“It’s time for you to just be Kayla.” One of Monarch’s last words before he died.

“So Bernard’s one of them now?” I ask. “Or were you lying about that too.”

“No, he took the medicine.” His voice is venomous. “He made the choice.”

“But he didn’t know what he was doing,” I say. “We should have tried to help him.”

“We did,” he says. “Where do you think those scratch marks came form on the hillside.”

“He’s there,” I say, relieved.

“Was there.” Aiden leans against the door. “We had to turn him loose.”

I shake my head. “So he’s dead.”

“It depends,” he replies, standing up straight. “If the others found him,” he pauses, “It had to be done—he would have hurt someone, Kayla.” He takes my arm, but I shrug it off.

“Does The Colony know about all this?” I ask. “About these half breeds?”

He shakes his head. “I think that everyone just assumes we’re all dead.”

“Even the Highers?”

“Especially the Highers.” He motions for me to follow him back to our pathetic little fire where we sit down on the rotted floorboards. “I think the Highers want us all dead for some reason—that’s why we end up in body bags” he says. “I think that that’s what’s really supposed to happen at The Gathering. Were supposed to be killed, thrown into body bags, and tossed into the infirmary.”

“Then why doesn’t it happen?” I ask, thinking of how Maci spoke of Angels. “Do you think someone’s intervening?”

He nods, the fire glowing against his honey eyes. “I think someone makes it look like we’ve died, so they can toss us in the desert and we can be on our way to go on living how we want.”

“Maci said something about seeing an Angel,” I say. “She said it was what gave her the vials.” A pause. “Do you know what or who it is?”

“I already told you I didn’t.”

I eye him over. “I was just double-checking.”

He sighs, reaching for his bag. “Well, I really don’t know.”

“She also said the Angel helped Taggart,” I say. “Do you think he has something to doing with it? My last day he was freaking out because I didn’t stay locked up in the hospital.”

“Taggart?” Aiden questions “You think Taggart could be the one making us all look like we’re dead?”

“He could be the one taking us out into the desert, though” I say. “But I’m not sure he knows enough about death to make us look like we’re dead.” There’s only one person in The Colony who I know who could do something like that. “I’d say it was Monarch, but he was... He died right before The Gathering.”