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  Joe clamped down and kept Marcus’s lower half still.

  Navarro and Lil worked quickly. With a thin scalpel, Navarro slashed two small incisions in the back of Marcus’s heel while Liliana sprayed a highly pressurized, clear liquid all over the wound. Blood and bits of tissue fell away, and Marcus’s whining became screams so loud they drowned out the terse communication between Navarro and Lil. The liquid spray stopped, and the bone lay exposed, gleaming white and alarming.

  Joe fought the urge to vomit.

  Lil brushed something over the bone where it had split, then used tongs to pull back the muscle and skin around the wound. Navarro pressed the heel back together, lining up the break. He used a small pick to make sure no flesh made its way into the crack. He turned to a small table laid out with instruments and used tweezers to pick up a long white screw. With one hand, he gently spread one of the slits he’d made with the scalpel. With the other, he pushed the screw straight into Marcus’s heel.

  Joe expected Marcus’s agony, and he got it.

  Marcus jolted and wailed, but the screw seemed to slide through his heel like a knife through butter. The second screw went in the same way. Navarro slid a small, flat, silver square over the area. He read whatever information it provided and breathed a heavy sigh. “It’s good.”

  Marcus had stopped screaming and struggling, so Joe slowly let him go. His back ached, and he’d be stiff later from how long and tightly he’d flexed his muscles.

  Lil went to work applying some sort of seal over Marcus’s broken skin.

  Navarro straightened, and removed his bloody apron. He tossed it in a bin and moved to Marcus’s head. He rested his hand on Marcus’s chest and smiled down at him. “You did great, Wonder Twin. I fixed all the things that were wrong, and that medicine I gave you should have you feeling better already. I’m sorry it hurt, but you’re going to be just fine. You were very brave.”

  While he talked, Navarro made slow, gentle circles over Marcus’s chest. His voice was calm and deep, and Marcus smiled weakly at the praise.

  Joe remembered how gifted Navarro was at making people feel better. He’d been a much better leader of the runners than Joe. Those shoes had always been too big to fill.

  “Thank you,” Marcus whispered.

  Navarro stroked Marcus’s hair. “I’ll send your brother in to sit with you in a few minutes, and I’ll come check on you in a bit. We’ll never leave you alone.”

  Navarro motioned to Joe, and they walked over to the sink, where they disposed of their gloves and washed their hands. Joe took his time with the warm water, enjoying the sensation of the water’s constant movement over his skin. Navarro turned off the faucet and crowded into Joe’s space.

  They didn’t touch. They never touched, even though the life they’d lived at Flights of Fantasy meant that touch and physical intimacy came as naturally and necessarily as breathing. Navarro had comfort and kindness to offer to everyone but Joe. He searched Joe’s face and bowed his head so their faces were inches apart. “We have a good setup here, nuevecito, but the last thing we needed right now was for you and your friends to show up. This kid needs to stay until he’s healed. I want to keep an eye on him, make sure the heel’s set right and the infection doesn’t return.”

  “Okay. We can do that.”

  Navarro closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them and spoke, he sounded like an old man. “I don’t know what to do with you. I need to think about it, talk to Lili. You understand?”

  Joe didn’t, not yet, but he knew Navarro would make sure he did eventually. Communication was Joe’s problem, not Navarro’s. All the same, a prickle of unease traveled up his spine. When they’d walked through the town, he’d noticed the man with the gun, the way the people had gawked at Devin. Navarro wouldn’t have been happy to see Joe under the best of circumstances. But even Lil had hesitated before kissing him and welcoming them in. What had they gotten themselves into?

  Navarro prodded Joe’s knee with the cane.

  Joe nodded. Not like they could leave now.

  Navarro backed up. “Let’s go update your traveling circus freak show friends.”

  ***

  Devin sat with the others in the wavering candlelight, crowded around a table not meant to hold so many people, and stared at Joe, who picked at the first hot meal they’d eaten in two weeks. Something seemed to gnaw at him, but Devin couldn’t figure out what it was. Joe had been so hell-bent to get here, even before Marcus got hurt; now Marcus, at least according to Joe’s old crush, should be all right; they were going to bed tonight in a house where they wouldn’t have to worry about getting killed in their sleep; and still Joe acted like someone had kicked the shit out of him.

