“Deal,” Tristan said, as he settled in. He was just a hair more obvious than Byron had been, with the red tint to the metal, standing amid a forest of greens, browns, and grays.

Her volume back to ninety percent of normal, Kenzie reported, “Advance Guard is at the twelve o’clock, Wardens to the nine. We’ve got the five o’clock point, road is to our north at the four, running into the camp from the east. The Patrol block is on standby at the two.”

I mentally mapped it out.

“I’ll save my changes,” Chris said. He moved into an area of deeper shadow, and the projection overadjusted for a moment. “For now, I’ll skulk. I’m good at skulking.”

I frowned at him. “You hang back. Your job is to escort people out. Direct them to the Patrol group, who can figure out how to deal with them.”

“I know,” he said. “I can do other stuff.”

The phone wasn’t quite as good a view as the laptop had been. The images were squashed, the figures too small to easily make out. I saw the white blur of Ashley’s hair, saw her disappear into the vehicle.

The dogs lagged behind the cars and trucks. Some of the cars fell behind as well.

As the majority of the convoy turned north off of the highway, Tattletale’s group, dogs included, continued on into New Haven.

“Be safe, Looksee,” I said. “There’s a not insignificant chance she’d target you and use you to find Rain. They have the dogs.”

The projection of Looksee nodded.

The convoy continued to disintegrate as the road made its gradual turn, where it would stab into the Fallen camp from the east. Whoever Beast of Burden had driving was happy to ignore the road and drive into field. Truck tires spun through mud, kicking up detritus.

Depending on where they came in, they might run into the Patrol block.

The bulk, however, were heading down the main dirt road into the camp.

“Tattletale is parking,” Looksee reported. “They planned to situate themselves around here.”

“Shh,” I said.

I could hear the crackle of stones being kicked up by tires on the dirt road, tires tearing through loose terrain.

I could see them. A hundred feet away, barely visible through the gaps in the trees, they were going way too fast down the unfamiliar road.

When the last of the vehicles passed us, we moved toward them, so we’d be at their tail. Chris’s temporary projection-costume altered rapidly to absorb the surroundings. It got weird here and there where it caught a flash of Tristan’s armor or my face.

I heard the distant detonation that marked the first shot fired, the start of the war between the Hollow and the Fallen. I couldn’t tell if it was a trap laid for the vehicles or a power used by the raiding attackers.