Riddle Me This?

Chapter 18

The discomfort on the side of my head started slowly, slipping into my dream. I was swimming, trying my best to stay at the bottom of the pool, looking for something Matt had thrown in there, free of the popping in my ears that would have come if this was real. The discomfort throbbed once, hard, and I jerked my head away from Matt's shoulder, blinking and dazed at being woken up right in the middle of the dream.

He grunted, clothes rustling as he shifted.

"What time is it?" His voice was barely a grumble.

No way to tell. The edges of the door around us were now bright. "Dunno. Forgot my watch."

He laughed quietly. "Good point."

The other two were starting to move around, I could hear, as little as we could here. Maybe we'd be able to leave, but all our wanderings seemed so pointless now. We were without the one thing we'd come for.

If it was ever real at all.

I didn't want to entertain that thought.

"Who wants to check?" Matt stretched, I think, his hand brushing the ceiling.

"I will." Meris' boots scuffed across the floor while she crawled to one side of the compartment. The daylight flooded into the hiding spot as the hatched opened up.

"Ow," Matt said.

I blinked hard, my eyes watering, and forced my eyelids fully apart.

Meris called down from the inside of the barn. "All clear."

I eyed Matt and Noam, my hand around the strap of my backpack. "Ladies first," said Matt.

I stuck my tongue out at him and went up the tiny ladder after Meris. My spine creaked as I straightened up. Meris already stood by the bright window facing the sun. The boys climbed out, and Noam replaced the hatch.

"You sure it's all clear?" Matt stretched.

Meris nodded. "There is no one around."

"Good." Noam pulled his backpack on. "I'm tired of running."

Between the barn and the nearest thick woods lay an empty field. "Yeah, well, the problem is we'll be out in the open."

"If there's really no one here, then that won't be a problem." Matt crossed the floor of the barn, to the door. It was halfway opened. "And if anyone was gonna see us, they would have done it already."

Goosebumps spread over my arms. I hadn't even looked. "Yeah. Probably." Dumb mistake. Not one I'd make again.

We marched across the field under sunlight and a perfect periwinkle sky. Refreshing, even. We'd been walking around underground for too long, always running. Now it was back to just going, even if that wound up being short-lived.

Still. Out in the open, wanted fugitives that had barely just escaped. The trees closing over us brought some relief. Is it gonna be like this for the rest of my life? I didn't want to fear the sky. A soft rushing sound reached us, far away.

Noam frowned. "We're near a river." He shrugged out of his backpack.

"Noam, can't you keep that map somewhere more accessible?" Meris leaned against a tree. "We have to stop every time you pull it out."

He unfolded it. "Then where else should I keep it?"

Meris blinked. "Your coat pocket."

Noam's ears turned pink "Of course," he said. His attention went right back to the map. "The river...so...we're near a town." He looked up, brown eyes brighter. "We could get the supplies we need. Find out what's going on down in the capital."