It’s a long time before we stop. Corax gives me a small nibble on my finger, instructing me to listen.

  “Here.” Corax says barely loudly enough for me to hear.

  I force myself to sit up, but keep Corax in my arms. Vince and Cassie have already left the car, but Ivy still sits besides me.

  “Morning sleepy.” The first hints of exhaustion are beginning to creep into Ivy’s eyes.

  “I wasn’t sleeping.” I couldn’t even if I wanted to.

  “I know. Come on, Lucas will want to say bye.” Ivy steps out of the car and holds out her hand for me.

  She’s still recovering from her gunshot wound. I take her hand, but am very careful to not actually make her take any of my weight.

  “And what are you going to do if you encounter more Rangers?” Lauren and Vince are in the middle of a quiet argument.

  “We have a much bigger problem than just some Rangers. Besides, Silver might need you. If you want to check in with Bckwell and still make it home before the next storm, you’ve got to get going.”

  “A storm’s not going to hit that soon. We still have time to follow through with the pn.” She argues.

  “You should know just as well as I do that a lot of people have died thinking that.” Vince puts as much seriousness as he can into his voice.

  “And what about you then?” Lucas joins the conversation. “A fresh battery won’t get you to Vegas. You’re going to have to burn a full day for the sor panels to work. Why is it ok to risk yourself but not us?”

  “I’m not putting anyone in danger.” Vince keeps his voice even and calm, despite the intensity of the conversation. “We have enough charge to get to the Grand Canyon, even without stopping. There’s a lot of vilges we can hide out in if we need to.”

  “I can buy us a few extra miles.” I offer in an effort to get them to stop arguing. I don’t produce that much extra power these days, but I do the math anyway. “It’ll only be a quarter of a mile per hour, but it’ll help.”

  “And I’m sure Cass can get out and push!” I’ve never heard Lucas so frustrated. “I’m not going to let you take dumb risks.”

  “Lucas, listen.” Vince takes a step forward and gently pces his hand on Lucas’s shoulder. “I get it. But it’s 450 miles to the Grand Canyon. We can make that no problem. We’ll stop close to a town while we recharge the batteries, and we’ll hunker down if we catch wind of a possible storm. This isn’t a dumb risk, it’s gambling a few days to make sure Silver’s safe.”

  Lauren takes a step back, letting Lucas make the final decision. He stares into Vince’s eyes looking for something.

  “Fine.” He eventually says reluctantly. “Cass, make sure he stays safe for me.”

  “Oh I will.” Cassie promises.

  “Hudson, get the lifts out.” Lucas commands.

  Lucas’ group springs into action. Hudson grabs ft pieces of metal and car jacks from the back. Ethan and Lucas begin putting them together the moment they’re free from the trunk while Lauren and Liam dig a small trough into the sand.

  It only takes ten minutes to finish putting together a makeshift workshop. Four jacks are held together by rge, ft metal ptes that are surrounding a person sized hole that’s been dug into the sand.

  Vince pulls our car over the jacks, and everyone else quickly hoists the car completely off the ground. Lucas climbs under with a handful of tools and gets to work.

  Every sixty seconds or so, Lucas passes out a small battery bank, and is handed a new one by Ethan. He’s under there for over half an hour before he finally climbs out.

  “Done. I still need to swap out our car, but you should get going.”

  “That’s dangerous, what if-”

  “Do not talk to me about danger right now.” Lucas cuts off Vince. “Just get going, please.”

  “Alright.” Vince relents. “You stay safe.”

  “You too.” Lucas leans in and gives him a tight hug. I can see his arms straining to put as much force as possible into it.

  Lucas breaks away after a long minute and turns to Ivy, giving her an equally strong hug. He whispers something to her, and Ivy’s face softens into a small smile.

  “I won’t.” She responds softly.

  Next he turns to Cassie, who reluctantly takes a step forward.

  “The harder you squeeze, the harder I will too. And I will win that fight.” She warns him before stepping into his embrace.

  Lucas doesn’t let the threat stop him from putting as much force into the hug as possible. Cassie’s arm is audibly straining under the pressure she’s applying. I can see his mouth move, but even only a few feet away I can’t hear what he’s saying. Although it’s possible that Cassie has just squeezed all the air from his lungs and that’s the loudest he can be.

  “Shut up.” Cassie finally steps away. “Worry about yourself first.”

  “Ay-ay.”

  Finally Lucas turns to Corax and I. He opens his arms partially, unsure if I want to hug right now. I definitely need one.

  I pce Corax on my shoulder and embrace Lucas. Tears sneak out of my eyes for more reasons than I can dissect right now.

  “You two watch over each other, alright? And keep an eye on Cass for me.”

  “I will.” Lucas holds me until my tear reserves run dry and I finally take a step back. “Stay safe, alright?”

  “Promise.”

  By the time we’re finished saying goodbye, Lauren and Liam have already gotten the second car hoisted into the air. Lucas gives us all one st wave and climbs under.

  I guess there’s nothing to do but to get back in the car. We all take the seats we were in previously. I watch out the back window for as long as possible before they disappear behind the dunes. They’re going to be fine.

  “Are you going to be alright if I get some sleep?” Ivy asks me gently.

  It’s been several minutes since I’ve st caught a glimpse of their group. I finally tear my eyes away from where they were.

  “I’m ok.”

