Wells took another step into the river, the cold water stinging his bare stomach. He gritted his teeth, dug his toes into the slippery mud, and kept going.

Next to him, Eric shivered, teeth chattering. On the other side, Kit, the Earthborn who’d been taken with them, walked into the water with a placid expression. Maybe he was more used to the frigid temperatures than the climate-controlled Colonists were. Down the line, Graham clenched his jaw as the river water splashed over his torso.

“You may stop there.” A musical voice rang out from the riverbank, and all the prisoners turned to face the compound. A row of armed, white-uniformed Protectors waited on the bank to ensure the prisoners’ cooperation in this “voluntary” ceremony. Behind them, the High Protector, Soren, stood on a stacked pile of rubble, gazing out like a benevolent goddess.

Soren had visited the barracks this morning, and Wells had been a little surprised to see a woman leading these brutal, violent people. It turned out all the key decision-makers here were female. The men were just the muscle who carried out their orders. When Soren had spoken to the “newest of our flock,” as she’d called the prisoners, she’d told them all about a ceremony they would participate in to cleanse them of their past transgressions. She’d seemed so reasonable, and the way she’d described this ceremony had sounded more benign than the reality of it; all the boys were shuddering in the frigid water, struggling to stay upright in the river’s rushing current.

Wells waited for Soren to issue the next set of instructions, but instead, maddeningly, she turned and motioned behind her, ushering another group of prisoners to the water’s edge.

This group was all female. Wells inhaled sharply, frantically scanning them. He remembered what the Protectors had said on the wagon about keeping “the best of your women,” but since he hadn’t yet laid eyes on them, he hadn’t dared picture who might have been taken.

There they were, shivering in identical sleeveless white shifts. Eight of the girls from the camp. His heart sank when he saw Lina and Octavia, and pain jolted through his chest when his eyes landed on Glass. His childhood friend had endured so much suffering already, and now here she was, facing what could be the most dangerous challenge yet. Luke must’ve been out of his mind with worry right now. Bellamy too. The girls looked unharmed, thank god. But knowing they were here, among these monsters, sent waves of pain through his chest.

Wells took a deep breath and willed his rage to subside. He would make sure his friends made it home. And if it turned out the Protectors had hurt anyone back at the camp, then Wells would make them suffer for it. But this was not the moment.

Glass caught Wells’s eye and stared at him in astonishment. He could read her face like a book. She was dismayed that he’d also been captured, but relieved that he was there with her. Afraid that it would all go terribly wrong.

The girls waded into the water with sharp intakes of breath. Wells tried to catch Octavia’s eye, but she didn’t turn, just stared ahead, her mouth set in a defiant grimace as she swished her arms in the river’s waves.

“You may stop there,” Soren said again, spreading her arms wide while the girls stopped a few yards ahead of Wells and turned to face her. “Welcome, new friends. It is such a blessing to have you all with us.”

Her voice was warm, and her expression kind. But Wells refused to let those details distract him from the fact that there was something seriously wrong with these people.

“Earth has wrought Her incredible work and brought you into our fold. You were raised in different communities than ours, under different customs.” She cast her eyes upward as if amused. “Some of you, as I understand it, have even come to us from the sky. We honor your backgrounds. But now it is time to wash them away and start again, as clean as the moment of your birth. When I release my arms,” Soren said, still holding them wide, “I would like you to submerge your heads under the water and rise again, anew.”

Her arms dropped. As commanded, Wells ducked under the icy shock of water. He opened his eyes, surprised by the sight of a fluorescent fish swimming by, then stood straight with a gasp, letting the river slough back off him.

“As your body is now cleaned, I ask you to wipe your minds clear as well,” Soren said, her gaze traveling over all of them. “Not of your education or your skills. Those are gifts from Earth Herself. Clear your mind instead of assumptions. Get rid of what you have always clung to as truth. Walk among us open-minded. Be a vessel into which Earth can pour Her wisdom, and you will be well on your way to serving as a true Protector, and a friend to this great community—the last and only empire, if Earth wills it.”

“If Earth wills it,” Wells repeated, along with everybody else. The more he looked like he was buying into this nonsense, the easier it’d be to earn their trust… and then use it against them.

