The Dangers of Sleeping Potion

  * * *

  They found the men on the path along the river. Sierra and Sashe kept a distance, even though the men couldn’t see or hear them. For a moment, Sierra wondered if Matilda would have lied when she said they’d be invisible—they wouldn’t know until the men saw them. But Evan kept glancing over his shoulder and he said nothing when his eyes grazed over the spot where she and her horse were.

  They moved at a quick pace in determined silence for two and a half hours before taking a break. They dismounted and let their horses drink from the river. Evan crouched by the river and splashed water on his face. Dar pulled the map out of his pack, and the other two gathered close.

  “Stay here with the horses, I’ll go listen,” Sierra told Sashe. She dismounted and crept closer. It was so strange being this close to someone and yet them having no idea she was there.

  The three men crouched on the ground, the map resting on the grass.

  Dar tapped the group of villages and towns on the map. “Only about a half hour now. They might have Cosa magic to keep shape changers in their original forms.”

  “They’re spread out, though,” Evan said, rubbing his chin. “Unless they have a lot of Cosas, or strong ones, they can’t enchant all of them.”

  “It’d probably be strongest in Tertha,” Seth said.

  Evan nodded. “How do we find them?”

  They were silent for a moment. Sierra inched closer, only a few feet from Evan’s back. She looked at the way his hair curled around his ear, his hands fidgeting, his shoulders tense.

  “Bait?” Seth suggested.

  “Or we can start asking around,” Dar said. “Act like we’re on their side, say we don’t want to see shape changers, either.”

  “We’re invisible,” Evan said.

  Dar smiled. “Ah, that might hinder things.”

  “Let’s go in and listen and watch. The invisibility won’t last past tomorrow night. If we haven’t found them by then… I like the bait idea.”

  Dar’s smile faded. “I don’t.”

  “Two against three,” Evan said, straightening up. Seth clapped Dar on the back, a good-natured smile on his face.

  Dar narrowed his eyes. “We’ll see.”

  More than ever, Sierra felt like she was intruding on something private, something she wouldn’t usually be privy to.