He shook his head. “None on the planet. We’ve tried to procure some several times, but they’re the rarest of the rare finds. I can’t get one anywhere.”

  He should come visit my planet. Clarke had twenty or more lined up in a back room. I never used one when I was sick, only to make it so I never had kids, but they were there and in perfect working order. It didn’t matter in the moment, though, as I would have to improvise.

  “What’s her name?” I asked her dad directly.

  He blinked rapidly, emotion clogging his voice when he said, “This is JoHanna.”

  “Okay, JoHanna. You’re going to be okay. The adults are going to make this better.” Maybe me saying it aloud would make it true, would make the universe stand up and listen for once. “This is poison. She has ingested something that is making her sick.” I’d seen it, unfortunately, many times before. “It would help to know what she ingested. Is there any chance she got into cleaning products or found a plant that she might have eaten?”

  Her mother finally spoke. “N-no. Nothing. We were all here. We ate breakfast. She went outside to play, but she never eats plants. She knows better.”

  All kids knew better until they didn’t, but I didn’t say it aloud. With our death rate so high, it became a communal effort to raise the young.

  I whirled around. With no obvious answer, we’d have to treat for general toxic substances and work out the specific poison later. Too many people crowded around, their voices and anxiety making it even harder for me to concentrate. I reached out a hand and placed it on Gunnar’s arm. “Gunnar, could you organize the bystanders to look to try to find the substance? Where I’m from, most of the time, poisonous plants have similar qualities. We can hope that’s true on your planet, too, since they were formed by the original settlers, who supposedly modeled the planets after Earth.” Or so I’d heard. Earth might as well have been a legend for as much as it mattered in my life. Of course, every planet was different, and their location in relation to their sun and more could change things like weather patterns—as seen with their six-week yearly electrical storm. “Let’s see if that holds true here. Try to figure out how far she strayed this morning. Could she have made it into a nearby wooded area? Use your judgment. She’s not enhanced; she’s normal, like me. Small legs and big hearts, these kids can go further than we think.” I took a breath. “Milky sap. Shiny leaves. Yellow or white berries. Umbrella shaped. Anything like that, or anything brightly colored. Okay? It could be anything, but make sure you’re looking for things a kid would find interesting enough to stuff in their mouth. Get everyone looking. It would help to know what is causing this.”

  I jumped to my feet, since I knew what I’d do at home. We had very little, but what we accumulated was purposeful, and I’d been trained in using it. Behind me, I heard thundering footsteps of Super Soldiers and humans all searching for the cause of the child’s distress as I’d asked.

  Without knowing about the specific toxin, I had to hope I would find what I needed and not something that might make the situation worse. I missed the old women who trained me in medicine. They always seemed to know the right thing to do, but maybe they were still directing my hands in a way. Their teachings followed me wherever I went, after all.

  First things first, we need water. “Get her some water. Not too hot, not too cold, about two ounces. Start with that, and we’re going to try to flush this out. Once we get some fluids into her, I’m sorry to say, we’re going to make her puke. This could be the worst thing to do, and I need you to understand that. I could be absolutely wrong, or it could save her.”

  The dad nodded, gripping my hand with desperation. “We have no idea what to do. At least you have an idea of something to try.”

  I did, and I had to hope it wasn’t going to kill her. Grabbing a toothbrush—some things looked pretty similar everywhere, apparently—I pushed it toward the back of her tongue. Once. Twice. Three times. Finally, four times.

  She puked. And puked. I grabbed the water from her dad. We were going to have to repeat the process, and the child wasn’t going to like it.

  Crew, who remained inside, met my gaze over her heaving body. I knew it likely looked pretty awful, and I didn’t have any idea if it would even work, but at least I wasn’t alone. We were in this together.

  JoHanna sat on the couch sipping water. After a very long few hours, I would guess the last of the poison should be out of her system. Her mother held her, and her father sat next to them, his head in his hands. “I just don’t know how this could have happened.”

