Meilin eyed Abeke suspiciously, but said nothing.
What? What did I do? Oh, Abeke thought dismally. I wonder if she thinks I want to send messages to the enemy.
She wished there was a way that she could reassure the other girl, but there didn’t seem to be a way to without sounding even more suspicious. So she just said, “So we go now to Trunswick?”
“It’s still quite a ways from here,” Finn said. He pushed to his feet stiffly. “Let’s find a place to sleep. Someplace a bit more comfortable.”
By more comfortable, Finn meant sleeping under rocks instead of on top of them. They spent a rather brittle night beneath a rock overhang on the edge of the boulder field. It wasn’t cozy, but at least it was dry and out of the wind. Abeke and Uraza curled up together like siblings and fell asleep.
In the morning light, their surroundings looked quite different. Coming from Nilo, Abeke had never seen anything like the landscape. Behind them was the expanse of strange, square boulders, and before them was a flat, purple-green field that went on and on. Finn looked somehow at home here: All his green-purple tattoos matched the colors of the grass, and his silver hair matched the clouds that pressed low.
“Those rocks are called the Giant’s Chessboard. And this is a moor,” he explained to them. “It looks quite innocent, but it can be treacherous. The ground is soft in places and will happily swallow a person. Or a panda.”
Meilin, stretching elegantly, said, “I’ll keep Jhi in passive form today.”
“Do you think it’s safe to let Uraza walk?” Abeke asked, resting her fingers on the leopard’s shoulder blades. “She prefers to run when she can.” Like me.
“I think so,” Finn said. “Cats are careful. But if we see anyone coming, it would probably be best to hide her.”
“I guess there is no mistaking her for an ordinary leopard,” Abeke said. Uraza preened at the admiration in Abeke’s voice.
“Not many ordinary leopards in Eura anyway,” Finn noted. “Much less extraordinary ones.”
They set off across the moor. The ground beneath them shifted from hard-packed rocks to watery silt without warning. If Abeke hadn’t been paying attention, she could’ve been in hidden water above her head before she had a chance to cry out.
In fact, only a few moments had passed before disaster struck. It wasn’t that Abeke heard something — it was that she suddenly didn’t hear something. A second later she realized that it was Meilin’s breathing. She didn’t hear it anymore because Meilin wasn’t there anymore.
Abeke spun this way and that, but there was only motionless moor ahead and behind her.
“Finn!” she cried.
Finn understood immediately. “Where?”
“I don’t know!”
They both scanned the moor for any sign of the other girl, but even Uraza couldn’t pinpoint where she had gone. Abeke was too aware that every second that passed was a second Meilin couldn’t breathe.
“Uraza,” Finn said urgently, “any ideas?”
Nothing.
Then Meilin’s arm burst into sight. It looked as if it grew from the tufted grass. Her fingers felt for the foliage, seized it. There was no way she would be able to pull herself out, but she was going to try. Leaping forward, Finn gripped her forearm with one tattooed hand. He stretched out his other hand to Abeke.
“Don’t let us both go in,” he warned. Grabbing his hand, Abeke braced herself. Then she hauled, and Finn hauled, and the moor gave Meilin up like a newborn calf. She sprawled across the grass rather unbeautifully and spat out some muddy bits of water.
“Welcome back,” Finn told Meilin, a little out of breath.
“I was doing fine,” she retorted, spitting out another glob of dirty grass.
Finn’s mouth made a crafty shape. He said, “Abeke and I will know better next time.”
Abeke hid a smile.
Meilin was already retrieving the bag she’d dropped when she’d disappeared. She seemed completely unfazed by the experience. As she took down her damp hair and shook her head, she muttered, “It is going to take forever for my clothing to dry in this climate.”
“I did say to be cautious,” Finn said. “Let’s use our heads.”
The image of Meilin’s hand extended from the hungry moor did keep Abeke careful for quite a bit of their journey that day. But then she began to notice how gifted Uraza was at finding dry spots to leap from. She also discovered that if she really focused on the leopard, she could sense them too. Soon the two of them were dancing across the moor.
Laughing, they outstripped the others. After a few minutes, however, Abeke and Uraza hesitated. Up ahead, Abeke got the sense of people. Then, a second later, she caught a glimpse of distant figures.
“Uraza!” she called. She held out her arm and the leopard vanished onto it without pause. The sting of it was more like a flush of heat now. It felt good. Powerful. Like Uraza was somehow becoming a part of her. She felt as if she could still feel the leopard beside her.
“What is it?” Meilin asked as she and Finn caught up.
Finn followed Abeke’s gaze to the approaching silhouettes. As they grew closer, Abeke could see that one of them carried a pike with a stubby red-and-white flag on it.
“I don’t like this,” he said. “I think they’re Hawkers.”
Meilin’s eyes narrowed. “What’s a Hawker?”
“They’re scoundrels who sell fake Nectar.” Finn’s voice had turned dark. “They also sell the pelts of spirit animals.”
“What?!” Abeke exclaimed. “Why?!”
Finn’s fingers rested lightly on his complex tattoos. “There is a dirty superstition that wearing the pelt of a spirit animal will give you their powers, even if you weren’t able to summon one yourself. You two must hide the fact that you have spirit animals or the Hawkers might be tempted to attack you.”
Meilin and Abeke wordlessly tugged their sleeves down.
As the figures approached, dragging a small cart behind them, Meilin dropped her gaze and slumped her shoulders. She was transformed immediately to a docile and shy farm girl. Abeke ducked her head hurriedly. She wasn’t sure she was as gifted an actress as Meilin, though.
“Hello, hello, hello!” said the first of the Hawkers. He had a very winning smile. It looked made out of rubber, like it could stretch and stretch and never break. If Finn hadn’t been uneasy before, Abeke probably would’ve trusted this newcomer.