Quinn smiled, but Linnea glared at her brother. Her mood today had been unabashedly dark.

"Well, I did want to see what the two of you were doing, and see if you needed anything else to prepare for the journey tomorrow, but mostly I thought it was time to get those stitches out." He looked at Quinn.

She nodded and pulled up her sleeve.

"You're taking enough medical supplies with you, right?" Linnea asked as William worked methodically on Quinn's arm. "Just in case..."

"Don't start thinking like that, Nay," Quinn said, wincing as one of his tugs unexpectedly stung.

"Sorry," William said, rubbing at the spot. "I left the ones on this cut in a little too long. A couple of them are a little stuck."

"Why didn't you take them out back in Bristlecone?" Linnea asked.

William looked at Quinn when he answered. "Because I was being an insensitive jerk. I really am sorry about that, Quinn."

"Yeah, well, you're going to have to make it up to me later, I guess." She rolled her eyes at him, although right then she was anything but annoyed. She didn't even think he'd been being a jerk now that she understood what had really been going on underneath...

Linnea was watching them with such interest that Quinn's face suddenly felt warm.

The small group gathered near the stables in the pre-dawn light.

Stephen introduced Quinn to Marcus and Ben Westbrook, two of his most trusted personal guards. Marcus was older, several years Nathaniel's senior, and the two of them seemed to know each other quite well. He had worked in the castle since he was a young man. His son, Ben, was around Simon's age.

Stephen was there to see the five of them off. All of their other good-byes had been said after dinner the evening before.

Everyone was dressed for travel in what might be challenging conditions. Their clothing choices were carefully nondescript so they wouldn't be easily recognizable. Rather than their usual finery and insignia, Marcus and Ben wore the same style of dark, woven pants and linen shirts as Nathaniel, William, and Quinn all wore.

The mood was somber as they finished packing the saddlebags and readying the horses. Aside from Mia, who had helped them put together the personal items and supplies they would need, no servants had been involved in their preparations. Stephen didn't know who he could trust.

Quinn looked on as Stephen hugged his son for a long time, a single tear running down the king's cheek. He then hugged Quinn tightly before helping her mount Dusk. "Be safe."

Nathaniel and Marcus led the way down a route Quinn had never taken before, northwest of the castle. The morning was warm and muggy, though the sun was not yet all the way up. Already, Quinn was wary of the heat the day was likely to bring.

It wasn't long before they'd ridden into a remote, wild area. For most of the journey, they would be taking back routes well off the main thoroughfares. She was glad of her experience with riding horses on mountain trails. Dusk had come to know Quinn well, and obeyed her lightest touches.

Every so often, there would be a rustling in the nearby trees, or a cawing sound overhead, and she would glance up to see Aidel, Nathaniel's seeker bird, keeping a close eye on the group. Each time she saw her, Quinn would feel another spurt of irritation, directed both at Thomas, for being stupid enough to venture off by himself without even Sirian, and with herself for not realizing this and stopping him.

William had told her yesterday that Aelwyn and Sirian's eggs had hatched, and it wouldn't be long before the baby birds were ready to start searching for food on their own. At that point, one of the parents would be willing to leave the nest for short stretches of time. Thomas could have waited for his companion, at least.

They rode in silence for most of the day, stopping only for a few minutes at a time to allow the horses to drink, and the humans to take care of necessities. They were entering a thickly forested part of the country, the trail winding through the trunks of giant, leafy trees. Quinn was fascinated at the scenery, so different from the evergreen forests of home. The soil here was rich and black, with a heady, musky scent, instead of the familiar crisp smell and the crunch of pine needles.

By the time they finally stopped, finding a clearing near a river in a thick part of the woods, the sun was low in the sky. It was so muggy here that there was a haze hanging in the air above her. She was hot, and her skin felt sticky. She was also starving; her fingers trembled as she worked the buckles to remove Dusk's harness.

"Let me get that." William appeared behind her as she was starting to pull the saddle from Dusk's back. He slipped his hands in front of hers and lifted the heavy saddle easily over their heads.

"Thanks," she said, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Sure." He grinned at her, his eyes still twinkling in a way she wasn't used to.

Nathaniel and Ben were a few feet away from them, searching for medium-sized rocks. They'd already formed a semi-circle with the rocks in an area where they'd cleared out the grass and roots.

"I think it might be a little too warm for a fire tonight," William called to them.

The two men stopped what they were doing and looked over at him. Nathaniel looked up at the sky; rays of evening sunlight shimmered through the heavy water vapor. He nodded.

The horses were clearly relieved at the break. Skittles headed straight for the water the instant William released her, and Dusk quickly followed.

