Dare looked toward the wagon.
The blue cloth fluttered beneath its rear wheel. From here, I could see that one end was caught around a nail.
"What's in there?" he asked.
"I don't know."
He looked down at my hand gripping his sleeve.
"My sister had a ribbon like that."
His eyes went back to the wagon.
"All right. Stay behind me."
I followed him between the tents. There were bodies on the ground, and I tried to look anywhere else. A pot. A boot. A spoon someone had dropped in the dirt.
The spoon was easier.
Dare stopped beside the wagon and listened.
"Hello?"
Nothing answered.
He pulled back the canvas.
The smell came out first. Sweat and sickness and the bucket they'd left inside.
There were blankets piled near the front.
One moved.
I tried to climb up, but my ankle hurt too badly. Dare caught me beneath the arms and lifted me onto the boards.
"Easy."
I crawled.
There was a little foot sticking out from beneath a blanket. The smallest toe bent beneath the others.
Lottie's did that.
"Lottie?"
I pulled the blanket away.
Her eyes were shut. Her hair stuck to her face in dark, sweaty strings, and her lips looked wrong. Dry and cracked, with a little blood at one corner.
But her chest moved.
Just a little.
"Lottie, wake up."
I touched her cheek.
She was so hot.
"Dare?"
He climbed in beside me and set his black weapon down.
"Move your hand a second, buddy."
He pressed two fingers against her neck, then bent close to her mouth.
I watched his face.
I wished he would smile.
Instead, he carefully lifted the blanket farther. There was a dirty strip of cloth wrapped around her leg. Beneath it, her skin was swollen and red.
"They said she bit someone," I whispered.
Dare glanced at me.
"One of the men. When they took us."
He looked back at her leg.
"Good girl."
I almost laughed.
Then Lottie made a tiny sound, and I forgot how.
"Can you fix her?"
He didn't answer straightaway.
That frightened me.
"Dare?"
"I'm figuring it out."
He took a flask from his belt, wet a corner of the blanket, and touched it to her lips.
"Not too much," he told me. "Just keep them wet."
He put the flask in my hands.
Then someone shouted outside.
"Drop it!"
Dare went still.
Through the open canvas, I saw a man standing beside a tent. He held a small crossbow.
It pointed straight at us.
"You killed my brother!"
Dare's weapon lay beside my knee.
His hand moved toward it.
"I wouldn't," the man said.
Dare stopped.
Lottie's head shifted against my arm.
The man looked at her.
I saw him smile.
"I'll put the bolt through the little—"
Dare moved.
The black weapon came up, and the familiar thump filled the wagon.
The man fell backward.
I covered Lottie's ears too late.
Dare stayed crouched, staring past the canvas. Then he pulled it partly closed and looked all around us before finally lowering his weapon.
"Okay," he said.
He sounded angry now.
"Okay."
Golden light flickered between his fingers.
I pulled Lottie closer.
"What's happening?"
Dare looked down.
"Oh, now you want to talk."
For a moment, he seemed to read something hanging in the air.
"Magic Gun. Level two."
The black thing dissolved.
I gasped.
Light gathered where it had been, shaping itself into something similar, only shorter. There was a little piece of glass on top, and the front looked different.
Dare stared at it.
Then he gave a short, surprised laugh.
"Well, hello there."
"Is it broken?"
"No, buddy. Quite the opposite."
He looked toward Lottie, and the smile left his face.
"Not what we need right now, though."
He shifted closer to her.
"Were there other wagons when they brought you?"
I nodded.
"Did they take things off people? Boxes? Packages?"
"They took everything."
Dare's jaw tightened.
"Stay with your sister."
"Don't leave."
The words came out before I could stop them.
He looked at me for a moment.
"I'm checking the tents. You'll hear me."
Then he leaned out of the wagon.
"Mara! I need you over here!"
She came limping through the clearing with a piece of bread in her hand.
When she saw Lottie, she put it down.
"Oh, sweetheart."
Dare helped her climb in.