“And now,” Soren said brightly, “we celebrate!” She smiled and motioned them out of the water, the young women first, and then the men.

Wells rubbed drips of water from his eyes until he could spot the gathering in the distance. There was a large grassy rectangular field just past the river’s edge lined with tables full of food and drink. As Wells waded out of the river, a small woman in a white dress offered him a cloth to dry himself.

“Thank you,” he said. She blinked in reply and scurried off.

Wells strolled through the gathering, peering down at the baskets piled with food, wondering which of it was plundered from his own camp. That bushel of bruised apples? The sweet potatoes? The rolls, made with someone else’s grains? Wells took one of each and wandered away from the tables, looking for Graham and Eric.

Wells found his gaze drawn back to the riverbank, where two girls were lingering, heads bent close as they talked. The blond one glanced nervously over her shoulder—it was Glass and Octavia. Whatever they were discussing, they weren’t being half as covert as they thought they were. The women in gray were watching them from the field.

Glass caught his eye and started to mouth something to him, but he shook his head. Instead, he smiled back dimly, using that same placid expression he saw on all the Protectors, then motioned for Glass and Octavia to join him.

He found a spot on a blanket near the compound walls and settled in with his food. A few minutes later, Glass and Octavia made their way over and sat down beside him. Wells had to force himself not to glare at the Protectors who watched their movements with appraising eyes.

“Are you all right?” Glass asked, leaning over to give him a quick hug.

“I’m fine,” he said. “Keep smiling.”

She did.

Octavia smiled too, but hers wasn’t half as convincing. “We’re leaving,” Octavia said through gritted teeth. “I saw some boats tied up by the river. Whenever we get the opportunity, we’re going to make a run for them.”

Wells could feel his pulse jump in his wrists, his stomach, his throat. He kept smiling. “When?”

Octavia’s fake smile vanished as she pressed her lips together into a determined line. “As soon as possible. Tonight maybe.”

“Hold on,” Wells whispered before craning his head to nod respectfully at a blond woman in a gray dress passing silently by. Once she was out of earshot, he took a bite of his apple, stretching his legs casually in front of him. “Whatever you’re thinking of doing, don’t do it. Not yet.”

Octavia’s eyes narrowed. “Why not?”

Glass answered for him. “It isn’t the right time yet.”

“Exactly,” Wells said, offering her a bite of apple. Glass shook her head politely and glanced away.

“Seems like a perfect time to me,” Octavia said, reaching out to claim the bite Glass had passed on. “There are boats tied up on the water right now. We can—”

“We can what?” Wells whispered quickly. The field was filling up fast and their window for chatting was closing. “Row away while they shoot at us?”

Octavia frowned, but he saw her considering.

“It could be the start of a plan,” he said patiently. “But we’ve got no weapons, no help, and they don’t trust us enough to let their guard down yet. Even if we were to get away, all the way back home, they’d just march straight back there and do the same thing they did before—only worse this time.”

“What are you thinking?” Glass asked quietly, pinching off a corner of the stale loaf of bread and rolling it between her finger and thumb.

“We’ll become Protectors,” Wells said. “All of us. Graham, Eric, Kit, and the other guys from our camp are on board. Talk to the other girls who were captured and spread the word. We do whatever it takes to make them trust us, to believe that we want to join them. Then, once they trust us and let their guard down, we’re out of here. That way, when we escape, it’ll be with our own weapons in our hands and a fighting chance of making it home.”

Octavia went quiet, and for a moment, Wells worried that she was going to argue with him, loudly, right here, surrounded by their enemies. Then she slowly nodded and peered up at him.

“The long game… okay, I’m with you, Jaha.”

Wells smiled, then glanced over at Glass, expecting to see her nodding in agreement. But she was staring into the distance, a strange expression on her face, one that, for the first time in their long friendship, he couldn’t quite read. He wondered if she was thinking about Luke… but no, it wasn’t that. There was no element of pain, just wistfulness.

“Glass? You on board with the plan?” Wells asked.

At the sound of her name, she startled and turned to him. “What? Yes, of course.”

A hint of something he did recognize flashed across her face. After so many years, and so many secrets, he could always tell when she was lying.