The bag of candy was about the size of two fists put side-to-side. As time passed, Seir rummaged in the bag, found more, chewed them, cramming more into the slit in the horse’s head before he was even done with the last mouthful. He must have finished three quarters of the bag as the silence stretched on, his one eye on the pair.

Erin flinched as Seir tossed the mostly empty bag into her lap.

“Leadership wants a chat with you,” Seir said.

Rain had been sleeping minutes ago, but now he was more than awake. Those words—if he’d gone straight to bed, no longer bound by the rhythm of his power and the demands of the room, even being as tired as he was, he wouldn’t have been able to sleep. Not after hearing that.

“With—” he started. He wanted to word it right. Couldn’t show weakness. “Me? Now?”

If he asked if that invitation included Erin, Seir might say yes, just out of spite, might make her go.

Please don’t make Erin go.

“You. We were to wait and bring you as soon as you turned up. Which is now,” Seir said.

Rain opened the car door. He didn’t look at Erin, he didn’t say a word. He got out of the vehicle. He closed the door.

She drove away, through the settlement center, to her parents’ house.

Rain was left with his escort.

They talked among themselves, but they avoided talking to him. Seir remained close, ready to push at Rain’s back or shoulder if he dragged his feet. The rest were a half-circle behind and to either side of them. They talked among themselves, but they avoided talking to him.

Fear driving his senses to the next level, Rain was very aware of the smell of the grape apes. A candy he’d never be able to eat or smell again without feeling nauseous.

If he even got that far.

The house wasn’t even two years old, but it looked older, because the white paint on the wooden slat exterior was haphazardly applied, brush strokes long and the paint allowed to go thin. There was a white-painted fence, and none of the teenaged escorts went past the gate. They stopped beyond, standing guard there.

The front door was unlocked. Rain was ushered inside, the door was gently closed, and Rain was made to walk further.