Ell smirked at them. She pulled another block of wood out of her robe and laid next to the other two.

“You're making... a wall,” Mat said.

“Villagers don't make things,” Jak said.

Ell ignored him and kept building.

Pru and the old man went over to the other side of the wall, into the little almost-cave, and sat down with their backs against the stones.

“You get used to it,” Pru said, “But it was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen, the first time.”

“How did you learn how to do that?” Mat said.

He was almost dizzy thinking about what it meant. If a villager could make things, it would change everything. They could fix broken walls. Or even burned houses.

Could they make a house? From nothing? Where did you even start?

Ell didn't answer – she just nodded at the setting sun.

“It's going to be dark soon. You might want to be on this side of the wall?” she said.

Mat walked quickly over into the gap in the wall. He had so many questions that he didn't know where to start.

“Jak?” said Pru. She stood up and went to the gap in the wall. “What's the matter?”

When Mat looked around, Jak still hadn't moved.

“Villagers don't make things,” he said again.

“Well, I'm a villager,” Ell said. “And I just made this wall. So, maybe you're wrong?”

He shook his head.

“It's not right. I don't trust it. I don't trust you.”

Ell pulled a stick out of her robes.

“Then you're probably really not going to like this,” she said.

She jammed it in a crack in the rocks. Then she took out a lump of coal and slammed it into the top of the stick, and did something with her hands. The coal burst into flames, and it lit up the inside of the little cave with a friendly glow.

“You can make torches too?” Mat said.

“I can do quite a few things now,” Ell said.

The she looked at Jak with exasperation.

“I can see an Ashman, Jak,” she said. “The mobs are out. You'd better decide pretty quick where you're spending the night.”

“Jak,” Mat said. “I think we should trust them. Come inside.”

“Inside?” Jak said. “I don't know what that thing is, but it's no house.”

“It's safe,” Ell said. “Alright? It's kept us safe for... what, ten nights now?”

“You've been outside for ten nights?” Mat said.

“We've been safe for ten nights.”

She paused and then pulled two more blocks of wood out of her robe.

“There's more Ashmen, Jak. They're coming this way. I need to finish the wall. Are you in or out?”

There was a funny light in her eye. Like she was really interested in seeing if Jak would choose to stay out there with the mobs. Mat didn't doubt for a second that she would leave him out there.

“Jak,” he said. “Get inside now. Please.”

Pru went to the gap and stuck her head out.

“I know Ell seems a bit bossy and mean sometimes,” she said. “But she wants to help. We're going to find lost villagers, all the ones who are wandering outside now.”

“Find them and do what?” Jak said.

“Build a new village,” Pru said. “We can really do it, with what Ell can do.”

“Mean?” Ell said. “I'm not mean.”

“Jak, you need to either come inside or run, right now,” Mat said.

The nearest Ashman was heading straight for him.

“Jak,” Ell said. “This wall is going up. Now. Choose.”

Jak looked behind at the Ashman, then at the warm yellow light of the torch. He made a disgusted noise and walked into the gap in the wall.

Ell quickly placed the two blocks in place, then a last one on top.

They were inside.

Sort of.

It wasn't exactly a house. There was no roof, it was just open sky. But they were safe. The Ashman hissed and shuffled on the other side of the wall, but it couldn't get at them.

In fact is was actually strangely cozy, Mat decided. Walls, torchlight, people – it reminded him of home. Even if it was a bit crowded.

“Is he from your village?” Jak said to Pru, pointing at Bren.

She shook her head.

“No, we found him wandering in the woods. He... he must have escaped from another village,” Pru said.

She looked at Ell.

“What?” Ell said, then she sighed. “Oh all right, fine. He's different. We don't really understand who he is or where he's from. But he's the one who... he taught me to make things.”

Jak looked suspicious.

“Taught you? Why did he do that? How did he do it?”

“It's just something he can do,” she said.

“What about you?” Mat said, looking at Pru. “Did he teach you, too?”

She shook her head and looked embarrassed.

“No, only Ell. I don't know. She's probably a better choice anyway.”

“But you're the one taking care of him,” Mat said.

“It's okay! Ell is keeping us safe at night, so I don't mind.”

Jak stared down at Bren.

“Where did you come from?” he said.

The old man looked up and Jak and shook his head.

“A village,” he said in his creaky voice. “A big village. Bright lights, lots of people. So many villagers. Crowds of them.”

He stopped talking, and looked like he had forgotten them all while he was staring at something that only he could see.

“He's like that,” Pru said. “He gets lost inside his memories, I think.”

“Crowds of villagers,” Mat said. “That would have to be a really big place.”

Ell nodded.

“I think that's why he taught me,” she said. “If we can find the right spot, we can make somewhere like that. Build our own village. The biggest, safest village.”

Jak snorted.

“Make a village?”

Ell pointed at the wall.

“I made that,” she said.

“A village is a lot more than a wall or two. It's houses. Roofs. Doors. Paths and torches and blacksmiths and windows and libraries and... oh forget it. It's just stupid. You can't build a whole village.”

“We're not the only ones out here, you know,” Pru said. “We've seen other people. Outside. Frightened. They ran away from us.”

