HUNGER HAD BECOME A problem much sooner than Ethan had guessed it would. By the time his fourth day without food arrived, weakness and fatigue were plaguing him.
As usual, he’d walked all through the night. Since losing the flitter, he hadn’t seen any sign of sluglimpets or other nocturnal predators, but he’d nevertheless stuck to his plan of keeping moving during darkness. But by the time the sun had begun to rise that morning, he’d been barely able to stay upright. As soon as he could see its glow on the horizon, he allowed his trembling leg muscles to give way and he collapsed where he stood, lacking the energy to move any farther.
He lay on his stomach, his head turned to the side. The ever-present river surged past a few meters away. On the second day, the spindly, arch-rooted plant
