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“What’s the plan?” she asked Jordan as she packed away her gear.

He shrugged. “Same as yesterday. Look for the next arrow, follow the instructions, and hopefully make it home later this arvo.”

She re-zipped her pack. “I can’t wait for this day to be over.”

“Aren’t you enjoying it at least a little bit?”

Jordan looked so excited that Alex didn’t have the heart to bring him down with a reminder of the dangerous situations they’d faced the previous day. “It’s been challenging, but we’re still alive. So, yay for that,” she agreed.

“What are we yaying?” Declan asked, shuffling over to join their conversation.

“Life,” Alex said simply.

“A good yay-point, for sure,” he agreed with a grin.

“You’re chirpy this morning,” Alex observed, noting the happy expression on his face.

“Why shouldn’t I be?” Declan threw his hands behind his head and leaned back against the raft’s side. “The sky is blue, the birds are singing—it’s going to be a beautiful day.”

Alex looked from him to Jordan and back again, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Has someone used the relaxant stuff on you?”

Declan chuckled and shook his head, but then his expression turned solemn and he leaned forward to whisper, “If you get a chance, you might want to speak with Pip about what happenedyesterday. She’s back to normal now, and I think she’s a little embarrassed about it all.”

Alex looked over her shoulder at Pipsqueak who was sitting on the opposite side of the raft and staring morosely out at the water.

“Will do,” Alex promised.

“All right, guys,” Tom said, capturing everyone’s attention. “We’re not moving much anymore, so I say it’s time for us to search around for the arrow on land.”

They all agreed, and as a team they leaned over the side of the raft and used their hands to paddle until they reached the riverbank and scrambled out one by one.

Leaving the raft behind but taking the rest of their possessions with them, it took half an hour of aimless wandering in the area before they found the next arrow. In that time, Alex was able to pull Pipsqueak aside to speak with her. It turned out that Pip was ashamed of her relaxant-blurred memories from the previous day, but after a few words of encouragement, Alex managed to cheer her up and she returned to her normal self.

“We have a simple task this time,” Tom said, scanning the newest instructions. “It says, ‘Continue south until you reach the village.’”

That seemed easy enough, to Alex’s relief. But that relief turned into whining grumbles when, six hours and fifteen Hunter-laid traps later, they still hadn’t reached the village.

“I’mtired,” Skyla complained when they stopped for lunch.

“We’realltired,” Pipsqueak grumbled back.

“My feet hurt,” Skyla continued to complain.

No one bothered replying that time.

After another two hours the forest began to thin and the greenery started to dry out. The rocky dirt beneath their feet turned into sandy dust, and the air became hotter and dryer.

“I can’t believe Hunter would lead us into the Soori Desert,” Pipsqueak said, sounding exhausted. “That’s so irresponsible of him. The desert is dangerous.”

After everything else they’d faced—which, granted, Pip didn’t remember as vividly as the rest of them—Alex didn’t doubt that the desert was exactly like somewhere Hunter might send them. But it turned out they didn’t have to worry about entering the arid wasteland. Because on the outskirts of the forest, just before the woodsy landscape morphed into unending dunes of sand, they found the village.

‘Village’ was such an inadequate term for the intimidating, fortified walls that surrounded the buildings within. Alex and her classmates scaled a tree in order to get a glimpse into the settlement, but even that view wasn’t comforting. The village looked more like some kind of military compound than anything else.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Alex said as they all balanced in the tree.

“I have the same feeling,” Kaiden muttered in agreement. “And I think it’s about to get worse.”

He pointed at something just above her head and Alex realised she’d been so focused on the village that she’d missed the arrow. She reached up and tore off the paper note.