Thomas felt just the way he did when he’d watched too much television—cranky, jumpy, overtired. He knew very well he couldn’t be trudging through the heat and dust of some awful future time and place. But he was, and with Dorian and Levi on either side of him. With Justice hidden, Thomas realized he was now the leader of Dorian and Levi. He was the one they would depend on, and he cautioned himself to stay alert. And yet the dreamlike pace they kept, the sameness of the packen, was hypnotic. No matter where Thomas looked, he saw another Siv, another Glass and Duster. It got monotonous, but it was oddly exciting, too. Thomas scanned the minds of the group. The Glass ones’ keenest thoughts were their trust in and protection of the leaders, Thomas discovered. Leggens ones tended toward moodiness. They were all aloof, independent and as highstrung as runners could be. Thomas envied Duster’s position of high esteem given him by his trip and his packen and, he supposed, even by the other roamer packens.
