Thin Lines (The Child Thief #3)(79)

There was a scuffling at our back, followed by a muttered curse, and two sandy-blond heads poked out through the branches.

“Yep?” Ant asked, blinking heavily, as if he’d been on his way to sleeping already.

“You two are going to serve as lookouts for the time being,” Jace answered. “We might think that the Authority doesn’t know that we’re here—and that they won’t be venturing to this side of the forest—but that doesn’t mean that we’re safe, and I’m not willing to take that chance.”

The twins disentangled themselves from the tree’s branches, twisting and turning with more drama than I believed the task warranted, and ended up in the open air, both of them looking around as if they expected to see Authority agents showing up at any moment.

Abe tipped his head in agreement. “Good point, I guess. We’ve got it. You guys going after the supplies?”

We told him that we were, and then strode into the forest after our things, leaving Ant and Abe discussing the best way in which to stand guard, and the merits of guarding the entire copse or the single tree in which our friends—and our bikes—were hiding.

“Those two are like a nonstop comedy routine,” Kory muttered out of the side of his mouth as we fell into stride together, Jace on my left and Kory on my right.

“You have no idea,” I answered, grinning at the memory of the twins and their obsession with doing things that made them stand out from one another. “Wait until we get to a place where we can go for more than twenty seconds without running for our lives. You’ll realize that they’re so alike that it’s almost impossible to tell them apart.”

The forest was peaceful and quiet around us, and I could feel myself starting to melt into that stillness, the tension of the morning draining away from my shoulders.

Though, it was a trap we couldn’t fall into. We had to expect the worst.

Jace had already broken into a light jog, and I increased my pace to keep up with him, knowing that he was thinking the same thing.

“What’s the plan?” I asked.

“We get as far as the first spot, and then send Kory back with the first set of supplies,” Jace said. “The fewer people we have heading to the second location, the better.”

“Why?” I asked, already knowing that I wasn’t going to like the answer. “What’s the second location?”

“It’s closer to the caves than I would like,” Jace answered vaguely.

He picked up the pace, and I was so busy trying to keep up with him that I didn’t have time or breath to press him further.

We’d been jogging for nearly half an hour when we reached the tree where Jace had stored our possessions, and he climbed up and back down quickly, handing the stuff to Kory.

“Good?” Jace asked shortly.

Kory nodded, not bothering with words, and Jace nodded as well.

“Good,” he said. “Get back to the others, and make sure that Ant and Abe have been doing their jobs as lookouts. Robin and I are going to go get the rest of the supplies. Text Robin if anything is wrong at the trees when you get there. Look for us within the next hour. If we don’t return…”

“We’ll come out and find you,” Kory answered.

Before Jace could contradict him, he spun on his toes and disappeared into the forest again.

I stared at where he’d been, surprised, but Jace just muttered a curse.

“Does he know how to get back there?” I asked, frowning.

“Of course he does. But I wasn’t finished talking to him.”

I smiled at that, then turned to Jace, ready to make our way forward.

Jace looked past me into the trees. “Okay, now. Follow me closely.”

With that, he turned and headed right toward where I knew the steep rock face sat.

I followed him, my stomach twisting into knots the closer we drew to the rock face’s familiar territory. He’d seriously hidden that stuff near the rocks?

Not long afterward, I could see the cliff rising up in front of us.

I gulped and instinctively shoved my hand out in front of me, grabbed Jace’s, and yanked, bringing him skidding to a halt. He turned and looked at me, his eyebrows raised in question.

“Is something wrong?” he asked, his voice in a whisper.

He grabbed me and shoved me backward, driving my back up against the trunk of a tree and pressing his entire body against mine, and then stared around us, his eyes intense as he looked for danger.

“Did you see something?”

I swallowed as heat rushed through every part of my body and tried to fight the sudden weakness in my knees at the feel of his entire form pressed up against mine. This definitely wasn’t the time to be noticing something like that. But it was also the first time I’d been this close to him, and—

“Robin!” he hissed, turning his face toward mine and ducking close to look into my eyes. “Did you see something? Why did you stop me?”

I opened my mouth and tried to engage my voice, but nothing came out. Between the shock of his sudden movement and the further shock of him pressing up against me, my voice seemed to have disappeared completely.

I cleared my throat and swallowed heavily again.

“I-I was just going to ask what the hell we were doing, heading for the rock face again,” I said with a croak. “Are the supplies really worth it?”