  I shook my head. She was alive, and that was key, but we didn’t know what poisoned her. How could her parents prevent it from happening again, if they didn’t know what caused it the first time? She remained quiet, and so far, she wasn’t sharing any information.

  Ransom burst through the door. “Nothing. I’m sorry. We haven’t found any poisonous plants within a ten-mile radius. I can’t believe she’d be able to have gone further than that.” He stared at JoHanna for a moment. “So glad she’s doing okay.”

  “Thank you so much for helping her.” Her mother’s voice shook. “I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you. Do you live here now?”

  I blinked. Almost no one ever thanked me, so I had no idea what to do with her gratitude. “Um, for the next six weeks? Because of the storm.”

  Her father’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, that’s right. I never think about it, because we would never want to leave. But, yes, I guess you’re stuck, aren’t you?”

  Crew shook his head. “We’re all clearly lucky she arrived when she did. In the meantime, she’s staying with us. Speaking of which, it’s time to get her back. I’m glad the child is improved.”

  I was, too, but it still ate at me that we didn’t know what she’d ingested. We got lucky this time, but that didn’t mean we would be if another child sickened. We had one real healer back home, a woman about ten years older than me. She was amazing at what she did, and Clarke almost never let her out of his palace, keeping her just about locked inside. We could beg, and sometimes he’d let her come help people, but the times he agreed were few and far between. The rest of us made do with what little knowledge we could pass between us, since the old women who knew the most about healing were gone as well.

  “A man gave it to me,” JoHanna said in a soft voice, almost a whisper. Though her words were quiet, the child managed to silence the entire room. The enhanced all likely heard her, since there were no secrets with them around.

  I thought about how Clarke’s men had known Amias would come for Clarke, but then again, he hadn’t bothered to hide it.

  He walked into his execution with his weapons drawn knowing what would happen to him. I shook my head. I couldn’t afford to go there in my head when the child needed me in the present.

  Crew knelt, taking her small hand in his own. “Which man?”

  “A man like you. A man with special powers. One of the tall men.”

  I cleared my throat. “An enhanced?”

  “What’s that?”

  Right. The vocabulary is different here. “A Super Soldier?”

  She nodded. “He held out a flower and said it was beautiful. It was. Then he said it also tasted good. He told me I should try it. We’re supposed to listen to all of you, because you take care of us, and you keep us safe. I ate it, but it didn’t taste good. He told me to go home and not to tell anyone or he’d hurt my parents.” She lifted her gaze to meet mine. “Is he going to hurt my parents because I told you?”

  Crew shook his head, his lips thin in irritation. “No. He’s not. Who was it? You know everyone who lives around here, JoHanna, so which man did this to you?” A muscle ticked in his jaw. I wouldn’t want to be on the other end of Crew’s temper, that much was clear, even as he restrained himself and stayed gentle.

  “I don’t know him, but he was like you, and you’re to be trusted.”

  I winced internally. Few could be trusted. No way should an entire small-town’s worth of people be treated as safe. Why were they raising the child to be so vulnerable?

  It wasn’t my business. I wouldn’t be there very long. I wouldn’t be there for the ramifications of what they did and didn’t do, obviously.

  Crew rose. “So he was a stranger? Someone who doesn’t live here. What color was his hair, JoHanna?”

  She pointed at Crew. “Brown, like yours.”

  “Brown. Okay. Thank you.” He turned to her father. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Her father nodded. “Thank you.”

  Crew stormed toward the door and then stopped, turning around to regard me. He held out his hand, offering it to me. “Time to go.”

  I nodded. If he hadn’t suddenly remembered me, would I have been able to find my way back to their bar on my own? I wasn’t sure, but it seemed doubtful, especially since we’d rushed and he’d carried me part of the way.

  Lacing our fingers together, I let him lead me outside, where more enhanced than I’d ever seen surrounded the house.

