The tracker chose to run behind us, unwilling to guess at our route. Every now and then I would catch the edge of her thoughts, but never more than a few words, or a view of the Jeep. She followed on higher ground, in the mountains, unconcerned when it took her miles from the road. She could still see us.

I didn't want to think about where Beau was now, what he might be doing and saying. It would be too distracting. But there were a few things left undone.

I whispered instructions to Carine and she typed messages to Archie's phone. It probably wasn't necessary, but it made me feel better.

"Beau needs to eat at least three times every twenty-four-hour period. And hydration is important. He should have water on hand. Ideally eight hours of sleep."

Carine, still keeping the phone low, texted as quickly as I could speak.

"And..." I hesitated. "Tell Archie not to talk about our conversation before in the Jeep. If Beau has questions, deflect them. Tell him I'm very serious about this."

Carine looked at me curiously, but typed my message.

I imagined Archie on the other end, rolling his eyes.

He only texted back the letter y in acknowledgment. I took that to mean that Beau was still awake, and Archie intended to keep my instructions to himself. He must see an unpleasant reckoning if he ignored me.

Eleanor was mostly thinking about what she would do when she had the tracker in her grasp. Her imaginings were pleasant to watch.

When we had to refuel, I used one of the large gas cans Eleanor had loaded into the backseat. In my pocket, Beau's socks would leave the faintest trace of his scent in the air. I moved in a blurred rush, as if my only goal was to race away again, and I was pleased when the tracker came closer to watch. For a moment, she was no more than a mile away. I wanted to take advantage, to flip this flight into an ambush, but it was too soon. We were still too near the water.

I didn't try to be evasive about our route, driving in the straightest line the curving freeways allowed toward my destination. I hoped the tracker would interpret this the way I wanted her to—that I had a destination in mind, somewhere defensible, somewhere I felt safe. She knew little about us, but she knew this much: We had more physical assets available to us than the average nomad. Also, we were many. Perhaps she would imagine even more allies waiting in the forests to the north.

And I had considered running toward Taran's family. I was sure they would help. Kirill, particularly, would be an excellent addition to our hunting team. But they were also too close to the water. The tracker might take one look at the five of them and break for the ocean. All she'd need to do to disappear was submerge. It was impossible to track someone underwater. And she could come out anywhere—five miles down the beach, or in Japan. We'd never be able to follow. We'd have to regroup and start over.

I was headed toward the national parks near Calgary, more than six hundred miles from the nearest open water.

Once we turned on the tracker, she would know that she'd been led astray, and Beau wasn't with us. She would run, and we would chase. I felt confident I could outrun her, but I needed a course with enough length. Six hundred miles gave me some padding.

I wanted to finish this quickly.

We drove through the night, only decreasing our speed occasionally when I heard a speed trap waiting ahead. I wondered what the tracker made of that. She'd already guessed I had extra abilities. This was surely giving away more than I wanted to, but the other option was too slow. Let her see this—my giving up information about my advantages—as another sign that we were intent on some specific destination. A safe house? That would have to make her curious.

I wished I could hear the theories in her head, but she kept back just far enough for me to see only the sporadic glimpse. She must have formed a theory about my talents, and she probably wasn't far off.

The tracker ran on, tireless, and from the little I could hear, enjoying herself immensely.

Her enjoyment irritated me, but it was a good thing. As long as she was content with what she was currently doing, it gave me time to get to my chosen arena for our ambush.

As the time passed, though, I got nervous. The sun was closer to the western horizon than the eastern. We'd done nothing interesting but stop to refuel a few times—always leaving hints of Beau's scent. But would this long run bore her? Would she be willing to follow for potentially days and days, through the northern territories and into the Arctic Circle if we kept going? Could she abandon her chase before she was absolutely sure Beau wasn't in the Jeep?

"Ask Archie if he sees the hunter quitting before we're set."

Carine complied quickly.

A few minutes later, the letter n.

That settled my nerves.

The sun moved slowly closer to the western mountains as we neared my target. I wanted to get her close enough for me to hear her. I needed to do something to interest her.

We were on a small freeway that led to Calgary. We could have continued to Edmonton, waited for full dark, but I was getting more and more anxious. I wanted to stop running away and start hunting.

I turned off onto a small side road that led into the southernmost end of Banff National Park. The road did curve around eventually back to Calgary, but it wasn't the fastest way to get anywhere. It represented a new behavior we hadn't exhibited up to this point. That would have to pique her interest.

Carine and Eleanor knew what the change meant. Both were suddenly tense. Eleanor was more than just tense—she was thrilled, eager to get to the fight.