“And you're going to make a place for all the wandering villagers?” Mat said.

“They're out there,” Ell said. “Lost. Maybe the mobs are finding them right now.”

She looked frustrated and held up her hands up for them to see.

“I can build things. I can actually do that. So I'm going to find them and bring them together. All of them.”

“We can make them safe again,” Pru said quietly.

Jak shook his head.

“Something’s not right about this. Villagers don’t make things.”

Bren made a sound like a laugh. When they turned to look, he was staring up at them with strangely bright eyes.

“Villagers are going to have to learn some new tricks,” he said. “Or else they’re not going to have any homes any more.”

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They ate in silence, listening to the sound of the Ashman bumping at the wooden walls outside.

“I would give anything for some bread,” Mat muttered. It had been carrots for days and days.

Pru held out a potato.

“I have this. Want to trade?”

It was better than nothing, so he crunched on that instead. Jak didn't want to trade anything though, so he and Ell just ate what they carried. Bren took a potato from Pru and ate it with his eyes closed, looking half asleep.

Mat wanted to hear more about the ten nights that they had all managed to survive outside – it was a terribly long time. He wanted to hear more about the other villagers they had seen too. Why did they run away from Ell and Pru and Bren, he wondered?

“Tell me about...” he started.

But Jak interrupted him.

“What is that noise?”

Mat suddenly realized that he could hear it too. It was a thumping sound.

Thump... thump... thump...

It just went on and on.

“I've heard that before,” Ell said. “It sounds like... I don't know. It's familiar.”

Bren raised his head again, looking like he was listening.

“Building,” he said.

“That's it!” Pru said. “That's the sound when you put things together.”

“Who's building outside at night?” Ell said.

Bren didn't answer. His head drooped down again, and they weren't sure if he was actually asleep now.

Jak shook his head.

“I don't like any of this. There's too many weird things going on. This whole thing is creepy.”

They all listened to the sound.

“It doesn't sound like it's getting any closer,” Pru said after a while.

It went on and on all night long. Now nobody seemed to want to talk, in case somebody – or something – noticed them. Mat stared up at the sky, watching the stars wheel overhead until he finally fell asleep.

When he woke up Jak and Ell were already arguing about where to start searching once they got back outside. He groaned and sat up.

“Let's just get going, okay? There's only one direction we can head right now anyway.”

“Fine with me,” said Ell.

Jak thumped on the wooden walls.

“How do we get outside again?”

Ell pulled something silver and shiny out of her robe.

It was an axe.

“Don't tell me you can use that too?” Jak said.

She grinned at him. She obviously liked surprising them with the things she could do.

“Watch this,” she said.

Jak shook his head while she cut at the blocks to open a gap in the wall again. As the blocks popped free she picked them up and stored them away in her robe.

“Oh,” Pru said. “Something is out there. Look at the village.”

They all leaned into the gap to look. Where the dead, burned village had been there was now... something else.

“I don't understand. What is that?” Mat said.

It was long and grey. They couldn't see any of the burned houses. Jak shook his head.

“I don’t like the look of that, whatever that is.”

“I think it’s a wall,” Pru said.

Bren nodded.

“That's right,” he mumbled.

“Are the villagers... are they back?”

They looked at Bren, but he didn't seem interested.

“We should go see,” Ell said.

“I don't like the look of it,” Jak said. “Whatever that is, it's no village.”

“Well it was a village, and now there's something else there,” Ell said. “We should find out what.”

“We should just get away from here,” Jak said. “This whole place is wrong on every level.”

Mat agreed with him, but Ell was determined. After she took down the wall and stored it all away in her robes, she stalked off on her own. It looked like she was prepared to leave them all behind, so they ended up following her until they had spent half the morning trudging back across the plains towards the new not-a-village wall.

“We should just leave them,” Jak said quietly to Mat.

Mat kind of agreed. They weren't going to get anywhere following Ell like this.

“I know,” he said, “But I’m more worried about Pru and Bren. Let’s just go with it for now.”

Jak shook his head and sighed, but he kept walking.

Ell finally stopped once they were nearing the village – or what had been a village once. Mat had no idea what it was now.

“What's that?” she said, pointing.

Someone was on top of the long grey walls.

“They're watching us,” Mat said.

“Is it a villager?” Pru said.

“Who else could it be?” said Ell. She started waving at the distant figure.

It didn't wave back.

After a few moments someone else joined it on top of the wall. Both figures stood still, just watching the villagers.

“They don't seem very friendly,” Mat said.

“They're not villagers,” Jak said. “I don't know what's going on, but they're not villagers.”

“Who else could they be?” Ell said. She looked like she thought everyone else was being stupid.

Bren had been shuffling along beside them all morning, but he finally stopped and it seemed like he was really looking at where they were going for the first time.

“No,” he said. “Not good. We should go.”

“Go?” said Ell. “Why? Look, they're just villagers. They're probably worried that we're dangerous. All we have to do is...”

She never got to finish her sentence.

“Look!” Jak said.

Something was coming. Three somethings. They came around the edge of the wall, walking side by side, obviously heading towards the villagers.