"I need to walk around for a bit," William said, coming to stand beside Quinn. "Would you like to come?"

She nodded. "That would feel good."

"Anyone else?" he asked.

"No thanks," Nathaniel said. "Marcus and I are going to discuss some things, and Ben is going to do some scouting in the area."

After pulling some sandwiches and fruit out of one of the bags, William began walking downstream, following the narrow bank of the stream. She stayed right behind him. It felt wonderful to be on the ground, moving her legs, after the hours in the saddle.

When they were out of hearing range of the rest of the group, he turned to her. "I know I've asked before, and I'll stop after this, but are you still sure about your decision to do this?"

She swallowed. She hadn't expected him to ask about that. "I'm kind of in it now, don't you think?"

"Not necessarily. We have a seeker with us. One message and someone would come meet us, help you get back. Before we get too far, anyway."

"I'm sure."

His walking paused. They had come to a wider part of the stream; the water had spread out into a shallow pool. "Why are you doing this? It isn't your fault that Thomas did this, you know, regardless of what you think or how responsible you feel."

She looked up at him, staring into his eyes, trying to read what he was thinking. "I know it isn't my fault. I don't feel guilty; I know I couldn't really have stopped Thomas. I don't know exactly why. It just feels like it's something I have to do."

He frowned. "But you don't have to. It isn't your responsibility."

"I know I don't actually have to, William. Maybe 'have to' is the wrong phrase. It's more like I'm supposed to, like this is the right thing. I wouldn't have felt right if I hadn't."

He nodded, looking away from her, out over the clean, clear water. "What about your mom, the rest of your life?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I can't think about that right now."

He didn't press the issue, which surprised her. Instead, he reached down to pick up a smooth, flat stone. He hurled it at the water, and they watched as it skipped four times before it plunked to the bottom.

Quinn stretched down, searching for her own rock. Her toss wasn't as impressive as his; she only managed to make it skip twice, but he smiled.

"I've been having dreams." She told him, as they looked for more stones.

"About what?"

"I can never be quite sure. I never remember them clearly when I wake up, although they're very vivid while I'm sleeping. But I know they're about your world. I think they have something to do with Thomas being missing."

He stood up straight, looking her in the eye. "Just the last two nights while you've been here or longer than that?"

"The whole time I was home. Nearly every night. One morning I woke up and found my little brother curled up beside me. He said I'd been talking in my sleep, that I had sounded scared."

"What did you say?"

"He didn't know. I guess I stopped talking once he opened my bedroom door and came in."

William threw another stone, this time making it skip an impressive five times. Quinn whistled, before she scooped up another rock. She tried to imitate his technique, and got three bounces.

"It has to be hard on you ... not even being able to tell your brother about any of this. I've always had Thomas."

Crouching down, she picked up another smooth stone, rubbing it between her fingers for a long moment, not standing back up. "Sometimes I think Owen knows me better than anyone else. He's mildly autistic, you know, but that doesn't stop him from anything. He's known that something is up with me ever since the first time I came back, sometimes he says things that make me feel like he must know my secret. He doesn't ask me about it, though, just comes to sit beside me or curls up under the covers with me."

"Sounds like a kid I would like to know."

Finally standing back up, she skipped the stone. "I'll introduce you."

They stood there for several more minutes, skipping rocks across the water, enjoying the slight breeze that blew across, giving them a reprieve from the oppressive heat of the evening. Afterwards, they sat down on the bank and ate their sandwiches, watching as the sun sank lower behind the trees.

"Do you think Thomas is all right?" she asked after a while, although the question stuck in her throat.

"I'm sure he's fine. We'll probably reach Lily and Graeme's and they'll tell us he's left, gone back home on the main road, that we've gone to all this trouble for nothing." His voice was steady and calm, but Quinn could see a different feeling hiding in his eyes.

"Probably," she said. "We should get back and see if they need help setting up for the night."

The night didn't cool much at all. Quinn might not have slept at all if she hadn't been so exhausted from riding. She had been surprised when she and William had returned to the clearing, and Ben had already finished erecting dome tents, that looked like they'd been purchased at a sporting goods store in her world. William had shrugged when she raised her eyebrows, and she remembered another time, when he'd told her that he and Nathaniel took whatever small advantages from her world that they could whatever items they could manage to carry with them through the gate.

