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Lia my face The wrinkles in his brow smoothed out as he released a small breath of his own He took the water bottle and poured some water on the bandana he’d pulled out of his back pocket Slowly, tenderly, he wiped the blood and dirt fro the water bottle for a sip

"What happened?" he asked "Are you okay?

"I just" I couldn’t tell hi for days to find a way for us to slip away from the others when the time came to leave the city What little hate he carried in hiet us to leave tonight Or, worse, he ents off He’d never been able to guard his feelings the way Cole did They’d read him like the day’s newspaper and dispose of hi up the other kids "I just gotoverwheled in front of me

God I didn’t want to talk about these attacks, either I couldn’t, not even with him Then I’d have to talk about Jude, about what happened, about everything we hadn’t had the tis went to hell He seeone all day," he said "I was starting to get worried"

"It took a while to find so around being reckless"

"I didn’t say you were," Lia out"

"I didn’t think I had to"

"You don’t have to I’ This was hoas between us now Together, but not in the way that was io After I’d betrayed his trust so badly, I wasn’t sure it could be like that again And it didn’t help that I could feelback on the only way I kne to cope--wrestling with the thoughts inside ofthem there so they wouldn’t infect anyone else I’d carefully constructed this invisible wall between us, brick by brick, even as I hugged hiripped his hand in mine, kissed him

It was so selfish, I kneas, to take even thatback to himbut I needed him here I needed the presence of him at my back, at my side I needed to see his face and hear his voice and know that he was safe and I could protect hih each day

But it was is around Liasto start these conversations with me for days You aren’t responsible for what happened to Jude About what happened in the safe house

"Ruby, seriously, what happened?" he asked, his hands loose around my wrists

"Sorry," I whispered, because what else could I say? "I’m sorry I didn’t ’s going on I should have told you, but I had to leave in a hurry" And I knew you’d try to tell ot e needed I kno to get us out of here"

His lips coht line as he studied me Liam didn’t seem satisfied in the least with that answer, but he was all too willing to drop the topic in favor of another one "Does that mean we can finally talk about what coo" Especially not you

"We could look for erous to drive around ai for your mom and Harry, as it is to stay with the others?" I asked "This is our fightanted all along, remember? Colekids now--freeing the camps"

At least, it e had wanted while ere at East River Lia us all in the direction of getting the kids out of the rehabilitation programs Maybe it was foolish of me to hope that what had happened there wouldn’t affect his dreah, his eyes drifted over to the door down the hall that only Cole and I were allowed to enter, to the entsbefore they’re back to their own agendas?"

I tried not to wince Sooner than you think "This isn’t the League anymore"

"Exactly It could be worse"

"Not if we’re here to keep it froive it a little while? See what happens? If things head south we can get out, I pro elseI have to see if Cate and the othersfor us She has the flash drive of Leda Corp’s research on the cause of IAAN If we can put that infor ourselves, we’ll be helping every kid that comes after us"

He shook his head "I don’t want to , but what if there isn’t anything useful in the pages you fished out of the fire? For all the sense we can ht and it still wouldn’t make a difference to our lives I don’t want us to justattach ourselves to the idea of them in the hope that one day down the road it’ll make sense"