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  I still had not had a proper tour of the campgrounds, and I took the time to survey it. It was almost entirely tents. The only actual pathway was the one I had entered on, a very wide one that ran straight down the middle. In the center was an open space where all the angel-people had gathered, a corner set aside for the ones who were still standing motionless. There was no area to eat, and in general no room for anything. It was absolutely clear that this had been planned with very little understanding of what a campsite is or how one works.

  My tent was, conspicuously enough, one of six that had been placed in the central open area. I grabbed my stuff, eager to experiment with how far I could get without anyone noticing my absence.

  Almost immediately Fex came to my side. “I’m sorry, miss, we can’t let you leave the grounds alone for your safety. And I’m sorry to hear about what that downright awful Isa tried to do to you.”

  “Are you guys a hive mind or something?”

  “Ha, what a funny joke that is. I think I will accompany you into the woods so you can look at nature for a while,” he said, his speech very stilted and monotonous.

  “I don’t want to look at nature. I’m more interested in leaving into it.”

  “You sure like to child around. You’re a very funny person, in fact. You were just telling me how much you’re interested in the local population of white pine and were concerned for their health, thus prompting a request to go look at them. Very funny indeed.”

  I figured this was Fex’s way of trying to talk to me alone, and I went with it. He didn’t actually have anything he could hold against me, not since Kasos also was aware I knew this was just a huge setup, but I figured playing along with a slightly rebellious angel could have its benefits. With a bit of luck, I could get him working for me.

  He took me up an overgrown trail, which actually did end in a grove of white pine.

  “You really need to watch yourself.”

  “Is this about Isa?” I asked. “Because that was all his fault. He just said I was ‘unfit’ and tried to kill me.”

  “Oh, obviously not! The thing with Isa was—look, just don’t try to leave like that ever again.”

  “Why? I wanted to know how long it would take before someone stopped me.”

  “The trick is that they wouldn’t. You’re being judged here, you know. And if you leave, you’ll be deemed unworthy—”

  “Again? You know, I don’t exactly want to be worthy to you angels anyway,” I interrupted.

  “—and hunted down and killed. The lesser angels ignore you now only because they’re ordered to. Lose the ego. I thought we were working together here.”

  “Yeah, because of blackmail.”

  “If you really hate us all that much and want to leave, do as I say. What I need is to get out of here, and you want the same thing. If we kill the leader, Isa—or wait, Kasos now—then there will be enough chaos that you’ll be deemed in need of a retesting. They’ll leave you alone until you wander into another of these camps. I will use the chaos to become the hero of the crisis and get promoted. We are both victors.”

  “Wouldn’t they kill me?”

  “They wouldn’t know who killed Kasos, and they would assume you never knew this was an angelic camp. They’d hope you’d run away in fear and wind up at another camp, where they could comfort you and continue the testing.”

  “This is sounding, frighteningly enough, like a good plan. Except how am I supposed to kill Kasos?”

  “Anything you want. As long as he retains his human form he is as harmless as one. Bash his head in while he sleeps. Shoot him in the heart. It doesn’t matter what you do, just kill him.”

  “I’m afraid to trust you on this one hundred percent, but it looks like I’m in.”

  “Excellent. And believe me, I’m very trustworthy.”

  “When you say it like that, it doesn’t help.”

  “Just trust me.”

  I sighed. “Whatever. Let’s kill this bastard.”

  6

  I WASN’T sure what I was going to use as a weapon, but I eventually settled on a large rock. I dug one up near my tent and hauled it in. It weighed a good couple of pounds, and I figured it probably was enough to bash a head in.

  A passerby-angel had stopped me and asked what I was doing, and I earnestly replied that I had taken an interest in geology from a young age and wanted to work on my rock collection. She nodded sweetly and left me alone.

  The only thing left was to find a moment where Kasos was off guard. This proved impossible, as she—having done as promised and switched bodies—didn’t even sleep.

  It was the second day of me being in the camp, and not once had I seen her in a moment that would have allowed me to kill her. I followed her as much as I could, and I never caught her resting. She seemed to exclusively wander around camp and talk to the others, usually about exceedingly mundane subjects. Catching her asleep, as planned, seemed unlikely.

  I was watching her from a safe distance—Fex waiting behind and giving me a look of urgency—when I noticed there was a new girl in camp. Admittedly, I could not recognize everyone yet, but I was very certain this girl was new.

  She had a certain look to her, and I imagined her the type who might’ve run a blog devoted to flowers and blurry photographs of wolves. She had long brunette hair that somehow still had a faded green hue on the tips, and a long dress that was entirely inappropriate for the weather. She had a crown of fake flowers on her head, and was looking around the camp and nodding at everything she saw.

  I knew she had to be an angel, but my instinct refused to agree with my mind. She seemed too sincere, too good-looking, and too human for that. I subdued my doubt the best I could. There had to be other humans out there. No reason a pretty girl couldn’t be one of them.

  “Oh, Erika, come over here!” said Kasos, catching me unaware. “I’d like you to meet Midori.”