  “Eat your food, nuevecito,” Navarro barked from the head of the table and used his fork to nudge Joe’s hand. “You’re so skinny your pants look like they’re about to fall off you. Plus, Sadie worked hard on dinner.”

  Maybe that was the problem. Joe didn’t get bossed around by anyone, but the usual Joe rules didn’t seem to apply to Navarro.

  Joe perked up and winked at the pretty teenager next to him, Sadie, though for some reason, Joe called her “Mole.” He speared a sliver of scrambled eggs from the fancy blue and yellow plate in front of him. “You made this? Tastes great.”

  Liliana patted Sadie’s hand. “She’s a fabulous cook.”

  Sadie frowned. “They say that because Lili and Navi can’t cook worth shit. Plus, I like fire.”

  Across from Joe, Peter laughed too loudly, and Navarro frowned at him before smiling indulgently down the table at Sadie. Devin found himself smiling, too. Navarro had dimples.

  “Do you have solar?” Joe leaned closer to Navarro. “How big is Purcell?”

  “Solar for the exam room only,” Navarro said, “and we have a couple solar appliances. This isn’t actually Purcell, but that’s what we call it. The real town’s on the other side of the border. I’d guess the town, our town, has a couple thousand people, wouldn’t you say, Lili?”

  “It’s a good place,” Liliana added with a nod. “The town took up a collection for the solar panel. Navi takes care of the residents, and they pay us in food or whatever we need.”

  Navarro gave a lopsided grin that was gooey around the edges. “That’s all fine, but Lili’s the town mayor.”

  Liliana rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t pay.”

  “But it’s important.”

  “I’m not surprised, Lil,” Joe said. “You were always so diplomatic. Is Aria coming for dinner?”

  Navarro’s smile slid away.

  “Aria’s my other sister. Younger than me, older than Sadie,” Lil explained to Devin and an only marginally awake Flix. The poor kid had all but passed out when they’d told him Marcus would be alright. Liliana laid down her fork and addressed Joe. “Aria isn’t living with us.”

  “Stupid bitch,” Sadie said around a mouthful of corn.

  Devin barked out a totally inappropriate laugh. He just hadn’t expected a little girl to talk that way. Hopefully Navarro didn’t think he was too much of an idiot.

  “Sadie!” Liliana slapped Sadie’s arm, but Sadie kept right on eating. “Don’t talk about your sister that way.”

  “Well she is.”

  “Is she okay?” Joe directed the question to Liliana, though he kept glancing at Navarro.

  “She has a boyfriend. Thinks she’s in love.” Liliana dabbed at her lips with the back of her hand. “She’s here in town, but we don’t see her much.”

  “Why not?” Peter asked.

  “’Cause her pencil-dick boyfriend keeps her on a chain.” Sadie made kissy faces.

  Navarro rose. “I need to check on the Wonder Twin.” He ruffled Sadie’s hair and kissed Liliana as he passed.

  Marcus was laid out asleep on one of the couches, visible from where Devin sat. With surprising care, Navarro knelt next to the sofa and laid his hand on Marcus’s forehead.

  “Did you see the man with the gun when you were at
my door?” Liliana asked.

  Devin returned his attention to the table and nodded. Thinking about the man made him nervous. To cover it, he shoved an extra-large bite of eggs and corn in his mouth.

  “That’s Sanders, Aria’s boyfriend.” Liliana lowered her voice like someone might be listening at the windows. “He and his friends protect the town, get us supplies.”

  “Thank fuck.” Devin caught himself and tried again. “I mean ‘thank goodness.’ Sorry. Anyway, I was worried the guy might have seen the flyers.”

  “What flyers?” Peter leaned around Flix, who had propped his face on his hand and closed his eyes, and peered at Devin.

  Shit. Guess neither Joe nor Flix had said anything.

  “Boggs released some flyers via drone,” Joe said. “He’s trying to get people to turn us in, though I don’t know how he’d get anyone to walk down to Austin to take us back.”

  Navarro returned. He leaned the arm of his cane on the table between him and Joe, then sat down. “Up here, people would have ways. It’s not so primitive. I take it you didn’t leave on good terms?”

