"Maybe all three wielders should go, see if we catch any signals," Ramirez said.

I nodded, glad to be working with someone who took the knife-radar seriously. While Tink wasn't sounding an active alarm, a tiny tendril of her consciousness had prowled my mind constantly since we landed. It was like an itch between my shoulder blades that I couldn't reach, driving me crazy enough to wish the eclipse was tonight just to get the fight started.

I excused myself and went to the tent to check on Will. He had me worrieda"what if he had the flu or something? We couldn't afford for any of us to be sick right now.

When I parted the tent flap, I found him sitting on the edge of his bed, hunched over. His face was shiny with sweat and he stared at a spot on the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the desert.

"What's going on, man?" I asked. "You sick?"

"No," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "At least, I don't think so. I just need to sleep."

I stayed long enough to make sure he quit staring at the magic spot on the floor and actually stretched out on his bunk. Hoping sleep was all he needed, I went in search of an MRE. If I was to do battle with the Catsa"or worsea"tomorrow night, I needed to slam down as much protein as I could, even if it came in the form of a dehydrated chicken patty.

Hooah.

Will popped out of bed at dawn the next morning, waking the rest of us up by playing Reveille with his armpit. I threw a pillow at his head, but truthfully I was relieved that he was back to being his usual jackass self. Maybe his malfunction yesterday had been the result of jetlag and total climate change and not a killer case of the flu.

We went for breakfast, leaving Johnson alone to gripe about losing beauty sleep thanks to Will's less than Army-standard wake up call. I almost told him that he could get a year's worth of sleep and it wouldn't fix his ugly mug, but it was too early in the day to risk my life by ribbing the lieutenant.

Camp was quiet and the breeze, if not quite cool, felt fresh and new. The desert rolled on in all directions, an expanse of rocky soil, dry plants and tiny creatures hurrying back to their dens before the sun rose higher than the edge of the horizon. The scene was so peaceful it was hard to believe we'd be under attack tonight. A twinge of doubt crossed my mind; what if Mamie was wrong, and the monsters hit Peru instead?

The knife-spirit sighed in my head. You think too much.

"You don't know what I'm thinking," I muttered. Will didn't even give me a second glance. He knew I wasn't talking to him. "You can only hear my voice, not my thoughts."

Maybe not, but I can read your body language, and there's tension in your right shoulder and your stomach. You're worried.

I blew out an annoyed sigh. Now she was stalking my body language? "You know, you kind of creep me out when you do that."

Give it a rest. We are joined, for better or worse. If I could have my own body, I would, but I cannot.

"So I'm just your arms and legsais that what you're saying?"

This is a mutually beneficial relationship. We need each other, so maybe you should quit griping. She sniffed in an annoyed way. And I know when to leave you alone.

I stopped walking and crossed my arms over my chest, almost like I was arguing with someone right in front of me. "Oh, really? What about my date with Sami a few months ago?"

The spirit made an affronted "hmpf" sound and said, I was only agreeing with your own conscience. Don't lay your decision to leave that girl alone at my door. I know you as well as I know myself, and if there's a time you need space, I'll make myself scarce. Today isn't one of those times, though, so stop whining.

"I wasn't whining," I said. "I'm going to eat breakfast now, if you don't mind."

Of course not. She withdrew to the back corner of my brain, but I heard her muttering something about dealing with snarky teenagers. Making things worse, Will had started shooting me amused glances. I really wished I could give him what he wanted and saddle him with a knife for a day or two just so he'd know what it was like.

"Not funny."

He tried to force the grin off his face. "No. Not funny."

Uncle Mike came out of HQ and waved me over. As soon as I turned my back, Will busted out laughing. I flipped him the bird over my shoulder and he laughed harder. Man, I just couldn't win this morning.

"We're rolling out to Zenka's village in thirty minutes," Uncle Mike said when I met him by the mess tent. "It looks like Cruessan's feeling better."

"No kidding," I said. "Who's going with us?"

"Ramirez, Murphy, Lanningham, Johnson, Brandt...the regulars." He looked at his watch. "Seventeen hours until the eclipse. We need to make this trip quick so the wielders can get some sleep this afternoon."

I doubted I'd be able to sleep in the heat, and a wound-up Tink would guarantee a restless day ahead even if I wanted to try. "We'll be ready."

Will joined me at the mess tent and we raced each other to see who could finish a pancake and sausage MRE first. Will beat me by two bites by swallowing his last pancake practically whole. I got the last laugh, though. I hadn't warned him how bad the trek out to Zenka's would be, and every time the Humvee hit a crater in the dirt road, Will covered his mouth and groaned.

