Escape from Endeavor by Daniel A. Jones

  ***

  Thomas thought he heard something but it was so faint it had to be far away. The rest of the group wanted to stop and make camp for the night but he was determined to push on for at least another hour. It might be dangerous alone in the woods at night, but with a large group he knew nothing short of a bear was going to come anywhere near them. The only reason he would even consider allowing them to stop was the fact it was getting harder and harder to find Leo and Jed’s trail.

  “I think I saw a fire up ahead,” Mystique whispered, appearing stealthily next to Thomas a few minutes later.

  Thomas didn’t like or trust her but her night vision seemed to be better then everyone else’s, so he signaled for everyone to stop. “How far ahead, and did you see anyone?”

  “It’s about a hundred-fifty yards up the trail. I didn’t get close enough to see anyone. I didn’t want to risk them seeing me before the rest of you knew about it,” she said.

  “Good thinking, now I want you to sneak up as close as you can and find out whose fire it is. We’ll wait ten minutes and then start coming up.”

  Mystique slid back into the darkness and was gone. Thomas tried to watch her as she slipped away, but lost sight of her before she’d gone ten feet. A shiver crawled down his spine. He definitely did not like that girl. Thomas turned and walked to where the rest of the group had huddled together. They were happy to hear about the fire; it meant they had either caught up to Leo and Jed or Angelica and Daemon. One way or the other, they weren’t going much farther tonight.