Thin Lines (The Child Thief #3)(78)

I gulped. Right. No problem.

I grabbed my bike by the handlebars, flipped the kickstand up, and started pushing. The others followed me as I walked into the forest, the bike growing increasingly more difficult to push as we got into deeper cover. I jumped at the slightest sound of twigs snapping around us, at the slightest glimpse of movement through the quavering leaves, convinced that at any moment Authority agents would come lunging out of the trees toward us. But after at least half an hour of walking both away from the road and away from the path that would have taken us toward the cave, all was still calm and quiet.

We arrived at a spot where a family of oak trees was growing, their branches dipping all the way down to the ground. I gazed around, taken aback by the beauty of it, and then started searching for an opening in the branches.

It was perfect. Almost like we’d designed the spot ourselves. The universe had finally decided to give us a breather, it seemed. I just hoped it would last until tomorrow.

I pushed my bike toward a gap I found in the branches of the tree to my right, and within a minute I was through the foliage and inside the sheltered area beneath. I parked my bike and turned to see Jace entering, his eyes wide with appreciation.

Ant ducked in after him—and of course started asking questions immediately.

“Can we just leave them here? Do you think we should cover them with brush or something? Are we sure the Authority won’t—”

“Ant,” I said, interrupting him. “Could you see in here when you were standing out there? Did you suspect there was anything inside?” He shook his head, and I gave him my best version of his own are-you-an-idiot look. “Then don’t you think the bikes will probably be okay in here, even without other covering? What are the chances the Authority is going to happen upon this grove of trees and happen to think to get under and search?”

I figured the chances were slim to none. Plus, if anyone was under here, they would hear soldiers coming from a good distance anyway. This was the perfect hiding place for us too, I realized. Way better than the cave itself. Not as secure, because there wouldn’t be stone around us, but I doubted we’d find any place safer in the near vicinity. And the longer we stayed out there searching for a hiding spot, the greater our chances of getting caught.

“I say this is where we stay, too,” I concluded firmly, pulling the key out of my bike and shoving it in my pocket.

I glanced around the group, but no one posed an objection, not even Ant. His eyes were on the enclosure, his expression seeming to grow more relaxed the longer he stood inside the shelter of the trees. He nodded slowly, and I gave a satisfied nod back.

New hiding place, check.

Now we just had to figure out how we were going to get our supplies and what we were going to do for the rest of the day, and another night in the forest. Another night before we were finally taken to safety.





31





The moment we had everyone else settled, Jace grabbed my hand and started towing me toward the branches that ringed the tree.

I struggled against him, wondering what the hell was going on.

“What are you doing?” I asked, torn somewhere between panic and annoyance. We’d just gotten back from a fairly stressful morning, and everyone else was settling down into the leaves on the ground and closing their eyes, trying to recover.

Why was I being dragged away from that?

“We need to get the supplies,” Jace said. “We need nourishment and blankets. In these circumstances, none of us can afford to get weak or sick. Not until Corona gets us to safety. Kory! I need you!” he called over his shoulder.

A moment later, Kory appeared next to us, striding along as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Going to get the stuff?” he asked casually.

Jace nodded. “We’ll need another set of hands,” he added. “And possibly another gun.”

I sighed. “Okay. So which batch are we going for first?” I asked, falling into step beside the two men. “The one we hid earlier today, or the one you hid last night? Where exactly did you put the latter, anyway?”

Jace ducked through the drooping branches of the oak tree, and I followed, my hand clasped in his. Kory came two steps to the side of me, catching the branches before they could come down on my head. I turned and gave him a quick grin of thanks.

Jace, I had found, didn’t think about the fact that people were following him, and had a bad habit of letting branches snap back into their faces. It was one of the very few faults I’d found in him, but it was starting to affect my life, given how often we found ourselves escaping through forests of late.

“We’re splitting up,” Jace replied over his own shoulder. He got to the last branches of the oak, ducked through them—and let them snap back in my face—and then stood up and stretched in the open sunlight of the forest beyond.

I ducked, blinking against the sting of oak leaves on my skin, and then stood up in the fresh air and took a deep, heaving breath.

“Splitting up?” I asked, deciding we had more important things to discuss at the moment than branch etiquette. “And just leaving everyone else here? Do we think that’s a good idea? Shouldn’t we have guards or something?”

“Right,” Jace answered. He looked one way and then the other, gazing across the forest with narrowed eyes, and then turned back to the tree. “Ant, Abe!” he called, pitching his voice low enough that it wouldn’t have carried through the forest.