When we arrived, the same group of boys was playing soccer outside the village. Will took one look at them, then down at the two-thousand dollar aviator watch his dad had given him as a hand-me-down, and hopped out of the Humvee. Before the rest of us hit ground, he was already chasing the kids around, whooping and hollering. Two of the littlest boys caught up and started climbing him like a tree. Once they were settled on his back, he jogged them all over the soccer pitch while the rest of the boys raced after them.

Johnson watched the whole scene with a tiny smile. "He gets it, doesn't he? He's not any spoiled rich kid."

"No," I said. "Never has been."

"Good."

"Matt?" Uncle Mike called.

I turned; Zenka had arrived. When I walked over, she said, "So you are back. Welcome."

Zenka's gaze was as piercing as ever, but it didn't make me uneasy this time. "Thanks. How's the village been?"

"Lucky," she answered. "No attacks here. Others, not so lucky."

Ramirez and Brandt came over before she could say anything else. Brandt nodded once to Zenka. "How's it going?"

"By *it' do you mean my life or the nature of the universe?" Zenka asked.

Brandt stood there with his mouth open. I grinned. "What's the matter, Captain? No witty response?"

He glared at me, but Ramirez moved in between us. "We're going to do more interviews. You want to stay and ask Zenka your questions?"

Nice of the major to open that can of worms for me. "Yeah."

After they left, Zenka raised an eyebrow. "What would you like to ask me?"

I hesitated, really wishing I'd been able to set up this conversation better. "My sister thought you could tell me more about Gaunab."

Zenka's eyes went wide. "Did she? This sister is Mamie, yes?"

"How do you know her name?" I asked, feeling a shiver run from the base of my neck all the way to my heels. "I never said her name."

"Marguerite Anise Archer or just Mamie?" Zenka's smile was coy. "I know lots of things, Matthew Jonathan Archer. Names are important. But, what would she have you ask?"

It took a minute for me to get over the shock of being called by my full name.

"Mamie thinks you're in danger. A target for the next wave of monsters," I said quietly, feeling bad about delivering that piece of news. "We plan to stake out your village tonight, because she thinks it might have something to do with Gaunab. That maybe he's behind the attacks."

"Hmm. She may be right. Bright girl, Mamie." Just then, Will came in from playing with the boys. They were bouncing around him, laughing as he dribbled the soccer ball into the village. Zenka eyed Will for a long time, then turned to me. "Who is that boy?"

"My best friend, Will," I said. "I kind ofablackmailed the Army into letting him be on the team."

She continued to stare. Will looked over and smiled at her, then went back to chasing kids. Zenka nodded and muttered something in her native language. "Come, I need to speak with you. Alone."

Zenka turned and walked away before I could say anything. The knife gave me a nudge to go with her; my curiosity did, too, so I followed along. She led me into the tall grass near the caves where the Shadow-man and Sentinel paintings were. The sun baked the top of my head, and the grass rustled with the sound of small animals trying to escape the humans invading their turf. For some reason, I found it peaceful here in the grassaeven though I knew it wouldn't last long.

Once I caught up to Zenka, we walked together for a long while, with her asking me questions about my family and my life back home. I was reluctant to answer, wondering why she wanted to know my siblings' birthdates, or what my father's name was, or if we all had blue eyes. Each time I hesitated, though, the knife-spirit pressed me to answer.

It's safe, Tink whispered. She needs to know.

I wanted to believe Tink wouldn't force me to answer if I refused, but I couldn't be sure, not anymore. With each answer I gave, Zenka's eyes lit up with excitement. Finally she clutched my arm. "Thank you. Your family holds our hope, Matt Archer, and the blood of the stars."

I took a slow breath. Tink had told me the spirits had waited for the wielders to born under the right stars. Was this related? "What does that mean?"

"I don't have all the answers." Zenka touched my arm. "But I will tell you the things I do know, so that you might begin to understand."

Zenka motioned for me to sit with her on a patch of dry earth. "Let me tell you a story, Matt Archer," she said, "In the beginning, our creator, Cagn, made a world underground, where it was always light and men could speak with animals. We lived there in peace while Cagn created the world above, this world.

"The people went up first, then the animals," she said. "Everyone was happyauntil the first night fell. The animals weren't afraid, because they could see in the dark, but the humans could not, and they grew afraid. So they broke the only commandment Cagn gave them, and they built a fire to drive back the darkness.

