He held the colorful band out to me. “I want you to have this one. Something to remember me by.” More tears slid down his cheeks.

I said the only thing that came to mind. “You’re leaving?”

The reality of our situation in Haven Valley suddenly broke through my confusion. Of course he was leaving. Rose would never permit him to stay.

“I don’t have long,” he said. “I had to see you and your brother.” A beat passed. “How is your mother?”

I inched back, unsure how I could have blindly exposed myself the way I just did. Jamie’s words softly echoed in my ears.

Watch your heart, watch your neighbor, watch for the demon who appears as an angel.

I glanced at the small clusters of people looking at us. He was an outsider, invading our way of life. In the wake of Jamie’s warnings, word would travel to Rose quickly. It wasn’t safe for me to be here.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I said, shifting farther back.

He nodded, undisturbed. “It’s okay, Grace. It’s okay that you’re afraid. But you don’t have to fear me. And mostly you don’t have to fear Eli.”

Eli? My father was looking back at the boy who had started walking toward us.

“He’s your brother,” my father said. “No harm must come to him. I beg you, keep him safe.”

Brother? Lukas? He had the same hair and eyes and looked about the same age. But that was impossible. Another brother, then. The sight of him transfixed me. Such a beautiful boy!

My father began to cough again, jarring me back to the present. Several deep, crackling hacks spawned a few more. He buckled at the waist, his shoulders shaking with each blow. Then he dropped to one knee.

The boy reached us and knelt beside my father, hand on his shoulder, face filled with concern. But he said nothing.

Another deep hack and my father sat hard, propping himself up with one arm as he coughed up blood. Murmurs ran through the onlookers at the sight, but I stood my ground, locked in indecision. Was I supposed to help him? Turn my back on him?

He’d abandoned me, but I couldn’t turn away from him.

“I have so much I want to say before . . .” he rasped, but then a terrible wheezing cut his words short. And I could see the truth in his eyes.

He was dying, and he knew it.

“Hey,” someone shouted from behind us.

I turned to see three guardians headed our direction. Their eyes were fixed on my father, faces stricken with fear and confusion. “This is a private community! You’re trespassing.”

When I turned back to my father, he was looking up at me. Reaching up, he took my hand, and for a moment the world around us faded.