I pull out my phone. Two dozen texts, half as many missed calls. It’s a good thing I kept it on silent. Mom wants to know where I am. She wants to know who I’m with. She wants me to come home. Now. And then she unleashes the threats. She’s getting better at them.

I never promised this would be permanent.

If this isn’t working, we have to leave Tempest.

Back to Michigan?

I can’t go back. Not now that I have the Grays. Not with my dowsing rod pulling me closer and closer to the truth of what’s happening in Tempest. But there’s also no way I can explain any of that to Mom. I fumble the phone into my pocket, lodging it there and trying to forget.

But Rush has noticed the state of my face. “Should I take you home?” she whispers, her soft disappointment cutting deeper than any nasty comment would have.

I stare at Rush, not even bothering to hide the force of how I feel. I might not have many more chances to look at her like this.

“No,” I say. “If we’re going to find Imogen, we have to do it now.”

“Where to?” Rush asks.

I let the dowsing rod make that decision. I can tell from the feeling that I get inside, a long, stretched-out feeling, that we’ve got to cover some distance, so we get back into the car. As Rush drives, I text the Grays, telling them to meet us at the entrance to the nearest trailhead.

I let myself imagine that Rush and I might get a minute alone before everyone else shows up, but Lelia and June are already waiting for us at the turnstile with the NO WALKING AFTER DARK sign. Rush’s headlights spill over them — Lelia’s leather shorts and fringed tank top, June’s star-spattered dress and navy knee-highs.

Hawthorn pulls Ora’s truck in behind us and starts unloading bags of magical supplies from the back. Bottled cuttings of flowers snipped at just the right time of moon, pungent homemade oils, ten different kinds of salt.

I want to grab Rush’s hand, gather some of her soft confidence, but I don’t know what we are in the context of the Grays. Alone, there are certain rules, and ways to warp them. When we’re with everyone else, it’s probably best to keep this quiet. Which makes me want to shout that I’m about to kiss her.

I wait until everyone is slightly settled, and then I lean back against the metal bars that separate us from the woods.