  “We obviously have a problem. A stranger. Someone who didn’t announce themselves in the proper way went after one of our kids. It can’t be allowed.” He nodded toward Mace. “I’ll trust you to handle finding him. Twenty-four-hour security here until he is found. He doesn’t get near this family or that little girl again. Assign people.”

  Mace nodded once. “On it.”

  Crew stared at the group in front of us. “We made something here, all those years ago. Some of you followed me here, others of you stumbled upon us or brought others in. We were all clear on how we meant to live, and no one has ever been forced to stay. This place and how we live isn’t for everyone, and I get that. We maintain our equilibrium. We take jobs that use our skills, when asked, we maintain this place, and keep the non– Super Soldiers safe. In turn, they teach us things that we don’t know how to do, and they take care of us, too. It’s a circle, and we maintain it. This is the first time I’ve ever seen the way things work get challenged. The first time in fifteen years. I’ll defend our way of life. Now is your only chance, did any of you bring someone here and not report it? Or do you know someone was here and didn’t tell? This is the amnesty moment, and it will be the only one I offer.”

  Everyone was quiet. I couldn’t hear a thing, but they probably could. Any changes in heartbeat or catching of breath—everyone would know. After a moment, Crew nodded. “That is fantastic. I want to keep trusting all of you. I plan on doing so, but if you’ve betrayed us, then you’re due for a reminder of who we used to be before we settled down.”

  What was that exactly?

  “And this is Raven. I know you’ve all heard that by now, but she’s staying with us. Anyone bothers her and you’ll answer to me.”

  I raised my free hand. “Hi.”

  Mace stayed behind with Gunnar and Ransom, but Crew left with me, walking slowly this time. I made some mental notes about my surroundings even as the rain drizzled down on our heads. It wasn’t like the night before. This was more like a misting. Glancing up, I could see the electricity sparking in the atmosphere, the sky just dark enough for the tracery of vein-like light to be visible.

  Off in the distance, I could see a town. Nearby, mostly forested lands spread out, but other houses sat back from the road.

  “You saved her. I couldn’t have done that.”

  Crew’s voice filled the quiet around us, and I jerked in surprise before considering him. I liked the sound of his voice much better than my own voice, which I’d always found to be just a touch too low. “I didn’t do anything spectacular. I had her drink water and made her puke. That was really miniscule help and, frankly, I got lucky. I could’ve killed her, with what I did.”

  He shook his head. “I wouldn’t have thought to make her throw up, and neither would anyone else. I’m grateful to you. Everyone is. Plus, you stayed calm, which was really something, too. Thank you.” I smiled at him. “Don’t thank me for doing so little. I’m glad I could help. I’m shocked you don’t have a med machine.”

  “It’s not for lack of trying. Actually, that was the last thing I said to Amias. I even told him, when he had enough of traveling and was ready to come back home, I’d appreciate it if he found a med machine to bring home with him. He needed some space, he said. Said he needed to breathe in the universe, and that he wasn’t returning. But I didn’t believe him. I don’t think any of us did. I thought he would be back, that it was just a matter of time. Only I was wrong. He never came back.”

  I smiled. “Well, he found med machines. Clarke has more than I can count.”

  “Figures. Fucking asshole. Sorry, language. I never liked him, though. He wasn’t that good at his job, and he endangered lives. But, whatever, I don’t suppose it matters anymore. You saved one of the little ones here. It would be hard to explain what children mean to all of us, to anyone outside our planet. They’ve become a sign for us, I guess. Of life moving on. Of a normalcy we’ll never have but we appreciate nonetheless.”

  I squeezed his hand. “Children are a gift where I’m from, too, even if we know what life they’re being born into.” I sighed. “How did this even happen? How did we end up trapped in an existence where no one gets to live safely anymore? You guys shouldn’t have to stay away from people. I shouldn’t have to…do what I do. Kids shouldn’t be born into this mess. How did any of this even happen? It’s not fair.”

