Chapter Twenty-One

Jay woke suddenly out of nowhere, almost as if the sun was rising, but it wasn't. She lied on her back and stared up at the low roof of the tent. It was just as dark now as it was when they had all tucked in for the night. She guessed she must have only been asleep for a couple of hours. Why then was she now wide awake?

Jay looked over at Adea lying next to her, swaddled in her own blanket and out like a light. She sat up when she noticed that Lyda was not in the tent with them. Through the flap of the tent, she could see the faint, shimmering light of the last embers of the campfire. She unraveled the blanket from around herself and crawled outside.

The air was unusually cool tonight, and it made her cross her arms to keep warm. The first thing she saw upon standing up out of the tent was the form of Lyda resting on her knees in front of the fire as though she