Callie danced a little jig beside her mother as she waited for Grant to start assigning people.

"You looked excited," I commented.

"I get to run around! And eat as many plants as I can find!" Her stomach rumbled in anticipation.

Merryl's eyes met mine, revealing the sadness she was hiding from her daughter. Porters hadn't gotten breakfast today. Everyone had eaten decently last night, but there wasn't enough left for everyone to have some this morning. The porters, hunters, and gatherers had opted to wait until we went out and could pick our own greens. The child didn't realize the troubling reasons behind the delayed, all-you-could-pick breakfast.

Andre waved to catch my attention, and I slipped through the crowd to give his group a lift. I ported them out and swiftly returned, nearly bumping into two other groups who were leaving. Liam gave me a nod from where he stood by Ariel, having been assigned to her group today.

"Natalie," Grant called out. "You have two groups again, but they'll go to the same place. It'll make it easier to keep an eye on them, and I won't get as much flak from the Oasis about taking up two spots with one porter."

I nodded. He'd told us about that last night. Word of me taking two groups out, and then both of them needing rescue, had led to over twenty villages making a rule about porters having to stay with their groups and only occupying one crystal.

There was no limit on how many people went with the porter. They probably didn't realize there was a porter around who could handle a group of sixteen without undue strain. It would take me two trips, but I could do it.

I blinked and did a quick headcount. Despite the danger they had faced yesterday, my group had grown to nineteen.

Scratching my head, I said, "Well, this is going to be interesting. Where am I going?"

"Try Fern Hills," Grant suggested. "There isn't much in the way of wildlife, but there's a variety of greens if people are willing to wander away from the crystal."

"Uh, Fern Hills in the aspen forest?" I asked, hoping I was wrong. That was the same place the Saursune had caught my ankle—possibly the same event responsible for the shift from a regular cull to the current stalk-the-porters endeavor.

"If it's raining, come back. Otherwise, give it a try." Grant made a face. "The Saursunes are showing up pretty much everywhere, and we've picked the safe spots clean. No one has reported seeing one there since you did."

I had more than a few reservations, but that spot had gone months without a sighting if we ignored one particular event.

"It'll take me two trips." Turning to the expanded group, I asked, "Who feels brave and wants to go first today?"

They exchanged dubious looks. A woman shook her head and came over. "I'm not feeling brave, but I'm hungry, and that's good enough motivation for me."

Others came forward, and once I had ten, I ported them to the aspen forest. The porting strain I should have felt was absent. Just the smallest twinge of discomfort. The last time I'd ported ten, I had needed a solid fifteen-minute break.

I lingered for a few minutes, just to make sure it was safe, before returning to the village. Grant was preoccupied with another porter, trying to help her remember a certain location. I gave a quick nod to the last nine, and they arranged themselves around me.

"Fern Hills," I murmured, wondering if Grant would mention my lack of a break between bounces.

The world disappeared around us as we appeared in the aspen forest. I made a face as the porting strain rushed in and radiated through my chest, arms, and legs. It was roughly equivalent, perhaps a tad bit worse, than what I would have felt from porting ten in the past. Apparently my abilities hadn't strengthened that much, at least with back-to-back heavier loads.

I leaned against the crystal since there wasn't a dry place to sit and wait out the discomfort.

"What are your plans?" I asked the people who hadn't dispersed yet.

"We're going to split into groups of twos and threes and fan out," one of the men said.

"Irene, Sophia, and I will remain nearby," an older hunter said, shrugging. "We might not be able to run, but we can still gather wood and greens."

I nodded. My three new additions were definitely on the older side and slowed by injuries obtained during their younger years. But they knew what was edible, and every pair of hands would help.

The younger people formed teams and disappeared into the forest in all directions. I half sat on a spire, trying to stretch out my chest muscles and ease the discomfort. The older trio began checking the area, which was rather picked over. The two women had limps from broken legs that hadn't healed quite right, and the hunter's leg had been mangled by the wild pigs years ago.