  I realized what I’d said, and regret flooded me. I never talked about any of it. What was the point? It seemed like whining, because as an adult, I understood life was what it was. Railing against unchangeable facts was a waste of everyone’s time.

  But Crew nodded, his gaze sympathetic. “We lost. That’s how this happened.”

  It was an answer I hadn’t heard before. “Your corporation decided to terminate you, and you guys escaped.” Or so it had been explained to me over and over when I dared ask. Afterward, they struggled to find places to hide, so they ultimately disappeared to quiet planets or took over other ones.

  Or they’d been forced into some kind of subjugation.

  “Yes,” Crew agreed easily enough. “That’s what happened after we lost. First, we were sent to the other side of the galaxy, where we fought in a war with the people of planet Earth. We lost that war and got pretty much herded out. When we lost, we came back here. I thought we’d regroup and go again, make a second attack. They were building things that should have made a second attempt easier, more successful. Technologies that eliminated the need to travel through the black hole for such an extensive period of time... But then, some shit happened. Sorry, language.”

  I waved my hand. “I say shit all the time.” Or at least I thought it.

  He tilted his head in acknowledgement before he continued. “There was some problem with the corporation’s intellectual property, so they were forced to shut down. Executives at the top made the decision to terminate us and end the problem, as it was an easy solution for them. Some of us got away, despite their decision. But getting away wasn’t the hard part since we weren’t exactly welcome anywhere. Some of that is on those of us who behaved like the uncontrollable monsters they thought we were without Evander, the corporation that created us. Some of us came here, and we determined to stay out of the way.”

  They lost. There was such a tone of sadness when he admitted it. “Earth. Wow. I guess I always thought that was a myth, that it didn’t really exist.”

  “No, it’s real, and the people there were fierce enough to beat us, thoroughly. I mean…it was complicated? We were betrayed because some of our own people turned on us and sided with them. I could never figure out why. Some listened to a recording that changed their minds about everything, or so I heard. I listened to it myself, but it didn’t have an effect on me. Still, those that were moved by the recording turned on us. Their changing sides made a huge difference, so we lost. First time in my life I lost, still not really over it.” He sighed. “Maybe I won’t ever be. Anyway, yes, Earth is real. Blue, green, beautiful and not a myth.”

  I tried to revise everything I knew based on his words, but I’d have been lying if I said I could process it all that fast. “I never heard any of that,” I said, the only thing I was sure of in that moment.

  “Ah, so Amias didn’t share everything with you.” He winked at me. “I’m not totally without my own stories to share during our time together.”

  We made our way back toward their bar turned- home and went inside. I took a deep breath, still wrapping my mind around his words. I’ve always been good at moving forward, at not holding onto thoughts that might drag me down inside, but it was as though I hauled the world behind me. “Well…give me a job,” I said finally, flopping my free arm to my side.

  “What?” He tilted his head, dropping my hand. “A job?”

  “I’m going to be here for weeks, right? I need to be useful. Hopefully, there won’t be any more need to treat poisoned children, since I’m sure you will find that man. So…please, tell me how I can make myself useful while I’m here, since I’m going to be eating your food, using your water, and basically draining your resources. A job. I need something, since I can’t do what I’d normally do.”

  He shook his head. “If it wasn’t your choice, no one should have to do what you were doing. Unless the credits were going in your pocket by your will, it was despicable.”

  I swallowed. “I wouldn’t…I wouldn’t choose it. I normally try not to think about it, because it’s just my life. Regardless, my skill set isn’t useful here, so I feel like I can finally take a breath about it.”

  I hadn’t thought about it before, but once I said it, I found I meant the words.

  “So why don’t you take a day or two for relaxation? The idea was impossible to digest when I first came here, and it was a good three years before I truly appreciated downtime. But every so often, we all need a day to ourselves. Take one. Take today. You just saved that girl’s life, even if you are going to dismiss it as getting lucky. One day, where you just eat, take a nap, whatever. Then tomorrow, as you requested, I’ll see if I can figure out something for you to do. Sound fair?”