She ran out the door, not even caring whether Daddy heard her thundering out in the middle of the night, whether he would worry. Let him worry. She had to find Kam before it was too late. Joshua had gone off in his van soon after he had brought the drums, but Kam had stayed till dusk. He was on foot. He would have gone back to his camp to get his things. Maybe—maybe there was still time. Of course it had to be a cloudy night, no light at all. No moon, no stars, just darkness with entirely too many hard objects in it. Trees. Roots and rocks to trip over. Obstacles, like ditches and drops and streams. Tess tried to go through the woods, but in the dark it was like combat. She had to retreat. Found the road and loped along on blind faith, figuring as long as her feet slapped down on asphalt she was okay, sobbing the whole time, barely able to breathe as she kept running. Every once in a while there was a farm with its security lights on so she knew where she was. But it was eerie quiet.
