“I’m healed.”

“Let me see.”

I stretched my left arm across my body, so he could see the tiny pink line.

He sucked in a surprised breath.

The blanket rustled; he sat up and then climbed through the space between the seats. He pushed the backpack out of the way, then pulled it onto his lap, testing its weight.

He looked up at me as we passed under a streetlamp, and he gasped.

“Your face!”

“It’s healed, too. Naturally.”

He raised one hand, holding it in the air near my cheek, unsure. “Does it hurt?”

“Of course not. It feels like nothing happened to it in the first place.”

His fingers brushed the new skin. It tingled, but that was from his touch. Then he was back to business.

“Did they suspect anything? Do you think they’ll call the Seekers?”

“No. I told you they wouldn’t be suspicious. They didn’t even check my eyes. I was hurt, so they healed me.” I shrugged.

“What did you get?” he asked, opening the drawstrings on the backpack.

“The right things for Jamie… if we get back in time…” I glanced at the clock on the dashboard automatically, though the hours it marked were meaningless. “And more for the future. I only took what I understood.”

“We’ll be back in time,” he promised. He examined the white containers. “Smooth?”

“Not a necessity. But I know what it does, so…”

He nodded, digging through the bag. He muttered the names to himself. “No Pain? Does it work?”

I laughed. “It’s amazing. If you stab yourself, I could show you… That’s a joke.”

“I know.”

He was staring at me with an expression I didn’t understand. His eyes were wide, like something had deeply surprised him.

“What?” My joke hadn’t been that bad.

“You did it.” His tone was full of wonder.

“Wasn’t that the idea?”

“Yes, but… I guess I didn’t really think we were going to make it out.”

“You didn’t? Then why…? Why did you let me try?”

He answered in a soft almost-whisper. “I figured it was better to die trying than to live without the kid.”

For a moment, my throat was choked with emotion. Mel was too overcome to speak as well. We were a family in that one instant. All of us.

I cleared my throat. No need to feel things that would only come to nothing.

“It was very easy. Probably any of you could get away with it, if you acted naturally. She did look at my neck.” I touched it reflexively. “Your scar is too obviously homemade, but with the medicines I took, Doc could fix that.”

“I doubt any of us could act so natural.”

I nodded. “Yes. It’s easy for me. I know what they expect.” I laughed briefly to myself. “I’m one of them. If you trusted me, I could probably get you anything in the world you wanted.” I laughed again. It was just the stress fading, making me giddy. But it was funny to me. Did he realize that I would do exactly that for him? Anything in the world he wanted.

“I do trust you,” he whispered. “With all our lives, I trust you.”

And he had trusted me with every single human life. His, and Jamie’s, and everyone else’s.

“Thank you,” I whispered back.

“You did it,” he repeated in wonder.

“We’re going to save him.”

Jamie is going to live, Mel rejoiced. Thank you, Wanda.

Anything for them, I told her, and then I sighed, because it was so true.

After reattaching the tarps when we reached the wash, Jared took over the driving. The way was familiar to him, and he drove faster than I would have. He had me get out before he pulled the car into its impossibly small hiding place under the rock slide. I waited for the sound of rock against metal, but Jared found a way in.

And then we were back in the jeep and flying through the night. Jared laughed, triumphant, as we jolted across the open desert, and the wind carried his voice away.

“Where’s the blindfold?” I asked.

“Why?”

I looked at him.

“Wanda, if you wanted to turn us in, you had your chance. No one can deny that you’re one of us now.”

I thought about that. “I think some still could. It would make them feel better.”

“Your some need to get over themselves.”

I was shaking my head now, picturing our reception. “It’s not going to be easy, getting back in. Imagine what they’re thinking right now. What they’re waiting for…”

He didn’t answer. His eyes narrowed.

“Jared… if they… if they don’t listen… if they don’t wait…” I started talking faster, feeling a sudden pressure, trying to get him all the information before it was too late. “Give Jamie the No Pain first-lay that on his tongue. Then the Inside Clean spray-he just has to inhale it. You’ll need Doc to -”

“Hey, hey! You’re going to be the one giving the directions.”

“But let me tell you how -”

“No, Wanda. It’s not going to go down that way. I’ll shoot anyone who touches you.”

“Jared -”

“Don’t panic. I’ll aim low, and then you can use that stuff to heal ’em back up again.”

“If that’s a joke, it’s not funny.”

“No joke, Wanda.”

“Where’s the blindfold?”

He pressed his lips together.

But I had my old shirt-Jeb’s raggy hand-me-down. That would work almost as well.

“This will make it a little bit easier for them to let us in,” I said as I folded it up into a thick band. “And that means getting to Jamie faster.” I tied it over my eyes.

It was quiet for a time. The jeep bounced along the uneven terrain. I remembered nights like this when Melanie had been the passenger…

“I’m taking us right to the caves. There’s a place the jeep will be fairly well hidden for a day or two. It will save us time.”

I nodded. Time was the key now.

“Almost there,” he said after a minute. He exhaled. “They’re waiting.”

I heard him fumbling beside me, heard a metal clank as he pulled the gun from the backseat.

“Don’t shoot anyone.”

“No promises.”

“Stop!” someone shouted. The sound carried in the empty desert air.

The jeep slowed and then idled.

“It’s just us,” Jared said. “Yes, yes, look. See? I’m still me.”

There was hesitation from the other side.

“Look-I’m bringing the jeep in under cover, okay? We’ve got meds for Jamie, and we’re in a hurry. I don’t care what you’re thinking, you’re not going to get in my way tonight.”

The jeep pulled forward. The sound changed and echoed as he found his cover.

“Okay, Wanda, everything’s fine. Let’s go.”

I already had the pack on my shoulders. I got out of the jeep carefully, not sure where the wall was. Jared caught my searching hands.

“Up you go,” he said, and lifted me over his shoulder again.

I wasn’t as secure as before. He used only one arm to hold me. The other must have had the gun. I didn’t like that.

But I was worried enough to be grateful for it when I heard the running footsteps approaching.

“Jared, you idiot!” Kyle shouted. “What were you thinking?”

“Ease up, Kyle,” Jeb said.

“Is she hurt?” Ian demanded.

“Get out of my way,” Jared said, his voice calm. “I’m in a hurry. Wanda’s in perfect shape, but she insisted on being blindfolded. How is Jamie?”

“Hot,” Jeb said.

“Wanda’s got what we need.” He was moving fast now, sliding downhill.

“I can carry her.” Ian, of course.

“She’s fine where she is.”

“I’m really okay,” I told Ian, my voice bouncing with Jared’s movement.

Uphill again, a steady jog despite my weight. I could hear the others running with us.

I knew when we were through to the main cavern-the angry hiss of voices swelled around us, turning into a clamor of sound.

“Out of my way,” Jared roared over their voices. “Is Doc with Jamie?”

I couldn’t make out the answer. Jared could have put me down, but he was in too much of a hurry to pause for that second.

The angry voices echoed behind us, the sound constricting as we entered the smaller tunnel. I could feel where we were now, follow the turns in my head as we raced through the junction to the third sleeping hall. I could almost count the doors as they passed me invisibly.