A sheepish smile. “I’m not sure I’m getting the right nutrition. I can’t seem to avoid the junk food. This body has such a sweet tooth.”

“You need to be wise, Thousand Petals. I know it’s easy to give in to your cravings, but try to think about what you’re eating. In the meantime, you should take a supplement.”

Health. Such an obvious title on the bottle, it made me feel silly for asking.

“Would you like the ones that taste like strawberries or the ones that taste like chocolate?”

“Could I try both?”

And the pleasant soul named Earthborn gave me both of the large bottles.

Not very challenging. The only fear or sense of danger I ever felt came when I thought of the small cyanide pill that I always kept in an easily reachable pocket. Just in case.

“You should get new clothes in the next town,” Jared said.

“Again?”

“Those are looking a little creased.”

“Okay,” I agreed. I didn’t like the excess, but the steadily growing pile of dirty laundry wouldn’t go to waste. Lily and Heidi and Paige were all close to my size, and they would be grateful for something new to wear. The men rarely bothered with things like clothes when they were raiding. Every foray was life-or-death—clothes were not a priority. Nor were the gentle soaps and shampoos that I’d been collecting at every store.

“You should probably clean up, too,” Jared said with a sigh. “Guess that means a hotel tonight.”

Keeping up appearances was not something they’d worried about before. Of course, I was the only one who had to look as if I were a part of civilization from close up. The men wore jeans and dark T-shirts now, things that didn’t show dirt or attract attention in the brief moments they might be seen.

They all hated sleeping in the roadside inns—succumbing to unconsciousness inside the very mouth of the enemy. It scared them more than anything else we did. Ian said he’d rather charge an armed Seeker.

Kyle simply refused. He mostly slept in the van during the day and then sat up at night, acting as sentry.

For me, it was as easy as shopping in the stores. I checked us in, made conversation with the clerk. Told the story about my photographer partner and the friend who was traveling with us (just in case someone saw all three of us enter the room). I used generic names from unremarkable planets. Sometimes we were Bats: Word Keeper, Sings the Egg Song, and Sky Roost. Sometimes we were See Weeds: Twisting Eyes, Sees to the Surface, and Second Sunrise. I changed the names every time, not that anyone was trying to trace our path. It just made Melanie feel safer to do that. All this made her feel like a character in a human movie about espionage.