Thin Lines (The Child Thief #3)(64)

He turned and held out his arms, waiting. The rest of us stacked a number of blankets and sheets on him, confused.

Then, without a backward glance, he jumped into the nearest oak tree and started climbing. Like some sort of ape.

I watched, mouth hanging open in what had to be a truly attractive pose, until he disappeared into the branches, then stared at the last place I’d seen him until he reappeared and gave me a quick grin.

“Safe and sound. I don’t think the Authority will ever think to look there.”

“Is that where you put the stuff we packed up last night?” I asked, too surprised to come up with anything more intelligent than that.

He shook his head. “I don’t want it all in the same place. Spread our eggs, so to speak, in case the Authority finds one set of things.” He reached into his pocket and yanked out a sheaf of papers. “I’ve kept the timeline. Never know if we might need it.”

None of us seemed to have any response to that, so he whirled around, reminded us that we were supposed to be in single file, and started forward.

We immediately became a more disciplined crew, moving after him in single file as instructed, keeping in sync so as to avoid stepping on each other as we walked. I didn’t think we would be running into any soldiers, given the presence of the wolves—I could still see them in the woods around us, their ghostly forms merging with the shadows whenever they got close to the trees—but there also wasn’t anything wrong with being more careful.

I followed closely behind Jace, my gaze shooting back and forth between the trees surrounding us. Searching for anything out of place. For the dark blue that would indicate Authority presence, or the bright green that would mean enforcers. At this point I knew they were one and the same, and equally dangerous to us.

We altered our direction and crept along the border of the clearing, rather than going right through the middle, moving from tree to tree, hiding behind the trunks and peering around them until we were sure it was safe. Jace, Ant, and Kory all had their handguns out and held in front of them, and I wasn’t certain whether that made me feel safer or more nervous.

We passed through the clearing and arrived at a familiar area. I felt suddenly homesick and put my hand to my stomach to try to settle it. Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves in the trees immediately around my house. Here Jace put up a hand to halt us and motioned us forward slowly.

“We skip Robin’s house,” he said. “It’s obviously too dangerous to go there again, and I don’t think there’s anything for us there anyhow. The Authority could suspect we might try to return for shelter.”

My heart sank a bit at that, and I glanced in the direction I knew held my cabin, my senses reaching out to it. After so many nights of living in other people’s houses—and more recently, in caves—my mind was crying out to be back in my own space. Back in the space that I called home.

But then I caught a scent on the wind and suddenly knew that my home wasn’t even there anymore.

Smoke. Smoke and ashes. And the smell of burnt plastic. Not a fire in the woods, but a fire that had consumed something very manmade.

My house was gone.

They’d burned it, just as they’d burned the houses of those techs we’d been searching for last week.

I clamped my mouth shut, intent on keeping my emotions in check, and turned back toward our path. I found Jace there, still stopped and staring at me, and knew immediately that he’d smelled it as well. His eyes held doubt and sorrow, and also a promise that he would offer me a different home. A home where I didn’t have to live by myself.

I nodded wordlessly at him, accepting that offer—and telling him that I was fine, and ready to keep moving. I didn’t want to stay here and mourn my house or my things. I didn’t need to see what was left of that cottage. It was part of my past, now, and we had places to go and very little time in which to get there.

We started running through the forest again, our footsteps as silent as we could make them, Jace keeping his gun up and prepared in front of us, and a moment later we were slowing once more, Jace’s steps drawing to a stop in front of us.

He turned and motioned for us to stay put, and then whirled around and disappeared into the forest. I backed up against the tree next to me, my heart hammering in my ears, and waited. For the sound of shouts, or gunshots. But there was nothing. Just silence through the forest, interrupted now and then by the sharp call of a jay.

I’d just started to wonder how long he was going to keep us waiting when Jace appeared in front of us again, his face more relaxed.

“I can’t find anyone near the scooters,” he said. “Don’t see any sign of a guard. The scooters are all there and look as if they’re in the same condition. Hopefully we hid them well enough for them to have gone unnoticed, and the Authority is positive that we’re deep in the woods.”

The rest of us didn’t need further encouragement. We broke and ran for the scooters ahead of us, naturally falling into the pairings we’d used the last time we rode them.

“Remember that you just have to get on and hit the throttle,” I huffed as I ran. “Just get on and ride, don’t worry about trying to start—”

“Robin, we literally went through this yesterday. I think we know,” Nelson muttered.

Oh, that was right. How could it have been only one day since we stole the scooters? It seemed like too much had happened for it to have been only a day.