“You can handle this, Kayla,” I mutter to myself. “You just need to come up with a plan.”

“Kayla!” Bernard hollers. “Get down here. Maci won’t shut up about this stupid Angel thing!”

Who do they think I am? Their mother? From up here, they look like tiny dots in a land of dust, arguing with each other, making way too much noise. I could just take off, leave them here to fend for themselves. It’d be easier to find a place to hide and much faster if I were alone. But I’m not that kind of person; I realize that right away. So I climb back down the rocks.

“Okay.” I dust the dirt off my hands and knees. “Here are the rules that we’re going to need to follow if we want to have a chance at surviving. Rule number one—”

“We already know the rules.” Bernard rolls his eyes. “Always carry a weapon. Never go out after dark. Never get bit, yadda, yadda, yadda.”

“Those rules don’t apply to us anymore—well, except for the getting bit part. That always applies.” I wave my hand at the sky. “Night’s coming and we have no place to hide.” I pause. “No, we’re going to have to make up our own rules if we want to survive out here. Okay everyone check your pockets and see if you have anything on you.” They start patting the pockets of their pants, while I check my leather jacket.

“I got nothin.” Bernard kicks a rock and it slingshots across the air and skids to the ground. “This is such crap. What’d they do? Search all my pockets before they threw me out? They even took my freakin’ necklace.”

His necklace. Inside my pocket, my fingers graze the cold metallic place. Right beside it is Monarch’s pocket watch. I can’t believe they’re both still there. I take them out.

Bernard steals his necklace away. “You took this from me?”

“No, I found it in the hospital, after I saw Gabrielle dragging you down the hall,” I say. “Which, by the way, what happened with that?”

He gives me a dirty look, ignoring my last question. “Yeah, right. Sure you did.” He nods at Monarch’s pocket watch. “And who’d you steal that from.”

I close my hand around the pocket watch. “I don’t remember you being this rude.”

“And I don’t remember you being a thief,” he snaps.

“It’s from her dad,” Maci interrupts, walking between us, her hair a halo of red blowing in the wind. “He gave it to her before he died.”

I wrap my hand around the pocket watch, the warm metal pressing against the palm of my hand, memories of Monarch swirling my head.  “Maci, how do you know he gave it to me? Were you awake or something?”

She shakes her head and smiles sweetly. “I just know.”