"Keep her comfortable. I'll be quick."
I listened to him outside.
Canvas ripped. Something heavy fell over. A wooden lid slammed.
Then he swore.
I knew plenty of bad words now, but he put them together differently.
Mara brushed Lottie's hair back.
"She was asking for you," she whispered.
I looked up.
"Before they separated us. She kept saying her brother would come."
My eyes started hurting.
"I didn't know where she was."
"I know."
"I would've come."
"I know, Milo."
Dare appeared at the back of the wagon carrying a small wooden chest.
Its broken lock swung against the side.
"Please let rich people have good taste in packaging," he muttered.
Inside were three books wrapped in cloth.
One was red. Another was dark blue, with little silver marks across its cover.
The third was white.
Dare snatched that one up.
A folded paper slipped out and landed beside me. There was a wax seal on it, stamped with a shape I didn't recognize.
"My father's seal," he said.
For the first time since finding Lottie, he sounded hopeful.
"These are mine."
"Books?" I asked.
"Skill books."
He opened the white one.
"Come on. How do I—"
He stopped speaking.
His eyes moved again, reading something I couldn't see.
"Yes. Learn it. Obviously yes."
The pages shone.
I watched letters lift off the paper like tiny glowing insects. They swirled around his hands, then sank beneath his skin.
The book crumbled.
I stared at the empty cover.
Dare tossed it aside and knelt beside Lottie.
"Everybody give me a little room."
I moved until my back pressed against the wagon wall.
He held his hand above her leg.
A pale green glow spread across his palm.
Nothing happened.
Then Lottie whimpered.
I reached for her.
Mara caught my wrist gently.
"Let him."
Dare's face tightened with concentration. Sweat gathered along his forehead.
The glow grew brighter.
Under the dirty bandage, the swelling began to shrink.
I leaned forward without meaning to.
"Is it working?"
"Some."
"Can you do more?"
"I'm trying."
The light faded.
Dare sat back hard.
He looked tired in a way he hadn't after killing the men.
"Mana," he muttered. "Of course."
He pulled the bandage loose and used clean cloth from the chest to cover her leg.
Then we waited.
I hated waiting.
Every breath she took seemed too far from the last one.
Dare checked her neck again. He wet her lips. After a while, the green light returned, weaker this time, but steady.
Lottie's fingers moved against my sleeve.
I forgot to breathe.
"Milo?"
I bent so close our foreheads touched.
"I'm here."
Her eyes opened a little.
"You came."
My mouth shook.
I wanted to tell her I'd been looking. That I hadn't forgotten. That I was sorry it took so long.
All I managed was, "Yeah."
She shut her eyes again.
I grabbed Dare's arm.
"She's sleeping," he said quickly. "Just sleeping."
"You promise?"
He checked her once more.
"Her breathing's better. Her pulse too. But she needs a proper healer."
I held her hand until my fingers hurt.
Outside, the freed people were gathering food and blankets. Someone had found two horses behind the tents.
Dare tucked the other books into his pack.
"I've got a horse by the road," he told Mara. "We'll get the wagons moving and head back toward town. Send word to my father."
"Who is your father?" she asked.
"Duke Lewis."
Mara stared at him.
I barely heard.
He was leaving.
"Take us."
Dare turned.
"You're coming with us to town, Milo."
"No."
My voice sounded louder than I meant it to.
"With you."
He glanced at Lottie.
"We don't have a house anymore," I said. "I can work. Father taught me things. I can feed horses, and carry wood, and I won't eat much."
"Milo—"
"Lottie's little. She doesn't eat much either."
He crouched in front of me.
"You don't have to bargain."
I looked at his hands.
There was dirt beneath his nails and blood drying across one knuckle.
But he hadn't hit me.
Not even when I grabbed him.
"Can we come?" I whispered.
He looked at my sister for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
"Yeah, buddy. We'll figure it out."
I leaned against the wagon wall and held Lottie's hand.
For once, when someone said things would be all right, I wanted to believe them.