When I ported to the Oasis to pick up Grant, there were twice as many people present as before.

As I sat beside Grant, he looked at me somberly. "Avoid all Saursune fields and farms. They've been setting ambushes to catch those stealing their crops. They killed two porters and at least a dozen hunters and gatherers today, and there might be more we don't know about yet."

My breath caught in my throat. "W-who? Which villages?"

The porters were almost certainly people I knew, and I had likely met their group members during the quarterly gatherings.

"Macey from Black Swamp, and Ralph from Hinton Village," he said.

I squeezed my eyes shut and hugged my arms around myself, not hearing the names he was listing off. Macey had been one of the funniest women I knew, always dancing around with a smile on her face. She had been fun to work with whenever our villages arranged joint tasks. Her loss hit hard.

Ralph... Well, he'd been an overconfident twit, but it still hurt. Those two porters would never again feel the crystalline light shimmering through them. Never see the haze obscure their vision, then recede to reveal an entirely different location. It was a huge loss for their villages, and their fellow porters would have to work even harder to feed everyone.

Grant waited until I finally took a deep breath and let my hands fall to my lap, then he murmured, "Several porters also reported being chased back to the crystals like you were."

It took several seconds for that to sink in. "Tracking beads?"

"One," he said, confirming my vague suspicion. "Thankfully, he was smart enough to go to the scanning station. The bead is currently floating down a creek elsewhere. Maybe tracking it will keep the Saursunes busy for a few days. Don't go near Creek Pointe for a while."

Remembering my earlier close call with the Saursune, I asked, "What if they sneak up behind someone unseen? Or put a tracking bead in a carry net or bag when we're not looking?"

My mind went into overdrive as I analyzed all of our weaknesses. Would a Saursune be clever enough to stick a tracker in something we were likely to collect and leave it near a crystal? It wasn't unusual for us to leave a carry net on the ground while we gathered an armful of greens. They were definitely skilled enough to sneak that close unseen. There were other opportunities as well...

Grant looked troubled. "We might have to get everyone to visit the Guard Station for a scan before returning to the villages."

Another porter arrived with two passengers in tow, and I listened as those present repeated all of the recent news. There was no question about it. The Saursunes were definitely targeting any humans who ventured near their fields and farms, as well as showing up at various other locations.

"But why did they just chase some away if there weren't any trackers?" a woman asked, scratching a bug bite on her leg.

I frowned as her nails tore away the scab and let blood bead to the surface. That was a dangerous habit for a porter. Saursunes had excellent noses. If we hadn't been in the middle of a desert, I'd be dragging Grant to the crystal. As it was, I scanned the horizon uneasily.

An older man shrugged. "As best we can figure, they were trying to stick tracking beads on them and misjudged."

Another snorted at his reply. "More like they knew we'd avoid those spots for several weeks if someone reported a close call there."

"In other words, we have no clue," another woman summarized.

The dozen people went round and round with theories, but none had facts to support them. I soon grew tired of it.

"We should get going," I told Grant.

He nodded and got to his feet. My hand barely touched the crystal before I let the memory of the village whisk us home. Grant went to catch up on what had happened in his absence.

Merryl gave me a nod from where she cuddled with her daughter on the resting hides. Her gaze turned back to the crystal, waiting for Calum to return. I sat beside my niece and played a game of Connect Three with her.

"Natalie," Grant called. "Can you help Ariel bring those hunters back? She can't port six at a time, and I don't want to leave any one without an escape route if she decides to bring half of them back."

I bounced to my feet, leaving Merryl to finish the game with Callie. "Sure."

Normally, Ariel never escorted more than four, so having to worry about taking six to safety would make her quite anxious. She'd ported five before, and if there was an emergency, she could port six, but she wouldn't be standing afterward.

Whispering the location phrase, I ported to the Orange Flower crystal and found the entire group already gathering around.

Ariel's face transformed in relief. "Oh, good. I was hoping you'd return."

"Three and three?" I suggested.

"That works for me. Are you sure you're ready to port back so quickly?"

"I'd rather rest in the village than over here, even if it takes me twice as long to recover after a back-to-back port," I replied truthfully.

The hunters split into two groups. I let Ariel go ahead of me, then ported my three hunters and whatever they were carrying. They thoughtfully lifted it off the ground to reduce the drag.

When our sight cleared, Ariel was already heading to the resting rocks, so I followed. The hunters weren't about to let a porter carry something when there were so many willing hands around, so there was no point in offering.

"That was a good spot," Ariel said, settling against the furs with a contented sigh. "I haven't seen a haul like that in months. I hope we can return soon."

"Probably in three or four days," I guessed. Infrequent visits were a good tactic to reduce our presence and avoid the Saursunes. It also helped prevent overhunting and overharvesting.

More porters returned; most with three to six hunters or gatherers in tow. Not many people were crazy enough to volunteer to be a hunter or gatherer. Without the porting ability, they were completely reliant on a porter to take them to safety.

Unless a Saursune was spotted well in advance, the odds of people getting killed or left behind were far too high. Still, it was a vital task, and we had almost as many willing hands as the porters could transport.

I stretched and made a trip to the latrine. As I entered the dark room my nose wrinkled at the smell of urine and feces heated by sun-warmed rocks. It dried out quickly in the desert, but with so many people using it, there was always an unpleasant odor. I used my elbow to bump a bamboo tube hanging on a cord, letting some water splash onto my hands as I washed them.

When I left the latrine, I almost bumped into the two men who usually had a night shift at Sentry Point.

"Heading out?" I asked, although I already knew the answer since I usually took them around this time.

