With the Hounds nearby and something already hunting them, Lindsay didn’t dare try to put himself behind the eyes of the people he’d caught. He needed to be inside himself, in case his illusion failed.

The long walk, got easier once the little compass locked on to a direction and held steady. As far as Lindsay could tell, they were headed for the two people he felt.

That left Noah free to help them find the way, instead of trying to tame the needle, and he was more skilled at this than Lindsay had expected. He had a better sense of where the best paths lay than either Kristan or Lindsay. Now, Noah was helping Lindsay up slopes and around obstacles, and Kristan was only a few feet behind them, keeping the light pooled around their feet.

Lindsay was grimy and sweaty, his hair had been snagged by branches at almost every turn, his shins had been banged on deadfalls lurking in the dark, and he’d nearly turned his ankle when the footing on a hill turned out to be insufficient. Kristan was muttering curses and threatening Noah in turns. As they trudged along the tree line on the side of a hill, the minds inside his illusion grew larger, closer.

“We’re close,” he said, then realized Ylli and Zoey wouldn’t be able to see them. “I need to fix the illusion.”

“Okay.” Noah let go of him and sank down to sit in the long grass. Kristan sat next to him and wiped her face with the hem of her shirt. She ran her hands through her hair, pulling out twigs. Both of them looked like completely different people from the ones who had last left Cyrus’s house. Given how exhausted they seemed, Lindsay could only assume he resembled the walking dead.

Cautiously, he focused on the illusion keeping them hidden from view. Ylli and Zoey wouldn’t be able to find them if they couldn’t be seen. Without dropping the illusion entirely, he wove a hole in it to exclude the two minds he now recognized.

Once he’d sealed it into place again, he dropped down to sit near Noah and Kristan. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he said, “They’ll be able to see us now, even if no one else can.”

“Ylli will be here soon.” Kristan pushed herself to her feet. “He’s a jumpy little bugger. You said no one else could hear or see us, right?”

“Right.”

This moment of relief in the wilderness reminded Lindsay of his hike with Dane through the Black Forest. Dane. He hoped this didn’t turn out the same way, with some monster jumping out of the woodwork and leaving one of them nearly dead. Jonas was wherever Moore held Dane, but there were other beasts at Moore’s disposal, and they weren’t far from here.

Noah let the globe of fire go out and emptied the bowl before he tucked the bowl and needle away in one of his jacket pockets. They were alone in the dark now, with Kristan carrying the flashlight toward the trees.

Lindsay tensed, sitting up again, watching the darkness for movement. The Hounds were out there somewhere. A repeat of the Black Forest was more likely than he wanted to admit to himself.

Kristan whistled sharply, cutting the silence. “I think he’s coming.” She kept looking up to the tops of the trees. Moments later, there was a soft sound of wings on the air, and a large shadow detached from the

dark mass of the tree line.

“Lindsay? Kristan?” The shadow dropped into the ring of light cast by the flashlight. Ylli looked thinner than usual, but he seemed to be in one piece.

Lindsay took a slow breath, keeping a grip on his fear, and stood.

“We’re here.”

“How did you—” Ylli stopped abruptly as he caught sight of Noah. “You’re alive?” He stared a moment and shook his head. “Never mind. I need to get back and tell Zoey it’s safe.”

Lindsay glanced at Noah, remembering what he’d looked like the last time Ylli had seen him, but he pushed it away and turned to Ylli.

“Bring her. We can’t stay here.” Lindsay’s anxiety was making it hard to breathe. “We have to go.”

“Where?” Ylli paused with his wings half-spread. “We can’t go home.” Lindsay wanted to answer, but he couldn’t make the words.

“We have a place,” Noah said, getting to his feet. He brought up a flame in one hand and came to stand in front of Lindsay, pushing Lindsay’s hair back with his free hand. “Lindsay, what’s wrong?”

The firelight made the orange heat in Noah’s eyes burn brighter. He was as warm as sunshine.

Lindsay remembered the wall of fire sweeping down the boardwalk, and his fear eased enough that he could talk.

“Things are hunting us,” he managed to say. “I think I felt one of them back in Detroit, a flicker, but I didn’t know what it was. They’ve gotten more intense since we moved away from the lake, coming here.

There are Hounds here too.”

“I have to get Zoey.” Ylli was airborne before all words were out of his mouth.

“You didn’t tell us?” Kristan stepped forward to grab Lindsay, but Noah warded her off with his handful of flame.

“His reasons are his own.” Noah turned that burning stare on her. “He’s told us now.”

“We can go back to Detroit,” Lindsay said quietly, reaching out to put a hand on Noah’s chest, soothing both of them. “It didn’t find us there and I know what to watch for now. Since it hasn’t found us, it may not look there again. But I think we have to get out of here.” Even the house in Detroit was better than this. Lindsay had never imagined wanting to go back.

“I’ll leave a trail for you to follow when Ylli gets back.” Noah threw fire on the ground, where it burned without touching the grass. “I’m taking Lindsay to the car.”

“Go on.” Kristan stepped back toward the trees. “Be careful.”

“I would never do less.” Noah slid his arm around Lindsay’s shoulders and drew him in. He started leading Lindsay back to the car, trailing a thread of fire behind them.

Lindsay leaned into him, conserving his energy and putting all his magic behind an illusion that was so perfect, it was the next best thing to real. All that training with Dane had done him good. But he couldn’t stop the relentless whisper in his head that wouldn’t let him forget—he’d never won that race.

Chapter Thirteen

There was little relief to be found on the long drive home. For one thing, they were crammed into the car and no one could really claim to be comfortable, not even Lindsay, who was pressed up close against Noah while Kristan drove. Noah’s eyes were closed, but Lindsay could feel his tension. In the back, Ylli was worst off, with his wings folded along his sides as best he could and his back to the door. Zoey had curled up at the opposite end of the backseat and, when Lindsay glanced back, her eyes were a flicker of suspicion and confusion in the dark.

There was no chance of Lindsay relaxing, not even in Noah’s arms. Even after the searching pressure was off of them and the last hint of the Hounds was far behind, he couldn’t let it go. Moore had someone—

or something—new that hunted thoughts. The mind searching for them hadn’t been Lourdes and—for some reason—he was certain that she hadn’t betrayed them. They wouldn’t have made it out in one piece if she had. His only consolation was that his illusions seemed to hold up against the new threat.

After an hour on the road, Kristan finally spoke.

“Back to the same place?”

Noah shifted at the sound of her voice and Lindsay glanced up to find Noah looking down at him expectantly. It hadn’t occurred to Lindsay to go anywhere else. They had a few friends—or at least a few resources—and whatever had been searching for them before had been there once and left empty-handed.

“Yes.” If they were staying in Patches’s territory... There was so much he still didn’t know. “I should go speak to Patches, ask her permission.”

“No.” Lindsay got the word in stereo as both Noah and Kristan spoke at once.