Joel was at the head of the column, but he’d conspired to make sure Shen was right behind him. He wasn’t willing to relinquish his role as leader, but he’d finally figured out that Shen had all kinds of knowledge that might prove handy in the jungle—it was probably asking too much to expect him to see the same value in some of the others, like Kate and Barney.

Tom was at the very back, with George and Chris immediately ahead of him carrying the case with one of the boats in it. Just before entering the path, Tom looked back at the camp, at the torn tail-section, the fire still burning low, even though they’d tried to put it out, at the discarded items and the luggage containers still dotted up the slope, one of them containing Freddie’s body.

He looked all the way up the slope then, to the forlorn remains of the previous day’s bonfire, to the ridge that had first decided who died and who lived. His amazement remained undiminished—not a single one of them should have walked off that plane, and that was all the more reason that every one of them left should make it all the way home.

He turned and followed them into dappled and humid shade, listening to the conversations rattling back and forth along the line in front of him. They looked like an exploratory expedition, but they sounded just like a school field trip.

Progress seemed to be slow too, which he guessed was for the better, rather than have people collapsing with the heat. But a short while later the column stopped altogether.

Chris lowered the front of the carrying case to the floor, so George followed suit with the back and said, “What’s going on?”

“I think the path’s blocked.”

George stepped to the side and looked ahead. “I think it’s the tree. Tom said there was a fallen tree on the path.”

Chris nodded but didn’t seem to be listening and went a little way ahead to talk to Chloe.

George turned to Tom. “How big is this tree?”

Tom held his hand up, a little above waist-height. “I got up on it pretty easily.” So had the jaguar, but he didn’t share that. “Some of them might need a hand, especially with backpacks on.”

George nodded but his concern was visible, that they could be slowed down this much by a fairly minor obstacle. Tom thought the same, wondering what lay ahead of them and whether they’d get better at dealing with it.

It was minutes before Chris came crashing back toward them, widening the path as he walked.

“Looks like we’re on the move. I think Joel was just being careful—snakes, that kind of thing.”