To the Well-Organized Mind

Chapter Twenty

[Nia]

Do you know what my main job is in Asis, Ridge? I'm the person who ventures out into the Barrens, attempting to find the way through. The 'end' of them, if such an end exists. I try every direction in a wheel, hoping this will be the time I come to the end of the desolation. I starve and suffer and burn and drown, and through it all, I keep surviving. Because if I search all the Barrens and there's no end and no body, that means you couldn't have escaped me either.

-from Nia's journal

***

Now that we are all in agreement at last about venturing into the wilds, there is an automatic truce among us. We may not all like each other, but we know we need to get along to ensure our best chance at survival.

And now that we've set a date for our departure, an extra week more than I need, I have the real date when I will be slipping away without the others.

I don't need anyone going into the wilds with me. Not to help, not to hold me back. I work alone, and I intend to continue that way. I especially don't need Jaden or Fen tagging along. Those two buddy-buddies can go together for all I care, as long as it's without me.

What is surprising is how difficult it is to maintain a ruse of leaving with them while also attempting to prepare for my own journey ahead of them. You'd think it'd be simple: packing, skipping some of my gardening duties, and increasing self-defense practice with Rolf is all excused. But the mindset differences—knowing that I'm not bringing these others with me, for instance—makes every interaction with them more tedious. I guess I'm just not a worthwhile actor. I can't hide my impatience for something that isn't going to matter.

The most important order of business is to summon Devon, Jaden's star student. The kid—well, he's actually fifteen, so not really a kid—has ventured into the wilds the same way I've taken to the Barrens. As much as I don't want to admit it, he knows the wilds better than I do.

Seems like during my last foray into the Barrens, Devon encountered a strange feral gang in the wilds. Normally I would've already interviewed him and gotten a sense of what transpired and where, but my return from the Barrens this time around has been anything but typical.

Jaden, of course, already debriefed him back when he initially returned. So I figure I'm safe meeting with Devon by myself and no one will complain.

At the very least, they can't complain until they learn about it.

I have Devon up in a tree with me at the southern border of Asis. The youth practically lives in the trees—it's his preferred method of travel in the wilds. He's nearly a monkey, lithe and flexible, scrambling up tree trunks that look insurmountable to me. So I figure, best to talk to him where he's most comfortable. And if it means no one will be looking for us there, even better.

It's a relief to be able to talk to him without worrying if the others are recognizing that I plan to skip out early.

"They were the weirdest ferals, Nia. Like I told Jaden, I've never seen a gang act like that." He's looking over the wall as if he can see the ferals right that moment. "And I don't want to go back there, either. Most uncanny thing I ever survived."

So much for Jaden's plan to tote him along on our excursion. Good thing I'll be leaving alone in a few days and save them all the trouble of convincing Devon to come along.

"Whereabouts did you run into this odd gang?" We have maps of the wilds, and while not everything is filled in with details, we at least have a rudimentary outline.

"Down by the marshy lake. We don't go down that far very often, so I'm not sure how long they've been there. Definitely would've recognized their description if anyone had mentioned their quirks."