“Have we met before?” he asks. “You look kinda familiar.”
“Don’t think so,” I say, “but I did travel a lot before I settled in Plastictown. I’ve been to Roundbottom a few times. Maybe you saw me there.”
“Hmm. Maybe.” He doesn’t seem convinced.
I study his features for a moment but don’t see anything f
amiliar about him. He’s an ordinary looking guy. I realize he’s younger than I thought initially—he’s tall for his age—and is probably no more than fifteen or sixteen.
He continues to study me as I start following the footprints up the pebbled shore and then toward the rocks.
“Stop right there!” a voice shouts from the rocks. “Don’t take another step!”
I freeze, but out of shock, not fear. I recognize the voice immediately, and I look up to see Milo’s head popping out from behind a tree with a large rock in his hand.
“Milo!” I call out as my voice cracks. “Milo, it’s me!”
He leans out a bit more, and I see his eyes go wide.
“Talen? Oh my God, is that really you?”
“Yes!” I rush up the hill with Will close behind me.
“It’s Talen!” Milo yells over his shoulder before turning back and throwing his arms around me. “We all thought you were dead!”
“I thought you all were, too,” I reply, pulling him close.
“Jonny didn’t make it,” he says quietly. “He dragged me away from the flames and then went back in for others.”
“I know. I buried him. I thought I buried you, too.”
Before I can ask the terrifying question on my mind, Luther, the game hunter, joins us. A moment later, I hear Aerin approaching at a slow jog. She stops at my side.
“Looks like you found them,” she says. “You picked the right place.”
I nod at her and then introduce her to Milo and Luther.
“Go back and get Samuel,” I say to Will. “Help him up the hill.”
Will nods and rushes off.
“I’ll get the others,” Milo says before he quickly disappears behind an outcropping of rocks.
“Who else is here?” I ask Luther.
“Not many,” he says with a shake of his head. “The north side of town went up too fast. I was on a hunting trip, and I only came out of the woods when I saw the flames. Just a few from the south side were close enough to the river to jump in. We found them when we climbed to shore.”
“Who?” I ask softly, my chest tightening as I speak.
“Milo, as you already know. The lumberjack hauled him out of the flames before he went back for the weaver and her son. She works on the north side of town, just a few shops down from Samuel. Not sure what she was doing in the southern market.”
“Layshell?”
“That could be her name.”
“It’s her brother, not her son.”
“Not sure.” Luther shrugs and looks over his shoulder as his eyes lose focus.