“Navigate!” he cried. “We can’t stop; the hunters are gaining. Find a hole, tell me . . .” His intense concentration stopped him, but she knew that he was right. They were in a Horde city from the Histories, being hounded by two warriors or hunters who undoubtedly meant to kill them.

If they were to survive and go after the books . . .

“To the right!” The opening was narrow, between two cars, and she couldn’t see beyond, but it was the only gap she could see.

“Over the lip?”

“What lip?”

Johnis shot for the gap to their right, and Silvie saw Johnis’s “lip” then: a thin fence bordered the road, then gave way to a cliff beyond.

“Johnis!”

But Johnis was flying faster. They cut the car on their right off, forcing its rider into a squealing brake. It was all a blur now, and Silvie threw her arms up to protect her face.

The Chevy hit a curb and launched up, nose high in the air. Then they were airborne.

“Hold on . . .”

“Dear Elyon, save us!”

They sailed ten yards and landed level with a horrendous crash, bounced once, then flew forward on spinning wheels.

They’d survived?

Unscathed, it would seem, but the car was now screaming directly for another line of cars stopped beneath a line of hanging red lights.

To this point Johnis had managed to maneuver the Chevy down the mountain and into the city without touching another car. Seeing the line, Silvie knew that would now change. She braced herself for the impact.

Johnis whipped the wheel to his left, slammed his foot on the brake, then released it and applied more gas. The Chevy went into a broad slide, then abruptly straightened, flying past the line of stopped cars.

Horns blared. The Chevy missed all but the last car, which was pulled out halfway through a right-hand turn.

“Watch it . . .”

The impact came along Silvie’s door, a loud clash of metal against metal. Sparks flew. More horns blared.

And then they were through, up over a curb, clipping a tree trunk, and back on the road.

Clear.

“You okay?” Johnis asked.

“Yes. We did it?”

“We caused a ruckus. They all stopped, but they’ll be after us, that’s for sure.”

The rising and falling horns of the warriors in pursuit wailed through the Chevy’s carriage.

“By the sounds of it, a whole horde of them are after us.” Silvie tried to calm the trembling in her hands but failed to.

“I think we should leave this car.”

“No, no, no, we can’t leave the Chevy. It’s . . .” Johnis’s eyes darted about, blinking at the towering lights by the road, then behind in the mirror. “You’re right. You’re right, we’re too obvious.”