  Joe shrugged. “It’s not a dinner table story, but no, Boggs is bound to be furious. I don’t know if any of us were ever really free to leave.”

  “Not until he was through with us.”

  Everyone else may as well not have been in the room. Joe and Navarro sure didn’t seem to notice anyone outside the line between their faces. The others ate on, but Devin couldn’t help but stare and wonder what made the men’s expressions so intense. Joe was a fierce guy underneath his cool exterior. Navarro seemed more relaxed. But something about the two of them together... It was more heated, maybe? That wasn’t quite right. Devin tried to think of a word Joe would have used. Potent.

  Liliana seemed cool. She’d understand. Devin motioned toward Joe and Navarro and whispered, “But they never...” He made a fist and slipped the index finger of his other hand into and out of it a few times.

  She scoffed. “That’s all teenagers think about. No. Not all friction has to do with sex. Navi doesn’t even care that Joe and I slept together.”

  Surprise made Devin stupid. “You had sex with Joe?” Loud. Very loud.

  Joe tossed his head back and sighed.

  “Oh, God, we should have company more often.” Sadie laid her head on Joe’s shoulder and cackled. “You banged my sister? That is so gross.”

  “That” — Navarro speared Devin with those sharp eyes — “is not a dinner table story. Jesus, Muscles.”

  Devin shrunk in on himself. He really, really, really wanted Navarro to like him.

  Joe didn’t even glance Devin’s way. “How would people from here get to Austin besides on foot?”

  Navarro popped a piece of bread into his mouth. “A couple ways. Bicycles. Not too good for transporting prisoners, though. But across the border, they have these solar cars, kind of like the old SDVs. Remember them?”

  “We had three solar cars,” Peter said. He leaned across the table and spoke mainly to Sadie. “My dad was going to let me have one of my own on my birthday.”

  “Where are you from, kid?” Navarro frowned and tilted his head toward Devin. “You, too, Muscles. How’d you end up part of the freak show with this ass?” He pointed a thumb at Joe.

  Joe chuckled softly and took his first full bite of food.

  “I’m from Austin,” Devin said. He put his arm on the back of Flix’s seat and twisted so he could see Navarro better. “My folks didn’t leave when all the other white people did. My family died, and I needed some way to live.”

  “He’s my partner,” Joe said. His face was tilted toward his plate, but he looked up at Devin, those chocolate eyes big and warm, and Devin’s pulse surged. Oh, yeah, those eyes did it for him. He and Joe shared a smile.

  “Explains so much.” Navarro nudged Peter’s shoulder. “What about you?”

  Peter’s face had slipped into a careful mask. He didn’t even try to flirt with Sadie. “I’m from Columbus, Ohio. New America. These men, um...”

  Silence stretched around the table. Devin thought about jumping in, sparing the kid from having to say it. Peter relived what had happened to him every time he slept. That seemed more than enough.

  A thick tear slipped down Peter’s cheek. “My parents, the men...they had guns and...”

  Navarro covered Peter’s hand. “It’s okay.”

  “He needs to talk about it,” Joe said softly.

  Probably none of the others saw it, but because Devin was so enthralled with the way Joe and Navarro related to each other, so interested in every movement of Navarro’s hands, he caught the way the hand next to Joe curled on the table, how Navarro’s middle finger extended. How Joe laid his hand an inch away and matched the gesture.

  “After, the men took me.” Peter’s bright eyes lit on Joe. “I don’t remember. That man Boggs said I had to work for him, and Joe left me there to suffer.”

  Chair legs screeched on the worn tile floor as Liliana shoved back and went to Peter. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders from behind and kissed the top of his head.

  Devin expected Peter to squirm away and say something horrible about “brown” people, but instead he shifted in his seat, pressed his head against Liliana’s breasts, and sobbed. She patted him and made sweet cooing noises, and Devin wondered how long it had been since anyone had comforted Peter.

  Peter cried for a while. No one spoke. Sadie stopped eating, even.

  A knock came from the front door. Before anyone moved, it swung open, and the man who’d followed them earlier stepped inside. He took off his hat, laid it over his narrow chest, and bowed. His too-long hair fell over his shoulder, a bit of a thinning patch exposed in the candlelight.

