"Well now," said Fin, as he finished hitching the horses to the carriage. "That was more of a chore than I expected. Still. We're ready to depart now."

"Yeah," Ashley muttered. "Let's get outta here."

"What about the others?" Maya asked. "I think we have to wait for them! Or go looking for them, even!"

"Don't be stupid," Selene snapped.

"You do NOT call my sister stupid," Ashley growled, turning on Selene.

"Girls," said Fin. "Calm yourselves, please. Sophia knows the plan. That we failed to retrieve the statue does not change that. She will know to lead the others to the Desert of Ruins."

"Uh-huh," said Ashley, her tone dubious. "Sure. Don't get me wrong, she's all right for a petal, I mean it ain't like she's a bad kid or nothing, just—"

"I have faith in her. Faith in all of you." Fin took a shaky breath, then shook his head. "I just wish that I had more time with each of you, more time to prepare you, to make you ready. I have been ... unwise. My plans were imperfect, rushed, I was too much focused on the chase—"

"Yeah, whatever, spare me the self-pity," said Ashley. "Bad stuff happened and things didn't turn out how you wanted. Welcome to life, Finny."

Fin chuckled. "Yes, quite. Still, I wish ... but then all the wishes in all the world have no more weight than a mote of dust." He smiled at Maya, and at Ashley, and at Selene. "Come along, all of you. We cannot dally here, safety is our primary concern, after all. Perhaps I lost sight of that. Too much I was thinking of the bigger picture. Sometimes it's the small picture that matters most. Your safety, the safety of the others. If I only knew where they were—but there I go wishing again. They know the plan. So do we. We will travel south, to the Desert of Ruins, and avoid wishing, but instead hope that this is the right decision."

Fin took a small, somewhat weary breath.

"And hope also that they are safe, and well."

----------------------------------------

Lina ran to catch Sophia as she collapsed, the girl's legs, pushed too hard for too long, finally giving out beneath her.

"Sophia!" she cried, looking down at the girl's waxy, pale face. Sophia didn't respond; she wasn't unconscious, just ... unmoving. Lina looked up at Ada, who was slumped against a tree, too exhausted to do anything more than breathe. The Pyrian boy, too—Naz, he had given his name as they'd taken a brief, fearful rest, though little more than that—looked awful, swaying gently as he stood and stared, his dark skin sallow and shiny. Still wearing nothing but a loincloth, he shivered at the cold.

For a moment, Lina simply despaired. She was tired and scared and horribly alone, hungry and thirsty and desperate...

"Please," she begged the frighteningly still Sophia. "Please wake up, please ... please take charge, I can't ... I can't do this..."

There was a soft noise as Naz sank to the ground, first sitting, then lying stretched along the ground.

"They're still after us, I know they must be," Lina said, to Ada, to Naz, to Sophia, to anyone. "We have to keep going. I know you're all tired but ... but we have to!"

Sophia stirred. Hope rose within Lina.

"Mmfn nn ffrs," Sophia mumbled, her lips barely moving, her eyes still shut. "Nnd smth. Llw. Adn llw. Smth."

"Sophia, please—"

But the girl's head had lolled to the side. Now she was truly unconscious, utterly spent, not a single scrap of energy left. Ada too, Lina saw, was draped against the tree, her eyes closed, her breathing shallow and rapid. The burn on her leg looked terrible. Naz was conscious but little more than that, simply staring straight up, through the thick foliage at the pale moon, high above.

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Lina took a breath, and then she gave up.

I can't do anything, she thought. Why did we even bother running? They're just going to catch us. It doesn't matter that they're hurt, they're so much stronger than we are, they'll find us and catch us and torture us and kill us and there's nothing I can do, I'm useless, why does it have to be ME who's the only one left standing? Why do I have to deal with this? How did I even GET here? These stupid cursed powers, they're just ... just...

Lina blinked, realising suddenly that she was staring at a tiny white scar on her right hand, just below her thumb. Where did that come from? she wondered, the thought clear and simple.

