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Cave finally emerges from the shower, and I’m almost disappointed he’s dressed; a naked Cave is a magnificent sight. Cipher looks up from his workbench and watches Cave, almost as if he’s afraid that he will vanish if he looks away.

I can’t do this anymore; I’m driving myself crazy. So before I talk myself out of it, I call Valli.

She picks up on the third ring. “Hey, is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” I lie. “I just wanted to hear your voice before bed.”

“You’re so sweet,” she says, and the sound of her voice almost makes me want to cry.

“Something happened tonight.”

The line goes quiet. “What kind of something?”

“A guest ignored the warnings and went into the cornfield.”

Valli gasps. “Is Cave okay?”

Her first thought is not for what happened to the person in the field, or if they are okay; she just wants to know how Cave is. How did we get so lucky?

“Cave is fine. He didn’t mean to hurt the guy, I don’t think. He’s been on edge since Cipher was shot, and I think he just snapped.”

“Noa, I need to come back.”

“You don’t have to.”

Secretly I want her back, but I also want her to live her life the way she needs to live it.

“Yes, I do. He is not okay. None of you are at the moment. I am being selfish.”

I sigh. “You’re not being selfish.”

“I am, Noa. All of this is because of me. You all would have gone on with your lives if I hadn’t shown up and disrupted them. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Valli, that’s not why I called you. I only needed someone to talk to.”

“We’re all in this together now. I’ll call Leni’s school and see if I can get an extension.”

“Are you sure?” I ask because I know she won’t accept money from us. Yet I wonder if we were to pay for her sister’s school and take that pressure off her shoulders if that would be okay.

“I have never been so sure of anything in my life,” she says quietly. “Put him on the phone.”

“You remember he can’t talk, right?”

She laughs. “His ears work just fine.”

I walk over to Cave and hold out the phone. “Valli wants to talk to you.”

Cave stares at the phone as if it might bite him before he takes it and brings it to his ear.

“He can hear you!” I yell because he doesn’t even grunt to alert her that he’s now there. I can’t hear what she is saying, but I watch Cave’s face. His jaw tightens, then if I’m not mistaken, the big guy gets glassy eyes. After a couple minutes, he hands the phone back to me.

I sit outside in the dark and just breathe. I’ve been so afraid that we could lose her, and I tried not to be needy so I didn’t push her away, but at the first sign that we really need her, Valli is returning. God knows I have done nothing to deserve her, but I’ll figure out how to anyway.

Chapter Six

Valli

My duffle bag is open on my bed, and I have been standing in front of it for ten minutes. It’s not because I can’t decide what to take; rather, I’m realizing how little of it I want.