  “Alright. Wake me up if you need anything.” Ivy leans back and closes her eyes. In only seconds her breathing has slowed, and she’s almost certainly asleep.

  “Vince? Cassie? Are you tired? I can take over driving or the radio for a bit.” It’d be nice to have something to distract myself with. Although I will just drive physically, I shouldn’t plug myself in.

  “I don’t think I’ll be sleeping for a bit Little Blue. Thank you though.” Vince responds.

  “In a bit.” Cassie says.

  “Ok.” I guess I’ll just read for a while then. I make Corax a small nest on my p and dive into my book to hide from my thoughts.

  Corax doesn’t get cozy though. He remains on my shoulder, his presence offering support.

  A few times I hear gunshots in the distance. I can hear the faint voices of Lucas and Silver, calling for me with their dying breath. Corax is always there though. I even stay quiet enough to not wake Ivy.

  “You ok Little Blue?” I am not, however, quiet enough to keep Vince from noticing.

  “Just worried.” I whisper back.

  “I know. They’re going to be alright though.”

  I hope so. I dive back into my book for half an hour before Cassie interrupts me.

  “Lucas says they’re heading back now.”

  “Gd to hear it.” Vince responds.

  “Hey, Blue. Do you know how to use this?” She asks, gesturing to the radio in her p.

  “I’m sure I can figure it out.”

  Cassie gives me a quick rundown anyway. What all the buttons and dials do is simple to remember. She tries to grab her tablet to write down all the important stations I should check often, and I have to remind her I essentially can’t forget.

  I just have to keep an ear open on a few dozen channels for the weather, a couple of general use emergency channels, and a few Ranger channels. There are also hundreds of number stations scattered across the endless desert. I know I won’t be able to, but trying to crack some of their encryption methods could be a good distraction.

  Eventually satisfied, she passes back the rge radio and reclines her seat. It’s not long before she’s asleep, her soft snores filling the car. It’s really cute.

  Nope, kill those thoughts. They’re not going to help me now.

  I put on the headphones and block out the world. It’d be nice to be able to just plug myself in and hear everything at once, but the radio is analog. Even if I tried, the best case scenario is just receiving garbage data.

  The weather system they have set up is rudimentary, but invaluable. Weather stations hidden all across the desert are reporting what they’re seeing, although they can’t give too accurate of a location, I’m guessing for fear of raiders. I’m fairly certain some stations even report false information to further obscure their location.

  It results in a rough, ever shifting map of potential storms. I’m not quite sure how Cassie can manage to keep track of everything. I guess she’s just practiced a lot, same with anything else humans get good at.

  I eventually stumble across one station pying music. It’d be so nice to linger here and listen, but I have a job to do. I don’t want to put us in danger just to have a nice few hours. I make sure not to check that station again, I’m not sure how many times I can bring myself to tune away from it.

  Corax, feeling I’m sufficiently distracted, eventually takes off into the skies.

  “I can both drive and work the radio if you want.” I offer to let Vince sleep once again.

  “I’ll sleep when Ivy wakes up. If something goes wrong, one of us should be awake.”

  “Ok.” I could call Corax back to keep an eye on me, but he’s right. It’s probably for the best that a third person stays awake so Corax can keep scouting.

  After two hours of silence, Vince speaks up.

  “Hey, Little Blue. Can you call Corax back?”

  “Sure.” A quick signal into the sky recalls him. I’m so gd he’s always watching.

  He nds on the open window only a moment ter.

  “Corax, we’re coming up on a small ridgeline. There should be a few valleys we can take. Can you find us a safe route?” Vince asks.

  Corax gives a nod and once again disappears into the night. Vince takes this moment to grab a hot pte from the trunk and finally reheat Lucas’ leftovers.

  “Find anything interesting?” He whispers after swallowing a mouthful of stew. He looks so tired. Maybe I should wake up Cassie? Probably not.

  “There’s someone pying music, but nothing else.”

  “What are they pying?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t listen.”

  “Ah, right.” He eats another mouthful. “I knew a radio host who pyed 50’s music all the time. I was just wondering if he was still around.”

  “Here.” I hand him the headphones and tune to the music station.

  Vince listens for a few seconds, and his face falls.

  “That’s not him. He’d be in his 80’s now, so I guess it’s not a surprise.”

  “What was he like?”

  Vince shakes his head, stealing a moment to figure out what he wants to say.

  “It's not important.”

  “Oh, ok.” It certainly sounds like it's important to him, but I'm not about to push it.

  A few minutes ter Corax nds on the hood of the car and taps his beak on the gss, pointing us in a direction.

  Corax leads us into a valley. It's so narrow that our headlights can illuminate the barren walls on both sides. I’m not even sure it’s possible to turn around without awkwardly stopping and starting a few times.

  He guides us through the maze of valleys. I’m not sure if he’s directing us away from dead ends or from people, but either way he’s doing a great job. It only takes half an hour to maneuver our way through the ridge.

  Once the valleys fade back into the endless desert, Corax returns to my p, satisfied with his work. I begin to pet him, he more than deserves it.

  “Thank you Corax.” Vince whispers back. “I can’t imagine how long it would have taken for me to find a way through by myself.”

  Uh oh. Corax puffs up his feathers as much as he can. He’s definitely feeling smug right now.

  “How long until we get there?” I ask.

  “We should hit the Grand Canyon by sunset tomorrow.”

  JanePtinum