“But there’s the fog, and the Blight—it’s so hard to see anything that isn’t right in front of your face. All I saw was a shadow, coming up behind you. And yes, it was big, but…”

“What was big?”

Both boys jumped as if they’d been shocked. They turned to see a slender female figure in the doorway. Her hair was almost solid silver, and she wore it long down her back, but tied in a leather thong. She was Indian, Rector could see that at a glance, and he guessed she must be old enough to be somebody’s grandmother, but she didn’t look ready for a rocking chair. Everything about her was efficient and tough, from the fit of her clothes, which he guessed had once belonged to a man, to the rifle slung over her back.

Tough or no, she greeted Houjin with a toss of her head and a grin, saying, “Hey there, boy. Found yourself some company, I see. Where’s your usual shadow?”

“His mother wanted him over at the fort. I don’t know what for. This is Rector,” Houjin declared. “Rector, this is Miss Angeline.”

“Ma’am,” he acknowledged.

“Huey pulled you out of the chuckhole, didn’t he?”

“Yes, ma’am, that was me.”

She laughed. “Those damn holes. Half of them are older than the wall. Hit your head up good, I heard.”

“Yes, ma’am.” When in doubt, stay polite; that was Rector’s policy.

Miss Angeline came into the kitchen and helped herself to some of the salmon jerky, then pulled a bag off her shoulders and dumped its contents on the counter. “Picked up some cherries down south a bit, past where the Blight makes them taste funny. I ate some on the way here, but you kids are welcome to whatever’s left.”

“Thank you, Miss Angeline!” Houjin jumped off his stool and helped himself to a handful. He offered a few to Rector, who accepted, then told the native woman, “It’s funny, right before you got here we were talking about just that—the chuckhole, and how Rector got there.”

“Running through the dark in the Blight, I gotta assume.”

“Yes, but running from something strange,” he replied, every word dripping with conspiracy. “Tell her, Rector. Tell her what you saw.”

“Neither one of us saw it too good. As you were saying.”

“Rotters?” she guessed.

Rector shook his head. “No, not rotters. Something bigger, and something that still had some brains in its head. It didn’t just chase me, Miss Angeline.” Rector relayed the rest quickly, and with a shiver he hadn’t expected. “It stalked me.”