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Zeph laughs again. “Amity? No way. She’s barely been out of Baltimore.”

“Could she be following you—trying to catch up with you?” I ask him.

Zeph hesitates, considering. “She’s…loyal. And I think—worried about me. I did sort of ask her about refusing the Oath and coming along…but no.” He shakes his head. “She wouldn’t.”

“She was spotted on a depo train in New York,” I tell him, finally getting to the point.

“Amity Bloome?” Zeph’s surprise is so genuine I can’t imagine he’s faking it. This guy is still a baby, refused his Oath just a few days ago.

“You just said you suggested she refuse her Oath. Is it so unbelievable that she did?”

“Amity is…” His face softens. “Dedicated. Maybe she changed her mind,” but skepticism clouds it again. “But she’s so innocent. I told you, she wouldn’t last a minute on her own.”

The anxiety that has been plaguing me deepens. “But she was there, on the train. She came to the Forge car, and bought a phone under the table.”

“That couldn’t be her.” He shakes his head again.

I pull up the picture on my phone. Zeph’s eyes bug out, and he holds it close to his face.

“Yeah, that’s her. Aw, her hair.” He’s sad, but long hair is pretty much a symbol of matriarchal oppression down there. “She cut her hair.”

“Yeah, man. She cut her hair, she got herself a phone, and she was asking about you. Did you tell her you were coming to Anchorage specifically? Did you talk about our group?”

He thinks. “I might have mentioned it. I trust her.”

“Could the PS have sent her?” I ask. “Could she be spying for them?”

“Amity? No offense, but she would make a terrible spy.”

“Well,” I grit my teeth. “We’re trying to locate her in Anchorage now.”

Zeph stiffens. “She’s in the city? Alone?”

“She was traveling with someone, another deportee, from what they said,” I tell him.

“God, Amity.”

“You’re the one who suggested she come,” I say, annoyed that he’s acting so worried that she apparently took his advice.

He sighs. “I didn’t think it through. Is she going to be safe?” he asks. “Can you find her?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna find her. Do you have any idea where she would go? Who she could be with?”

He shakes his head slowly. I’m tired of this guy already.

“I’ve known Amity forever, she’s…really naïve.”

“Okay, you’ve got nothing to go on. I’m going to find her, and we’ll touch base about this again. Everything you just said better be the truth. And if she is undercover for the PS it’s a situation that will need to be…handled.”

Zeph’s eyes shoot to the side and he says nothing. I shove my chair back and drop my empty tray off at the kitchen before heading to one of the storage rooms.

Not everything around here runs smoothly, but the rooms where we store weapons and supplies are kept in order by the guys who are ex-military. They’re pretty good at that sort of thing.

I’m going to start down at the market. Show her picture around, see if anyone’s seen her. I don’t need to be heavily armed, but I still grab a Glock and holster, pulling a jacket over top. I sign out the ammo, chatting with the guy on duty, and load the gun up.

I have my phone. I have cash left from the trip. The market is down on Spenard, and I can walk there. It will give me a chance to get out of this building.

I grab my baseball hat on the way out and pull it down low, giving me cover. I don’t stick out too much, but people recognize me as Isaiah Adamson’s kid and I don’t want word to leak out that the Forge is after this girl in case it scares her away.

I’m ready. I head down one more hallway, pushing the metal door open into the blinding sunlight, and walk down the road to the market.