“Guess not.” Josh pulled the neck of his T-shirt up over his nose and mouth. “What do you think’s going on in there? You think if we got closer we’d be able to hear what they’re talking about?”

Sophie looked quickly at him. “I’m sure we would, but do you really want to get any closer to that stink?”

Josh’s eyes narrowed as a thought struck him. “I wonder…”

“What?”

“Maybe that’s why the smell is so bad,” he said slowly. “They must know we won’t be able to take it and it’ll keep us away.”

“You really think they’d go to all that trouble? What-so they can talk about us?” Sophie looked at her brother again and her eyes winked briefly silver. “That’s not your idea, Josh.”

“What do you mean it’s not my idea?” he demanded. “I thought of it.” He paused and then added, “Didn’t I?”

“For one, it’s too smart,” Sophie argued. “And it sounds like something Mars would think. From what I can tell from my memories-or the Witch’s-there was a time when he thought everyone was after him.”

“And were they?” Josh asked. Although the Elder was terrifying, he couldn’t help feeling incredibly sorry for him. When Mars Ultor had touched him, Josh had felt the smallest bit of the warrior’s unending pain. It was unbearable.

“Yes,” Sophie said, eyes blinking silver, her voice now little more than a whisper. “Yes, they were. By the time he became Mars Ultor-the Avenger-he was one of the most hated and feared men on the planet.”

“Those are the Witch’s memories,” Josh said. “Try not to think about them.”

“I know.” She shook her head. “But I can’t help it. It all sort of creeps in around the edges of my mind.” She shuddered and wrapped her arms around her body. “It’s scaring me. What happens… what happens if her thoughts take over mine? What happens to me?”

Josh shook his head. He had no idea. Even the thought of losing his twin was terrifying. “Think about something else,” Josh insisted. “Something the Witch couldn’t know.”

“I’m trying, but she knows so much,” Sophie said miserably. She spun around, trying to focus on their surroundings and ignore the strange and foreign thoughts at the back of her mind. She knew she should be strong, she needed to be strong for her brother, but she couldn’t get past the Witch’s memories. “Everyone I look at, everything I see, reminds me how things have changed. How am I supposed to think of something ordinary when all this is happening? Look at us, Josh: look at where we are, look at what’s happened to us. Everything has changed… changed completely.”