This side road took us quickly away from the barren, early spring farmlands that lined the road to Calgary. We'd started climbing immediately, and now we were surrounded by trees again. It looked quite similar to home, but drier. I couldn't hear another mind anywhere nearby. The sun was on the other side of the mountain we were climbing.

"Eleanor," I breathed. "I'll buy you a new Jeep."

She chuckled once. No worries.

We could pretend to stop for gas again—it was nearly time—but this change of pace would have the tracker on edge. We'd have to move fast.

"On my word," I told them, waiting for the first touch of the tracker's mind.

Eleanor's hand was on the door handle.

This road was much rougher than the last. I hit a rut that had the Jeep jolting out of our lane. As I worked to control the vehicle, suddenly the tracker's voice was there.

... must have a place close...

"Go," I snarled.

We all three threw ourselves out of the speeding Jeep.

I landed on the balls of my feet, and I was sprinting toward the sound of the tracker's thoughts before the others had got their balance.

Oh ho, a trap after all!

The tracker did not sound either upset or frightened by the sudden reversal in roles. She was still having fun.

I pushed myself, blurring through the trees we'd just driven past. I could hear Carine and Eleanor behind me, Eleanor charging through the underbrush like a rhinoceros. Her louder attack might cover some of the sounds of my own. Maybe the tracker would think I was farther back than I actually was.

It was a great relief to run, to move under my own propulsion, after the long drive stuck inside the Jeep. It was a relief not to have to rely on road, but just to take the shortest route toward my target.

The tracker was fast, too. It didn't take long before I was glad I'd given myself six hundred miles to catch her.

She curved west toward the far-distant Pacific as we climbed higher into the eastern edge of the Rockies.

Carine and Eleanor were falling farther behind. Was that the tracker's hope? Separate us and take us out one at a time? I was on my guard, waiting for another sudden turnabout. I welcomed the idea of her attack. Part of me was full of fury, another part was just anxious to finish this.

I couldn't hear her mind—she was slightly out of range—but I could follow her scent easily enough.

Her path turned northward.

She ran and I ran. Minutes passed, then hours.

We veered northeast.

I wondered whether she had a plan or was just running aimlessly to throw me off.

I could barely hear Eleanor's charge through the forest. They had to be several miles back now. But I thought I could hear something ahead. The tracker moved quietly, but not silently. I was gaining on her.

And then the noise of her progress was gone completely.

Had she stopped? Was she waiting to attack?

I ran faster, eager to spring her trap.

And then I heard a faraway splash at the same time I crested a snow-dusted ridge that broke off in a steep cliff.

Far below, a deep glacial lake, long and narrow, almost like a river.

Water. Of course.

I wanted to dive after her, but I knew that would give her the advantage. There were miles of bank where she could emerge. I would have to be methodical, which would take time. She had no such impediments.

The slow way was to run the perimeter of the lake, looking for traces of her. I'd have to be careful not to miss her exit. She wouldn't walk up onto the bank and start running again. She'd try to leap out, to put some distance between the water's edge and her scent.

The slightly faster way was to split the distance with Eleanor and Carine; we could cut the perimeter into thirds.

But there was also the fastest way.

Eleanor and Carine were getting closer. I ran back to Carine, my hand stretched out in front of me. It only took her a second to understand what she wanted. She tossed me the phone. I turned again and ran with them, texting Archie.

Tell me which one of us finds the trail.

We reached the overlook of the long lake.

"Eleanor," I breathed almost silently. "You decide to take the south bank from this point and then follow it around to the east. Carine, decide to run the north along this bank. I'll take the far side."

I pictured it, committed to it, diving into the dark blue water, shooting across to the opposite shore, then running north to meet up with Carine at the far tip of the lake.

The phone vibrated silently.

Em, he texted. Southern tip.

I showed them his text, and then handed the phone back to Carine. She had a waterproof bag to protect it. I dove, and heard Eleanor push off behind me. I held myself straight as a knife, determined to cut into the water with as little sound as possible.

The water was very clear, and just a few degrees warmer than freezing. I swam several yards below the surface, invisible in the night. I could make out the sound of Eleanor behind me, but she was nearly silent. I couldn't hear Carine at all.

I slipped out of the lake at its southernmost point. The only sounds behind me were the drops of water falling off Eleanor and hitting the stony bank.

I took the right, and Eleanor the left.

There was a ripple as Carine emerged. I glanced back. The phone was in her hand again, and she was motioning to Eleanor. I'd chosen the right way. Sure enough, only a few yards farther and I caught the hint of the tracker's scent. It was above us—she'd leaped into the branches of a tall lodgepole pine. I scaled the tree and found her trail leading off through the branches of the surrounding trees.

