During the week that Lina and Doon had used to travel from Stonefield to Reddington, another pair had made their way to the nearby town of Aster. Tim was glad that he was good at reading maps, otherwise he was sure that Torren would've gotten lost somewhere. Despite Torren's eagerness to explore the ancient ruins they passed by, Tim had insisted on getting to Aster as fast as possible. He wanted to get his mind on work as soon as possible. He hated how traveling gave him all the time in the world to let his thoughts wander.

Torren stopped his wagon in front of the building marked with an iron sign. The image of a fire was carved out in the center. Once Tim hopped off the wagon with his things, Torren immediately picked up his reins again.

"Well, I'll be off, then," Torren said. "I've got places to explore!"

"Aren't you going straight back home?" Tim asked.

"Of course not," Torren said. "There aren't really any ruins around here, but I think I saw a couple in the direction you said Reddington was. I'll probably start there, and then go where the wind takes me."

"You don't need the wind to travel," Tim pointed out.

"I know that!" Torren snapped. "I just meant I'm going to really start roaming!"

"But what about Dr. Hester?" Tim asked. "You told her you'd take me here and then come straight back."

"She can't stop me from taking a few detours," Torren said with a wicked grin.

Tim shook his head, but he knew that he couldn't stop Torren either. He just hoped that Torren would be alright. "By the way, can you deliver a message to Lizzie for me?" he asked.

"What? Like a letter?"

"Yeah." Tim pulled out a piece of paper that he had toiled over every time they stopped for the night. "Just hand it to her when you get the chance?"

Torren shrugged as he took it. "Whatever. Okay, be seeing you. Have fun."

"I'll try," Tim said as Torren snapped the reins. The ox was still somewhat stubborn and Torren still struggled to maintain control, but at least the ox was listening now. Tim vaguely wondered how much worse the journey would've been if Torren hadn't already known how to drive oxen thanks to his brother Caspar.

Involuntarily, Tim reached for his pocket, where he had stuffed countless other drafts for his letter to Lizzie. He hadn't been able to find her before he left Sparks, but he had so much he wanted to tell her. Tim sighed and scrubbed at his face. He wasn't sure if they had broken up or if they were still technically together, but he was determined to at least bring closure, both for Lizzie and himself. He owed that much to her, for everything that she did for him.

Attempting to turn away his lingering thoughts, he turned to the wooden door of blacksmith's.


When Lina and Doon returned to Mrs. Winshaw's house for the night, Lina couldn't sit still. She paced excitedly in their shared room, her drawings sprawled out on the bed she claimed. Doon was sitting on his, watching her with an unreadable expression. "A perfect city where no man has gone since the Disaster!" she cried. "Doon, doesn't that sound like the city in my drawings?"

He frowned at her. "But we don't know where Marshall heard that from," he said. "And we've been told by multiple people not to trust him. Edward even said that he's known to be superstitious."

"But where else could he have gotten things that are in such perfect condition?" Lina said. "What if Cinder is really out there, and Marshall found it and kept it to himself?"

"Lina, he even had Baby Drink," Doon said. "We know that only existed in Ember. The labels on all the canned food were also the same as the ones from Ember."

"But what if the Builders made Cinder too?" Lina cried. Her thoughts went wild with the possibilities. What if Marshall had a truly endless supply of goods? What if the Builders survived the Disaster and made an even better city than Ember? What if she had been dreaming about Cinder all along, and it was up to her to lead the former people of Ember to it?

Yet when Lina looked at Doon, she immediately knew that he wasn't buying it. "Do you really believe what that jerk says?" he said. "It's farmore likely that he just found something we didn't know about back in Ember and made up a story to go with it."

Lina didn't think that was true. She didn't want to think it was true. As she and Doon stared at each other, terrible feelings bubbled up in her stomach. "I believe there's something important out there that we've been missing," she said. "And I intend on going out and finding it."

"Well, I don't." Doon looked irritated at this point, his dark eyes piercing her. "I'm not going to go chase a tall tale from a man like that."

Lina wanted to grab Doon by the shoulders and shake him, as though she could wake up his senses. But she knew that would be pointless, and that she couldn't force her ideas into his head. "Then...I guess I'm going to find Cinder myself," Lina said weakly.

"I guess you are." Doon lay down and turned his back to her. He wasn't going to talk anymore.

Lina swept her drawings aside and lay down on her own bed. She felt tears burn in her eyes. Bitterly, she hoped that Doon also felt as horrible as she did.