“What is it?” Zander asked.
“I think you should wait and see it for yourselves.”
“She might be tricking us,” Sukey said. “This might just be her way of turning us in to the guards.”
Halla hesitated. “It’s about your father.” She nodded at Zander. “When I first saw you, I thought you looked, what’s the word… familiar.”
“But you couldn’t have met him,” I said, then grinned. “Unless you’re a really young-looking thirty-five-year-old.”
She smiled. “No… but I think you’ll want to see this.”
“Then how do you know what he looks like?”
“I have to show you. And I think we can find your sister. It’s dark now. We can sneak into the city while everyone sleeps. The guards will have given up on finding you during the night. They figure the cats will get you if you’re still out there.”
Sukey didn’t say anything. But Zander and I nodded at each other and then at her, and somehow, without saying a word, we all agreed.
“Follow me,” Halla said. “Stay right behind me and do what I say. If I see the guards coming, we’ll have to hide.”
“All right,” Zander said after a minute. We didn’t have any choice. We’d decided to trust Halla. M.K.’s life might depend on it.
Sukey hesitated, but the rest of us got up and followed Halla up the stairs. The sun had sunk behind the canyon walls while we’d been down below and we climbed into the now-dark night, the stars overhead and distant flickering torches from the cliff city the only lights we could see.
“I can’t risk lighting a torch and being seen,” Halla whispered, “but I know the way. Just follow me and we’ll be okay.”
We started into the black emptiness of the canyon, the lights from the cliff city a distant goal.