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understand, it was our only choice. I honestly couldn’t believe how long it worked. This community is so isolated. Few residents ever leave here.”
    “Flora’s sister Lisa moved to California last year.”
    “Yes, and we’ve covered her.”
    “Covered her?” I struggled to stand up quickly. “What does that mean? Did you kill her?”
    “Of course not! We’re just monitoring her contacts, making her think her mother and sister are fine.”
    “You’re mind-controlling her?”
    “Not specifically, but Prentiss, that’s what I needed to tell you. We’re leaving. It’s an enormous risk, but Cato said it’s more dangerous to stay.”
    Again I shivered. I couldn’t seem to stop. “You’re going to another planet?”
    “Yes. It’s why I wanted to come here one last time.” He looked down, and his energy seemed to fade. “You won’t remember any of this. And if you do, you’ll think it’s just a strange dream you had.”
    “I’ll forget? Everything? But what about the time loss? The two weeks?”
    “Incidents like this have occurred in the past. Collective time loss. Your people will make up some explanation for it.”
    I shook my head. “I don’t think this will work out as easily as you’re saying.”
    He shrugged, and his voice was sad. “Regardless, we’ll be light years away.”
    “So it’s not your problem?”
    He didn’t answer, and I started walking. This time I wasn’t going to stop. “I’ve got to think about this and figure out what to do.”
    “You don’t have to do anything. We’ll be gone in a matter of hours. A day at most.”
    I paused at a skinny tree and looked back. He stood there in his shorts, his palms facing me. “I would never hurt you,” he said. “I hope you know that. I hope you can understand.”
    “Understand what? That you’ve been treating us, treating me like an animal? Holding us like your cosmic playthings? Or worse. Acting like we have no rights or say in what happens.”
    “Remember that day when Bully was born, when I thought you might die?”
    The abrupt change in subject confused me, but I nodded. He took a step toward me, but I took a step back. He stopped and crossed his arms, placing his palms against his torso “It didn’t make sense, we’d only just met, but everything in me refused to believe it.”
    “Believe what?”
    “That I might never get to know you better. That it was all over that fast, and I’d only just scratched the surface. I couldn’t let that happen. I would not let you die.”
    I turned away, toward the camp. “Why are you telling me this?”
    “I just... wanted you to know.”
    “And in two days, I won’t remember it. I’ll forget you ever existed?”
    He looked down. “Knowing that, that you’ll never remember me...”
    We stood there for a moment, silent. Then he turned and started back to where his clothes and the pack still sat. I inhaled a shaky breath and headed toward the camp. By the time I reached the fence, I was crying.

Chapter 17
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    I t was almost time for dinner, and my damp clothes and swollen eyes were a sure sign that I’d been up to something. I wiped my tears away with my sleeve, but as I looked down, I saw the marks from my soaked boxers and tank that couldn’t be excused as sweat. It all added to my misery, but it was quickly forgotten when D’Lo stopped me mid-way across the yard. His dark face was strangely pale, and my sadness turned to fear as he grabbed my arm, quickly pulling me to the dorm.
    “I’ve been looking for you,” he said. “It’s Braxton. He went and did it. I don’t know how long it was before we found him.”
    “Did what? What happened?” My voice was breathless as I clutched his giant arm.
    “He went down to the perimeter, to the place where the big trees line the fence. He took his sheets and made a knot... Roxie found him hanging, but I got him down.”
    Pain exploded in my chest like a bomb, and I dropped to my knees on the grass.