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wearing and laughed, saying he’d stolen them from a guy he found out on Route Eighty.”
    Every part of me was awake, alive, my fingers and toes pulsing with energy. “What did they look like … the boots?”
    Delia wiped the corners of her mouth, where a thin coat of spittle had formed. “They were brown with green laces. Came up to about here.” She pointed to the soft flesh above her ankle.
    I let out a deep breath, determined to keep calm. They sounded like the boots Caleb had worn as he walked beside me, winding our way through the city streets. I couldn’t be certain. “Was the boy alive?”
    “He said he found him in that furniture warehouse on the side of the road, in that stretch right before San Francisco,” she said, looking at one of the older women. “IKEA? He said that he was badly injured. His leg was infected from a stab wound.”
    I only saw Delia’s lips moving, heard the words that were coming out of her mouth. I tried to process them one by one. “Where? Where is that?”
    “Now listen.” Maeve put up her hands. “This is probably just a rumor. There’s nothing to prove that—”
    “He could be dead by now,” I said softly, the thought even more frightening now that I’d spoken it aloud.
    Isis shook her head. “He was probably making it up. He’s a Stray.”
    Regina was smiling. “She loves him. She can’t just leave him out there.”
    A few of the women started to agree, but Maeve raised her hand to silence them. “No one is going to find Caleb,” Maeve announced. “Because Caleb isn’t even there. The Stray probably lied. They always do.” Then she turned to me, her face full of concern. “Besides, we couldn’t have you going back into the wild now, not with the King after you.”
    All I heard were the intentions lurking behind each word. You will never leave here , she seemed to say. I won’t let you . She grabbed my arm and ushered me out, following close behind Isis, who was taking Delia. A few other women helped Missy into a chair, offering her their condolences for the knot forming on the back of her head.
    Outside, the night was cold and damp. I slipped out of Maeve’s grip. “You’re right,” I said meekly. “It has to be a lie. I guess I just wanted to believe it.”
    Maeve’s face softened and she reached out to squeeze my shoulder. She held Lilac close to her side. “We hear these types of things all the time. Better not to entertain them.”
    I shook my head. “I won’t then. I promise.”
    But as we walked back to her house I slowed my pace, letting her, Lilac, Delia, and Isis get a few steps ahead. Arden ran up behind me. We were both smiling in the dark. She nodded toward the bridge, the idea already taking root. The question that had consumed us was answered. Finally, we knew what to do.

seven
     
    “JUST A LITTLE FARTHER,” ARDEN SAID. SHE CROUCHED BEHIND a burned-out car, her breath short as she pulled Heddy to her, gripping the dog’s rope collar so she wouldn’t move. “We’re almost there.”
    I peered through the binoculars, looking at the tiny, nearly imperceptible lantern light that shone at the top of the stone ledge. Isis was just outside the front entrance to Califia, a black dot moving against the gray landscape. “I can’t tell if she’s using her binoculars anymore,” I said. That night, long after Maeve and Lilac had gone to sleep, we crept into the storage room, carefully collecting supplies and loading them into two backpacks. Then we’d made our way across the bridge, darting from car to truck to car, zigzagging so as not to be seen. Now we’d nearly reached the end: Only a few yards separated us from the short tunnel leading into the city.
    “Let’s sprint it just in case,” I said. Each step was unsteady, and my legs felt like they might give out beneath me.
    Arden looked at Heddy, smoothing down her soft black ears. “You ready, girl?” she asked. “You have to run fast. Can you do that?” The dog stared at