The hill was steep, the hiking tough; Isaac’s heart thumped so hard he could hear it faintly inside his head. Sadina took deep, audible breaths behind him. Several times, they needed to grab a hanging branch or a strong weed to pull themselves up a section. Letti, above, bounded along like she was going downhill instead of up.

By the time they crested the top of the hill, Isaac had released at least a quart of sweat through his skin and his chest heaved with each breath. But it felt good, exhilarating. It made him miss the sweaty, smoky, hardworking days at the Forge back home.

“Come on,” Letti said, waving her arm as she continued walking along the top of the hill. The darkening sky loomed over them, vast and unbroken now, the very first hint of stars beginning to peek through the heavenly facade.

Isaac was lost for a moment in the sheer beauty of the view. The sun glimmering on the distant ocean as it sank toward the horizon, the expanse of buildings in every direction, some of the remaining windows glowing orange in reflection. On the other side of the hill, mountains rose in the distance, their color somewhere between red and purple in the fading light. A sudden and powerful sadness gripped his heart. How wonderful the world must’ve been once. Why did it all have to be ruined by apocalypse and disease? Could it ever make a comeback?

“Here,” Letti said. She’d stopped and squatted on her haunches, pointing to a spot down in the sprawling neighborhoods of the city, lying beneath a blanket of shadow. “Come here and look.”

Isaac knelt in the dirt next to the woman and followed the trajectory of her arm. It took a moment to focus, to see movement in a spot maybe two or three miles away. People. A group of people, maybe ten or fifteen of them.

“That’s . . .” Sadina began but didn’t need to finish.

Letti looked back at her and nodded. “Yes, that’s them. We’ve left just enough clues to let them stay on our trail. Thanks for helping out with that.”

Isaac wanted to respond but he was speechless.

“Did you really think we’d let you do something like scrawl a giant message across a brick wall before stopping you?” Letti exchanged a glance with Timon. “It worked out, didn’t it? We got to teach you a lesson about how important it is to do what we say, and you left a big sign encouraging them to keep coming.”

“But . . . why?” Sadina asked. “I don’t get it. Are you going to let them catch up to us or not?”

Letti didn’t answer the question. She stood and started back down the hill, away from their friends.