himself after the Watchers had gone. He often wondered how many of his Watchers were fooled by the shiny pebble bits he glued onto them with a paste of his own devising. Most of them weren't the sharpest, he knew, but little Soma? Maybe she was just playing along. It was likely. There were thoughts in that one's brain, at least.
And maybe there were, but Soma wasn't particularly interested in them. She was out for the joy of it, and she let her crew know that Ember was hers. The others could pick who they wanted, but she would stay close to her double. She'd been struck by the similarities at their earlier encounter, but even more by the differences. There was power, she felt, in that little one, power she thought she could maybe acquire. She was wondering just how she could get it as she swung herself into the trees. Squee went along with her. He was certain that he would get stars just by being there.
Ember, meanwhile, was studying the map in her mind. It was shifting in ways she was not thrilled about. Smackers were conglomerating out near the caves, an area they usually avoided. That region, not far from them now, lay deep in the hills past the opposite shore of the lake. Face Painters lived there, a clan that tried to frighten off others. They made weapons from branches and arrowheads carved out of rock, weapons that served no purpose at all. No one felt threatened by them. The Face Painters jumped up and shouted, and thought they were scary, but most people just turned away from annoyance. They had come up with their own way of talking as well, not quite a new language but a series of grunts and ridiculous sounds. There weren't many of them, maybe twenty in all. Ember wondered why Smackers would go there. It didn't seem right.
At the same time, Barque had slowed down. He wanted to ask something of Baudry.
"That man Gowdy," he asked, "were his books any good?"
"Sure," Baudry said, "if you like that sort of thing, where there's a detective who solves every case."
"I think I would like it," Barque considered, rubbing his chin. "It's just been so long since I read anything."
"I do miss books," Baudry nodded. "Maybe it's only a matter of time until we start making paper around here. We probably have the materials we need."
"I wouldn't know," Barque admitted. "Even so, would anyone bother?"
"To write, you mean?"
"Yeah. Why would they?" Barque really wanted to know, but Baudry didn't have an answer. He knew that people did stuff because, well, because people like to do stuff. Here in this world there was no money in it, no possible reward, no tangible goals. You'd just have to write for the fun of it. And then what? You could give it away, if anyone wanted it.
"I doubt it will happen," he said. They were walking ahead of the women and followed a path that led around a giant Sequoia. At that point, the men disappeared.
"Now where'd they go?" Edeline asked. She'd been only a few steps behind them, and was listening in on their talk. It hadn't occurred to her yet that there were no books in this place. She'd simply assumed that somehow, somewhere, there must be a house or a building where everything was just like it should be, with electricity, books, TV and radio, mattresses, blankets and ice cream. She'd come here with nothing, it's true, but surely not everyone did. Somebody must have had something!
"Who knows?" Ember grumbled, coming up last. She was tired of Barque's ways, his leaving them behind only to wait up whenever he needed them. It was like raising a teenager who only comes home to get money or ask for the keys to the car.
"Sixteen", she cursed, "rotten egg."
"They were right here in front of me," Edeline said, stopping in the middle of the path so that Ember would have to halt too.
"Baudry was talking about books," she went on. "They came around here and then poof. I thought I could hear him for a moment, then nothing."
Ember peered ahead down the path, which was straight and clear for a while. There was no sign of the men. She flopped down on the ground and raised her right hand, index finger pointing up.
"I'll check on the map," she declared. "I need silence for that."
Edeline sat down beside her and kept her mouth closed. She watched as Ember screwed up her face in a way that made her look wrinkled all over. She balled up her fists and her body began trembling and shaking. Edeline hadn't seen this act before. It looked like Ember was holding her breath now, and turning bright red. Edeline began to be worried. Was the girl epileptic, having a fit? What should she do? What could she do? Something about tongues being swallowed was all she could think of.
Suddenly Ember exhaled, and opened her eyes.
"They didn't go anywhere," Ember said. "We did."
Nineteen
"What are you talking about?" Edeline said. "We're right where we were."
"No, we're not," Ember replied, getting up to her feet, "Look around. It does look the same, at least the parts we can see, but come over here and I'll show you."
