Chapter 14“People keep looking back,” Zach said quietly to Adam as they ate lunch.
Adam frowned. “What? At us?”
“No, they keep looking back down into the basin, at Arius.”
They’d climbed high enough that the basin spread out below them like a map. This morning, Zach had seen a lot of people looking back down at it.
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Adam said. “It’s natural. The climb’s getting harder.” The grass under their feet had grown thin, the vegetation sparse. There were no more trees. Soon they’d be walking—and sleeping—on rock.
“The novelty has worn off,” Zach said, thinking of what Simon has said about Amina and her routine. “Especially for the children.”
“Yeah. Kids don’t mind an impromptu holiday from school for a couple of days, but now they’re missing home.”
“If we’d just h
