I looked at them and then behind me. The crowd was gone. I could hear their voices echoing back down the southern corridor.

What was that about? Mel wondered warily.

It occurred to me that Trudy wasn’t a much better liar than I was. When she’d said the others from the raid were unloading and cleaning up, there was a false note to her voice. I thought I remembered her eyes flickering to the right, back toward that tunnel.

“Hey, kid! Hey, Trudy!” Ian had caught up to us.

“Hi, Ian,” they greeted him at the same time.

“What happened here?”

“Fell on a knife,” Jamie grunted, ducking his head.

Ian laughed.

“I don’t think it’s funny,” I told him, my voice tight. Melanie, frantic with worry in my head, imagined slapping him. I ignored her.

“Could happen to anybody,” Ian said, planting a light punch on Jamie’s arm.

“Right,” Jamie muttered.

“Where’s everybody?”

I watched Trudy from the corner of my eye as she answered him.

“They, uh, had some unloading to finish up.” This time her eyes moved toward the southern tunnel very deliberately, and Ian’s expression hardened, turned enraged for half a second. Then Trudy glanced back at me and caught me watching.

Distract them, Melanie whispered.

I looked down at Jamie quickly.

“Are you hungry?” I asked him.

“Yeah.”

“When aren’t you hungry?” Ian teased. His face was relaxed again. He was better at deception than Trudy.

When we reached our room, Jamie sank gratefully onto the big mattress.

“You sure you’re okay?” I checked.

“It’s nothing. Really. Doc says I’ll be fine in a few days.”

I nodded, though I was not convinced.

“I’m going to go clean up,” Trudy murmured as she left.

Ian propped himself against the wall, going nowhere.

Keep your face down when you lie, Melanie suggested.

“Ian?” I stared intently at Jamie’s bloody leg. “Do you mind getting us some food? I’m hungry, too.”

“Yeah. Get us something good.”

I could feel Ian’s eyes on me, but I didn’t look up.

“Okay,” he agreed. “I’ll be back in just a second.” He emphasized the short time.

I kept my gaze down, as if I were examining the wound, until I heard his footsteps fade.

“You aren’t mad at me?” Jamie asked.

“Of course not.”

“I know you didn’t want me to go.”

“You’re safe now; that’s all that matters.” I patted his arm absentmindedly. Then I got to my feet and let my hair, now chin length, fall forward to hide my face.

“I’ll be right back—I forgot something I wanted to tell Ian.”

“What?” he asked, confused by my tone.

“You’ll be okay here by yourself?”

“Course I will,” he retorted, sidetracked.

I ducked out around the screen before he could ask anything else.