“They're...” Mat said, squinting to see them.

“Bonewalkers,” Jak said flatly.

“What?” said Ell. “That's stupid. It's daytime.”

“They're Bonewalkers,” said Jak. “I don't know why they're not falling apart in the sunlight.”

“They can't be,” said Ell.

Bren sighed.

“Gray Walkers,” he said. “We should go.”

Nobody argued, this time.

“Wait, wait,” Pru yelled.

She was nearly dragging Bren along with her, and they were falling farther and farther behind.

Jak saw what was happening and held up his hand.

“We can't lose them. Wait!” he said.

The Walkers had disappeared again. It looked like nobody was coming after them now. Mat sat down on the ground, trying to catch his breath. Villagers didn't run.

Gray Walkers were Underworld things. Monsters from the books. Why there were actually walking around and doing things in the sunlight was unimaginable.

“I don't think they're chasing us,” Ell said. She was bent over with her hands on her knees, panting.

“Maybe,” Jak said, “But I don't want to give them a chance to decide differently.”

“Bren can't climb the mountain,” Ell said.

“No kidding,” Jak said. He pointed. “We head along the edge of the cliffs. Try to find a way around.”

Ell looked like she wanted to argue with him, but it was obvious that there wasn't anything else they could do.

When Pru and Bren caught up, they headed out together, slowly going along the edge of the cliffs and leaving the village behind as fast as they could. Mat kept looking back nervously, but it seemed like they were really in the clear.

“What was going on there? What was up with that village?” he said, not talking to anyone in particular. “Why were the Walkers there?”

Jak shrugged, but Pru looked at Bren.

“Do you know anything about it?” she asked him.

The old villager shook his head.

“We just need to stay away from them,” he said.

But he stopped walking and sat down heavily on the ground, then pulled a carrot out of his robe, and started to eat. He looked like he’d forgotten about all of them. Mat realized that his stomach was rumbling. They hadn’t eaten anything in hours.

“I’m hungry too,” he said, and took out one of his own carrots.

Pru nodded, and even Ell sat down on a rock and started to eat. But Jak just snorted and shook his head.

“I’m going to scout ahead,” he said.

“Try not to get lost,” Ell said without looking at him.

He headed up along the edge of the cliffs without replying.

“Your friend wants to be the boss,” Ell muttered around a mouthful of food.

“We were never really friends,” Mat said. “We just ended up together. After.”

That didn’t seem like enough though. He felt like he had to defend Jak at least a little bit.

“Jak’s really good at being outside,” he said. “He’s got some kind of sense for which way to go. We should listen to him.”

Ell shook her head.

“We need to find a place to start building,” she said. “I'll listen to him if it helps us do that. Otherwise we’ll go our own way.”

“Why not just find a new village and see if we can stay there? That’s what Jak and I have been trying to do.”

Pru sighed.

“Bren told us,” she said. “There are no safe villages. We need to make one, somewhere there’s never been a village before. Somewhere nobody knows about.”

Mat’s heart sank when she said it.

It sounded too much like the idea that had been stuck in his head for days – of villagers wandering alone outside in a land with no safe places left.

“How does he know a thing like that?”

The old man didn’t seem to hear them. He never even looked up.

“He’s been right about everything he told us,” Pru said quietly.

“As little as that’s been,” said Ell. “But he knows things. And he gave me this.”

She pulled out her axe and waved it front of her.

“I can build. We can make somewhere new.”

“Even if you can do that, how do we find all the lost villagers?”

Ell smiled at him. Her teeth were bright white.

“We need to go find them,” she said.

Pru put her lunch back in her robe again, and looked up at the mountains.

“Bren said we’d have to find people who could go out and look for them, and bring them back.”

Ell nodded.

“I can build,” she said, “but I need searchers. I need people who can find as many villagers as possible. Before it’s too late.”

She stood up.

“That’s why we can’t waste time. They’re out there. Right now. Wandering.”

She stared at Mat.

“You said your friend is good at being outside. That’s someone we can use, but he annoys me. He wants to be the leader. That can’t happen because I need to do this, and I need to do it as soon as possible.”

Pru sighed and stood up.

“What she means is that she needs someone like Jak. We need him and more people like that. To be searchers.”

Mat couldn’t help noticing the him-shaped gap in what they apparently needed. He stood up too.

“Why don’t we...” he said.

“Shh!” Ell hissed.

He was just about to say something rude to her in return, but then he heard it. There was a slapping sound.

Slap slap slap slap.

It was getting closer. Something was getting closer. They all looked at each other.

“We should...” Ell said.

But then Jak came pumping around the edge of a rock wall, running as fast as he could.

“Oh, it’s just Jak,” Pru said.

“Run!” Jak yelled. He stopped in front of them, panting with exhaustion.

“Run,” he said again as he started to catch his breath. “They’re coming. Saw them. From the village.”

Mat’s stomach jumped and he leaped up onto a rock so that he could see in the direction of the weird new village. It was much farther away now, but the crowd of things heading away from the village could only be one thing – the Gray Walkers. Headed right towards them.