One of their new captives tried to escape.

  A soldier tripped over a tree root, and the woman he'd been escorting made a break for it. She managed to get ten steps out of sight before shrieking with fear. Deeks and the sergeant were there in an instant, rifles raised—but they needn't have bothered. Gwen was calmly seated atop the struggling woman, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

  "So uhh…" said Deeks, taking a cautious step forward. Gwen eyed him like he was a rat she hadn't quite decided if she was going to chase off yet.

  Natalie smiled.

  Gwen sighed, if wolves could sigh, and went through the same routine she had before. The woman was soon back in captivity. Deeks hurried up to Natalie's side, since he wasn't escorting a prisoner (or carrying the box of stones).

  "So… how do you do all this magic stuff?"

  Natalie shrugged. "I just kinda learned it."

  "You're incredible, you know." Deeks rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I got a little sister like you. She's about eleven though. How old are you?"

  "...Thirteen," said Natalie.

  "And you're out here doin' this?" He shook his head. "Kid like you oughta be in school."

  "I was…" Natalie hesitated, not sure how much she should reveal. She had no idea how far the news might have spread about her, but she really wanted to vent, and Deeks seemed like an ally. Plus, he wasn't connected to anyone she knew. "They kicked me out. For… you know, being like this."

  "...That's just wrong," Deeks muttered. "What does it matter who or what you are? Doesn't mean you shouldn't get an education."

  Natalie winced, but didn't say anything.

  "Just wrong. That's not what I'm fighting for out here." Deeks shook his head again. "Tell you what, Linny. After we're all done here, you call me." He fished a card out of his pocket and scrawled a phone number on it. "I'll personally come by in full uniform and make sure they let you in the building, Ruby Bridges style."

  "Who?"

  "Another brave girl who just wanted to go to school."

  "Watch it, Linn," said Harris, lugging the box of stones a little ways behind them. "Don't let him get into his social justice shit again. Deeks never shuts the hell up about it."

  "Ignore him," said Deeks. "He's an asshole who doesn't get what's important."

  "Yeah, yeah. Says the asshole."

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  Deeks rolled his eyes. "So Linn, what do you like to do?"

  "...Huh?"

  "I dunno. Just makin' conversation. My little sister loves horses. We got a few on our farm. She rides around all the time."

  Natalie hesitated, then raised her voice.

  "...I was gonna ask before, what language is that?"

  "I dunno," Natalie shrugged. "But Gwen understands it."

  A split-second later, Gwen burst out of the woods on their left, landing in front of Natalie and scattering leaves everywhere. Deeks jumped back in shock, while Harris dropped the box on his foot and swore. The rest of the group behind them started cursing, having to change their routes to keep security tight.

  Natalie rolled her eyes.

  Gwen simply walked up next to her and brushed against her side pointedly. Natalie smiled, and in one quick motion, pulled herself up onto Gwen's back. Gwen immediately started walking forward at an easy pace, and Deeks hurried to match them. Natalie found herself looking down at him now from Gwen's back, another reminder of how she was still growing.

  "All right, that beats a horse," he said, grinning.

  Natalie smiled, but her mirth was cut short as they reached the edge of the treeline—and the wide expanse of the camp opened in front of them. She halted Gwen, confusing Deeks and the rest of the squad.

  "You guys go ahead," she said. "I'm staying out here."

  "Don't like going in public, huh?" said Deeks knowingly. He stuck around while the rest of them marched forward, escorting their prisoners and poor Harris with the heavy box. Natalie took another look at Deeks, and realized the guy was actually pretty handsome. Not movie-star handsome or anything, but he was a step above the rest of the soldiers for sure. "So what are you gonna do now? Thought we were goin' on more patrols with you."

  Natalie hesitated. "I need to figure out where my friends are first."

  Deeks nodded. "Well, you got my number. Good hunting. See you 'round, Linny." He started away, and Natalie felt a confusing sense of abandonment. I found someone actually kinda cool out here… in the middle of all this craziness.

  Deeks may be a good ally to us in the future. We would do well to keep his number handy.

  Yeah… I don't know if we're ever going back to school, but we might need help with other things. I don't really like 'Linny' though.

  Tell him not to call you that.

  I'm not going to worry about it right now. I gotta figure out where Kelsey, Mitch and Tyler are.

  Natalie pulled out her phone and dialed Josh, as she promised she would when they were all done with the first patrol.

  "I just saw the squad come back," he said, as soon as he picked up. "You figured out something then?"

  "Yeah…" Natalie quickly explained the gemstone trees and how the hideouts were concealed. "It actually wasn't hard to break the spell. You just gotta know where to look or it seems super impossible."

  "Gotcha. I'll pass it on." Josh paused. "You okay to go out with another group? They could use your help, and like you said, we can't just hit one."

  "I guess I could…" said Natalie, stifling a yawn—but Josh heard it anyway.

  "Damn, I forgot. You've been going hard all day. Forget that, I'll pass it on to Captain Hoskins and we'll get volunteers from everyone still here. I'll even go on one myself if I have to. You should go to the Greywood, meet up with your friends and get some sleep."

  Natalie had been holding it off for the longest time, but after the huge burst in the woods to stop the bullet, she really was getting tired. Gwen was practically holding her up at this point. I should've used some gemstones to power that… instead of burning all my energy. What if I got caught off guard again?

  We will do better. You have a cache in your bag, but none were ready at the time. We should take after Cinza and prepare jewelry with gemstone inserts.

  Yeah. I gotta have them ready.

  "How do I get there?"