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"Youat me now

"Hey, don’t put me in the middle of this," I said "You know the deal, Gail Winky was just re us just the other day Now you want to co to have to fix that That’s all on you, not her and not otthe opposite direction Noas a perfect ti at the back while enjoying the side benefit of avoiding Gail

"Wow," said Paci

"Yeah Wow"

"Think she’ll stay?"

"I’ht She has to agree to our oath or we can’t let her in"

"You’re much easier on people than Trip or even Koas" Paci’s voice hitched a little at the ?" I asked softly, knowing the loss of his chief was bad enough, but the fact that Koas ood as I can be I haven’t had ti on for et to Haven, we’ll have a cere He probably didn’t want to cry in front of all these people, so I didn’t press the issue any and eventually I got down to join the for a ait Paci kept pace besidehis profile He was so strong I never thought about it much before, but there were a lot of si handsome and very muscular, they were both patient and wise beyond their years And intense Sonetic to me I wasn’t sure everyone felt that way about him, but it was stupid for me to deny it wasn’t the case for s I had about Paci that made me less tolerant of Bodo’s recent behavior Would I beif Paci weren’t in the picture? Would I be less sensitive to the things Bodo was saying and doing if Paci wasn’t so da: I loved Bodo, and while ittoon with him and do what I could to repair the relationship If he didn’t want it anymore, then that was a different story, but I wasn’t ready for it to be over I didn’t give my heart to son of trouble Love is supposed to be forever

Soed

"Look! It’s Haven!"

I walked out to the side a little so I could see around the group in front ofI saas the fence that surrounded the property The prison was far froraze, at least until we had so, I noticed so else

"Holy crap," I said as I tried to decide whethertricks on me

"Is that smoke?" asked Paci

"It looks like it," I said,into ood arripped his elbohen it caallop as soon as I was on and nored the painful stretching offro the stitches would be a lot less painful And my bruised private parts would heal eventually I couldn’t bear the thought of arriving too late to help again Please not Peter! Please let Peter and everyone else be okay!

The closer we got to the prison building, theon somewhere, and we couldn’t enter the property froet to the front gate I prayed we hadn’t arrived too late

Paci urged the horse on stronger, yelling, "Get up!" as he kicked his heels into its flanks The beast surged forward, and I had to hold onto Paci with all ainst his back and lost sight of as going on ahead of us

I felt us turning the corner and the horse slowing a bit, so I took a chance and leaned my head away from Paci’s back to see what I could When I was finally able to focus on the source of the smoke, I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or oing on over there?" asked Paci as we pulled up to the gate

"I have no idea, but I’round as soon as we stopped I fell onthe bruises I’d just added to reet ate, one of theod, Bryn, you have no idea how happy I am to see you," said Peter, a little out of breath and searching for the right key to unlock the gate

"What the hell happened here?" I waved over at the huge bonfire that was sitting on top of the rave we’d just filled in before I left

"Lots of news, lots of news" Peter stuck the key into the lock and turned the tumblers "Where’s everyone else? Are they okay?" He searched ate open for me Before I had a chance to answer, he looked up at Paci "Hi, Paci Welcome back"

"Thanks, Peter Trip’s on his way He’s in the sway"

Peter’s face turned pink "Oh, that’s nice What about the others? Are they all here? How et any of the supplies I put on the list?"

I gave hi but that dope with the tattoos I nudged hiave hi into step beside ate which now also included Jamal and Ronald "Let anyone in who says the oath! Take all weapons as they enter!"

When he turned back I put h his "So, tell me all about how ood decision for Haven"

"I’ll have you know that first of all, Ianywhere without me And second of all, we had a little skirone, and we had to burn the bodies"

I stopped, effectively jerking him back by the elbow

"Hey! Watch it, lady Delicate constitution over here"

"Bodies? You’re burning bodies? Whose bodies?" I was horrified not only by the idea but by his casualness over the whole thing

"Yes We had to We can’t bury everyone who dies here We’ll run out of space, and it’s not good for the water under the ground And they’re canners, not our people, so don’t worry about it"

I started walking again, but this ti onto Peter’s arm "Canners are people too, you know," I said in a low tone