The closer she got to home, the more she wanted to see Clark and Mallory, but the entire village would come out and that would overwhelm Neil. She also hadn't figured out what to tell Mr. Blackwell about her decision to return home without his royal permission.

"Tucker, can you take us to Jeremy's the back way?" she asked. "I don't want the entire village coming at once."

"Neither do I," Tucker said. "They're going to wonder why I still have all their things."

Neil nudged her leg, whispering, "I buy."

"Can you do that?" Katie asked.

Neil nodded.

"Do what?"

"He wants to buy the whole load, but I don't know how much that would cost."

Tucker threw her a glance. "Sweetheart, Neil's got enough money to buy the entire market. But we're going to keep that between the three of us. Nobody in town needs to know that, least of all Mr. Blackwell."

Neil’s eyebrows pinched but he said, "Give to pride."

"Mallory and Jeremy?" Katie asked.

Neil nodded but he kept his face toward the window, watching the trees rush by. Winter now, the grass was dead. The mesquite trees maintained their tiny leaves, but the thorns still offered a sinister look. Katie swallowed. December was dreary but January and February could be brutal, and she wasn't sure how Neil would handle three months of cold and hunger. But Jeremy would have meat at least, though she wasn't sure if he'd planned for four people instead of two. She'd have to tell Neil all about spring.

She felt helpless and tears pricked. But Neil was no stranger to pain. If he could handle being shocked at a level six, he could handle the cold. She refused to look down the road that led to her old house, afraid it had fallen into the hands of Mr. Blackwell who had dismantled the house for scrap wood.

Jeremy's house was close now and her heart sped. This would work. This had to work.

Neil tore his eyes from the window to glance at her, sensing her squirm. She sent him what she hoped was a convincing smile. "Almost there."

And then they were there. Jeremy and Malory were both striding from the barn, carrying feed buckets. Mallery cocked her head toward the truck, said something to Jeremy. Then spied Katie and dropped both buckets, spilling the feed over the ground. Katie climbed over Neil and Tucker barely got the truck stopped before she jumped out.

"Katie!" Mallory's arms wrapped around her, and her sister squeezed so tight Katie couldn’t move for a moment. "We were beginning to think we'd never see you again! Are you on school break?"

"No," Katie whispered. "I . . . wanted to come back home. Can I still stay with you and Jeremy?"

Mallory blinked, then sputtered, "Of course you can."

Katie wiped her eyes, then motioned back to the car. "Um. I'll explain everything but I have Neil with me. He needed to get away too. Can he stay too, at least for a while? Oh, and he bought Tucker's stuff so we could come right away so that's all yours too."

"What?" Mallory frowned, then eyed the boy in the truck.

"It was all a lie," Katie said. "There was no school. Me and Neil have been locked inside a house."

"Oh my gosh . . ." Mallory sputtered.

Katie had planned on explaining things calmly but now that it came to the moment, all she could really do was cry. She didn't see their stares, but she heard Jeremy shifting from foot to foot, still holding the feed buckets, Neil’s breathing, strained and slow behind her, Tucker shifting in the creaking seat.

"Why don't you come inside and stay for lunch?" Jeremy said. "I'll finish the feeding and you can tell the whole story."

Katie nodded, wiped her face as she stepped back. But now it was Neil who had frozen, eying the peeling paint on the door of the house.

"I got to get this all unloaded," Tucker said. "If I'm going to take people their money I don't want to explain why I still have their stuff."

Jeremy frowned but offered a nod. "I'll help you after I finish."

Neil glanced between the men and Katie, but climbed out and began to unload the crates. Mallory pulled Katie into the house.

Jeremy's kitchen wasn't much different than Katie's farmhouse, but she still blinked at the dim interior. Even with Mallory's scrupulous housekeeping, the walls were faded paint with bits peeled off and smoothed away. An entire wall was covered with hanging dried herbs and a loaf of bread peeked from a glass covering on the table. The fire flickered behind the screen and an aluminum kettle steamed.

