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under the porch. They cursed even louder when they got around the cabin and didn’t find us there. As we hid under the porch, Daniel whipped a stone into the woods. Antone and Moreno took off, with Antone shouting for the others to go back for my grandmother.
    Three days in the Vancouver Island wilderness hadn’t made Moreno any better at moving quietly through the woods. When he wasn’t thundering across hard earth or crashing through the undergrowth, he was cursing. As we waited there, listening and tracking them, I relaxed, and as soon as I did I lost consciousness.

FIVE

    â€œM AYA?”
    I looked at my paw. Not a paw. A human hand. I lifted my head, blinking, then remembered.
    â€œGrandma!” I said.
    Daniel clapped a hand to my mouth. “I heard them talking. They’re going to put her in her studio. They figure she’ll wake up and think she had a dream. She’s fine.”
    â€œOh.”
    My fingers dug into the ground as I struggled against the first prickle of tears.
    â€œI know,” he whispered. “But she’ll know the truth as soon as we can manage it. Better for now if she thinks it was a dream.”
    He was right, of course. At least the Nast team didn’t plan to haul her away and lock her up.
    Corey whispered, “I think the other two are gone. Your, uh, father and that guy. Can you hear anything?”
    I started to rise up on all fours and felt a chill. I glanced down. I was lying on my stomach. Without clothing.
    â€œYep, you’re naked,” Corey said, with a ghost of his usual grin. “Don’t worry, I’m saving all my skeevy comments for later.”
    â€œThanks.”
    I realized then that there was something on my back, covering me down to my butt. Daniel’s sweatshirt. It was too tight under the porch to put it on me, but he’d stretched it over my back.
    I let out a soft sigh of relief and looked over at him. “Thank you.”
    A quirk of a smile. “Anytime. Corey? Keep your eyes on the forest while she puts that on.”
    â€œSeriously? You’re going to rob me of the one ray of light in—Oww.”
    I crawled from under the porch and pulled on the shirt. Everything was silent. The scents I detected were very faint. Moreno and Antone had passed through the woods and carried on. We had to get moving before they came back.
    I found my clothing and got my jeans and shoes on, saving the rest until we were farther away. Antone might be my father, but he wasn’t on my side, no matter what he said. My biological mother had run away from the experiment before I was born, along with my twin brother. I didn’t remember either—she’d abandoned me shortly after my birth and had kept my brother. I was still dealing with that. I was still dealing with a lot.
    We carefully made our way back to the ferry docks. The last one had departed. Corey suggested stealing a boat. We could do it—he was an excellent boater. But it was too risky—they’d be watching for a small craft making a hasty exit. Through otherwise empty waters. Better to hole up in a stretch of woods and wait for the morning ferry.
    First we found a park with a washroom. We did break into that—we had to. Then we cleaned up as best we could and found a safe place to spend the night.
    We waited for the second ferry the next morning. We’d bottlenecked ourselves on the island. There was only one way off. Antone would know that. So he’d expect us to be on that first ferry.
    When the time came, we sent Daniel to get the tickets. He had a sixth sense for danger. It wasn’t perfect, but benandanti were mainly demon-hunters and Moreno was a half-demon. Meanwhile I’d be downwind, on full alert.
    After Daniel got the tickets, we stayed hidden in the forest waiting for the departure time. The ferry dock was basically slabs of cement plunked down in the wilderness. A couple of buildings. A parking lot. A long pier.