And then I was on the chase again.

I fumed as I flew through the branches. We'd lost enough time with the lake that she was many miles ahead now.

She was doubling back the way we'd come. Would south be her choice? Back to Forks to find Beau's trail? It was a solid seven-hour trek, if run straight. Would she want to give me that long a chance to catch up to her?

But as the endless night wore on, she changed direction a dozen times. She moved predominantly west, easing her way toward the Pacific, I imagined. And she kept finding ways to build her lead, to slow us.

Once it was a wide cliff. We each decided the directions we would search at the base, but Archie just kept texting n. His view of the tracker was so limited, he could only see how we reacted to her trail. It took too long for me to see the damage in the cliff face where she'd broken her fall halfway down and then scaled sideways across the stone.

Another time she found a river. Again, we exhaustively imagined the routes we'd go searching. She stayed in the water for a very long way. We lost nearly fifteen minutes before Archie saw that Carine would find the tracker's trail thirty-six miles southwest.

It was maddening. We ran and swam and swung through the forest as fast as we were able, but she just toyed with us, constantly building her lead. She was very practiced and, I was sure, quite confident in her success. The advantage was entirely hers now. We'd keep lagging behind, and eventually she'd be able to lose us completely.

The thousands of miles between Beau and me kept me always anxious. This plan, leading her away, was turning out to be no more than a minor delay in her real search.

But what else could we do? We had to keep chasing after her and hope we could somehow catch her out. This was supposed to be our big chance to stop her without endangering Beau. We were doing a pathetic job.

She confused the trail again in another miles-long glacial lake. There were dozens just like this, all raking north to south through the Canadian valleys as if a giant hand had gouged its fingers down the center of the continent. The tracker took advantage of them often, and each time we had to imagine and decide, then wait for Archie's C or El or Ed, a y or an n. We got faster at the mental part, but every pause put her farther ahead.

The sun rose, but the clouds were thick today and the tracker didn't slow. I wondered what she would have done if the sun was shining. We were on the west side of the mountains now, and running into human towns again. Probably she would have just quickly slaughtered any witnesses if she'd had to.

I was certain she was heading for the ocean and a clean getaway. We were much closer to Vancouver now than to Calgary. She didn't seem interested in moving south, back to Forks. There was a slight northern trend.

Honestly, she didn't need any more stratagems. She had enough of a lead to just race flat out to the coast with no chance of us catching up.

But then the trail led into yet another lake. I was ninety percent sure that she was toying with us simply for her own entertainment. She could have escaped, but it was more fun to make us jump through her hoops.

I could only hope that her arrogance would somehow backfire, that she'd make a bad choice that would put her within our reach, but I doubted it. She was too good at this game.

And we kept following. Giving up didn't feel like a valid option.

Midmorning, Earnest texted. Can you talk?

Is there any chance she'll hear me? Carine wanted to know.

"If only," I sighed.

Carine called Earnest and they spoke while we ran. He had no real news, he was mostly worried about us. The redhead was still in the area, but he wouldn't come within five miles of Earnest or Royal. Royal had done some scouting, and it appeared the redhead had gone to the high school in the night, and through most of the public buildings in town. He'd hadn't gone north toward our house again, and he'd only gone as far south as the municipal airstrip, but he seemed to be hiding himself to the east, maybe keeping close to Seattle for a bigger hunting ground. He'd tried Charlie's house one time, but not until he'd left for work. Earnest had never been more than a few yards from Charlie throughout, which was impressive, since he had no idea he was there.

There was nothing more, no clues. He and Carine exchanged pained I love yous, and then we were back to the mind-numbing chase. The tracker was headed north again, enjoying herself too much to take the easy escape.

It was mid-afternoon when we came to another lake, crescent-shaped and not as large as the others she'd used to slow us. Without having to discuss it, we each decided to follow our usual search routes. Quickly, Archie responded El. Backtracking to the south, then.

Once we had her scent again, it led us through a small town tucked into a mountain pass. It was big enough for a light flow of traffic on the narrow streets. We had to slow down—and I hated that, even though I knew it didn't matter. We were too far behind for our speed to make any difference. But it soothed me to think that she'd probably had to move at human speed, too. I wondered why she would bother. Maybe she was thirsty. I was sure she knew she had time to stop for a bite.

We darted from building to building, trusting my senses to let us know if anyone was watching, running when we could. We were obviously not dressed warmly enough for the weather here—and if anyone looked closely, we were also soaking wet—and I tried to weave us around human vantage points to avoid catching any attention.

