“We came all this way, dealt with bear traps and a goddamn vampire cult, and you just want to walk away without really trying?” She was resolved.

The women exchanged a look. “Vampire cult?”

“It’s a long story,” she sighed. “But we’re here, and we’re not leaving without him.”

“Who?” one asked. “Who did you come for?”

“Frenchie.” Saying his name out loud made breathing difficult. “Francis Dusome.”

Again, the nurses exchanged a look, this one holding more than confusion. Rose picked up on it.

“What? What is it?” A dozen different answers ran through her mind.

“First of all, I’m Alice, and this is May,” the woman answered, putting her knife back in her belt. “And you’d better have a seat here for a minute.”

But Rose had taken her stance, and now, with news on the horizon, news that she was pretty sure was going to be bad, she couldn’t move. “I’ll stand.”

Alice sighed. “Okay. I’m not sure if you guys know about the Program?”

They all shook their heads.

Alice went on to explain how some of the residents of the school were taken in to be reprogrammed. “Sending out decoys has been pretty successful over the years.”

“We ran into a few,” Rose remarked. “They grabbed one of our family, a little girl. We made sure neither of them made it back to do any more harm.”

May lowered her head and kicked at the rocks by her feet. “I am truly sorry for your loss.”

“It takes months to go through the Program. Used to take years, but they’ve introduced new methods. Your friend, Francis, he was here.”

“Was?” It was the word that stopped all her relief from bubbling up.

“I’m sorry to tell you that Francis was fast-tracked through the Program. By all accounts, he was successfully integrated and is now working for the Department of Oneirology.” Alice paused to let it sink in. “He’s out in the field now.”

Rose narrowed her eyes, repeating this over and over in her mind. Then she started to make noises, small pushes of air and voice like at the beginning of a wail. Her knees bent, and she hunched over on the ground.

“I’m sorry to have to be the one…”

Alice stopped. Rose lifted her head, and she was laughing. She laughed so hard tears filled her eyes. Laughed so hard she fell all the way onto her bum and then laughed some more.

“Rose?” Nam took a tentative step toward her.

When she calmed down enough, she said, “Oh, that’s brilliant. Brilliant!” She was back on her feet, looking at her friends with a crazy intensity. “Don’t you see? He escaped! He totally duped them all and escaped!”

She spun around to face Alice again. “When did he leave? We’ve got to catch up to him!”

The woman looked to Derrick and Nam for help, then back at May, who remained silent.

Why wasn’t anyone answering her? Did no one see that this was the best possible news? Now they didn’t have to try to get into the school. He was out here, in the open. He’d done it! She should have known he’d find a way.