Ember dashed off down the path back the way they had come, and skidding to a halt some fifty feet on, she shouted "Aha!" and pointed out off in the distance.
"We're up by the caves, do you see?"
Edeline caught up to Ember and couldn't believe her own eyes. Yes, the path they were on, looking back, seemed the same, but the view from where they stood now was completely different from what it had been just a short time before. She could still see the lake, but from the wrong side. They were also much higher above it.
"How does this happen?" she stammered. "It just isn't possible."
"Not possible, eh?" Ember chuckled. "It happens, though, yes, it does happen. The men, by the way, are still over there."
She gestured toward the far side of the lake.
"I can see Baudry now in the map. They stopped where they were, probably looking for us. Neither of them have the sight so they'll never know."
"How long will it take to get back to them?" Edeline asked.
"That depends on whether we want to," Ember said slyly.
"We're supposed to all work together," Edeline reminded her.
"Who knows what the old lady meant," Ember shrugged. "All I know is I'm sick of that boy. I don't mind a day off without him."
"How long?" Edeline repeated her answer.
"If you're thinking of going alone," Ember said, "be my guest. Of course you'll get lost. You won't have any idea where you are."
"Am I anywhere, really?" Edeline shuddered. "What does it matter? I want to go home. You're walking along and the whole world changes? One moment you're here and the next you are not? I don't know how it can be."
"It's all in the mind," Ember said thoughtfully. "Something that's just in the brain. At least that's what most people think. Perceptions. We see things and then we believe in them. Like right now. We walked through a gateway, that's what I think, some kind of teleportation. Invisible. Can't smell it or feel it. It's like when you're walking and you keep your eyes closed, and then when you open them you see that you've moved. The only thing different is time. We were walking and our eyes weren't closed but we took some kind of a shortcut without knowing it. They've rigged up the whole place like that."
Edeline gritted her teeth, and said,
"That just isn’t possible. Nobody knows how to do that. If they did, do you think they would just do it here? They'd make money on it. You'd see teleportation stations everywhere. They wouldn't still drive around in cars. Okay? Do you see you're not making sense? You've been trapped here too long, that's what I think!"
"Oh, you do, huh? Now you're an expert? Three days and now you know everything!"
Ember stomped off, leaving Edeline behind. Edeline looked over where Baudry and Barque were supposed to be now. Ember was not heading that way. For a long moment, Edeline was tempted to go on her own, but she wasn't ready yet. She hurried after Ember, but Ember had taken off running and it was hard to keep up. Edeline kept catching glimpses of her as she ran along the edge of the hill, streaking past large boulders and pines, stumbling now and then on loose gravel. Ember was keeping a strict distance between them. Edeline guessed it from the wa
y the girl slowed whenever she came close to falling, and sped up as she recovered her footing. Edeline resented this game, but also she felt she deserved it, at least for a time. She was tiring, though. She was not used to running, and as she rounded an especially large rock she stopped to lean up against it. Suddenly, a giant man leaped onto the path in front of her, his face dripping with what looked to be blood. He was waving his arms in the air and shouting some noise very loudly. Edeline fainted.
When she opened her eyes moments later, she found she was lying on the ground staring up at the face of the giant. Ember was standing beside him.
"Is she hurt?" the giant was asking in a soft, quiet voice.
"She'll be fine," Ember was shaking her head and rolling her eyes.
"You okay?" she added, to Edeline.
"What is that?" Edeline wanted to know as she inspected her body for damage. There was blood on her hands and she stared at it.
"It's just paint," Ember informed her. "They do that around here."
"Paint?" Edeline didn't believe her. She struggled to sit up, refusing the huge paw that the giant reached down to offer.
"This is Ralph," Ember told her. "Ralph? Edeline."
"Please to meet you," said Ralph.
"Likewise, I'm sure," Edeline murmured. She got to her feet and wiped her hands off on the ivy, which soaked it all into its stems, and didn't change color at all.
"Ralph is a Face Painter," Ember related.
"No, really?" Edeline snapped.
"I'd invite