The questions swirled through my head, making sleep impossible.

Something creaked downstairs, and I glanced at my door, slightly ajar. My mother must be home. Or maybe it was one of the guardians.

Another creak and I sat up. Someone was moving through the house.

“Mother?”

The movement stopped. That was odd. I stood and walked to the door, opened it a tad farther. Stuck my neck out and twisted to look in both directions. The house was eerily quiet. A sudden wave of uneasiness hit me and I strained to hear.

“Hello?”

Again, nothing.

I swallowed my anxiety, shook off my discomfort, pulled my head back into my room and shut the door. Whatever it was, it no longer mattered. I was safe in my room. Right?

“Being safe is important,” a familiar voice behind me said.

I jerked around, heart in my throat. There, standing in the far corner, was the woman who’d saved me on the mountain.

“I thought we agreed that you’re going to call me Bobbie,” she said.

Dressed in white and black, she casually leaned her right shoulder against the wall, arms crossed over her chest, watching me with bright beautiful eyes. Fury couldn’t cross the red rope. They couldn’t be inside Haven Valley. So she couldn’t be a Fury.

“Like I said, I’m Wisdom, here to protect you.” Bobbie smiled. “Unless you think this is a dream.”

Could it be? How many times had Jamie told me my wild imaginations got the better of me?

“Look at your hands and feet,” she said. “They say you can’t see your hands and feet in dreams.”

I lifted my hands. But I already knew it wasn’t a dream.

Part of me wanted to run from her, the part that knew I was probably breaking a law even by talking to her. Any sighting of anyone or anything not part of the community had to be reported immediately. But there had never been an intrusion.

Until now.

“Until now,” Bobbie said. “But that’s not entirely true either.”

“There are others like you inside Haven Valley?”

She just stared at me.

“You have to leave!” I snapped. “Or I will.” I grabbed the door handle, thinking I would report her.

“Before you do that, you should know a few things,” she said.

I hesitated. “Know what?”

“For starters, you’re the only one who can hear or see me. Like I said, you’re my only concern. I won’t reveal myself to anyone else.”

I turned back around, heart still hammering. “And?”