Silent tears leak from my eyes and roll down my cheeks. Hawk drops down, and Blends himself to his dog form before his hands hit the sand. I stop, sink to my knees, and Blend myself. When I open my eyes, I have to blink a few times- the world is tilting, but I force it away. Arrow. Where are you, Arrow? My paws bring me towards Hawk. "I've caught a scent. It appears that the Wasteland guard is running towards Raydowne."

"Why not back to the Wasteland? Isn't that where they want Arrow?" I frown.

"Don't ask me." Hawk shrugs.

"We'll ask him when we catch him," I say and take off, following the trail. I pause once in a while, making sure I'm still headed in the right direction.

"Jay! Dead ahead. Right on the horizon. Twelve o'clock to you. The Wasteland guard and Arrow. Go get him," Hawk barks. I stop so suddenly that I go tumbling in a spray of sand and dust. My brother starts laughing as I sneeze and get back up. "Cut it out..." I halfheartedly growl.

"Whatever. Let's go." Hawk starts off towards the Wasteland guard. I follow him, paws pounding against the ground. We leave a trail of dust in our wake as we make our way towards the Wasteland guard and Arrow. A smile crosses my face and my eyes narrow as we draw closer. And closer. And closer still.

As we chase the Wasteland guard, a thought crosses my mind. "Hey, Hawk... What happened with the backpack?"

"I thought you had it." My heart sinks to the earth's core.

"Oh, no. I don't have it."

"You. Lost. It? Tell me I misheard you."

"You want me to lie?"

"JAY! That's where our water, food, and everything we need is. Literally everything except the clothes on our back. And you lost it." He curses as he throws his head back.

"I thought you had the backpack. It must have gotten torn off during the fight."

Neither one of us says anything for a few minutes. We run in an icy silence, until we turn towards each other. "Karly's note," we say in unison.

"She's dead meat now."

"Hawk! Be nice. While that could be true, she wrote out Adrien's name, and T-LOOT-D."

"And that we're Blenders. Jeez, we are all so screwed."

"The whole Wasteland knows we're Blenders by now. Anyways, let's just hope for the best, and when we reach T-LOOT-D, tell Adrien what happened first thing. He'll hopefully be able to move our location or something."

"Remember what happened last time we changed locations?"

"Maybe not." We fall into a much more comfortable silence.

"You get Arrow, I'll deal with the Wasteland guard."

"Fine." I nod in understanding. It's probably for the best. Hawk will enjoy it much more than I will. My brother lunges forwards. Sunlight glints off his orange eyes and turns them to fire as his jaws open into a smile. I don't slow, even for a step, as I Blend myself back to my human form. My arms wrap around Arrow's motionless form, and snag her from the Wasteland guard before he's realised what's happened. I continue on. The Wasteland guard cries out in alarm as Hawk barrels into him, tackling him to the ground. He gurgles as my brother's claws plunge into his chest. Hawk tears out his throat with a swift bite, and he's gone. Well, that was fast. "Well, Jay, that was fast."

"You literally just said what I was thinking," I reply with a smile.

"How's Arrow doing?"

"I can't really say. She hasn't changed." Arrow lays limp in my arms, eyes closed, and not reacting to anything around her.

"That's weird. Who would be unconscious for that long? You got knocked out by Tremor, and you were out for less than an hour. Maybe only half an hour or so."

"Yeah, there's a difference between what happened to me, and what happened to her. I got a blow to the side of the head. Arrow got her side ripped off. I don't know how she's not dead."

"That's the weird part. How is she not dead when she lost that much blood, and was missing her whole side? Something's not right."

"We'll ask Adrien, and he can point us in the right direction if he cannot tell us himself. She's a Blender. We know that. There's plenty of things we don't know about them, even though we are two ourselves."

"Like?"

"Why do we exist. How are we able to Blend ourselves. Why are only some of us Blenders?"

"Whatever." Hawk falls into silence, and I follow.

I lick my lips, swallowing. My mouth is dry. It feels like someone stuck a sponge in my mouth, and took all the water from it. "Hey, Jay. This would be a really great time for that backpack," Hawk grumbles.

"Hey! That wasn't really a priority when I was trying to stay alive!"

"And now Karly's life is probably in jeopardy, and they now have Adrien's name as well as T-LOOT-D. It's only a matter of time."

"Yeah, I am well aware of that! If I could go back in time, I would. I never intended for the backpack to go missing."

"And yet, it did. Now who's fault is that?"

"Stop it," I growl the words, my voice low.

"What are we supposed to do? Everything we've built is now threatened with falling back to the ground. It's all your fault, Jay. Just think of that when the Wasteland guards come knocking at the door."