We made it to the outskirts of town without discovering any fresh corpses, so she must not have been looking to quench her thirst. What was she seeking, then?

To the south now.

We followed her trail to a large, rough shed in the middle of an open field, thick with thorny brambles that were still winter bare. The wide doors to the shed were propped open. The inside of the shed was mostly empty, just stacks of mechanical and automotive clutter lining the walls. The scent led into the shed and was more set into the ground here, as if she'd lingered for a moment. I could only think of one reason, and I searched for the scent of blood. Nothing. All I could smell was exhaust... gasoline...

I felt sick as I realized what I hadn't seen at first. With a low oath, I darted out of the shed and vaulted over the tall brambles. Eleanor and Carine followed, back on high alert after the stupefying hours of failure.

And there, on the other side, was a long line of flattened dirt, rolled as smooth as possible, about two hundred feet wide, stretching at least a mile to the west.

It was private airstrip.

I cursed again.

I'd been too focused on the water escape. There was an air escape, too.

The plane would be tiny and slow, not much faster than a car. No more than one hundred forty miles an hour, if it was in good condition. The slipshod little hangar made me think it probably wasn't. She'd have to stop for gas frequently if she intended to go far.

But she could go in any direction at all, and we had no way to follow.

I looked at Carine, and her eyes were just as disappointed and hopeless as mine.

Will she go back to Forks to try to pick up his trail?

I frowned. "It would make sense, but it seems a little obvious. Not quite her style."

Where else can we go?

I sighed.

Should I?

I nodded. "Make the call."

She pressed the redial button. It only rang once.

"Archie?"

"Carine," I heard him breathe.

I leaned closer, anxious, though I could already hear.

"Are you totally secure?" she asked.

"Yes."

"We lost her about a hundred seventy miles northeast of Vancouver. She took a small plane. We have no idea where she's headed."

"I just saw her," he said urgently, and also totally unsurprised by our failure. "She's headed to a room somewhere, no clues to the location, but it was unusual. Mirrors covering the walls, a gold band around the middle of the room, like a chair rail, mostly empty but for one corner with an old AV set up. There was another room, too, a dark room, but all I could see was that she was watching VHS tapes. I have no idea what that means. Whatever made her take that plane... it was leading her to those rooms."

It wasn't enough information to help. The tracker could be planning to enjoy some downtime, for all we knew. Maybe she wanted to make us wait, make us stew. Ratchet up our anxiety. It seemed in line with her personality. I pictured her in an empty house somewhere random, watching old movies while we crawled out of our skins awaiting her return. This was exactly what we'd wanted to avoid.

The good news was that Archie was seeing her independently of us now. I could only hope that with continued familiarity, he would get a better line on her. I wondered whether there was any significance to the rooms he described that would tie back to us. Maybe it meant that we would eventually hunt her down to one of those places. If Archie got a better view of the surroundings, it was a possibility. That was a comforting thought.

I held my hand out for the phone, and Carine handed it over.

"Can I speak to Beau, please?"

"Yes." He turned his head away from the receiver. "Beau?"

I could hear Beau's feet thudding as he ran awkwardly across the room, and if I hadn't been so demoralized, I would have smiled.

"Hello?" he asked breathlessly.

"Beau." Relief saturated my voice. The brief separation had already taken a toll.

"Oh, Edythe," he sighed. "Where are you?"

"Outside of Vancouver. I'm sorry, Beau—we lost her." I didn't want to tell him how she'd toyed with us. It would make him nervous that she'd gotten the upper hand so easily. It made me nervous. "She seems suspicious of us—she stays just far enough away that I can't hear her. She's gone now—looks like she stole a small plane. We think she's heading back to Forks to start over." Well, we had no other theories, anyway.

"I know. Archie saw that she got away," he said with perfect composure.

"You don't have to worry, though," I assured him, though he didn't sound worried. "You've left no trail for her to follow. You just have to stay with Archie and wait till we find her again. Archie will get a bead on her soon enough."

"I'll be fine. Is Earnest with Charlie?"

"Yes—the male's been in town. He went to the house, but while Charlie was at work. He hasn't gone near you father. Don't worry—Charlie's safe with Earnest and Royal watching."

"What do you think Victor is doing?"

"Trying to pick up the trail. He's been all through the area during the night. Royal traced him up to the airport in Port Angeles..." The airstrip to the south of town. Maybe we weren't wrong about her intentions after all. I continued before Beau could notice my distraction. "All the roads around town, the school... he's digging, Beau, but there's nothing to find."

