Cinder laughed, a sound that belonged to someone much older. “I like it out here.” His smile faded. “This is my home.”

Perry shook his head. He slipped the arrows back into his quiver, grabbed his bow, and stood. He had to get moving. “You can’t keep tailing us, Cinder. You’re not strong enough and it’s too dangerous. Head off while there’s still time.”

“You can’t tell me what to do.”

“You have any idea what the Croven do to kids?”

“I don’t care.”

“You should. Head south. There’s a settlement two days from here. Climb a tree if you need to sleep.”

“I’m not afraid of the Croven, Scire. They can’t hurt me. No one can.”

Perry almost laughed at him. It was an impossible claim. But Cinder’s temper was cool and sharp and clear. Perry inhaled again, waiting for it to sour with his lie.

It never did.

Perry’s mind was racing as he caught up to Aria and Roar. He hung back a ways, needing some space of his own, too absorbed by what Cinder had said. They can’t hurt me. No one can. He’d been sure when he had said those words. But how could Cinder believe something like that?

Perry wondered if he’d read the boy’s temper wrong. Was it the pine or Cinder’s strange Aether scent throwing off his nose? Or was Cinder mentally wounded? Had he convinced himself he was untouchable in order to survive alone? The afternoon hours passed, silent and swift, and Perry still struggled to understand.

At dusk they emerged from a dense grove of pines to a rugged basin. A range of sharp peaks framed the northern horizon. Roar left Aria’s side, dropping back to get a better sense of the distance between them and the Croven.

Perry fell in step with her. He counted twenty paces before he spoke. “Do you want to rest?” He wondered how she was managing. His own feet ached, and they weren’t cut and blistered.

Her gray eyes turned to him. “Why do you even bother asking?”

He stopped. “Aria, that’s not how my Sense works. I can’t tell if you’re—”

“I thought we weren’t supposed to talk out here,” she said without breaking her stride.

Perry frowned as he watched her go. How had it happened that now he wanted to talk but she didn’t?

Roar came back a short while later. “It’s not good news. The Croven have broken into smaller groups. They’re coming right around us. We’re losing our lead, too.”

Perry shifted the bow and quiver on his back, eyeing his best friend. “You don’t need to do this. Aria and I have to get to Marron’s, but you don’t.”

“Sure, Per. I’ll just go then.”