"STOP IT, Hawk. You don't know that they will come for us. You don't know that they'll see Adrien's name and T-LOOT-D, and pinpoint us."

"It's still your fault, Jay," Hawk whispers.

The sandy terrain slowly sprouts patches of greenery. It's just a few scraggly plants, but it's as if the land is coming back to life. Water. It's the only thought in my mind after getting to T-LOOT-D. "We're getting close." The relief in Hawk's voice is clear. I don't reply. My feet move a little faster as if they know we're closing in on Raydowne. Clouds begin to appear in the sky, wispy and thin at first, but they soon become puffy. The plants grow bigger. "There." Hawk points at something in the distance. I squint, shading my eyes with a hand.

"Raydowne..." I breathe. I never could have guessed how glad I would be to see the town again.

A bird flies overhead. Wait, what? The bird has tan feathers, and five long, thin feathers that stretch far beyond the end of its tail. It almost has a mane on the back of its neck. Two sets of wings beat in unison, the lower set smaller than the upper set. I can almost swear its hooked beak curves up into a smile as it tilts its head and looks at us. "Hawk, do you recognize that bird up there?" He watches the bird for a few moments.

"No, I've never seen it before in my life. Maybe you got hit harder than I thought you did?"

"The bird just looks so familiar, but I can't pinpoint it."

"Never seen it." Hawk's voice is firm. My eyes follow the bird as it disappears behind a cloud, then zooms for Raydowne.

xxxx

We continue on, and the sparse greenery morphs into lush plants, but not the trees I so desperately want. I crave the relief of shade. Hawk holds a fern out as I walk by, before letting it slap against my shins. I roll my eyes. The sun beats down on us through gaps in the clouds. "Need a break?" Hawk turns around and walks backwards.

"If I stop, I'm not going to want to start moving again."

"Tired?"

"That's the understatement of the year." My brother chuckles, then replies.

"It's not that much further too." Finally. We'll be back at T-LOOT-D hopefully within the hour.

The sun sinks towards the horizon. At first, there's just a pink glow, but it soon burns into a blaze of reds and oranges. Stars flicker to life, bright against the blanket of darkness that covers us. When I nearly trip over a branch, I ask Hawk to take Arrow from me. "Really?" He grumbles.

"Yes, I can't see well- everything looks so grainy, and I just almost fell."

"Fine," he begrudgingly says as he takes Arrow into his arms.

"Thank you, Hawk."

Excitement builds in my veins as we reach the first houses. The streets are silent save for the soft sound of the streetlights burning, and the occasional call of an owl. From here on, I walk in autopilot. I've walked these streets so many times I could do it with my eyes closed. Hawk shoves his shoulder into my arm, and we duck into the open-air market place. Leather tarps tied over booths slap against the wooden poles in the gentle breeze. As I crouch behind a shelf, I peer around the side only to see a few people wandering around at night. Confusion runs through me. Oh, yeah. Secret mission. No one, except for those at T-LOOT-D, can know that we've brought someone new in. Arrow's name can't get out.

The people pass by, and soon we're making the last turn to our home base. After a quick check to see if anyone's around, we walk up the driveway. The house is located in the middle of a yard, and looks quite small, though I know it stretches downwards for a ways. I hold the gate for Hawk before heading towards the door. I press my thumb into the top of the keypad, waiting a moment, before a robotic voice says, "Jay Westville. Welcome, please proceed." Hawk hands me Arrow, and I walk through the door. A few seconds later, I hear "Hawk Westville. Welcome, please proceed," and my brother walks through as well.

xxxx

So T-LOOT-D is short for The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils. Nearly everyone has heard of, and knows, the name of our rebellion. The reason why we've been able to stay undercover so successfully for so long lies in the fact that no one knows we actually exist, and, for the most part, the only way to get in is to be born into it. A few rare exceptions have been made. Once you're in, you cannot leave. If you've given Guthrie Harper, or a Wasteland guard, a way to track us down, however vague, Adrien might very well kill you. That's why Hawk and I are so worried about what's happened to Karly's backpack. The harshness of the system of T-LOOT-D is how we've been able to survive this long without anyone finding out.

Thank you all for reading! Please feel free to comment, and consider a vote! Jay, Hawk, and Lily (well, Arrow for Jay and Hawk) have reached The Loyal Order of Thorny Devils, also known as T-LOOT-D! 

Why hasn't Lily woken up yet? 

Any guesses as to why she's still alive?

What about that bird? 

Why did Jay think it looks so familiar when Hawk said he had never seen it before? 

How do you think the whole 'we lost Karly's backpack' thing is going to go down with Adrien? 

Thanks again!

-Werewolf14-