Chapter 26
Isika was thinking about Ben, stunned by his revelations of years of an inner life that was unknown to her, and she barely noticed they were getting close to the river until they rounded a curve in the path and suddenly there it was. Three canoes were pushed up on its bank.
She came to a halt beside Jabari.
"We're taking boats?" she asked.
He nodded. "To save time," he said. "We'll take the river nearly to the sea, then walk to the last place we knew they were, the boat marks that the Hadem told us about."
Two of the canoes carried three people, and the last one held four. Isika rode in the canoe that had four people; Jabari, Aria, Benayeem, and herself. The boat settled low in the water. Isika closed her eyes and dipped her hand in the river, feeling the sharp flame of lif
