“We will,” I say. “That’s why we need to go. We have to find her.”
After another long hug with Aven, I rise from the ground. Sash and I each take one of our daughter’s hands in ours and lead her back to Kyra. As they step inside the doorway to Home, Aven looks over her shoulder at me.
“Tela lost,” she says.
“We’ll find her,” I reply. “Mommy and Daddy will pick you up later.”
Kyra swings the door shut.
“She learned a new word while you were gone,” Sash tells me.
“Lost?” I ask.
She nods her head. “I told her you were lost in the Barrens. She wasn’t the same while you were gone.”
“I’ll make it up to her. And to you, if I can.”
“We should go now,” she replies without acknowledging my statement.
When Sash and I reach the Delta entrance, Larn, Nuar, and Roen are waiting for us by the gate. They all have bags under their eyes and their shoulders sag from exhaustion.
“I’m sorry that I struck you,” Larn says to me.
“No apology necessary,” I reply. “I was out of control.”
“The effects of the wild sap may linger for several more morrows,” he informs me. “Pay attention to what you’re feeling and keep your emotions under control.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Velt, Jeni, and Kale fly over a nearby hill and soon come to a stop beside the rest of us.
“We still haven’t seen any sign of Tela,” Larn tells me. “Velt and Jeni searched up the river to the north and returned earlier. The rest of us followed the path you described as best we could.”
“Did you find the Murkovin camp?” I ask.
Larn shakes his head. “We saw a few trees, but none of them had rope binding them.”
“Maybe you were in the wrong area,” I say. “Since the Murkovin were searching for us, she could have gone back to the cavern we hid in. We should check there.”
Larn briefly studies the other Travelers. “Nuar and Roen haven’t slept. Jeni and Velt had a brief rest. They’ll come with us, but the others should stay here in case they’re needed.”
“You must be exhausted,” Sash says to Larn. “Have you even closed your eyes since Chase and Tela went missing?”
“Don’t worry about me,” he replies. “We need to find Tela before it’s too late.”
With canisters over our shoulders, spears in our hands, and me leading the way, we follow the same route that I used to return to the Delta. Everyone scans the Barrens for any sign of life during the five-hour journey to the Murkovin camp, but nobody sees a thing.
After cautiously climbing up one of the hills outside the camp, we peek over the crest. The ropes that were securing the branches of the tree are gone. The Murkovin that were here are nowhere in sight. The only remaining sign of anyone being here are the spike holes in the bark of the trunk.
While we walk to the cliff that Tela went over, I describe the fight at the tree and our escape. When we reach the edge of the bluff, I look down at the bottom of the canyon. The image of Tela’s bloody, disfigured body flashes into my vision. I grit my teeth so hard from the malevolence swelling inside me and the pure hatred I feel for the Murkovin who did that to her that my jaw hurts. Larn was right, I realize. I still feel the effects of the wild sap.
Maintaining a slow pace to search for Tela, we travel to the cavern. Once we’re in the gully, the others wait outside while I creep through the tunnel. I call out Tela’s name several times but don’t receive a reply. Inside the cave, the all too familiar purple glow illuminates an empty room.
As I look around the cavern, an inexplicable desire for Darkness to fall chews at my brain. I suddenly want to sink my teeth into the black bark of a tree and fill my veins with raw, unrestrained power. Trying to keep the craving for wild sap in check, I choke down the sap of the Delta from my canister.
“Chase!” Larn’s voice rings out from the far end of the tunnel. “Did you find anything?”
I lower the steel from my lips. “Nothing,” I yell. “I’ll be right there.”
After inhaling a few deep breaths, I screw the top back on the canister and call out, “Dark.” As the light fades away behind me, I hurriedly make my way to the others.
“She isn’t here,” I say. “Let’s go to where I hid the transport.”
“Are you alright?” Larn asks. “You look pale.”
“I’m fine. Just a few bad memories.”
As we speed to the southwest, I try to remember how much I told Tela about where I stashed the transport. I know I said that it was hidden about two hundred miles southwest of the cavern. Although she was out of it at the time, I also told her that it was in a small gully near the base of the tallest hill in the area. If she pieced that information together, the transport wouldn’t be hard to find.
When we reach the bottom of the hill, I head straight to the wash where I hid the transport. I’m not at all surprised to find the gully empty. I survey the flat area at the bottom of the hill and spot a fresh wheel track in the dirt. With the others close behind me, I follow the trail for about fifty yards. The line left by the wheel gradually becomes shallower until it disappears altogether. Since it never resumes, the transport must have risen in the air.
“Someone took the transport,” I say to the others. “It could have been the Murkovin or it could have been Tela. Whoever it was knows how to travel.”
“Does anyone have an idea about where she might have gone?” Larn asks the group. “Her mind obviously isn’t clear enough to return to the Delta. What would you do in her situation?”
While we all try