It took more than a few minutes for the ache in my chest to ease to levels I could ignore. I decided to gather fallen branches. Most of the trees that fell in the storm were untouched, evidence that the previous groups had been more interested in gathering food. My three companions remained within eyesight as we scoured the area around the crystal for anything useful.

~

The day felt far too long. I had collected an impressive pile of branches during the first five hours and scoured the grasses for several more hours as I tried to find even a handful of dandelion leaves that might have been missed by previous groups. I ate most of what I found; yet, I never found enough to fill my stomach. I hoped the others were finding more than I was.

The three older people remained within eyesight of the crystal. Their carry nets were almost as empty as mine. The hunter had caught a handful of small birds, a silent testimony that his archery skills hadn't faded while cooped up in the village.

I scuffed my foot restlessly against the trampled grasses, wishing I could go farther afield instead of remaining so close to the crystal when there was nothing here. What was the harm in me walking five minutes away?

"We've got company!" the hunter called out. "At least one Saursune to the south."

I grabbed my carry net and dashed to the crystal. The others ran over as best they could and joined me as we stared at the forest.

"What color was it?" I quietly asked.

"A rather light green," the hunter said, his hand on my shoulder as he stared at the trees.

Seconds slipped by, then I caught a glimpse of green that didn't belong in this type of forest. It eased out from between the bushes some distance away and tilted its head as it regarded us. There was no belt or weapons, so I didn't have to worry about a long-distance attack.

I eased closer to the crystal, holding onto a spire as I prepared to bounce. My stomach twisted at the thought of leaving sixteen people behind, but they weren't due back for at least an hour. I hadn't lost anyone in over five years, and I didn't want to go through that anguish again.

Coming back later was an option, but there was a notable risk of walking into an ambush. Most porters wouldn't return for at least half a day, if not a couple of days. The Saursune seemed to realize it had no chance of catching me. It shook itself off briskly and trotted to the side. We watched it leave; its light scales made it easy to track as it disappeared into the distance.

"No reports, my foot," I muttered. There was no way Saursunes only appeared when I showed up.

"Others may not have wanted to admit they'd been unwary enough to be caught," the hunter said with a shrug. "It left far easier than I anticipated."

"I hope the others are okay."

~

Time passed even slower than before. I couldn't stop looking around, halfway paranoid that the Saursune would try sneaking up behind me.

Distant rustling had my muscles tensing as my head whipped in that direction, only to relax when three people pushed their way through the undergrowth. Each of them carried at least two full nets.

Once they were closer, I asked, "How did it go?"

"There's a couple of nice meadows an hour away, but the best pickings were farther out," one man cheerfully replied, holding up three carry nets as evidence.

"Not much grows among the ferns," a woman said. "I grabbed some on the way back for bedding."

The ferns here weren't edible, but once they were dried, they were a good addition to our mattresses. The ferns closest to the crystal had already been harvested.

"Did you see any Saursunes?"

"No, not even any rabbits. Saw a chipmunk though."

"We had one show up here," the older hunter said. He quickly told the story.

The woman looked around uneasily. "It just left?"

"Didn't even hiss or charge at us," the hunter replied with an awkward shrug. As one of the older generation, he knew Saursunes simply didn't ignore a human. If you saw one, it was usually after you, and if you didn't run fast enough, you weren't going to make it home.

We remained near the crystal as we waited for the others. The hunter continued stripping bark off some aspen trees and collecting the inner layer. The doctor used it to make headache teas. I fidgeted and wandered around the crystal, unable to sit still.

My mind circled back to the Saursune. Why had it left? And more importantly, why hadn't it returned? The more I thought about it, the more I became convinced there would be a tracker bead in at least one carry net. I had foiled its initial visit by being so close to the crystal, but considering it hadn't forced us to port, it would have gone with Plan B.

I just hoped Plan B wasn't bigger than I could handle.