“Is this her?” asked a voice coming from the woods. A short girl who appeared to be a couple of years younger than me approached our camp. She turned her dark eyes on me in accusation, flipping her auburn hair over her shoulder, but that wasn’t what bothered me most. It was the way she focused on James—as if he were hers. A wave of jealousy and possessiveness swept over me. I locked my eyes on her, daring her to make a move.

“Sadie,” James said, “Meet Leath.”

The girl ran unimpressed eyes over me before giving a false smile. She accepted my challenge by moving closer to James. When she went on tiptoes to whisper something in his ear, it was all I could do to keep from lunging at her. But my anger dissolved when he quietly took a step back from her.

He’s not interested, I thought.

This realization gave me time to reevaluate Sadie.

She was obviously a Fringer, which meant she wasn’t one of the “lucky ones” who worked in The House. I thought about Krista and the chance she’d taken to help me escape. A surge of compassion for Sadie welled in me, for this girl who was quite possibly living on the run.

“The others don’t like that you have her out here,” Sadie said in a whisper that was deliberately loud enough for me to hear. I grinned, impressed by the toughness of this tiny girl.

“I’ll handle it,” James said.

“None of us can understand how you would put those you love at risk for someone you don’t even know.” She jerked her thumb in my direction. “What am I supposed to tell the others?”

“Tell them I’ll handle it,” James repeated.

“Suit yourself,” Sadie said, throwing her hands in the air. She headed the way she came without a backward glance at James or me.

“Sadie,” James called. She paused without turning back. “Thanks for checking on my dad.”

“It’s what we do,” Sadie called over her shoulder. Seconds later, she vanished.

“Sadie’s a little overprotective,” James said apologetically. “I guess we all are.”

“I understand. It’s great that you have each other’s back,” I said.

“I’d like to think we’d do that even if it weren’t out of necessity,” James said. “But the good of the group always comes first. And right now, they’re a little concerned I’ve brought an outsider into the Fringe.”

I cast a glance to the woods where Sadie had disappeared. “What’s going to happen to her?”

“She’ll be safe as long as she’s not detected. There’s no book of names for Fringers. It’s not like anyone comes out to take a census or anything.”

“And if she’s detected?” I asked.