The sound of Austin retching had Cassidy's sympathies on a string. She couldn't see him in the darkness, could only make out a boulder near the path he had taken to be sick. “Are you okay?” she called.

A dark laugh made its way to her ears through the forest. “I think the poison is working.”

“Are you going to be able to walk?”

He didn't answer her immediately, and she feared they'd done this all for nothing. She swallowed hard against the dryness in her throat. “Austin?”

A dark shadow emerged near the boulder, slowly straightening to his full height. “I'm okay.” He walked toward her, his gait unsteady. “I think it's a good thing we waited until we were close to the compound before I took it.”

She could see his face now, glistening in the light from the clouded moon. She reached up and touched his forehead, finding it cold and wet. “I'm sorry you have to do this,” she whispered.

“I’m fine. Let's roll.”

They walked together the last quarter-mile, the lights from the compound coming into view in the distance. “Hang on a sec,” he said, doubling over and vomiting beside his feet.

The poison nettle he'd ingested was having the desired effect. He seemed terribly ill, sick enough that the others in The Community would want to take care of him, or so she hoped. She couldn't bear to think of what might happen if they turned him away. She’d have to go back in there herself and face David alone.

A shiver made her shoulders shimmy at the thought. David was bound to be angry with her for leaving, at the very least. Sometimes he was so kind, so forgiving. But others he was ruthless, his anger seeming to rise up from nowhere like a snake on the attack. If he was upset with her, she would know it. And God only knew what would happen then.

Maybe that's what happened to Julianne.

Maybe she made David angry. Maybe she'd even tried to escape, as Cassidy herself had.

You didn't try to escape. Austin took you.

That was true, but she had no intention of telling David about Austin's role in her disappearance. She would claim she had left of her own free will, using a pair of bolt cutters from the shed to cut through the chain-link fence. She and Austin had stayed up deep into the night planning even the minute details of their return to The Community. She knew what she had to say, she was just terrified of her believability when she said it.

She'd never been a very good liar.

Austin righted himself beside her and walked again, the smell of vomit putrid on the cold night air.

“You're sure that isn't going to kill you?”

“Nope. Didn't take enough. Just two leaves. I should be sick as a dog for the next two or three hours, and okay after that. Assuming I survive that long, of course.”

She hit his arm playfully. “That's not funny.” She could see the guard tower in the distance, and forced her feet to continue forward.

“You know what you need to say to them, right?”

She nodded. “This man needs help. I ran away because I was afraid of my feelings for David. I found you and you helped me, but I could tell right away you weren't doing well. You convinced me to come back here, but in the meantime your health deteriorated to the point where you became like you are now — high fever, severe nausea, shakes and chills.”

“Don't forget the headaches and the seizures.”

“You didn’t say anything about seizures.”

“I didn't want to scare you. They're coming.”

“Geez, Austin. What have you done to yourself?”

“I didn’t hear you coming up with any great ideas.”

They’d brainstormed for hours trying to find a way to get him into the compound strong and well, but in every scenario they imagined he’d be seen as a threat. This way, at least, he was bound to illicit their sympathy, even if that meant he’d be unable to help Cassidy while he was ill.

The effects of the poison nettle were intense but brief. All Cassidy had to do was keep herself safe during that time, which would be easy as long as David believed she was sincere about wanting to be part of The Community again, and part of his life in particular.

Beside her, Austin fell to the ground like a marionette whose puppeteer had dropped its strings. She gasped and knelt down beside him, suddenly certain he'd ingested too much of the poison. “Are you okay?” She touched his overheated face.

He was doubled over in pain, his knees drawn up to his chest, but he smiled sideways. “Looks like you're going to have to walk the last hundred feet without me, sweetheart.”

Genuinely worried now, she stood and started to jog. “I’ll get help.”

“Wait!” he called, making her turn around. “Walk. You don't want to scare the guy with a gun.”

“Jerome.”

“Whatever.”

“Right. Okay.” She forced her legs to walk at a normal pace, feeling stupid for her unthinking run. Austin was so calm and collected in the face of their deception, while she was half-panicked and the other half downright terrified.

The razor wire atop the fence was glinting like some macabre decoration.

You can do this. Austin needs you. Julianne needs you.

She was twenty feet from the gate. She yelled, “Help me, please!” but it came out as little more than a hoarse whisper. She raised her hands above her head in the classic sign for surrender, just like Austin had told her to do. She cleared her throat. “Help me, please!”

This time there was movement from the guard tower closest to her. A light whipped around the perimeter of the property, landing on her with a blinding beam, even in the waning daylight. She forced air into her lungs. “Please, help!”

She made her way to the fence and gripped the thick metal wires in her hands. She could hear footsteps, people running toward her, and another sound as well — familiar from TV and movies.

The metallic sounds of weapons being readied.

Oh, God, I’m going to die.

So is Austin.

She suddenly felt so responsible for that man. If it weren't for her, he wouldn't be here at all. What had she done by coming here in search of Julianne? She thought of her parents, so worried that they sent people to look for her. They must be so afraid for their only daughter. She should have known better. Told them the truth, or something besides just leaving without a word, assuming they wouldn’t check up on her.

“I'm sorry,” she whispered under her breath. She swiped at her cheek, surprised to realize she was crying. Three men jogged toward her, the one in the middle taller and lankier than the others. David.

“It's me, Cassidy.”

There was a hitch in his walk when she identified herself. Then he was in front of her and she was unable to read his features, everyone speaking at once in chaotic conversation through the fence. She hoped she looked like a traumatized and very sorry. “You have to help us, David.”

“Us?”

She gestured behind her to where Austin lay on the forest floor. “There's a man. He saved me. He brought me back to you. But he's sick, and I don't know how to help him.”

David snapped his fingers. “Let them in.”

The men beside him moved to the gate and she let her hand graze the thirty feet of fence that separated her from The Community. David walked beside her even as the others filed out, searching for Austin with bright lights, weapons drawn.

“Don’t hurt him!” she yelled.

She could feel the emotion coming from David. Was it anger? Fury? Or something else? She wondered what awaited her back inside. Then he took her in his arms, holding her tightly against his bony ribs, and she struggled to relax in his arms.

“I thought I'd lost you, Cassidy.”

He'd never called her by her first name without the term sister, and the difference could only signify a change in a relationship.

“I'm sorry. I was scared.”

He pulled her back from him, holding her at arm’s length. “Did he hurt you?”

She shook her head. “No. It wasn't like that. He helped me. Without him I probably wouldn't have made it through the night.” She looked at the others, clearly listening to the conversation. Brother Thomas glaring at her like the traitor she knew she was. “I was so stupid.”

David followed her stare. “Leave us, Brother Thomas. Tend to the man. We owe him a great debt for bringing Sister Cassidy home.”

“Where would you like us to put him?” asked Thomas.

Cassidy put her hand lightly on David’s shoulder. “Someplace I can help take care of him.”

“As you wish.” He raised his voice to be heard by the men. “Take him to my residence. Cassidy, too.”