Where did Katrina go?” Riley asked, craning her neck in the direction the blood-red panther had run.

“She’s tracking them,” Pash replied in a shaky voice. “She had to hide quickly so she could follow them when they leave. Her job now is to find out who they are and what they want.” Pash wiped tears off her cheeks. “We need that information to protect everyone else.”

As they made their way around a bend, they heard the commotion of a large group of animals running up the trail toward them. Greenwoods! Afraid they’d run through her shell and confuse themselves, Riley made herself and Pash visible again, and the two of them stepped off the trail and into the grass.

Once the warriors and elders who were in pursuit of the intruders — Alley, Xander and Gabe’s large cats among them — had raced past, Riley and Pash continued going down the hill.

Big Elena was standing by the trail as they approached the cabins, along with a few of the elder men whose names Riley didn’t remember. Elena held her arms open for the girls, and Pash and Riley embraced her together. Pash was now sobbing openly.

“There, there,” Elena whispered. “You’re safe now. You’re safe.”

Little Elena came charging out of the cabin and hugged them also. Riley wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in.

“Did you get hurt?” the little girl asked Riley.

“No, no. We’re both okay,” Riley replied. “They just scared us.”

“How many of them did you see, Pashika?” one of the elder men asked.

Pash was still unable to speak, so Riley answered his question. “There were three, sir. When Alley came down to get help, they turned and ran. We heard one of them say that they’d better leave, they didn’t have enough men to take the whole Greenwood clan. Katrina’s tracking them now, Pash said.”

The elders looked at each other and nodded. “Excellent.”

“Let’s all go down to the dining hall and wait there for news,” Big Elena insisted. “I’ll make everyone some tea.” The wind was picking up, swirling fallen leaves all around them.

At the base of the trail were Darren, Belman, Perry and Violet — the animals that were not suited to racing long distances up a mountain after intruders, Riley realized. I would certainly have been left behind. No one would be more useless in a chase than a turtle.

When they saw Pash and Riley emerge from the woods, the other young warriors ran forward and hugged them, expressing relief that they were safe. As Riley returned Belman’s embrace, she saw Celia’s fox pacing back and forth on the levee, frowning at the choppy waters.

“Is Ivan following them from the air?” Pash asked through her tears.

Belman gathered Little Elena up in his arms. “I hope so. No one has seen him fly over in the last few minutes.”

Riley looked up at the sky. Dark clouds were moving in. Ivan wasn’t visible anywhere.

The crowd moved toward the screened porch of the dining hall. Chief James and a few more elders had gathered there, Ned Turtle among them. As Riley stepped inside with the women, she heard one of the elder men giving the short version of events as Riley had explained it to him. Darren, Belman and Perry stayed outside to listen.

Pash and Riley went toward the nearest table. The metal folding chairs screeched across the slick concrete floor as they pulled out seats. As soon as she sat down, Riley reached over and took Pash’s hand. In response, Pash pulled Riley into an embrace.

“I’m so sorry Riley!” she sobbed into Riley’s hair.

“Please don’t apologize, Pash. This isn’t your fault.”

Pash was shaking. “You could’ve been killed!”

“They could’ve killed us, but they didn’t. We’re safe.” Riley, too, was trembling. She wanted to hide in her shell. But that won’t help. She focused instead on calming her friend. “They can’t get to us now.”

The men who’d been standing outside discussing the attack came into the dining hall and approached Pash and Riley’s table. Every one of them was frowning. “How did you girls escape?” the chief demanded.

Pash turned and looked up at him. “Riley made us invisible, and then we came down the trail as fast as we could.”

His eyes grew as big as dinner plates. “Riley did what?”

Riley squirmed uncomfortably as she answered. “I can make people invisible, sir. Anyone inside the area of my shell.”

Another man came in from the porch, glaring pointedly at Riley.

Ned Turtle walked over to her and clapped her on the shoulder, a proud expression on his face. The other men all stared from Riley to Pash and back again.

The glaring man approached their table. “I’m Colonel Matthew Rainey,” he informed Riley.

Ah. The ‘military leader.’

