Vengeance

Chapter 4

"Do you think we're close enough?" Jadis asked impatiently.

I glared at her, and she visibly backed off, taking the hint. She had been asking the same question dozens of times every hour, and I was about ready to snap. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself.

"I don't know. Give me a minute."

It had been nearly a week since we left Axel, and we made sure to be careful when we entered Earthling towns. The towns didn't have nearly as many humans in them as I thought there would be, but there were still enough for us to be on edge.

We had stopped by a shop and changed our clothes before we spoke to any more humans after Axel. Now, we wore common Earthling clothes that weren't as unusual to them as our Zucarian ones. We even bought some hair dye just in case we were asked about our bright hair color.

Still, we had barely stopped to eat or drink for the past week, and I regretted that decision, but I knew it was important to move swiftly. We had received no message from Skylar yet, so our best bet was still finding Zak ourselves, and I wanted to get back to Zucar to see my parents again before something happened.

I slid down the trunk of a tree, which was increasingly rare to find. This was the only tree nearby. We had discovered that not many trees still existed on Earth, and I found that the air here was worse than the air on Zucar. It was difficult to breathe at first, but we were getting used to it.

I focused my mind and reached out, imagining something like tentacles extending from it. I felt the presence of three humans to our left and a large group ahead of us. Their minds buzzed with life, although some were bright while others seemed almost cloudy. I couldn't find the distinctive feeling of a Zucarian mind, and I gritted my teeth in frustration.

I could sense a human mind at any time, but finding a Zucarian mind was harder. Even if the Zucarian received no training, they were instinctively able to block their mind, if only a little. So unless they were expecting to be spoken to or knew how to always keep their mind open to other Zucarians, I would have to be at a shorter distance to find him. Zak.

"No, we're not close enough," I stood up. "Let's keep walking."

Jadis let out a groan and even Atticus looked irritated. We had slept for a couple hours in the morning, but we hadn't felt comfortable sleeping in an unfamiliar territory for long. We were all on edge and becoming increasingly annoyed. The lack of sleep was starting to catch up to us.

"He was three before he was taken, wasn't he? He should have received enough training by then to know how to allow us to sense him. The last Earthling we spoke to said we were close!" Jadis complained loudly.

"Shh," Atticus shushed her. "Maybe the Earthling lied, or maybe Prince Zak has just lived with the Earthlings for too long to still know how to use those abilities."

"Maybe he doesn't want to be sensed," I muttered, and both of them gave me surprised looks. From their reactions, it was obvious they hadn't even considered that, but the thought had passed through my mind a few times.

"Why wouldn't he want to?" Jadis's brows knit together.

"You heard Axel. He helped the Earthlings fight off the rebellion. I don't think he would've done that unless he cared about the Earthlings. Maybe he's happy here."

"He's Zucarian. Why would he want to help the Earthlings who murdered us?"

I sighed. "I don't know."

"Where do we go from here?" Atticus cut in, effectively changing the topic.

"The last Earthling we spoke to said we should go south."