Crawling into the smallest tent that evening felt weird. It was set a short distance from the two identical larger tents. She shone her flashlight around, intending to feel around on the floor to locate the softest spot on the ground to lay her sleeping bag over; the forest floor here was covered in rocks, fallen branches, and protruding roots. She'd spent enough nights in tents to know how quickly a night could be ruined by a stray rock under her sleeping spot. She was startled when she realized that her sleeping bag was already spread out, laid neatly on top of two saddle blankets for extra padding.

For several minutes, she ran her hand over the nylon floor without finding a single bump.

Climbing into her sleeping bag, she realized that she had never slept all by herself in a tent before, let alone in the middle of an unfamiliar forest in a strange world. Between the creepy feeling of being alone, wondering who had set up her bed so perfectly, and the general mood of stress in the group, she shouldn't have been surprised at the vivid, frightening dreams she had that night.

Well before dawn, she was startled awake by the sound of a zipper. She sat bolt upright, dripping sweat, her heart racing.

"Quinn! Are you okay?" Nathaniel's head appeared at the opening of the tent, suddenly reminding her where she was. The moon was round and bright behind him; the light spilled into the tent and across her sleeping bag. She could make out William's silhouette next to Nathaniel.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. What's going on?" She crawled over to the door. It had been too hot to cover up, so she had been sleeping, still dressed, on top of the bag.

"You were yelling. It worried us. Are you sure everything is all right?" Nathaniel's eyes were full of concern.

"Were you dreaming again?" William asked, crouching down so they were all facing each other.

"Um," she shook her head, trying to think. "I must have been." She stood to climb out, needing to get out into the fresh air.

Nathaniel gently took hold of her elbow, helping her. His expression was worried. "You've been having bad dreams?"

"Sometimes they're bad, I guess. I usually can't remember the details once I wake up, just the feeling."

"She's been dreaming about Eirentheos," William told him.

Nathaniel raised his eyebrows. "For how long?"

She shrugged. "I think I've been having them for a long time."

"Since your first visit?" William asked, confused. "Or just since this last time?"

She swallowed, suddenly realizing a truth that had been hanging around in the back of her mind for a while now, a truth that startled and frightened her. "Longer than that. Since before I ever followed you through the gate."

William looked as shocked as she felt.

"What were you dreaming about tonight that made you yell?" Nathaniel asked. He didn't look as shocked as William, and she didn't know what to make of that.

"I think ... I think it was about this trip. We were here. Well, not exactly here, but in a forest similar to this one." She paused, searching inside her mind, trying to grasp on to the memory that kept slipping away, just out of reach. It refused to come, but the feeling returned suddenly, slamming into her chest like a ton of bricks. "Something is wrong. We have to find Thomas. We have to find him now."

"We're going to, Quinn. We're going to do everything we can." Nathaniel put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly.

By the time the first rays of sunlight reached them through the trees, they were already back on the trail. Nathaniel seemed to be taking her dreams more seriously than she had been, which made her feel odd.

Around mid-morning, they stopped in another clearing by the river. The water was higher here and flowed faster. All day they had been steadily climbing into territory that was hillier and rockier than Quinn was used to seeing in Eirentheos. Although these foothills were much smaller, and the forests still comprised of leafy, green, deciduous trees, the scenery vaguely reminded her of home.

"We're getting close to the Philothean border," Nathaniel told them as they walked the horses to the water. "We'll stop here for now. Quinn, William, and Ben, I want the three of you to rest the horses and yourselves. There is a town near here, Anwin. Marcus and I are going to go and talk to some people we know, try and get some information about what's going on."

"Is it safe?" Quinn asked.

Nathaniel and Marcus exchanged a look.

"It's safer than trying to continue without knowing what we're heading into." Marcus answered.

"We have friends in this village who will be able to help us. We'll be fine, but we don't want to risk going in a large group and drawing attention to ourselves." Nathaniel clarified.

The two men hiked into Anwin on foot, leaving William, Quinn, and Ben with the horses. The boys worked to unload weight from the horses so they could rest, while Quinn dug through one of the food bags, pulling out a wrapped loaf of bread and the container of spread that was similar to peanut butter. They had eaten the same food since lunch yesterday, and when Ben saw it, he grimaced.

"We've got time," he said. "We should try catching a few fish."

William's eyes lit up, and he nodded, glancing disdainfully at the bread. "Definitely." He headed straight for one of the saddle bags on the ground and dug out three small metal cases. "Do you know how to fish, Quinn?"

"Yeah, I do."

He looked at her skeptically. "Fly-fish?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Yeah, I do." The quick change in his expression amused her, and then caused a little flood of warmth to flow in her chest when she realized he looked ... impressed.

"We'll clean them for you," Ben offered.

William chuckled at the dark look she shot him. "He's only trying to be chivalrous."