We drove for a long time without saying very much. I think we were all in shock; conversation felt improper. Mel waited for some sort of message from Old Lisa, but he never responded to her call, and that worried them. I couldn't say what they were thinking, but I felt sure that the Circuit had gotten him, too. Part of me feared that they'd killed anyone who had helped me, maybe Bodie, too. But then I told myself I wasn't that important. Why would they have done all that just for me? I couldn't figure out their game. If they'd wanted to be rid of me, why was I still alive? Why take the risk that I would keep going, figure things out? All I could figure was that they wanted me to suffer before they caught me. Would I find other dead bodies along the way to Oliphant?

My head hurt. When daylight came, I began to feel sick. The place where the needle had been in my temple throbbed, and the pulling sensation I'd recognized as we'd moved farther from the Circuit base grew worse. It was a bizarre discomfort more than any real pain, but I worried that maybe whatever Bodie had given me was making me ill. Maybe my system was rejecting it. Or worse--maybe he'd given me something to mess me up. Maybe he'd tricked me. And then every time I thought of Slim's staring, blood-ringed eyes or the damage my hand had felt . . . nausea threatened. So when Ella pulled into a fast-food restaurant around one or two and parked the car, I knew I'd throw up if I tried to eat anything.

The day had grown sunny and warm enough; we had about another hour to go, so I told Ella that she and Mel should actually go in and sit down for a minute. I knew Ella was tired from driving. They were hesitant to leave me, but the place was empty enough that I didn't feel afraid, and the gun was in the glove compartment. But they were still reluctant, so they met me halfway: they went in to order, and then they brought the food back to the car and sat in it and ate.

"Now," Ella said, settling back into her driver's seat (Mel was in the passenger seat, and I was in the back). "We don't have far. We're starting to get out into the middle of nowhere, if you hadn't noticed." She gestured with the hand that wasn't holding food. My eyes followed her motion and took note of the fields and then trees that surrounded the parking lot. "But it's daylight, and since we're going to sneak in, I think we need to wait until it's dark."

"This isn't going to work," Mel sighed. I couldn't see her face, but I heard the tears in her voice. I wondered how long she'd kept that thought in her head—the whole drive, probably. "Obviously, someone knows what we're doing." She placed her meal on her lap and looked down. "What happened at the house . . . whoever did that, they probably saw us leave. And I bet they know we're here and what we're trying to do. If they got Old Lisa, they have to be watching us. Or Nadia, at least. There's no way they'll just let us wander into that place. They'll probably be waiting for us."

Peevishly, Ella replied, "Well what do you expect us to do, Melissa? We can't just go back to the house! Not now! And—"

"We should've gone to the police! We should've told them what was happening!"

"Oh, yeah right," Ella hissed. "They wouldn't know what to do. All they'd see is a murder victim on our lawn and an convict in our house!" She turned to me. "Sorry, Nadia. Nothing personal."

"I'm not offended." I said quietly, and both girls were suddenly looking at me. "But I agree with Ella. I don't know whose side the cops are on, but they won't be on mine."

"But you don't know that," Mel said gently, as if afraid she'd hurt my feelings by disagreeing. "Did you ever talk to them?"

I shook my head. "But we have to think about this. Your brother was obviously taken in by the police and tried by the same system that accused him of killing your father. I don't think that Jason was entangled with the people Henry and I are, or his mind would probably have been erased. Still, I'm thinking these people we're dealing with have a lot of power—a lot more than I know. I haven't told you much about it, because I don't know a lot, and I also don't want to endanger you if I can avoid it. But there's basically a crime ring running in San Judo, and they're far-reaching. I know they cut deals with Oliphant, and they probably have crooked police officers working with them. I'd bet money that they messed up your brother's trial. They probably paid or threatened people to keep them quiet--maybe even Jason. They might have told him they'd hurt you if he didn't cooperate . . . I don't know. All I can say is that if they have the kind of power I think they do, they're pulling strings in a lot of different places." I shook my head distractedly and turned to look at the fields. There was a comfort in those sunny, grassy expanses; after all, Henry and I had traveled through them after escaping Oliphant. He'd given me those blue flowers in a field. His fingers had brushed my hand, and I was sure I'd felt something--but thinking of that moment hurt. I might never have another like it. No chance to find out if I'd only imagined it.

The girls were quiet. I knew they were thinking about what I'd said, and they probably believed me. Unless I could tell for certain that the police weren't working for or being played by the Circuit, it wasn't worth the risk of going to them.

"Oh no!" I suddenly remembered something. "I totally forgot about Mac!"

"Who?" the sisters asked simultaneously.

