In the morning, I was eager to talk to Dozan's father again. I was hoping he'd be strong enough to tell me what I needed to know after a night's rest. I didn't see Dozan and his empty bucket during my run, and he still wasn't there by the time I'd finished my practice session. So I headed straight for their tent.

This time, I didn't burst in like a rampaging buffalo. I stood outside, unsure how to announce my presence. There was nothing solid to knock on. So I cleared my throat loudly and said, "Um, it's Sember." I waited for what felt like a long time. "Hello?"

"Come in," Dozan's voice called from inside. He sounded despondent.

I ducked through the flap and found Dozan on his knees in front of his father. His eyes were red, and I immediately thought the worst. "Is he...?"

"Not yet," he said. "He's still breathing. But I can't get him to wake up."

"Didn't Siena check on him yesterday?" I would've been surprised if she didn't, since I had just come storming out of their tent.

"She did, but couldn't do anything for him."

I frowned, finding that hard to believe.

"I'll go get Siena," I tossed over my shoulder as I ran out of the tent. I couldn't let this man die. I told myself it was because no child should lose both their parents so early, but I knew the real reason was because he had vital information that could save mine.

I skidded to a stop in front of the small table where Remi and Siena sat. They raised their eyebrows. I pushed aside my momentary guilt for snapping at them yesterday, and said, "Dozan's father won't wake up."

To their credit, they didn't make an issue over my interruption of their breakfast, or even over my rude behavior the day before. They immediately followed me back to the tent.

Siena knelt and placed her hands on the unconscious man's chest. She seemed to concentrate hard, then frowned. She moved her hands to his head and closed her eyes. Her frown deepened. Then she pulled away with a grunt. "I don't understand," she murmured. "It's just like yesterday. There's something blocking me."

"Is that even possible?" Remi asked.

"I've never encountered this before." Her brow furrowed. "I can't connect to his energy."

"Isn't there something we can do?" Desperation nibbled and frayed my patience.

She shook her head. "I'm afraid not."

"But . . . he had the answers! He was going to tell me what he found in that cave!" My voice began rising in pitch, so I calmed myself with a breath. "What can we do?" I looked to Dozan, who shrugged.

No one had answers. An incurable plague was about to destroy life as we knew it, and no one had any answers.

Maybe it was time I got them myself.

"I'm going to find that cave," I announced.

For several stunned moments, no one said anything. They simply stared at me as if a new limb was growing out of my ear.

Finally, Siena said, "Then I'm coming with you."

I looked at her solemn face and knew she was serious. The wedge I had placed between us crumbled, just a little.

"Thank you, Siena, but you're needed here. Desperately. I have no idea how long it'll take. I don't want people dying because I stole you away."

"Then Remi will go with you," she replied.

He blinked, a little surprised at being volunteered, but then he nodded. Good old reliable Remi. I couldn't take him away either, so I shook my head. "No. You need him. To keep you sane."

She started to protest, but I interrupted her. "It's true. Remi is your rock. He'll make sure you don't run yourself ragged." I looked at him. "Right?"

He smiled and nodded. "Sember has a point."

"You're not going alone," she insisted.

"Dozan will go with me," I said, without even looking at him.

"What? I'm not going anywhere!" He bristled and scowled at me. "I'm staying with my father."

"You have to show me how to get there," I said, trying to reason with him.

"I'm not going." He crossed his arms.

"Coward." It was a low blow, and I shouldn't have said it, but I knew it was a bad idea for me to go alone.

"Find somebody else," he said through gritted teeth.

"Then Goben will go with me."

Siena raised an eyebrow. "Does he know this?"

"He will."

It seemed like she was trying to think of some other reason I shouldn't go, which irked me, but eventually, she said, "I wish I could go with you. I would have liked to see the Iceling village."

* * *

"We're going where?" Goben's incredulous green eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

"To the Iceling village in the north. Odavik. We're going to track down the source of this plague." I had followed him out to gather firewood so our parents couldn't hear our conversation. I knew they wouldn't want me to go, and it would be hard enough to convince Goben without their interference.

"Aren't Remi and Siena the ones who go wandering around the plains all the time? Why don't they go?" He picked up a fallen branch, snapped it at its fork, and tossed both pieces into my arms.

"If Siena leaves, our parents could die. She can only make the symptoms go way for a little while. They keep coming back. And if things get desperate enough, people might start threatening her. Remi needs to be around to protect her."

He sighed as he stopped at a log. "And no one else can go?"

"I don't trust anyone else to go."

He grasped a brown-leafed branch on the log and yanked it off. "So you're our self-appointed savior?"

"Why are you trying to make me sound like a lunatic?"

"I'm not. I'm just trying to understand why it has to be us." He looked at me, branch in hand, trying to wrap his head around what I was suggesting.

"Because our parents' lives are at stake. Because we're Gifted, and the plague doesn't affect us. Because this is our only lead, and I'm not relying on anyone else to follow it."

"You're pretty stubborn, you know that?" he said as he stacked the branch onto the pile in my arms.

Stubbornness, another trait in my pile of Things That Don't Attract Boys. Or in this case, annoys brothers. "But I'm right."

He sighed again and stared at the log, then tore off pieces of bark. "It's going to be freezing. You realize winter just started?"

"I'll keep you warm."

"If you were any other girl, I'd be excited by the prospect. But I'm not exactly looking forward to huddling up with my sister." He wedged pieces of bark into my wood stack.

"You know, if I wasn't carrying all this stuff I'd sock you in the arm."

"Why do you think I nominated you to do it?" he said with a grin.

I looked at him with mock outrage, formed a fist with one hand, and managed to shoot a small fireball at his feet. He yelped and jumped backward.

"You're lucky I'm fireproof!" He stamped out a few lingering flames.

"I know," I replied sincerely. "I'm very lucky."

This is a three-part chapter. A quick vote before moving on?