“What about after that?” Luna asked. “I mean, it’s not like the Council runs social services, is it?”

Variam shrugged. “Dunno.”

A small figure dressed in white had fallen behind the rest of the slaves. As I looked more closely, I saw it was the little girl from the bedroom. She was moving haltingly and kept turning to stare back at the building behind. A security man was standing over her, trying to get her moving, and from his body language he seemed to be getting frustrated. When she didn’t react he grabbed her by the upper arm and started dragging her.

There was a commotion and a short, heavyset figure came stalking out into view. As he came into the light I saw that it was Slate. He snapped something at the security man, who let go of the girl. Slate said something, his voice harsh, then pointed back in the direction of the house. The security man backed off quickly; Slate watched him go, then crouched down next to the girl. His back was to us, but there was something oddly protective about his stance.

“They’re just going to put them out on the street, aren’t they?” Luna said. She was looking towards the main body of the group.

“I don’t know,” I said, watching Slate. “Maybe they’ll have a little help after all.”

Slate stood up, guiding the girl gently with one arm. As he looked up he saw me and the scowl returned to his face. I looked away, careful not to smile.

Movement in the futures caught my attention. A Keeper was headed towards me; it was Slate’s partner, Trask. “Verus,” Trask said as he walked up.

“Hey.”

“Wards are down,” Trask said. “Going to need you to come back to HQ.”

“Oh, right,” I said with a sigh. “That.” I was still wanted for questioning. “So am I under arrest?”

“Not technically.”

“Seems to be a habit.” I climbed wearily to my feet. “Come on then.”

“Alex?” Luna asked.

“I’ll be okay. Make sure he gets to Anne.”

“Hey,” Variam said. “I can take care of myself.”

“I will,” Luna said.

I walked with Trask towards the gate point, leaving Luna and Variam alone on the hill. Getting out of here was probably a good idea anyway. Right now everyone was running around trying to get things back in order; once they managed that, they were going to start looking for people to blame. There was going to be a lot of fallout from what had happened here tonight, and I was pretty sure I’d just made some extra enemies.

Then I glanced over at the teenagers and children in the meadow. Slate was still with them, along with a couple of other Keepers. As I watched, a gate opened, and the White Rose slaves started to file through. One boy who reminded me a little of Leo had stopped and was staring back at the building behind him. As we passed by, he turned and stepped through the gate, disappearing from the meadow and leaving White Rose behind.