"The kid I came to your place with. He—well, Ella, you didn't see him. He ran off when you came out of the house. He was too nervous to go inside with me." I couldn't believe how easily I'd forgotten him, but I was more surprised at my forgetfulness than I was remorseful for it. Then I thought about Slim, though, and my concern for Mac intensified. I hoped the Circuit hadn't hurt him.

"If he'd wanted to come in," Elise said, "he could have."

"I know," I replied. "He was clever. I'm sure he ran off to go do his own thing." I tried to reassure myself; Slim's body didn't arrive until hours after Mac had disappeared. He was probably fine.

I was so glad to be with these two. I didn't know what I'd be doing without them. Their company alone was enough to give me hope, and the sunlight on top of that was like icing on the cake. The sisters ate in relative silence, chatting with each other about things in their own lives every once in a while. I lay on the back seat, basking in the warmth, and thought of Henry. I thought of his eyes, the translucent of them--somewhat like my own, I thought. I thought of his defined features, and his slender height. I thought mostly, though, of his determination, and I wished he were with me to make decisions. My mind just wasn't adequate; I didn't have the intelligence to put this puzzle together. I just hoped that I could help, the way I believed Henry would try to help me, if our situations were reversed. But it was more than that, too. I was drawn to him. I didn't believe my mind or heart were making that up. I felt deep within that Henry was--was supposed to be near me. It was difficult to rationalize, but I was sure I was right.

The warmth of the leather seat, the brightness all around me, the mellow golden thoughts of Henry . . . before I knew it, I was somewhere very different. Somewhere dark, and damp. Someone was with me, but I couldn't sense who, and then the person was gone, and I was alone. The black solidified--a street sign, a wall (had I climbed it?), streetlights glimmering on wet pavement, and then, as murky as everything else was, clear as day a gunshot cut through all the rest, shattering any sense of complacency, and I was off the wall and running--

I sat bolt upright, so quickly that it startled the other two. They questioned me. "I'm fine--I'm all right." I gathered my wits, eyes wide. "I--I think I remembered something. A gunshot--I heard it! It was so real . . ."

Ella jumped up and fully turned around in her seat. "Where were you? What did you see?"

I tried to remember. "Nothing much. I'm sorry, I--it was just an alley, maybe. And the sound. It--" My shoulders slumped. "It wasn't a lot. I'm sorry. But if it were real, I must have been nearby. I am connected to some sort of shooting. I knew it!"

The sisters were less excited than I was. Mel smiled weakly at me. "Well, do you think more will come?"

Bodie had said one memory, but I hoped he'd meant one full memory. If this were all the drug did, it really hadn't been worth it. But I didn't want to dampen their spirits any more. "Maybe. I'm sure it will. Give it time." I forced a smile.

Ella gathered her and her sister's trash and got rid of it. When she returned to the car, we discussed what we should do, next.

I knew that the only way I could possibly sneak into Oliphant was to go in the way I'd come out, and I explained that to them. I thought aloud for my sake as much as theirs, describing how when Henry and I had escaped, we hadn't climbed any fence or gate around the property. The pipe we'd come out of had to have been well past the walled property. I remembered seeing Oliphant from the pipe—we'd probably been about a mile away from it. And we'd been on flat land—no trees until we'd walked a long way. So I figured that as Ella, Mel, and I approached Oliphant, once we were close enough to see the building sticking up off the horizon, I should get out of the car and walk a wide perimeter, hoping that once I got there, I'd regain a sense of what the place looked like.

Ella, no longer dressed in her tennis outfit but in leggings and an oversized sweatshirt, opened her purse and retrieved a lipgloss, which she used liberally. "Well, we're going to go with you, so we can hopefully park the car on the side of the road without arousing any suspicion."

"No," I insisted, causing her to pause mid-gloss. "The two of you would just slow me down. I don't mean that in a rude way, but really—three people move slower and are more obvious than one is. Plus, the pipe wasn't all that big, and it was pretty gross." I had Mel at "gross."

"Then what should we do? I don't just want to be your chauffeur. This is about our brother." Ella was on the verge of annoyance. I wondered if she tended toward a quick temper, like Jason did.

I pursed my mouth in thought. "I understand. I think that the best thing you can do is keep their attention off of me. After you let me out, maybe you can actually go up to the gate of Oliphant, maybe yell and shout about wanting to see your brother. Honk your horn, try to climb the gate--whatever you need to do."

"You mean a diversion?" asked Mel, climbing over her seat and sitting in back with me.

"Exactly. That way, it'll buy me time to try to get in. And if I do get in, and I set off some alarm, they might believe that you were the ones who did it." I sighed, closed my eyes momentarily. "They were so tight on security that I have no idea whether I'll be able to do anything."