"Yes. Do you mind porting us?" one asked.

"Sure. Let's head to the second crystal. Calum and Derek are due back any moment, and I don't feel like being knocked over if I'm standing in the wrong spot."

That was stretching the truth more than a bit. We always appeared beside an obstacle, but it was possible to bump into others if several porters were using the same stone simultaneously, especially if we were towing passengers with us. The other crystal just so happened to be out of sight of Grant and the porters who knew I'd made a round trip ten minutes ago.

The sentries followed me to the crystal and held onto my shoulders as I murmured, "Sentry Point."

The location phrase slightly reduced the strain of porting after my recent trips. The two men on duty greeted us cheerfully.

"Give me ten," I said, taking a seat on the soft sand while the others happily settled down for a game of cards.

The normally-unneeded ritual was a welcome break. A tinge of discomfort in my chest warned me to take my time. If nothing else, I'd sleep well tonight.

Callie might have to jump on me in the morning to wake me up, which was something my five-year-old niece took far too much delight in. I wasn't a morning person, and that child seemed to rise with the sun.

After the game of cards, I ported the other pair back to the secondary crystal. The discomfort had disappeared during my rest but returned at double strength, sending aches up and down my arms and legs. My body was warning me that I was approaching my limits.

I walked to a nearby deer hide on the ground and sat down, breathing heavily simply from the exertion of porting. One of the sentries gave me a long look before leaving. I rolled my eyes and laid back on the furs, linking my hands behind my head as I counted down the minutes until Grant showed up.

For someone like Andre to breathe hard after porting was a daily occurrence. Me? Not with just two passengers. The handful of people keeping an eye on this crystal didn't try to start a discussion.

Belle arrived and rested on a different hide. She didn't need to sit after a solo port, but we were expected to rest after each jump. It wasn't worth the hassle of trying to walk to our rooms right away, not with all the worrywarts hanging around.

When footsteps came closer, I opened my eyes to see the woman from the water wagon carrying two bowls of soup.

I quickly sat up. "Oh, you didn't have to. I could have gotten it."

She passed me the large bowl. "You helped me, so fair's fair. By the way, I got the steam baths going."

"Thanks!"

Due to the lack of water here, we normally only had sponge baths, so a steam bath was a rare treat. We didn't bathe when we were out and about since it was too dangerous. Even fetching the water had risks, and very few crystals were near a clean water source that didn't dry up.

We could use the wells in abandoned villages but many had filled with sand over the years, and pulling that many heavy buckets hand-over-hand was a lot of work. If the Saursunes ever discovered how often we snuck into their lands to collect water, we'd be in a lot of trouble.

I savored my dinner. The soup was tasty, mainly comprised of plants and a nodding acquaintance with meat. I chased a final piece of dandelion root around the bowl contentedly. For the first time in a very long time, my stomach was completely full.

On the ledges above, the rarely used drying racks were graced with fish and thinly sliced meat. There wasn't enough to feed everyone tomorrow, of course, but any excess food was a huge relief. It was a weight off my shoulders, even if just for tonight. No one would go to bed hungry. No children would cry themselves to sleep.

I sighed in satisfaction. Nothing tore at my heart more than when my friends and family had to go hungry. Tomorrow it would start all over again, and my concern for them would goad me into leaving the safety of the village.

As I finished my last mouthful, Grant made his appearance and sat beside me. Instead of commenting on how I had sneaked away with the sentries, he went over his daily notes like he usually did. He summarized the day's events and once more cautioned me to avoid any location near a Saursune field.

As he flipped through his notebook, he paused and double-checked a few pages. "How many times did you port today?"

"Uh..."—I tallied up all my trips—"Sixteen times?"

He blinked at me as if suspecting a joke, then chuckled and shook his head. "I have no idea where you find that much energy."

No one else was nearby, so I grinned freely, secretly proud of my abilities, especially if I could use them without people realizing exactly how much I was doing. "Do you want to know about the water cart? Or how full those jars were?"

He gawked at me. "I thought she was going to ask Roxanne to help her with that?"

I laughed at his expression. "Well, she found me first!"

He shook his head again, whether in disbelief or because he was impressed at my accomplishment, I wasn't sure. He flipped through his notes contemplatively. "Things are going to get harder if the Saursunes start pressing in like they did today. Do you mind if I increase how many trips I send you on? I was keeping you around the ten-port mark to prevent other villages from noticing your abilities, but I have a feeling we're going to need those extra ports. Even transporting the water cart every day would let us plant a tiny garden here."

I blinked slowly, suddenly troubled. The only other time Grant had suggested something like this had been during the big drought, and even then, several had starved to death despite our best efforts.

"I'm always happy to help," I replied honestly. "I know I can manage twenty solo ports, so we can use that as a guide until we figure out what my limits are with passengers. Those big loads take their toll though, so we'll have to spread them out."

He made a few notes. "Just let me know when you start reaching your limits. Your regular group is still helping Briar Village, but there's a bunch of fruit tree seedlings that need to be planted at Fern Hills. After you plant those, you can check various locations to see which have the best pickings." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Just be sure to take proper breaks between ports."

I rolled my eyes in good humor. "Yes, Father."

He snorted but reached over to ruffle my hair. He always seemed touched when I teased him with the nickname. Grant had stepped into the role after my biological father had been killed by a pride of lions when I was eight. My mother had passed away from some sort of infection three years ago, shortly after my eighteenth birthday.

It reminded me that life was too short. And if the Saursunes were starting to use trackers again, the entire village was in danger.

*   *   *

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