"And you're sure Charlie's safe?" he demanded.

"Yes, Earnest won't let him out of his sight. I'll be there soon." We were definitely headed there now. "If the tracker gets anywhere near Forks, I'll have her."

I started to move, loping south. Carine and Eleanor followed suit.

"Be careful. Stay with Carine and Eleanor," he whispered.

"I know what I'm doing."

"I miss you."

"I know. Believe me, I know." I couldn't believe how diminished I felt apart from him. "It's like you've taken half my self away with you."

"Come and get it, then," he suggested.

"As soon as I possibly can. I will make this right first," I vowed.

"I love you," he breathed.

"Could you believe that, despite everything I've put you through, I love you, too?"

"Yes, I can." It sounded like he was smiling as he spoke.

"I'll come for you soon."

"I'll wait for you," he promised.

It hurt to end the call, to disconnect from him again. But I was in a hurry now. I passed the phone back to Carine without looking, and then pushed my lope into a sprint. Depending on how difficult it was for the tracker to locate fuel, we might actually be able to beat her back to Forks, if that was where she was going.

Carine and Eleanor worked to keep up.

We were back in Forks in three and a half hours, taking the fastest route straight through the Salish Sea. We went directly to Charlie's house, where Earnest and Royal were on watch, Earnest in the back of the house, and Royal in the tree in the front yard. Eleanor went quickly to join him while Carine and I went to Earnest.

Now that I was here to appreciate them, Royal was thinking bitter thoughts about how selfishly I was putting everyone's lives in danger. I paid no attention to him.

Beau's house was ominously quiet, though there were several lights on downstairs. I realized what was missing—the sound of a game from the TV in the living room. I found Charlie's mind in its usual spot, sitting on the sofa, facing the dark TV. His thoughts were totally silent, as though he had gone numb. I winced, glad Beau didn't have to see this.

It took only a few seconds of discussion, and then we scattered. Carine stayed with Earnest, and I felt much better that she was there with him. Eleanor and Royal did a sweep through the center of town and then searched the area around the airstrip, looking for an abandoned prop plane.

I ran east, following the redhead's trail. I wouldn't mind cornering him. But his scent only led into the Puget Sound. He wasn't taking any chances.

I swept the familiar Olympic Park on my way back to Charlie's, just to see if the redhead had gone anywhere interesting, but he seemed to have made a beeline for the Sound. He wasn't the type to risk a confrontation.

Back at Beau's house, I took over watch while Earnest and Carine scouted north to see if the redhead had emerged from the water near Port Angeles and was trying to come at Charlie from another angle. I doubted it, but we had nothing better to do. If the tracker wasn't coming back to Forks—which seemed evident at this point—and the redhead had gone to meet her, then we would have to regroup and come up with a new plan. I hoped someone else had an idea, because my head was a blank.

It was nearly two-thirty in the morning when my phone buzzed quietly. I accepted the call without looking, expecting a report from Carine.

Archie's voice erupted from the phone, trilling with speed.

"She's coming here, she's coming to Phoenix, if she's not already here—I saw the second room again, and Beau recognized the sketch, it's his mother's house, Edythe—she's coming after Renée. She can't know we're here, but I don't like Beau so close to her. She's too slippery, and I can't see her well enough. We've got to get him out of here, but somebody's got to find Renée—she's going to spread us too thin, Edythe!"

I felt dizzy, dazed, though I knew it was an illusion. There was nothing wrong with my mind or my body. But the tracker had gone around me again, circling, always in my blind spot. Whether by design or by luck, she was about to be in the same place as Beau while I was fifteen hundred miles away from him.

"How long till she's there?" I hissed. "Can you nail it down?"

"Not perfectly, but I know it's soon. No more than a few hours."

Was she flying straight there? Had she been leading us farther away from hi on purpose?

"None of you have gone near Renée's house?"

"No. We've not set foot anywhere outside this hotel. We're nowhere close to the house."

It was too far to make running an efficient option. We'd have to fly. And a big plane was the fastest way.

"The first flight to Phoenix leaves Seattle at six-forty," Archie told me, a step ahead. "You'll need to cover up. It's ludicrously sunny here."

"We'll leave Earnest and Royal here again. The redhead won't come near them. Get Beau ready. We'll keep the same groups. Eleanor, Carine, and I will take him somewhere far away, somewhere random, till we can figure out the next step. You find his mother."

"We'll be there when you land."

Archie hung up.

I started running, dialing Carine as I sprinted for Seattle. They'd have to catch up to me.