“Did Teeleh have shotguns? Or flying cars? Do you see Roush or the Guard rushing to our defense? We don’t even have the books we came with. The authorities took everything!”

Their battle dress and the books had been confiscated, along with their knives. They now wore the white-and-brown striped slacks and smocks common among all prisoners here.

Silvie walked up to the bars and gripped them with both hands. “We have each other.”

No response from Johnis. When she turned, she saw that he was nibbling on his fingernail, lost in thought.

“You forget so quickly?” Silvie demanded.

“What? What—no. Yes, we have each other. It’ll have to do.”

“Have to do? You threw yourself in a cage for your mother. You nearly gave up your life for Karas. But for me it’ll just ‘have to do’?”

“No.” He gripped his hair and paced. “That’s not what I meant.”

The poor boy was reeling; she had no business testing his love at such a time. But the urge to act on her emotions felt irresistible.

She closed her eyes and bit her lip. You’re as frantic as he, Silvie. Control yourself. Then she felt his hand on her shoulder, pulling her close. Warmth filled her belly. He’d seen her disappointment and rushed to her side.

Johnis held her in his arms and spoke quickly into her ear. “I’m stronger and faster than I was before. They can’t know, but there’s a chance we may be superior to them.” A few breaths in her ear, enough for her to realize that his embrace was for communication rather than consolation.

“Have you noticed?”

She swallowed. “Yes, but not strong enough to take them on.”

“But fast enough.”

“You said yourself, we don’t stand a chance!”

No response. His suggestion was one of raw desperation.

A bang on the bars startled them. “Okay, love birds, I’ve got good news for both of you.”

The guard they called “Guns” grinned at them from beyond the cage. He slapped his palm with a black stick. “The Kook says you two are not. Kooks, that is. You’re as sane as I am, which, to be perfectly honest with you, ain’t saying a lot.”

He twitched, and nearby another guard chuckled.

“Now the bad news. Seeing as you aren’t headed to the fruit farm right quick, they’re going to ship you down to the main jail, where they send the hard cases.” His twisted grin said it all. “If I was you, I’d think twice about this ‘we’re from another world’ routine, ‘we got no money, no kin, no guilt’ junk, and start making sense.”

“Back off, Guns.” The detective who’d struck the deal with Johnis spoke from down the hall—Cramsey. “Open it up.”