The road shimmered like it had been hammered flat from heat and stress.
Zubair kept the Hummer steady, one hand on the wheel, the other resting near the gear shift. The sound of tires on baked asphalt was the only rhythm left in the world.
Sera sat in the front passenger seat with the window half-open. Warm air pressed against her face and tangled the ends of her hair as they danced around her.
The air tasted faintly metallic, like the inside of an old coin. Behind her, Lachlan's boots thudded now and then against the seat, Elias had a map open across his knees, and Alexei watched the horizon through half-lidded eyes.
Luci slept in the cargo space, massive and silent, his breath rising in long, even waves.
Something round and brown bounced across the road ahead of them.
