? He was less trustworthy and dependable than they were.

What right did he have to question anyone else?

He pictured Candle’s young face, and he wished suddenly that he could take back what he had said to Owl. But words spoken can never be taken back. They can only be measured for and judged on the strength of their sincerity and need.

Because here there were lives at stake, perhaps that would be enough. LOGAN TOM.