"You will," said Mel comfortingly, putting her hand on mine. "I can just feel it. Big things are going to happen tonight. Good things."

I didn't feel so certain, but I kept my mouth shut.

A few hours later, with the afternoon sun pushing west, we finally decided to head out. We'd just sat in that parking lot and napped and talked--well, mostly the two of them talked and looked at their phones. In any case, when we couldn't wait any longer, we figured it was time to go, but just as we were beginning to pull out onto the main road, a thumping from behind caught both my and Mel's attention. At first, it was hard to understand what exactly was happening, but when we felt the seat behind us vibrate with a second thump, we raised our eyebrows at each other and Mel cried out to her sister to stop the car.

Ella immediately just jerked to a stop. We were sticking out halfway onto the road, but there weren't any cars out. She turned around in her seat. "What?! What is it?"

Mel looked at her sister with wide, frightened eyes. Mouthing the words, she said, "Something's back there," and motioned behind her toward the trunk.

For some reason, the first thing that came to my mind was that it was Slim's body. I knew that was a ridiculous notion, so I shoved aside the image of his blood-smothered face and limp body. I remembered that whatever was in there had moved, probably kicked the back of our seat; it was definitely alive."You don't have a dog or anything, do you?" I asked hesitantly.

"What do you mean there's something back there?" Ella cried after reversing the car back into the parking lot. She didn't want to believe us.

"Something kicked the seat!" I wasn't quiet, this time. I was frustrated, and I was tired of being afraid. We were wasting time. I unbuckled my seatbelt and climbed out, not even bothering to use the door. I went to the back of the car. "Open the trunk," I called to Ella. Both girls just stared at me in shock. "Go on," I repeated, gesticulating impatiently. "Just open the trunk!" I heard it click unlocked. It didn't pop up right away; I'd have to open it myself. And I definitely was scared, for as brave as I was acting. But I'd been through so much in the past few days that I was beginning to feel impetuous. I was in danger of doing stupid things, like opening a trunk with an unknown creature inside it. There was no time for caution. So, putting my shaking fingers under the rim of the trunk, I took a deep breath and quickly yanked it upward.

What was in there was certainly not a dead body--it was a very alive body. It was Mac, and he was looking at me as if he were the surprised one.

"What are you doing back here?" I cried, relieved to see his startled self.

From the way he looked, I figured he hadn't expected us to find him just yet. He was lying sideways amidst some random junk and a spare tire but started to maneuver around it when he saw me. "Geez! Do you have to go around scaring people like that? Geez. You gave me a heart attack!" He was panting as if he actually had just had a heart attack.

"How did I scare you? You're the one stowing away in people's cars. How long have you been back there?" I reached out my hands and helped pull him out of the trunk and onto the ground.

He was shaking. "Since I saw those freaky guys sneaking around the yard."

My face fell. "Freaky guys? When?"

Mac gulped as if he were preparing himself for a long speech. "Those guys, they--look. After you went in there, I sat and waited for you to come out. And I just fell asleep in some bushes. And then I woke up and saw these big guys sneaking on the lawn, and I started getting scared. So when I saw them go by, I ran to the garage and hid myself in the trunk. They were some big, freaky guys! And they were carrying something big and heavy."

"Slim," I breathed out. So there definitely had been Circuit members at the house. Mac had seen them. I turned my gaze back to him, because I'd been staring off into space. "It was lucky for you that you got into the trunk and ended up with us! Otherwise, you'd still be back at the house!"

"Yeah," nodded Mac. "Yeah. That was good, you know what I mean?" He was quiet for a minute, and I wondered at his good luck. Then he asked, "Where are you all going, anyhow? Running away?"

"Running? No. No more running, Mac."

He frowned. "So where, then?"

"Where? You'll see." I took his arm. "I'm so glad you're back. Maybe you can help me. Come on up front; I'll introduce you to the girls. They're Mrs. Hines's daughters. I know their brother; can you believe that? So much has been happening, and then . . . those freaky guys . . . Mac—they were . . ." I decided not to tell him about Slim. Not yet. He didn't need to know, didn't need any more reason to be more scared than he already was. He'd been such a comfort to me as I roamed through San Judo, and now I had the chance to do something for him; I'd keep that terrifying image out of his mind. "Anyway, come on and meet them."

I pulled him into the car with me and the sisters, both of whom were surprised but happy to see a child instead of some malevolent being. I explained what had happened to Mac,. and because I'd already mentioned him being at the house, they accepted his story without any qualms. Once we were all settled back into the car and everyone was feeling a bit more at ease, Ella took off down the road toward Oliphant, and even though Mac asked several times where we were headed, I refused to tell him just yet, replying only with, "You'll know soon enough."