“You can’t help her,” said Percy. “You are banished. Barred from ever entering our community. I told you as much. Why have you violated our laws?”

On the copy of the expulsion order they sent to him, Percy had handwritten a note below her signature. Please understand this is the decision of the entire community, and please respect our need to enforce it.

“Heather needed my help. And I thought me doing so would help you.”

He could see the anger coming up before he even finished.

“What makes you think anyone needs your help, Donny Kimoe? We told you to go away and never come back. And I know Heather didn’t even ask for this, did she?”

Donny looked at Percy, and then looked over at Heather. Heather was sitting up now, hooded by her blanket, but watching him with lucid eyes.

“She—”

Percy cut him off. “You were hired by her trustee!” She was waving a piece of paper—the notice of his appointment, from Lecker’s office. “Not even family. You work for the money, Donny! And the men who control it, or want to. Money they made from raping Mother Earth, nonstop, for more than a century. And who act like it’s all their right. Like there’s nothing wrong with them controlling Heather’s money, or controlling Heather, or paying some lawyer whatever it takes to get him to sell out his friends and the clients who made him.”

“Percy, that’s not fair,” said Donny. “You know I only take clients I really believe in. I’ve known Heather since she was a kid.”

He glanced at Heather. She was squinting now.

“I don’t know this guy,” she said.

“You’re lucky,” said Percy. “He’s a snake. He betrayed the revolution. Just like he betrayed his partner, his colleagues, and his clients. He says he just wants to help, but he really just wants to take care of himself, while convincing himself what’s good for him is good for everyone else. And the saddest thing is, only now can I really see it clearly.”

Donny didn’t have anything to say to that. He didn’t want to believe it, but it had the ring of truth.

“Punish him!” yelled one of the young men in the crowd, and others joined in the chorus.

His cage dropped abruptly, knocking him on his ass. Then they pulled it back up, higher than it had been.

Donny tried to straighten out. His spine felt bent. He tried to ignore the mob and focus on Percy. He could see the anger. It was personal. She was right. His mind flashed a list of some of the occasions on which he had let her down while thinking at the time what a great example he was setting.

“What if I told you I took on Heather’s money as a client so I could free it too?” said Donny.