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to Taupo Rough and ask help from Kermadec and his Trolls. Whatever this thing is, the Rock Trolls are likely a better match for it than we are.”
    â€œYou might be right,” Pen agreed. “But in order to find out, we have to go all the way to Taupo Rough, then persuade Kermadec to help, then come back this way again and find the
Skatelow,
which is flying while we’re on the ground. I don’t much care for our chances there, either. If we don’t do something right now, it will probably be too late. This creature won’t bother keeping Cinnaminson around if it’s not to its own advantage.”
    He was remembering how Cinnaminson, blind but privy to a sort of inner mind-vision that sighted people did not possess, had deliberately led her captor away from the spot where Pen and his companions were hiding in the rocks. He could not be certain that she had known he was there, but Pen felt in his heart that she had. Her courage astonished him, and he was terrified that it might have cost her life.
    â€œAll right.” Khyber straightened and leaned forward. “Let’s try it again. We know what we need to do. We need to get this thing off the
Skatelow
and away from Cinnaminson. We need to keep it off long enough to take over the airship, get airborne, and escape. How much time would that take if you were piloting?”
    Pen thought, running his hand through his red hair. “A few minutes, no more, if the power lines haven’t been disconnected. Even then, not long. A reconnect from any draw to any parse tube would be enough to get off the ground. Cut the ropes, engage the thrusters, open the draws, and you’re away. We wouldn’t have to worry about Cinnaminson until after we were airborne.”
    â€œAll we need to figure out, then, is what it will take to get our cloaked friend off the ship.” She considered. “Besides you.”
    â€œBut I am exactly what it
will
take, Khyber,” he said quietly. “You know that. I’m what it’s after. We know that much from Anatcherae. We don’t know the reason, but we know I’m what it’s come for.” He took a deep breath. “Don’t look at me that way. I know what I told Tagwen.”
    â€œGood. That means you know as well that you are talking nonsense. Tagwen was right to warn you against latching on to any plan that exposed you to risk. That isn’t why you came on this journey, Pen. You are the reason for everything that’s happened, and you don’t have the right to put yourself in a position where you could be killed.”
    â€œThat isn’t what I’m suggesting!” He couldn’t keep the irritation from his voice. “The trick is to make sure that by becoming bait, I can still get away when I need to. The trick is in getting the monster off the
Skatelow
and me on, all at the same time. But I don’t see any other way of making that happen if we can’t deceive this thing into thinking it has a chance to get its hands on me.”
    Khyber sighed. “You assume that getting its hands on you is its goal. What if it simply wants to kill you? It came close to doing that in Anatcherae.”
    Pen looked down and rubbed his eyes. “I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t think it
was
trying to kill me. I think it was trying to scare me. I think it was hoping I would freeze in place and it would be on me before anyone could help. It wants me for its prisoner, to take me to whoever sent it.”
    He saw the look of doubt that crossed her face and went on hurriedly. “All right, maybe it was trying to injure me or slow me down. It’s possible.”
    She shook her head. “What’s possible is that you are no longer in touch with reality. Your feelings for this girl have muddled your thinking. You’re starting to invent possibilities that have no basis in fact or common sense. You have to stop this, Pen.”
    He suppressed