THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

preparing to fight a battle.
    He pushed up on his arms, sharp breaths squeezing out between clenched jaws. I could swear embarrassment skittered across his face before his eyes hardened and he snapped, “Have you no brain?”
    “Evidently not, because I try to save you from being attacked and end up catching the devil for it.”
    The surprise on his face was comical. “Save me? From a dallymoth?”
    “Moth? Aren’t those like butterflies? That thing’s no moth. I saw teeth and claws.”
    He growled another dark word I didn’t catch. “Teeth for eating insects with hard shells and claws for grabbing branches as it flies around spinning thread...which we use for weaving. You frightened it so badly I bet the thing doesn’t make a strand of thread to harvest for another week. Do you have to kill everything that helps us survive?”
    My face heated so fast I had to be glowing red with humiliation. I shot back at him, “I only meant to protect you. Wasted energy on my part.” 
    My answer must have stalled his brain because he stared at me slack-jawed.
    I’d have laughed at his expression if I could find one thing funny about this situation. “Get off me.”
    Now he looked embarrassed. Good.
    He shoved up to his feet, stood there a minute debating something, then offered his hand.
    I slapped it away and struggled to a standing position. “How am I to know what’s dangerous or not in this place? You got a book or a list of things not to kill?” 
    Callan had no answer to that. He just stared at me for several long seconds then lifted the spear and turned back to whatever trail he followed.
    “Is there a problem?” Zilya called out, coming back to us, her eyes a deep purple with intensity.
    I watched Callan’s face for a sign of how he’d explain this. Depending on the way he answered, I could end up with my wrists bound again...or worse.
    He waved off Zilya. “A dallymoth frightened her.” 
    Etoi roared with laughter. “Our youngest children don’t fear dallymoths.” 
    I narrowed my eyes at Callan who ignored me, his don’t-cross-me mask back in place. By the time I’d dusted myself off, Zilya and Etoi were waiting for us.
    Etoi kept a sly eye on Callan, whose curt voice made it clear he blamed me for this delay, which improved her mood significantly. Especially when Callan stepped over to me and dropped his voice to a menacing level. “The sky is changing faster. Hold us up again and I’ll leave you staked until we return.”
    I held up my hands. “Just a mistake.”
    “Don’t make one when we reach the transender,” he warned. “If you cause us to lose a child, I’ll kill you myself and leave what’s left for the croggle.”
    Just when I thought we might have reached a friendly understanding, but no. “I won’t let anything hurt a child.”
    Whether Callan believed me or not was yet to be seen, but I saw something in his gaze that hinted at a change in spite of his cold voice.
    That he might truly believe I’d tried to protect him.
    If so, that had to fly in the face of my being a tek-nah-tee. Didn’t it? But it probably also rubbed for any girl to protect a warrior such as Callan.
    What had he said? That he would not be tricked by his enemy again. In that case, I might be reading more into his reactions than was there.
    This time, Callan set a faster pace.
    I jogged in step behind him, waiting for Etoi and Zilya to pull ahead once more as they had last time. Over roots, around trees growing thicker, beneath leaves everywhere. Easy to get lost in a matter of minutes.
    When Callan gave a hand signal with two fingers, Zilya split off to the left with Etoi. Callan spoke over his shoulder to me in a whisper. “Follow me. Do not make noise.”
    “What’s happening?”
    “Don’t make noise means to keep your mouth closed.” 
    I mimicked him silently behind his back at his snippy tone and whispered, “I can’t help you unless I understand what’s going on.”
    He looked up at the changing sky for answers to his silent questions and hissed.
    I started to ask what now, but saw the green stripes whipping across the sky like giant brush strokes.
    Callan started running. “The sky’s changing faster than before.”
    “What does that mean?”  I jumped over downed trees, chasing after him. “Why’d you split up from the others?”
    He answered in a low voice sharp with impatience. “The sky stripes when the transender arrives to deliver children and sometimes scouts. Our teams