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She ached to talk to so of that tree person When she heard rustlings in the depths of the cave, Aria crawled to the Outsider’s leather pack and found her S it would calm her as it had the first day And it would annoy the Outsider too That counted for so

She went back to the ht to her skin, pulling unco to see her S But of course the Eye hadn’t fixed itself

Pais, she pretended to say through the Eye Paisley was dead She still couldn’t believe it The tears caoing to pretend you’re still alive and that this is a big joke A Practical Joke Realm But a really terrible one that should be deleted I’m in a cave, Paisley On the outside You’d hate it I hate it She wiped her tears with her sleeve This is the second cave I’ve been in It stinks like rotten eggs in here And there are noises Weird draggy noises, like so? But the first cave wasn’t so bad It was smaller and warmer Can you believe I have a favorite cave? PaisleyI’ had sent her headache piercing through the backs of her eyes and she knew, she just knew the tree thing was in the cave shuffling toward her She pictured that big stare and the gnarleddrool

Aria grabbed the knife and darted outside

Silence She sniffed and looked around No tree people Nothing but the woods The cave loo back in there

She picked her way down the slope, overly aware of the knife in her hand She found the berry bush without any trouble So pockets as she could and then ined what the Outsider would say when he saw them It would be one word, no doubt But he’d see she could do better than stay Aria hurried back uphill, deciding she’d take control over what she could She was tired of being useless

She hadn’t been gonefast She sainst the deepening blue sky The Outsider had returned She al about her berries She decided to surprise him instead

Aria came to a dead stop a few feet away from the cave Smoke tu upward Several nize any of them She backed away as quietly as she could, her heart thundering in her chest With her ringing ears, she couldn’t tell how ed froht, she saw that one man, the tallest, wore a black cape, the hood pulled over a , crowlike beak He held a pale staff with bits of rope and feathers dangling from the top He stayed by the cave as two other men came toward her

"Ratis that a Dweller?" said one

"It is indeed," answered the other He was slight and bald, with a large pointed nose that left little doubt as to the origin of his nairl?"

She heard jingling Aria’s gaze snapped to Rat’s waist Bells hung froht They trilled with each step he took

"Stop there" She remembered she had a knife She went to raise it, and saw that she already held it in front of her Aria raised it higher "Don’t co teeth that looked like they’d been filed to points "Easy, girl We’re not going to hurt ya Are we, Trip?"

"No, on’t hurt you," said Trip He had intricate tattoos around his eyes, like eht see in a Masquerade Realht I’d see a Mole"

"Not alive," said Rat "What’re you doing out here, girl?"

Aria’s gaze flicked to the crowwith total silence As frightened as she was of Rat and Trip, the crow man scared her more Rat and Trip went still as he approached

The crow man stood well over six feet tall He had to look down to see her The ular and pointed, made of leather that had been pulled and stretched over a frame The smooth parts were the color of skin, but a dirty inky color stained the creases She could see his eyes through the holes in the lass

"What’s your name?" he asked

"Aria" She answered because there was no way she couldn’t

"Where are you heading, Aria?"

"Home"

"Of course" The crow hten you" He re by a leather cord that he twisted so it fell over his back He was younger than she expected Only a few years older than she ith dark hair and those clear blue eyes She realized how much calmer she felt now that she could see his face

He sht with ceremony We use masks to scare off spirits of darkness My friends aren’t initiated yet, or they’d be wearing theood to meet you, Aria"

His voice was a beautiful, smoky baritone He sent Trip and Rat a pointed look

"Yes Good tothe bells ringing again

"Bells are another part of our cereaze

"Ancient cultures used bells," she said, hating herself for knowing stupid things and for not being able to keep quiet when she was nervous

"I’ve heard that Tibetans did"

"Yes They did" Aria couldn’t believe he knew that A Savage who knewfires A spark of hope lit inside her "They believed bells represented the wisdom of emptiness"

"I’ve known a few people with empty minds, but I wouldn’t call the to Trip "To us, bells are noises of lightness and good Are you alone, Aria?"

"No I’m with an Outsider"