Then she looked up. Again, the thought came clear and simple: first things first.

She walked over to Ada, crouched beside her, and placed her hands on her leg, where it had been burnt. This won't do at all, Lina thought, it certainly shouldn't look like this. Although really it's not that bad, not when you look at it in the right way, it fact it's nothing at all—and when Lina stood once more that's what was left, nothing, or close to nothing anyway, a paleness on Ada's unbroken skin all that remained of the wound.

Now then, she thought. What's next? Naz has some burns on his face and his arms, let's just take care of those.

Lina knelt beside the boy, and she placed her hands gently against his damaged skin. Just things to sort out, she thought, as she felt the burns beneath her hands disappear. Just one thing after the other, that's all we have to think about, isn't it, just one thing after the other.

After healing Naz's burns and giving him her coat to wear, Lina looked around. Now what? she thought. We have to get out of here. But the others are exhausted. Well, we'll see about that.

Once more, she placed her hands on the boy, but this time she didn't take pain, she gave herself. I'm not that tired, really, Lina thought, but he is, so I'll just even things out a little, just a bit of a boost to get him started. And Ada, too, she needs my help, so a little for her, and then, yes, of course, Sophia needs it more than any of us.

Lina crouched beside Sophia, her hands on the girl's cheeks. Please, she thought, as she gave her the energy she needed. Take my strength. Take it all, and this awful responsibility with it.

Sophia lay still.

Please, Lina thought. PLEASE.

Sophia's eyelids fluttered, then she opened her eyes.

"Sophia, you're okay," Lina said, trying to make it true. "You ... Sophia?"

Sophia's eyes had closed once more, and again she was limp, unconscious.

"I think she used everything she had," came Ada's voice. Lina looked back at her. She still looked terrible and exhaustion was clear in her voice, but at least she was standing. "At the ... back there. I think this is energy exhaustion."

"What's THAT?" Lina cried, aware of how hysterical she sounded but unable to do anything about it.

"Mr Fin explained it to me," Ada said. She sat down, glanced behind her as Naz joined them, then looked back at Lina. "If you use everything, everything you have, your body will ... will stop working. Or stop you from doing anything. Because you need to keep some energy, or you'll die. I think that's what happened to Sophia. She used everything, so now her body is stopping her from doing anything else. To stop her from dying."

Lina stared down at Sophia.

"But I ... I need her..."

For a moment longer Lina stared at Sophia, then her expression hardened and she pulled her upright, her hand on the girl's cheek, forcing her awake.

"Lina?" Sophia opened her eyes once more—they looked clouded and dull, the usual bright sparkle gone. "What ... what?"

"Sophia, do you know where the others are?" Lina asked, talking quickly. "Can you ... can you 'see' them?"

"I can barely see YOU, Lina. Everything's blurry and I can't ... focus. I can't ... I can't even think about..."

"It's okay," said Lina, although in fact she felt like crying. "Just ... what should we do?"

Sophia didn't respond; she'd already slipped back into unconsciousness.

"I ... I think we should go south," said Ada.

"How?" Lina almost wailed. "I don't even know what direction south is in!"

"Um. I do," Ada said. She pointed. "It's that way."

Lina stared at her. "How do you know that?"

"Um. The stars."

Lina let her eyes close. The memory of her family had suddenly come to her, of her little brothers and sisters, bringing with it a sharp pang of loss and loneliness. She took a deep, shuddering breath, then she opened her eyes.

"Right," she said. "We'd better start walking, then. I'll carry Sophia, you two just do your best." Lina picked up Sophia and, after trying a few different ways of carrying her, settled on holding her on her back, the girl's arms draped around her neck. She was amazingly light, barely any weight to her at all.

"All right," Lina said, forcing jolliness into her voice. "Let's go. No dallying. We'll go south for now, and then ... and then we'll just have to see what we can see, won't we."

As dawn began to lighten the sky, the weary little group began walking, taking the first steps on their long journey south.