  I went up and shook her hand. Kasos spoke to Midori. “This is Erika, another wanderer who arrived just yesterday. You two should spend some time together.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” said Midori with a small smile.

  Kasos left us alone, and I decided that if she was human, then it was my duty to enlighten her about what this camp was as soon as possible.

  “Let’s go out to the woods and talk there. It’s good to breathe in the forest air, isn’t it?”

  “Um, well, if you don’t mind, I’d like to look around here some more first. I really only just arrived a moment ago.” She had a singsongy voice, like a bunch of birds talking through a human avatar. It wasn’t one of those sarcastic horror movie singsongs either, just one her voice fell into naturally.

  “It’ll just be a short walk. I’ll get my friend, and we’ll be off and back in ten minutes.”

  “Can’t this wait?” She yawned as if to emphasize her point.

  “All right, but we should go soon. Let me show you around at least.”

  I tried to subtly clue Midori in to everything off about the place, but she seemed genuinely interested and very sincerely accepting of everything weird.

  “This here is a circle of people. They don’t really breathe or move much like this. They do this for hours on end, actually,” I said.

  “Oh, like meditation? That’s a good idea, especially with all the terrible stuff that’s happened. It’s a good way to clear your mind, and I love that it’s so popular here! I can’t wait to join in when I get the chance.”

  “You shouldn’t. It’s weird.”

  “You should try to be more open to alternative lifestyle choices.”

  And when I was showing her the layout of the tents, I said, “See, they’re all cramped together except for this one clearing. And we’re the only ones with tents in the clearing and actually ample room to move around.”

  “I think it’s awfully clever of them to arrange them like this. It helps build a feeling of community to have a center square sort of place, as if this was a real town. It’s a bit abnorm
al, but there’s nothing wrong with it.”

  When I had finished my tour, I took her aside one more time. “Can we make a little time to go into the woods yet?”

  “No. I think I’m going to head to my tent now and rest. Maybe later?”

  Frustrated, I took Midori to her tent and stomped off to keep watch on Kasos. It was so hard to instill a sense of danger when you couldn’t actually name it.

  Kasos was doing what she often did, watching the other angels convene in their circle. She never joined in, but sat a few feet away and watched. She was almost in the same sort of trance that the others were in, but occasionally she’d shift or open her eyes and look around.

  I guess if I was light on my feet, I could’ve killed her then and there, but there were always a few other people hanging around in the clearing.

  “How’d it go with Midori?” asked Kasos, unmoving.

  “Oh, fine enough.”

  “You were very desperate to walk with her in the woods.”

  “Uh, I just thought she would want to. She looked the hippie type, and I don’t know, I guess we could’ve bonded through that.”

  “If you were to go in the woods, who would have overseen your safety?”

  “Probably Fex; he is my Watcher after all.”

  “Perhaps I should switch it up a little, give Fex a break from his strenuous job of keeping an eye on you.”

  “If you wish.” I didn’t want to alert her that I actually needed Fex around, especially with her suspicions already raised.

  “Also, we are expecting another visitor quite soon. Make sure to rouse Midori when the time comes. You will both need to be present for this.”

  “You can just drop the guise here, you know. Just tell me what’s about to go down.”

  “You should aim not to be so emotional. We will be having another test for you shortly.”

  “A test on what?”

  “Play along now. It isn’t a large problem that you know we are angels. I only ask that you pretend you don’t. I am being quite kind to you in saying this, but we are looking for your genuine personality and reactions. These tests will not harm you, so please, try to cooperate.”

  I decided to head down to the river and spend my time looking for Gav instead of standing around until this visitor arrived. I hadn’t seen him at all today, and I was getting sort of concerned about his well-being. He was the one sane person I knew at this point, though I guess that could be up for debate. At least he sort of knew what he was doing.

  I took maybe ten minutes to wait before I got tired of it. Gav wasn’t coming, and I couldn’t stand to stay still that long.

  I went back to Midori’s tent and knocked stupidly on the fabric of her door.

  “Come in?” was her slightly confused-sounding answer.

  I let myself in and settled on the floor. I doubted she had had much sleep since I brought her here, as she had evidently unpacked her entire bag and made the tent very homey. Two blankets were laid over the sleeping bag for comfort, and on the other side of the tent she had arranged a collection of various objects.

  She had an unlit candle, a parcel of herbs, and a peacock feather carefully put together into a display that she sat in front of.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  She took a deep breath. “Just thinking.”

  “Can’t sleep?”

  “Not at all. I’d love to, though.”

  “Do you want me to leave?”

  “Not particularly.”

  “Oh.” I didn’t actually have anything interesting to talk about, I realized.

  “Where are you from?” Midori asked suddenly.

  “New York, though I don’t remember much of living there. We moved up here when I was a kid, right when my mom started getting sick. I guess the mountain air was supposed to help.”

  “Did it?”

  “Oh, yeah, I guess it did. She made it right ’til the end, you know? Died in a fire later, of course, but at least it wasn’t from the illness. What about you?”

  “What, about my family? We never were close, and I moved here from California last year to escape them and city life in general. Reconnect with nature. I sort of wish there was a way to go back there. I mean, we survived. I hate my father, but I still would want him safe.”