  “Evening, Mayor, Dr. Suarez. Don’t mean to intrude. I can see you’ve got company.”

  “Good evening, Sanders.” Liliana’s polite greeting as she regained her chair didn’t match the coolness in her voice. “Do you require assistance from myself or Dr. Suarez?”

  Sanders smiled, showing off a row of jagged, yellowed teeth. Devin still wasn’t used to that, not after being at Flights of Fantasy where everyone’s teeth had been aligned and brightened for optimum strength and appearance. Sanders’s thick lips managed to keep his teeth bared as he spoke. “No ma’am. Word was you had company. I’m just being friendly.”

  Sadie blew a raspberry. “If you were being friendly, you’d bring Aria and not barge into our house like some mangy raccoon.”

  Sanders ignored her. He walked into the kitchen and eyed Devin and Peter with naked interest. “You boys northerners?”

  Devin glanced down the table to Navarro and Joe, who both subtly shook their heads.

  “They’re friends from when Lili and I lived in Texas,” Navarro said. “White people can exist outside New America.”

  “Sure.” Sanders shrugged. He turned to Devin. “I’m sure the good doctor already told you boys we run a safe, clean town here in Purcell. We protect what’s ours and ain’t nobody gonna make us second class. We are mighty proud of that. It’s good to remember.”

  Devin had no idea what he was supposed to say or why this Sanders guy was talking to him. “Okay.”

  “When’ll you be moving on?”

  “When I’ve decided they’re well enough to travel, Sanders.” Navarro spread his hands. “Now, we were enjoying our dinner. See yourself out.”

  Sanders smirked and gave a curt nod. “I’ll let Aria know you asked about her. Can’t seem to get that girl to visit you all no matter what. Be seeing you, Mayor. Navi.” When he said Navarro’s name, it sounded ugly. He gave a small bow, replaced his hat, and left.

  “Dickhead,” Liliana muttered.

  “What the hell was that about?” Devin looked to Navarro first, but he and Joe had their heads together, talking in low voices that didn’t carry to Devin’s end of the table. He should have figured. Joe would talk to someone else about the serious stuff before he talked to Devin. He rounded on Li
liana, but it was Sadie who spoke.

  “You ever see those Texas Rangers back in Austin?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, Sanders and his crew like to think they’re like that, keeping Oklahoma territory, or at least our Purcell, safe. Except they’re really just thugs who get off on feeling powerful. They call themselves the Sons of America.”

  “Like I said earlier,” Liliana said, “they bring food and supplies to the town. I’m not sure where or how they get the stuff, though.”

  Devin thought about what Joe had found in that house on the way here, the dead bodies. He didn’t want to bring it up in front of Sadie. Hell, he barely wanted to talk about it in front of Flix and Peter, and they already knew. “Are they dangerous?”

  Navarro looked up. “Any man with a gun is dangerous.”

  Devin had thought the same thing hours earlier. Only he hadn’t included himself in the assessment. It took everything he had not to let his eyes wander to the rifles they’d brought with them, which now sat propped against the kitchen counter.

  “They got pissed ’cause Navi wouldn’t join them.” Sadie dug back into her food. “He says they do things the wrong way. So Aria went instead.”

  “Why did he talk to me and Devin the way he did?” Peter asked, his eyes wide.

  “Come on, Petey,” Flix said. “Don’t be an idiot.” He barely had his eyes open, and he was listing toward Devin, but his voice was strong. “Think about what a bigot you are. How you think I’m so bad when you don’t even know me. That asshole’s exactly like you.”

  ***

  Peter lay on the couch and tried, mostly, to keep from kicking Flix in the face, even though Flix deserved it for saying Peter was anything like that awful Sanders. Peter squirmed. He loved and cared for people. Momma and Dad had always talked about loving even lesser people and wanting them to be all right, even if it wasn’t okay to treat them like friends. Flix didn’t know what he was talking about. He was a rude boy, anyway.

  After dinner, they’d both scrambled for the couch when Navarro said that was where they should sleep. Flix had tossed the back cushions off, saying Peter could sleep on them on the floor, then hurried to put them back when a smell like old socks hit their noses. Flix was so whacked, he’d fallen on the couch anyway and was snoring in under a minute.