“Well,” Rex chuckled, “we are pretty wild, traveling through the woods like this. But I’m sure we’re safer in a group, so why don’t you join us?”
“Rex,” Alina interrupted. “Can I talk to you for a minute? In private?”
He raised his eyebrows. “Okay.”
Rex followed her to a nearby tree, where she turned to him and dropped her voice. “I haven’t told you what happened after we separated at Gordian. Sampson was waiting for me in the control room. He said he had spies, implying whoever helped you find me in Gordian was actually working for him. Would that be Stan?”
Rex frowned. “Yes. He gave me the directions and codes to the control room.”
“Then we can’t trust him. What do you think he’s doing here? Did he upset Sampson, or is there another reason?”
Rex’s nostrils flared. He puffed up his chest and marched back to Stan.
“Tell me the truth, Stan,” he demanded. “Are you working for Sampson?”
Stan’s eyes widened. “No! No,” he repeated. “I mean, it’s not what you think.” He cleared his throat. “I’ve, uh, been playing both sides to help the resistance—”
Rex interrupted Stan by slamming his fist into his jaw. As they both bellowed in pain, Alina couldn’t tell if the punch hurt Stan or Rex more.
“Stop, Rex,” said Jade, her eyes closed. “Let him explain.”
“He almost ruined everything!” Rex hollered, massaging his knuckles. “Alina was captured, we were imprisoned, and Zaiden left behind—”
“And we’re here!” Jade cut in. “We made it! Alina might be here by herself if Sampson hadn’t caught her. I think the scheme worked better than we’d hoped. You know the odds we had against us. If he’s not a traitor” —she nodded in Stan’s direction— “then we should thank him.”
Alina turned toward Stan. “We’re interested in hearing your explanation.”
A stream of blood trickled from Stan’s mouth as he spoke. “I’m a loyal member of the resistance, I swear it.” He looked at Rex. “Do you know what Sampson did to Mira? All these years I thought she’d been sent to Carthem—he had her in his dungeons!” His voice trembled. “I’ve been spying on him for years now in hopes of finding her. I misled you because he was watching me as I wrote the instructions. I didn’t want to blow my cover.”
“What—so it doesn’t matter who gets locked up in Gordian as long as your cover is safe?” Rex snapped.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know what to do. I hoped things would turn out okay, and they did—like Jade said! How did you escape, anyway?”
“Alina is brilliant,” Jade said, grinning.
“Sampson was waiting in the control room when I arrived. He said you were spying for him,” Alina said, ignoring his question.
“That’s what he thought. Besides, why else would I be here?”
“Good question,” said Rex. “Why did Sampson send you here?”
“He found out I led you to Alina’s room in the laboratories, though I don’t know how. He was so angry, he cut me with the dagger almost the moment he saw me.” Stan squirmed under Rex’s eye. “Come on! I led you to Alina, didn’t I? Can I still tag along with you?” He glanced at Alina and Jade.
Rex glared at him. “Fine, but don’t expect any of us to talk to you.”
“Fair enough,” he said.
“Let him carry Jade for awhile,” said Alina.
“No way,” Rex scoffed. “He’ll plunge some secret knife into her the minute our backs are turned. He was probably sent here to finish us off.”
Stan marched over to Jade and lifted her onto his back, then glowered at Rex. “If I kill her, you can kill me. You know I don’t stand a chance against you and an immortal.”
Rex stole a glance at Alina. “Uh—what are you talking about?”
“Come on, Rex,” Stan said, wiping his brow. “I’ve lived with immortals for two hundred years, and you think I wouldn’t recognize one? Look at her, she’s gorgeous!”
Alina blushed to the roots of her hair, which embarrassed her further. Immortals were extra attractive when they blushed.
“I suppose if you won’t risk your cover in Pria, you won’t risk your life in Carthem,” Rex said bitterly. He turned to Alina and muttered under his breath, “But I still don’t trust him.”
“We’ll keep an eye on him,” Alina whispered. Stan marched ahead of them with Jade on his back. He seemed well recovered from the edginess he had when they first found him. Alina frowned.
They traveled into the evening, and when the sky grew too dark for them to follow the river, Rex and Alina decided to rest for the night and continue the search for Stormport in the morning.
“It’s fortunate we haven’t met any Prian creatures,” Alina said.
“Yes, but also peculiar,” Rex pointed out.
“It’s also a good thing I don’t sleep. I can keep watch.”
Rex nodded, then sighed.
“What’s worrying you?”
“Oh, nothing. I just wish there was something to eat besides berries.”
Jade felt her way to the ground, eyes still closed. In all of their travels, she hadn’t peeked once.
“Are you hungry?” Alina asked her.
“I’ll have a few more berries, if there are some.”
“Please, take them all,” Rex said as he sprawled out on the ground and rested his head on a log. He closed his eyes, and before long, began to squirm. “How am I ever going to fall asleep here?”
Alina smiled. “Not like sleeping on the night of Genesis, is it?”
He rolled to his side. “What I’d give for a pillow.”
Stan lay down on the dirt, rested his head on his arm, and didn’t move again. After a few minutes, a harsh noise vibrated through his nose at regular intervals.
Rex sat up in horror. “What’s that?”
“Mortals breathe like that when they sleep sometimes,” Jade answered. “I heard Alina do it from time to time.”
Alina grimaced. “I sounded like that?”
“Heavens, no. You were soft and dainty. Stan sounds—”
“Foul,” Rex answered. He rolled over and moaned. “I’ll never sleep tonight.”
“How about you, Jade?”
