Hawk, Abi, and Parker all glanced up as Teige approached--the latter two seemed surprised for a moment, having never seen Teige in human shape, but relaxed as Hawk returned Teige's grin.

The next morning dawned deep pink and misty, and found the trailer merging onto an empty highway. The trees they passed grew taller and taller as the day went by--the low dry scrub of palms and thin pines had been replaced by dark evergreens and the red-and-orange of leaves about to fall. The mountains on their left were getting higher as well.

The roads stayed empty through a sunny day and a rainy evening, and by the time dusk had set in and they were pulling off the road again, they still hadn't seen anyone. A sign at the highway exit had indicated that there was a campground here, but it turned out to be little more than a mulchy clearing in the evergreen trees with a few wooden benches with a fire pit in the middle.

They'd started a blazing fire in the pit and were still adding wood to it when two vehicles pulled into the campground, their headlights blinding--but it was just Kim and Aram, and behind them a van driven by a skinny tanuki and a werewolf taller than Hawk. They had, it turned out, brought pizza to share.