"Cagn was angry with them and withdrew from the humans and so they were no longer protected from Gaunab, the master of death, lord of the underworld. He now had dominion in the world. From then on, the humans avoided the dead and the dark places for fear of being dragged down, and sought the world of light and life they once knew."

More light and dark, more life and death, good and evil. No matter where I turned, I bumped into it. "So the Shadow Man, the one in the cave drawingahe's the master of death?"

Zenka stared across the grass, and I wondered if she could see the future. I was pretty sure Jorge could; maybe she could, too. "No. I think the Shadow Man's something different, something older and more powerful."

"Older than your creator?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Something about the logic wasn't working for me.

"There are things in the universe older than we are," Zenka said. "And some of them didn't appreciate our creation."

"That's reassuring," I muttered.

She laughed sadly. "I wish I could say it will be all right, but we both know that would be false."

"Yeah," I said. "All we can do is hope."

And hope that one day, we'd have answers to all our questions.

Chapter Twenty.

We'd finished staging our stakeout at Zenka's place and were back in camp to "rest up." Uncle Mike seemed to think that sending Will and me to our tent would ensure that we'd nap. Not a chance. After fourteen hours of sleep last night, Will wasn't tired and I was too jacked up to try.

"You ready for this?" I asked. "You didn't look too good yesterday."

"I'm fine, man," Will said. His cot creaked under his weight as he lay down. "I have everything packed up, too."

"Okay, good." I hoped the major wouldn't notice Will carrying a few extra "supplies" out to the village. "Time to see if all those drills we came up with back home work or not."

"They'll work," Will said, a hint of diabolical laughter in his voice. "Trust me."

"I do, even if it's against my better judgment sometimes."

I stared at the tent's walls. The sun had started to sink toward the horizon, and the green canvas looked darker. Only six hours until the earth started to block the moon from the sun. We'd be leaving soon to return to Zenka's village, taking a full convoy with all the weaponry our Humvees could carry. I'd seen Dorland packing up crates of grenades, a grim cast to his mouth, but Tyson had run around camp like he was on acid. Luckily, Murphy shadowed every move Tyson made; Murph hadn't forgotten his promise to keep an eye on the new guy.

My eyes grew heavy despite the turmoil churning in my head. I thought Tink wanted me to nap even if didn't feel like it, but something was off. She was whispering in another language, and four voices answered, alien but still familiar. Two were very close and two were distant.

"Conference call?" I mumbled, barely conscious.

"What?" Will asked from far, far away.

A tingling built along my spine and spread down my legs to my toes. Another ping radiated from my heart into my arms. Tink's whispers turned into a song, and the others sang with her, growing louder and louder. The tingling increased until it became an itchathen a burn. I cried out, scared that the spirits had gone overboard somehow, that their power would be too strong and this time they'd kill me. I could only take so much, Tink had to realizea"

As if I'd been struck by lightning, power slammed into my chest. I shot off my cot, going from lying prone to standing up in one motion. Teeth gritted, I clapped my hands to my temples and went down on my knees.

Will rolled off his bunk and knelt next to me. "Look at me, Matt."

I forced my gaze from the floor to meet Will's eyes. Even in the dim lighting, I could see each individual hair on his head, like Will was in hi-def. Not good. "They're spinning me up. We need to get out to Zenka's."

Will squeezed my shoulder. "Your eyes are glowing in the dark. I'll go for the others."

As soon as he left, I sank to the floor, resting my cheek on my outstretched arm. "What did you just do to me?"

Focused your potential. It will wear off after the blood-red moon.

"Okay, but next time, could you warn me first? That was a big jolt."

I forced myself to my feet and took a deep breath. EverythingaI could smell everything. I could hear Johnson humming out of tune across camp and Will sounded concerned as he reported in to Uncle Mike over at HQ. Curious, I reached out to touch the blanket on my cot. Drawing my finger slowly along the fabric, I could distinguish every individual thread.

"This is freaky," I muttered, holding my hand out in front of me. I could see well enough to count the hairs on my knuckles from an arm's length. "Freaky, but badass."

The knife-spirit chuckled. And you thought we made a mistake by choosing you.

"Not today." Shoulders squared, chin up, I left the tent.

We reached the village just as the sun set. Brandt's guys made sure to ride in another Humvee on the way over. It must've been the Day-Glo eyes. Or maybe the I-dare-you-to-ask-questions expression I was wearing. Either way, his team steered clear. Even Ramirez's guys seemed shocked, but Johnson had merely taken a good look, shrugged and hopped into the seat next to me. At this point, I didn't think I could surprise him.