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them both, and mounted the horse.
    I lifted a marking pen from the bag,
and circled where I believed I was according to the last exit sign
I saw. After I replaced the pen, I leaned down to his ear and
whispered. “We’re gonna go home, boy. Get me there.”
    With a snap of the reins, we took
off. We stayed the course, embedded deep in the wooded area that
ran perpendicular to the highway, only having to divert a few times
over old buried cars and buildings. I successfully made it past
then ahead of the Day Stalkers at full speed, hoping that I wasn’t
wearing Sandstorm down. I headed back on the road. Once there, we
kept a steady trot all the way.
     
    Worries of Savages consumed me as the
sun began to set, just as I made it to the confines of Angeles
County. Usually it was marked by a handmade sign, but this time
there were three large hay carts and atop them, four soldiers.
    I reined in Sandstorm when one of
them called out, “Davis! He’s back!”
    After dismounting, I walked toward
the new barricade. Davis rushed through. At first he stopped,
stared at me, and then he raced toward me.
    I knew the anger would come. First he
greeted me with gratefulness, grabbing on to me and embracing
me.
    “My God, you’re alive! Oh my
God.”
    “I’m fine. I’m sorry. I’m so
sorry.”
    He placed his huge hand on my face
and said sternly, “What were you thinking? Huh?”
“I wanted to see if I could stop her. I’m sorry, Davis. I am really
sorry.”
    Davis closed his eyes, stepped back,
and nodded. “Okay. Okay. You’re alive. That’s what’s
important.”
    Davis looked bad. Worn, as if he had
been out personally searching for me. He probably was.
    “I shouldn’t have. It was stupid.
Then I fell asleep. There’s something important I need to
tell—”
    “I thought they got you,” Davis
said.
    “Who?”
    “The Day Stalkers.”
    “You know?”
    “Of course I know. We’ve been
battling them all day. The attack came a couple hours after sunup.
When you weren’t around, when we found a car missing, and you
didn’t return, I thought they got you. There were a lot. We… got it
under control. “
    “For now,” I said nervously.
    “What do you mean? We finished
fighting. It’s clear.”
    “That’s what I need to tell you.
That’s why I didn’t have the car. I couldn’t get through the road.
There’s a ton of them heading this way.”
    Davis looked beyond me, then up to
the sky and groaned. He didn’t need to say it, I knew what he was
thinking. It was the same thing as I was. The Day Stalkers would be
approaching, and sundown wasn’t far off.
    Sundown meant Savages.
    Savages and Day Stalkers at the same
time. It was something that had never happened.

THIRTEEN – VALA
     
    Sophie never left my side. We
slipped into our home despite the fact that our neighbors were
yelling for me to leave, to turn myself into Nito and spare
them.
    Iry had to return to his home, I
suppose to tend to his slaves and harem. He promised he’d be back
for the ceremony, but since he had graduated a level, he wasn’t
permitted to live among us.
    Before leaving, he did tell me, “I
believe you are feeling lost without your new friends. Do they know
your ability?”
    “They know I have abilities.”
    “Perhaps when all is quiet you should
reach out to the leader. Let him know you made it back.”
    I acknowledged his suggestion and
then he left for the evening.
    I would try to make contact with
Davis later when the house was still and quiet.
    After the evening meal, Sophie and I
cleaned up and sat together on her bed.
    “I missed you, Vala,” she said. “I
missed you so much.”
    I hugged her. “I missed you too.”
    “Mother said you were lost.”
    “No, I wasn’t. I was safe and fine
and discovering the whole world out beyond Akana.”
    “Why?”
    “Because it’s different,” I told her.
“Out there, everyone is different. They look different, act
different... They laugh and sing and play music even when they