  “He’s going to be dead. It’s better you don’t see the bodies, trust me.”

  “I’m guessing you did.” She looked at me glumly. “I’m so sorry about that. I just mean, I can’t help but cling on to the hope that someone I knew survived. Or that I’m somehow stuck in the only patch of land where this happened, and that I can escape back to civilization. Or that it’s all one nasty, long, and vivid dream.”

  “I don’t blame you.” The topic seemed to have run out, and I struggled for something else to say. “What’s all this, then?” I said, gesturing to her display.

  “Oh this? Nothing really. Just junk.” She sighed heavily. “Alluring and pretty, yet useless possessions that I still lug around for some reason.”

  “You seem attached to them, though.”

  “I used to have more,” she said, almost too soft for me to hear.

  There was a commotion outside. The visitor had arrived.

  HE LOOKED like the epitome of a wanderer; a long coat and a long scarf obscuring most of his appearance. His hair had grown out poorly, for it was mangy and thin and not at all suited to being tied in a bun.

  His scarf had been covering most of his face like a mask, but he undid it and gazed around impassively.

  I regarded him with suspicion, for if he was involved in this upcoming test of the angels, then he surely was one of them.

  Midori, meanwhile, greeted him enthusiastically. “Hello!” she said. “I only just arrived here myself. It’s nice to see this place is constantly growing. At this rate we’ll soon be a village.”

  After a look from Kasos, I went up and shook his hand. “I’m Erika. Hello.”

  His voice was heavy and sounded like a mountain. “Call me Haywood. Where will I be staying?”

  “One of the tents in this clearing, no doubt.”

  Kasos smiled at me. “You’re correct. Please, why don’t you and Midori help him settle in?”

  “Of course,” answered Midori, picking up Haywood’s bag.

  I watched Haywood very carefully. He looked strange enough, certainly quite dangerous in that “wasteland wanderer” sort of way. I just wasn’t sure how his presence was a test.

  He was very tall, a stubbly beard growing in patches across his chin, and bright hazel eyes that were surprisingly full of light. There was a feeling to him that he had done much in his life, his hands callused and rough and his forehead bearing an uneven scar.

  I didn’t get an angelic vibe from him, honestly, but he was still part of their plans in one way or another.

  His backpack looked like it weighed a good amount, and as he unpacked, I began to understand what problem this man was supposed to present.

  He had several pistols in his bag, which he placed near his sleeping bag. Now, I’m personally glad he had the sense to carry a gun with him. I wish I had carried one with me, because even if I was a bit scared of firing one, it would have made me feel a million times safer.

  Midori, however, said what she was supposed to. “We’re aren’t allowed to have weapons in camp. For the safety of everyone else.”

  “Oh? I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m not even sure if I want to settle down here or not. Might be gone by tomorrow’s sun.”

  I had a strong guess that he would be gone by tomorrow. Whether he planned to leave or not.

  “Have a nice rest, then, Haywood,” Midori said with the slightest of bows. Once we had left, she pulled me aside. “We have to tell someone. I don’t think Haywood is very trustworthy. What if he’s a madman and shoots someone?”

  “Please. If I had a gun I would’ve done the same thing and kept it with me. He just got here, and he wants to be safe.”

  “I still think
someone has to know.”

  “Why should anyone? It’s his business what he keeps in his tent. I didn’t report you for having a candle, which is clearly a fire hazard.”

  “I don’t have anything to light it with, though! Come on, it’s better safe than sorry. Let’s just tell Kasos and explain the situation; I’m sure she’ll be reasonable with him. At most she’s just going to take away the guns.”

  “I’m not so sure.”

  “What do you think is going to happen? Like they’re just going to kick him out for a misunderstanding?”

  They would probably find a way to kill him. But I couldn’t sway Midori in the slightest, and she brought me over to Kasos, who was still sitting on a log in front of the circle.

  “What is it, ladies? Is Haywood all set up yet?”

  “Yes, but we noticed he has a collection of firearms with him.”

  “Oh dear.”

  “Well,” I said, “who can blame him? I mean, he only arrived a few minutes ago; why should he be trusting enough to let us know about his guns? He wasn’t even aware that you don’t allow weapons in camp.”

  “That’s a good point, Erika, but I’m afraid the risk outweighs the logic.”

  “Yeah,” Midori chimed in. “He could totally be unhinged and violent. We can’t let him hang around if he poses a threat.”

  Kasos looked to Midori. “Very correct.”

  I had the feeling I was failing this test.

  Together, we went back to Haywood’s tent. Kasos and Midori led the way, and I begrudgingly followed.

  When we met him again, standing with his back to us, I could instantly tell something was wrong. One of his hands was pressed to his forehead, and the other one was gripping a gun and shaking wildly.

  “Drop your weapon,” said Kasos, with the flair of a poorly scripted actor.

  “No,” he answered, in an equally fake tone.

  Midori seemed gripped by the conflict. “Please, Haywood,” she pleaded, “we can’t let you bring dangerous things into camp.”

  “No,” he said again, in what could have been a tape recording of his previous statement.