“All you did was give him more power to boost his own celebrity. You didn’t have to go to him. It didn’t have to be him.”

“I’m sorry. I just didn’t think about it like that.”

She closed her eyes, reminding herself that regardless of his motives, the poor guy was terrified. “Have you talked to him since?”

“Not really, no. He sent me a thank-you note, though.”

She opened her eyes to glare at him. “Are you still friends?”

“I’m not sure Nils has friends,” he said with a nervous chuckle.

Her hand slid over her head and then joined her other hand in covering her face. “Don’t worry,” she said, voice muffled by her hands. “No one’s going to hurt you.”

He reached into his pocket and drew out a tiny flashlight, clicking it on. “I just want to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”

She wasn’t sure what flashlights had to do with that, and she looked at him, skeptical.

“Just . . . look past me. I’m going to shine this in your eyes.”

She did as he said. She was so, so tired, and the tiny sun burning her retinas made her want to go to sleep even more. “Are you a doctor?”

He chuckled. “Yes, I am, actually. A doctor of philosophy.” He put the flashlight down on the floor, sitting it upright like a spotlight pointed at the ceiling. “So you can address me as Dr. Smooth.”

Now that he was less terrified for his life, his natural charm came out, and he was charming. He clearly knew it, too. Ugh, he even has the same degree Nils has, she thought. She wondered if they’d gone to school together. “Why were you staring at me during the rally?”

“Honestly, it wasn’t you that I recognized, it was Kaplan.”

She blinked. “Oh.”

“Yes, I do know who you are,” he continued, “but honestly, I only connected the dots after I saw you alone on the road. I saw the same girl with blue hair that Kaplan had his tentacles all over earlier in the day in the middle of the road, and I was like, ‘Hey, that’s weird,’ and wondered if maybe for some reason Kaplan dumped you out in the middle of the woods? Either way, I was going to ask if you were okay, but then I got a better look at you, and then I realized who you were, and I was like, ‘What the hell is Sol Kaplan doing with . . . her?’”

“How do you know Sol Kaplan?”