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WHEN TRINITY AND THE others arrived at the campsite the place was hustling with activity. There were hundreds of new Guards and House Servants and dozens of new Producers.
She stopped her group while they were still hidden in the trees. “Mirra, maybe you should find Gaar. I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.” If Mirra entered the clearing all activity would stop and everyone would know that they were late.
“All you friend, Little One?” Mirra stared into the camp, a bit of drool running down her chin.
“Yes.” By the look in Mirra’s eyes, she was pretty sure that if she or Gaar weren’t around, the Tracker would kill whoever crossed her path. They needed the serum or to get Mirra as far away from here as possible. “Gaar would love to see you.’
Mirra blinked and disappeared into the brush.
“You guys should sneak back into camp a few at a time,” she said to the others.
“Mirabelle, you go first,” said Travis.
“Are you sure?” Mirabelle’s brown eyes hardened as her gaze fell on Trinity.
“Yeah. Take the four littlest.” He glanced at Trinity. “We’ll be there in a minute.”
“Okay. Whatever you think is best.” Mirabelle’s tone was simpering-sweet and she touched his arm in a soft caress before heading through the brush into camp.
Travis had a goofy look on his face as he watched Mirabelle walk away.
“We’ll go back for Stuart soon, but promise you won’t go without me.” They could go alone, just the two of them and it’d be the perfect time to convince him that Mirabelle wasn’t the right Producer for him. The other female would make him miserable in the long run.
He jerked a little as if her voice had brought him out of a daydream. “Okay.” He flushed slightly. “Thanks for coming to find us.”
She nodded, biting her tongue. She wanted to scream at him that he’d been an idiot who’d almost gotten all of them captured or killed, but if she did that, he’d probably try and go alone later. “No problem, but you shouldn’t have gone by yourself.”
“I didn’t go by myself.” He shifted away from her. “Mirabelle was with me, remember?”
“Yeah, but Mirabelle...Really?” She wanted to slap her hand over her mouth. This was not the right way to deal with Travis and she knew better.
“There’s nothing wrong with Mirabelle. You’d know that if you gave her a chance.”
“Me? She hates me.”
“You haven’t made it easy on her either.”
“I never did anything to her.” This was exactly what she’d feared. Mirabelle was whispering poison in Travis’ ears.
“She said you wouldn’t understand.” He grabbed the hands of the two remaining kids. “Let’s go. We’ve waited long enough.” He dragged the kids through the brush.
She cringed as a few Servants and Guards looked at them. “Way to sneak in unnoticed, Travis.”
His back stiffened a bit but he kept walking. She wandered around the perimeter. She wasn’t going to slip back into camp in that spot, not now that Servants and Guards had noticed Travis’ entrance. He was such a stubborn jerk and he had poor taste. He could do so much better than Mirabelle.
Hugh came out of his tent. His face was swollen, his eyes blackened and his hands bandaged. She raced out of the brush, skidding to a halt next to him and Jackson. “Are you all right? What happened?” Her fingers hovered near his face, afraid her touch would cause him pain but needing to feel him to ensure that he was okay.
He took her hand. “Things didn’t go exactly as planned.” His lips twisted up in a half-smile. “As usual.”
“I knew I should’ve gone with you.” Her eyes roamed the camp. “Where’s Gaar? I told him to take care of you.” She looked at her hand in his bandaged one. “He obviously didn’t.”
“Actually, he did.” He stared at something over her shoulder and dropped her hand. “Like I said, this was unexpected.”
She glanced behind her. Dad was near her old tent site, watching them. She smiled and waved. Great. She’d hear about this later.
“Hugh, decided to be a hero,” said Jackson.
“We needed a diversion. The Servants couldn’t get the bomb lit. The fuse got wet.”
“What did you do?” She frowned at him. Obviously, it was something stupid.
“He stormed over to the shelter, without backup, and killed an Almighty.” Jackson’s tone was disgusted.
“You could’ve died.” She’d almost lost him. She couldn’t lose him. He was her friend and...well, she wasn’t sure what else, but she knew she didn’t want him hurt. “That’s the stupidest thing you’ve done and you’ve done some stupid things.”
“Speaking of stupidity, you’re late.” Hugh glared at her.
She cringed. She’d made a huge mistake. She should’ve watched and waited. She’d seen him. She’d known he was alive. She should’ve let him hunt her down. Only stupid prey ran to the predator. “No. I’ve—”
“Don’t lie. I caught your father packing up your tent,” said Jackson. “Your group got back hours before Hugh arrived.”
“You can’t keep sneaking away.” Hugh’s face was hard and his arms were folded over his chest.
She was getting tired of hearing that. “Really? You were fine with it when I was helping you.”
“That was before. This is now.”
“Please. At the time, that was now.”
Hugh raised his hand to run it through his hair and stopped, glaring at the bandage. “I don’t want to argue with you. They’ll be coming in force this time.” He looked around. “We’re at war, truly at war and we need to prepare.” He nodded at a few in the different groups. “None of them are soldiers. None of them are trained for this. We have a lot to do and little time to do it.”
“I didn’t sneak out for an adventure.” She was sick of them always thinking she was running around having fun in the forest.
“I know. You father explained. Did everything go okay?”
She nodded. There was no reason to mention Jethro. “Mirra’s here. She needs serum or Gaar needs to take her back into the forest, if he can.” She glanced around and lowered her voice. “I don’t think any of you will be safe around her until she gets her shot.”
“Suddenly, you’re eager for me to leave.” Hugh’s eyes studied her, an unasked question in them that she wasn’t ready to answer.
“I never said I wanted you to stay.” She smiled to let him know it was a joke. “I said I wanted you to help.”
“I’ll get the serum as soon as I can. We’ll talk to Gaar about taking Mirra away.” The look in his eyes dimmed slightly, but he leaned toward her. “But that means the training is left to you.”
“What training?”
“They all need to learn to fight and how to survive in the forest.”
Her jaw dropped as she looked around. There were hundreds of Guards and Servants.
He touched her chin, pushing it upward. “Now, you have your army.”
“I...I can’t train them all.”
“Some of us will help with what we know, but you’ll be the advanced trainer on everyone we send up,” said Jackson.
“Me?” She flushed at the squeakiness of her voice.
“Yes, you.” Hugh grinned. “You keep telling us that you’re the best in the forest besides Gaar and Mirra.”
“Yeah, well...”
“Time to prove your words and share your skills.”
“But...but.”
“No buts, Trinity.” Hugh’s voice was no longer teasing. “You wanted a war and you got one. Jason will send his soldiers and we have to be ready. All these lives are now in our hands. Many will die, but it won’t be because I didn’t do everything I could to prevent it and that includes having them trained by the best.”
His words warmed her belly at the same time that they sent a chill down her spine. She’d be equally to blame for their deaths. She didn’t want this. It was too much responsibility. Her fear must have shown on her face for Hugh took her hand again, after a quick glance over her shoulder.
“It’ll be okay. You’ll do great and remember that most of Jason’s soldiers have never seen a real battle.”
“But they’ve been trained, right?”
“Yes, but not in forest warfare. Jason’s soldiers are city Guards. His commanding officers don’t know the forest. No one in his army knows the woods. With you and our collective knowledge we have an advantage and that’s how we’ll win this war.”