Cal did not grab for his gun. Instead he said, “Run,” and pulled Frida away from the sound.
They ran between the Spikes, turning one way and then another. The Spikes seemed to grow taller, and he thought he saw them swaying in a wind he didn’t feel, bending to its will like trees and skyscrapers.
Frida was saying his name, but he didn’t listen, he was dragging her as far as he could from that man.
They ran until Cal’s arm caught on something sharp. Barbed wire. He felt like a piece of paper, torn in half. Frida cried out as if she, too, had felt the sting.
“Calvin.” It was a man’s voice.
He stopped, and looked behind them.
August stood with his arms crossed. He wore his sunglasses, even in this darkness. He didn’t look cold. He looked like he had never been cold in his life.
“You’d better come with me,” he said, and Cal knew it was over.
He gave up his gun and the flashlight, and Frida finally surrendered Anika’s purse. In silence, August led them away, his own larger flashlight bobbing up and down with each step.
At first Cal thought they were headed back to the Land—for what, Cal didn’t want to imagine—but when a few of the Spikes began to look familiar, he realized he and Frida had encountered them the day they’d arrived. So August was taking them away from this place.
Cal turned to Frida, whose face looked calm in the dark, even beatific, and he decided to follow her intuition. Cal wished he could feel as certain.
“Careful now,” August said, when they approached the broken glass in the ground, but he would give nothing else away.
When they reached the last Spike, August said, “You’re okay now.”
“Thank you.” Cal was ready to shake his hand, but August was gripping the flashlight and made no move to let go.
“Anika,” Frida whispered.
“I know,” August said.
“Shit,” Cal said. “How did you find out? Does everyone know?”
August smiled. “You really think she went up there without telling anyone?”
“Why didn’t you stop her?” Frida asked.
“Micah wanted it like that. He knew Cal would handle it. Anika was getting to be trouble for us.”
“I only hit her with the gun,” Cal said. “I didn’t shoot.”
“You did just enough,” August said. He took one hand off the flashlight and patted Cal on the shoulder like he was a goddamned dog.
Cal’s ears burned. “It wasn’t a little trick I did for you.”
“Please stop,” Frida said, and Cal didn’t know whom she was talking to.
“Can we go home then?” Frida asked. “Just like before?”
August shook his head. “You can’t go back there, not with everyone on the Land so upset. It wouldn’t be safe. Besides, the Millers’ place is going to be occupied. Peter isn’t happy with us. He thought we could convince the others to let in a child.”
“And because Micah disagreed, he’d rather live on his own?”
August shrugged. “It’s not Peter’s choice to make. I suppose we’ll find out what he’d rather do when he’s apprised of the situation.”
“I don’t understand,” Cal said, but he did. Micah would bend the Land back to his original vision. He had to get rid of detractors, Peter included.
“Where will we go?” Frida asked.
“The bus,” August said.
“The school bus?” Frida suddenly looked scared.
“Don’t worry,” August said. “We’ll talk there.” He started walking again.
Cal knew immediately where they were going.
In a few minutes they reached the bus, parked in the middle of the field as if it were a perfectly normal place to find it. Cal wondered if the goldenrod they’d seen on the way in was still there. He’d find out tomorrow when the sun rose. Unless they were leaving right away.
August opened the accordion door. “After you,” he said.
Frida climbed in first and, as if this were a field trip, sat in the second row. Cal followed her only when she tapped on the window and called his name.
“Hurry,” August said.
The inside looked just as it should: the aisle carpeted with ribbed rubber, the rows of dark green seats, that close-body smell. Cal sat next to Frida, and she dropped her head on his shoulder.
August ascended and immediately went to the first row of seats. He pulled up the bench seat and from its innards retrieved a blanket and two cans of beans. “I have a can opener around here,” he said. “After we eat, we’ll get going.”
Cal shook his head.
“You have to eat,” August said. “You’ll need the energy.”
“Where are you taking us?” Frida asked.
“I’ll tell you on the way,” August said.
“Wait,” Cal said. “I have more questions.”
August sighed. “If it’s about how we travel by bus, that’s easy. I’ve got a vat of cooking grease in the back. This is a diesel. Again, I’ll explain more once we’re on our way.”
“It’s not that.”
August raised an eyebrow, but he was listening.
“What happened to the Millers?”
“Oh, darling,” Frida said. “Don’t let Anika get to you.”