“I don’t,” Leelo lied. “I just didn’t realize they’d already taken it.” She forced herself to take a breath. The young man must not have made it to land after all. Which meant no one had been there to sing for him. She hoped he’d died quickly, at least.

“You can go,” Sage said when Leelo didn’t move. “You still have time to rest before your shift starts.”

Leelo glanced at Hollis to see what he made of all this, but he was just staring blankly across the shore. Sage seemed to be showing off for him, but Leelo couldn’t fathom why. Sage was not the kind of girl to swoon at the sight of muscles, and Hollis wasn’t anywhere close to an intellectual match for her.

Whatever the case, Sage wasn’t going to budge, and Leelo was exhausted. “Thank you for covering for me, Hollis,” she said.

He grunted in acknowledgment as she left the shore and headed back into the Forest. She would go home, sleep, and forget about the outsider, she told herself. But her mind kept snagging on Sage and Hollis. For someone who had all but sworn off marriage, he was an extremely odd choice for Sage. And for someone who had always been so loyal, she seemed rather quick to dismiss Leelo, especially for something as small as coming late to Watcher duty.

With a sick twisting in her stomach, Leelo started to wonder if Sage might know more than she was letting on.

And then she saw the trail of blood.

Chapter Twenty-One

Jaren stumbled through the Forest, dragging his injured leg behind him. After the girl had abandoned him on the beach, he had lain on the rocky shore for a few minutes, as far from the lapping water as he could get.

He hadn’t even inspected his leg. He knew it was bad, and he couldn’t risk staying out in the open, exposed. When the girl had grabbed the rope, he had been certain she was going to try to tip him or prevent him from coming ashore. Instead, she had hauled him toward the beach. But if she was trying to help Jaren, surely she would have checked on him. She had disappeared before he was even out of the boat, probably to get reinforcements, if he had to guess. His only hope right now was to hide somewhere and pray the wound wasn’t fatal.

He had hardly gone far at all when he heard voices in the Forest ahead. Somehow, he managed to scramble up a tree and hide among the leaves. He held his breath and watched as a boy and girl passed below him. If one of them glanced up, they would spot him instantly.