Joey led them down the trail. Annja found herself remembering the lay of it now that she'd traveled it twice. But earlier yesterday, she'd been burnt and dirty and exhausted from nearly having been crushed by David's truck.

That must be it, she thought. The sheer immediacy of me almost dying taxed my system to the brink. I need some time to recover.

How long is it going to take to get back to where I feel one hundred percent? And can I afford to wait that long? If David and his goons show up now, I'm toast. And so are Jenny and Joey. I can't let anything happen to them.

She pressed on, trying to stay close to Jenny, who had apparently gotten her second wind. She seemed to be moving faster than Annja was. Annja struggled to keep up with her.

Jenny looked back. "Can you keep going?"

Annja nodded, but she felt queasy and foggy at the same time. I am not in good shape, she thought to herself.

Her face felt hot and sweaty. Her heart thundered in her chest. If they hadn't swallowed a lot of river water, she might have thought she was dehydrated. But she knew she wasn't. She'd had lots to drink.

But she hadn't had plenty of rest. And that's what she needed more than anything else.

If she could sleep for even a few hours, it might go a long way toward recharging her. Even being knocked unconscious by the tranquilizer dart hadn't given her enough rest.

Could she take a nap at the hotel before they confronted David? It seemed unlikely.

Joey led them up to the footbridge and then veered to the right. A large rhododendron bush blocked their path but he pushed through it. Annja followed Jenny and then saw a smaller animal run in front of them. Th.o.r.n.y bushes poked out into the run, making travel difficult, but twenty yards farther on it suddenly got easier.

Joey stopped and motioned them to squat nearby. "I planted those to help discourage anyone else from using the trail. Now that we're close to town, make sure you keep your voice down. You'd be surprised how many conversations I've heard lurking back here, hiding from people in town."

"You were spying on them?" Annja asked.

Joey shook his head. "Nope. They were being noisy and I was just listening." He winked once and then kept walking.

Annja felt like her legs were starting to melt. Each step seemed to sink into the ground and get harder to pull back out. Her breathing felt labored and awkward, as if she couldn't get enough oxygen into her system.

The run sloped up and then Annja saw the roof of the hotel over the top of the trees. The hotel.

She almost smiled. If they could just get to Sheila.

"Annja?"

Jenny peered into her face. Why does she look so odd? Annja wondered. But had she voiced the question at all? She couldn't remember.

Annja took another deep breath.

"Annja?"

Another step.

She collapsed into nothingness.

Chapter 30.

Annja swam slowly through the blackness of her mind. It was as if she simply couldn't move her arms and legs fast enough to generate any kind of momentum and she was stuck.

Her body drifted aimlessly, slowly spinning over and over but not fast enough to make her feel ill. She had no real sensation of which way was up, anyhow. Her limbs felt numb. She couldn't hear anything. She couldn't see anything.

It was almost like being in some sort of sensory deprivation tank.

My eyes are open, she thought. And yet I can't see anything around me. There's no way to penetrate the inky black darkness that surrounds me.

She tried stopping herself and spinning in the opposite direction, but it didn't work. In some ways, she thought she was like an orbiting planet, powered by the gravitational force of some unseen sun far off in the outer reaches of her galactic mind.

Is this what I did to myself? she wondered. Had she taxed her system so far and to such a great extent that she had just switched off? The truck explosion, the day of trekking, being ambushed, nearly being drowned and having to swim both herself and Jenny to safety prior to another long hike. Had it all simply been too much?

One thing felt certain, wherever she was, she didn't feel tired any longer. This place, this quiet refuge, may have been some sort of resting point for her to come to when things got truly bad.

Annja smiled, or at least she thought she smiled. It's good to know I at least have this.

She wondered how long it would take to fully recuperate her strength. How long had she been floating here? Had she been gone for hours or, when she woke up, would she find that only minutes had pa.s.sed since she fell to the ground back on the side trail by the hotel?

A thought occurred to her and she didn't like it. What if she didn't wake up? What if she was like the sword, trapped beyond the reach of normal life in some weird other dimension? What if no one could get her back?

Was it possible that she was dead?

She took a breath and felt her lungs expand and then contract. So far so good. She tried flexing her limbs, but they were so numb she couldn't tell if they were moving or not.

This is weird, she thought. And then she quickly mocked herself for being a master of the understatement.

If I'm supposed to stay here until I'm rested, then what in the world are Jenny and Joey thinking right now? She imagined Jenny freaking, trying to figure out what was wrong. Annja felt a small measure of relief that both of them had seen the sword. If they hadn't, they might just think Annja was dead and have her carted off to the morgue for an autopsy.

This is probably the only time it was good they saw the sword, she thought. Any other time, pulling it out for the world to see isn't.

"Annja!"

From somewhere off in the distance, Annja heard the voice. And then something jolted her awake and it sounded like a huge roar in her ears. She winced and clamped her eyes shut. When she opened them again-

Jenny's face hovered over hers. "Annja!"

"All right, all right, take it easy, will you?" Annja tried to sit up but found her body was still somewhat like jelly.

"Easy, Annja." Joey's voice sounded in her ear, but much softer than Jenny's. She felt his arms under her back and then she was propped up into a sitting position. Joey looked at her. "You okay?"

"I think so."

"Jesus," Jenny said, "you scared the h.e.l.l out of us."

"Out of you," Joey corrected. "I knew she'd be okay."

"Oh, sure you did, you big liar." Jenny stooped closer to Annja. "What happened to you?"

Annja shook her head. "I don't know. I was looking at the hotel and then I tried to take another step and I just couldn't do it. I went down and kept going straight into...I don't know where."