Seconds after the Teacher had finished speaking, the clearing around the throne lay deserted. The show had simply melted away. Only Kanitha, Maier, and the boy who had returned with their clothes remained. Their captor waved them to follow, away from the river, deeper into the jungle.
“What do you think?” Kanitha whispered. Maier detected no fear in her question, only curiosity. What a girl.
He wasn’t quite sure why, but he smiled at her reassuringly and answered, “I think we will be able to make a deal. I suspect it might cost a bit, but we will get out of here alive. If they wanted to kill us, they would have done so already. And anyway, this guy is just a stooge.”
“He is?” she asked with obvious doubt in her voice.
The detective slowed to create some distance between them and the bo
