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brooding, through the streets.
    But he hadn’t allowed me to step foot in the forest. “Please, Indy,” he’d said. “Sometimes I just need to be alone.”
    I’d stood apart from him, tears welling in my eyes and frustration burning in my blood. “Why can’t you let me help you?”
    “There’s nothing you can do.”
    “I can take some of the councils. I can read some of the reports. I can make some of the decisions. You don’t have to do everything by yourself.”
    He’d started shaking his head almost as soon as I’d started speaking. I’d wanted to make him stop. Actually, I would’ve done whatever it took to make him stop.
    “You don’t understand,” he’d said. “When you’re in charge, you will.”
    And I had. In the past two months, I’d often wished for an escape. For somewhere I could go that only I knew about, where no one could bother me with news, suggestions, or endless questions.
    Jag had his forest, and now I understood why. I regretted trying to force him to share it with me, though I’d been beyond desperate at the time for him to let me in.
    He’d kissed my forehead and asked me not to follow him. Then he’d entered the forest, and I’d turned and gone home, like he’d asked.
    This time, when I stepped into the forest, it was for a very different reason. I wouldn’t be alone, and I wouldn’t find comfort. I did, however, find a group of bright-eyed Resistance members.
    I gave them the coordinates to the safe house in the Abandoned Area of the Goodgrounds and set Lex to the task of organizing their departure.
    Near midday everyone had arrived except for Sloan. I gnawed at my fingernails, not caring that they were filthy. I’d sent Lex out with a group two hours ago, making sure that if I was caught, the second wasn’t compromised too.
    I remained alone among the trees, having just sent the last group south, where they’d give the main city a wide berth and cross into the Goodgrounds near the central area of the Southern Rim. All told, forty-seven people had been evacuated. I worried over my mother’s evacuation team and if they’d run into any trouble the night before. Thane and his goons had most likely arrived via teleporter or hovercar, so I hoped the supplies I’d spent weeks gathering would be waiting in the Abandoned Area.
    Where is Sloan? I peered through the trees, willing her tocome dodging through the trees with her feel-good hair and easy smile. She didn’t.
    Suddenly a man’s voice shattered the silence of the forest. Amplified and broadcast for all to hear, he said, “No one shall leave their home today. All men, women, and children shall turn on their radios and listen to today’s headlines.”
    The sound echoed through the treetops, and a profound fear crept along my skin as my mind emptied and I felt the need to return home and listen to today’s headlines. I struggled against the power of the man’s voice and managed to keep control of my mind. So the brainwashing messages would begin right now, right here, in the very place that should be safe. I felt ill, and wondered what my father would do to block the brainwashing. Surely he had something to cancel the sound.
    But Sloan wouldn’t. I moaned and raced toward the edge of the forest. I stopped behind the last tree before the landscape gave way to low shrubs and waving grasses. Asphalt claimed the ground very soon after that, and across the street, I saw the flutter of curtains in a window.
    The streets were empty as I sprinted through them, heading south toward Sloan’s house. The closer I drew, the louder everything became. A woman was yelling; red and blue light pulsed against the noonday sun; dogs barked and chains jangled.
    I stopped at the edge of a fence and snuck a glance around the corner.
    Thane Myers stood in the middle of the street, wearing a black leather jacket and issuing orders like he owned the place. I also recognized the white-blond hair of none other than Zenn Bower. He stood