Tucker whistled cheerfully as he crossed the threshold with a crate full of the jars of corn. Neil followed with the crate of material but hesitated at the door. He swallowed and stepped through, kneeling to set down the crate. Katie began to talk to him, but he hurried out before one word was out.

"He bought all of this?" Mallory whispered.

"He wanted to make sure everyone got paid."

"Katie, we can't afford to pay him back."

"It's a gift," Katie said. "He came up with the idea. Please just take it. He won't miss the money, but he's scared. He's not used to kind people."

"How does he have money? I thought he was locked up."

"He was, but he wasn't supposed to be."

"Katie, that doesn't make sense."

"I can't tell you everything about Neil. He doesn't talk well so I don't even know everything about Neil. All I can tell you is that there's no way I would be here if it wasn’t for him."

And that was enough. Mallory was won over.

The items were squirreled away before Jeremy could see the extent of them. Neil offered his wrist again to the machine plugged into Tucker's truck and Tucker declined lunch, opting to go to the bank to exchange the UCs into the town currency.

Katie stepped closer to Neil as the truck rolled away. "Come inside and eat."

Neil shook his head. "No doors."

Katie paused. "How about we just keep the door open? Neil, they're not going to lock us inside."

Neil's eyes glinted again, and he sucked in a breath. "No doors."

Katie sighed but turned to shout, "Mallory, can we eat outside for lunch?"
"Outside?" Mallory called back.

"It's not very cold. I've been locked inside for four months."

Neil threw her a grateful look, but he still squirmed.

Mallory appeared with a plate of sandwich’s. "Well, when you put it that way..."

By the time Jeremy came in from the pigs, the girls had a blanket on the ground and plates of food set around like it was a spring picnic. A smile pulled at his mouth, but he asked no questions as he sat next to his wife.

Katie told the story as simply as she could: Neil was kept inside and required to do a certain amount of work each day. She was brought to keep him company. They had been left alone, planned an escape, and he'd broken down the door and helped her navigate the city.

She made no mention of AIDA or punishments, nor Neil’s last name or the detail that he hadn't exactly planned any escape. Neil stayed quiet, offering no protest to the story, but his head swiveled toward the rustling trees, the squeal of the pigs, the distant barking of a dog and there was no pretending in the building nerves of a slave who'd never seen anything beyond four walls.

Mallory grew pale but Jeremy attempted to pick up the conversation, pulling the boy back in. "What kind of work did you do, Neil?"

Neil's head snapped back. He blinked. "I . . . build worlds."

"Build world?"

"On screen."

"He's kind of an artist," Katie said. "He makes pictures that move. It's something they do in the city."

"What are they for?" Jeremy asked.

"I don't know." Katie turned to Neil. "Do you even know?"

Neil shook his head and shrugged.

"Well, what else can you do?" Jeremy asked.

Neil blinked. " . . . build little worlds."

"I imagine he could do just about anything," Katie said. "He's a quick learner."

Jeremy nodded once. "Well, I guess he can always help me with the pigs until he finds somewhere to work."

"We'll have to find work for you too, Katie," Mallory said. "After you've settled in a bit. Maybe you could help Kathrine at the dress shop. She's been struggling to keep up with the winter clothes."

Katie nodded slowly. She'd been so set on getting home, she hadn't thought about what she'd do when she got here.

"I'll ask her," she said. "We'll need to get some clothes anyway. They took mine, and we didn't bring any back."

Mallory nodded. "We'll go tomorrow. Everyone will want to see you anyway."

Her sister turned back to drink the last of her waterglass and Katie swallowed, remembering Mr. Blackwell's reminder that he owned the well her sister drank from.

Surely, he wouldn't risk it. Jeremy may be a pig farmer, but he was well-liked in town. She glanced at Neil, swallowing slowly. If Jeremy was punished for her choice, he wouldn't be the first one.