I turned to look up.
The line of flares continued their lofty descent at a not-so-far-away distance from the one Rob had launched above us. Without another word, he walked toward the embankment. It felt like someone had flipped my stomach inside out and pinned it to the interior of my throat. Between the flares, a vague reference to my parents' past, and the somehow super-secret-but-not-secret organization, which Rob, Sam, and now I were a part of. It felt like a spark had caught on a proverbial fuse. Like the pressure fitting of a Pod Lock close to a breach, something was about to go bang in my brain, and I couldn't take it anymore.
I hustled after him.
“Rob! Hang on...what about my mother? What about everything we were just talking about?! You can’t just leave something like that unanswered.”
Rob didn't stop. Instead, he scaled up the side of the embankment as easily as if he were navigating a ladder. I goggled up at him in complete surprise as he directed his voice back down toward me. “If you want any answers, you won’t find any if we’re caught.”
I eyed the muddy slope warily as Sam approached me from behind.
My voice was far squeakier than I wanted it to sound. "Do you know what all of this is about?!” I asked, fully expecting a snarky response in return.
Except it didn't come.
She paused. Her eyes followed the mud that sluiced toward us as she genuinely mulled over my question.
“Nope,” she said, “and it's not my place to tell anyway. You're going to have to wait for Rob.”
"Move you two." Rob's voice said hidden above. "We've got little time and much to do."
With a sudden burst of movement, Sam leaned forward and loped easily up the side. While it might have lacked the flair of Rob’s rapid ascent, it was still far better than any attempt I'd be able to muster.
Glumly, I looked upward as she twirled on the spot to look down at me.