The Colonel knelt beside Pash. “I want you to tell me everything you saw, Pashika.” His voice and expression were now gentle. “Start at the beginning. Don’t leave anything out. Give me every detail.”

When Pash was finishing up her explanation, all the warriors who had hunted the intruders reappeared at the base of the trail, out of breath from running. One of the elders stepped over to a window and yelled for them to come inside. Elena and Violet emerged from the kitchen with tea, both hot and cold, and Pash’s explanation was given again to the pursuers, this time by the elders.

When Riley’s part in the escape was explained a second time, Xander nodded his approval at her, and once everyone was finished speaking, he made his way to her side.

“Good job, Riles.” Xander dropped a kiss on the top of Riley’s head. “And one of the intruders was the man who had a knife by the river?”

“Yes.”

“You’re sure?” the Colonel asked Riley, glaring again.

“Yes, sir.”

He turned away, toward the elders.

Xander knelt in front of Pash and began to whisper to her, a deep frown on his face. I used to think those frowns were so scary. But Xander doesn’t frown because he’s mean or pissed. He’s concerned. And afraid for those he loves.

Riley stood, trembling, and walked over to where Gabe and Darren were standing. Gabe reached out a hand toward hers.

—He wants reassurance after Xander’s display of affection for you—

In response to that observation, Riley stepped past Gabe’s hand and slipped her arms around his neck instead.

He exhaled and hugged her tightly. Riley lay her head down on his shoulder, pulling her ball cap off when it got in the way. Blond curls tumbled over both their shoulders.

“Are you all right?” he whispered.

She nodded.

Darren smiled down at the two of them. Meeting Riley’s eyes he said, “Invisibility? That is unbelievably cool.”

“Or not,” Violet’s exasperated voice grated across Riley’s already frazzled nerves. “We have a serious problem!”

“You mean besides the fact that someone attacked us and almost killed Pash?” Alley snapped.

Riley was equally angry with Violet. She pulled just far enough away from Gabe to glare at her.

Violet walked over and stood in front of Alley, staring daggers at the much taller girl. Everyone in the dining hall watched the two of them as Violet spoke.

“The Poxinosa — those guys who were trying to kill Pash — are looking for a teleporter. That’s what the Colonel said. Remember that? In order to kidnap him, to use his power. And what did Riley do? She up and disappeared right in front of them!” Alley gasped as Violet continued ranting, “Those men have no way of knowing that Riley became invisible. For all they know, she fucking left the mountain! They’re going to think RILEY is the TELEPORTER.” Violet stared at Riley accusingly, pointing at her for emphasis. “And they’re going to come back for her. Back here. With ten times more men, armed to the fucking hilt, and out for every damn one of us!”

Silence.

“She’s right,” Colonel Matthew finally said. “That’s exactly what they’ll do.”

Darren let out a low whistle.

Everyone began staring at Riley. She turned away and buried her face in Gabe’s neck. She couldn’t see what he was looking at, but after a moment, he gave a menacing hiss.

“Don’t worry, Riles,” Xander said gently after a moment. She looked at him. “You did the right thing by protecting Pash like you did.” Violet rolled her eyes, and he glared at her before continuing, “We’ll have a clan meeting now to get everyone’s input, and then the elders will decide what to do. Whoever those men were, they attacked us on our own land. We know they can’t get into the residential portion of camp, but how safe are any of us as we come and go?”

“And we still don’t know what they wanted with Pash,” Belman pointed out. “Why were they shooting at her to begin with?”

“Pash’s power narrows that down considerably,” the Colonel answered. “If they didn’t randomly fire at her, then they were aiming for her either because she’s one of our leaders, or because of something she knows.”

Pash sobbed. “What could I possibly know that they’d want to kill me for?”

“That should be our focus now,” Xander replied as he pulled her up and into his arms. He looked over her shoulder at Riley. “Call your brother and make plans to sleep here tonight. I’ll cover for you if I need to. The meeting won’t be until tomorrow at the earliest, and you have to stay inside the shield until Katrina gets back so we know what the threat to you is.”

Still trembling, Riley nodded.

Shot at… and I’m STAYING?