Being on the ground and on all fours made me feel defenseless. James would be on me by the time I got to my feet, but I had to try. I rocked back on my heels, ready to scramble up and away from him. He stopped me with a simple gesture, his outstretched hand hovering above me. James waited for me to take his hand, just as he had done when he offered it to me at The Promise Ball.

I stared at him, narrowing my eyes as I debated whether I could trust him. That was my first mistake, making eye contact. No matter how bad things were between us, I was never able to do the smart thing around James and walk away. Furthermore, I couldn’t bring myself to stay angry or even frightened of him if I looked into his gorgeous gray eyes. Still, I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

Seeing no point in pretending I had any way out of this, I took James’s hand and let him help me to my feet. I hoped if I were cooperative, he wouldn’t behave as he had last night, banging on bedroom doors like a madman.

James walked around, inspecting my shelter. “Not bad,” he said. “But I suppose you had some help getting everything together. I mean, it wasn’t like we all strolled out of The House after a picnic.”

Given all Sarabeth and Krista had risked to help me escape, there was no way I was going to repay their kindness by making life more difficult for them. I would not implicate them in my actions.

“I prepared this bag the day I got to The House,” I lied.

“Sure you did.” James picked up my bag of supplies, and began pawing through it. He held up the brown paper bag full of sandwiches. “It’s a good thing you thought to make these so far in advance of when you might actually need them. It’s been a while since I’ve had a meal. I hope you don’t mind.”

James pulled one of the sandwiches out, unwrapped the wax paper, and devoured the sandwich. He tucked the brown bag with the remaining sandwiches into a small pack on the ground a few feet away from us.

He rooted around inside my bag for a few moments before pulling out the pillowcase. “I can guess what’s inside this.” James opened the pillowcase and removed the Bound Book. “Of course it was you. You know they’re still hunting for this thing?”

“Give it back,” I said, stepping closer to him. I grabbed the book, struggling to take it out of his hand.

He gave me a smirk. “Calm down. You can have it,” he said, holding the book toward me.

I snatched the Bound Book from him, along with my bag.

“All that fuss over another reminder of the many failures of Judaculla.”