“Hey,” I said.
“Hey.”
“Morning,” Kate said, with an odd edge to her voice, looking from Nat to me. Nat gave her an awkward smile and nod. “You look pretty this morning. You get enough rest?”
“Yes,” Nat said, barely a whisper. “Thanks.”
“Chris, we got a girl here who needs coffee and food, stat!” Alec shouted.
“I’m on it!”
Nat’s hand moved beneath the table to take mine. It sent a tiny electric pulse through me. Our eyes met and she smiled.
“Breakfast is served!”
“Huzzah!”
As before, the food came out on platters, one after the other, an impossible abundance. It was an assault on the senses — vibrant yellow eggs shot through with gooey cheese and ham. I nearly laughed, seeing the stunned blank of Nat’s face as she watched it all paraded before us. Bear had his paws up on the table, bopping from one person to the next, gracefully accepting offerings of egg and bacon and toast. I dug in, devouring what was before me, and then the plate was refilled.
I turned to Nat, eager to see how much she was enjoying her first real meal in days, but her plate was still full. The eggs gleamed and the bacon lay in piles. She had gone pale, staring down at it all, fork in hand.
“Hey,” I said under my breath. “Are you—”
“So!” Alec announced to the table. “Who’s up for some post-breakfast rock climbing and then maybe a little high-noon fiesta?”
“Let’s do it,” Christos said, followed by Reese and Diane.
“Sounds great!”
“Perfect.”
“Awesome,” Alec said. “Cal, your gimpy arm means you’re useless to us, but I’m guessing Nat will be more than happy to show us all how it’s really done. Right, Nat?”
Nat didn’t look up. Didn’t move. Everyone at the table went silent, watching her. I nudged her under the table and she looked up with a start.
“Ah, there you are!” Alec said, grinning. “I was just asking if—”
“Where does all of this come from?”
Nat’s voice was flat and hard.
“Where does what come from?” Alec chuckled, his easy smile still gleaming.
“The house. The food. All of this.”
Alec laughed, wiggling his fingers in front of him like falling rain. “It cascades from the heavens,” he said. “Like manna. We go outside in the morning and there it is.”
“Don’t listen to him, Nat,” Diane said. “Christos’s and Alec’s daddies are beyond super rich. Christos’s dad is the last big Greek shipping magnate left, and Alec’s dad is an überproducer in Hollywood. You guys know Downtown Cop, right?”
“You will not take this monkey alive!” Reese called out in a guttural, German-sounding accent.
“I will now dance the dance of my people!” Christos echoed.
“Anyway,” Diane continued once the laughter died down, “it’s about the biggest movie series ever, and Alec’s dad produced them.”
“Along with many other notable—”
“—independent and Oscar-winning films,” Kate said. “We know, Alec.”
“You see,” Alec continued, “one of the benefits of being obscenely wealthy is that when you get tired of putting up with your children — who, let’s be honest, are pretty big disappointments — you send them off into the wilderness with an army of Secret Service types.”
“But if you’re all so safe here,” Nat said, “then why are you going to New York?”
“Because we’re sick of each other!” Christos hollered from the kitchen.
“And we’re bored!” Reese said.
“And,” Kate added brightly, “we’ve been talking about starting a theater company since school. We’re going to specialize in classic Roman comedy and the work that grew out of it. Commedia dell’arte. Molière. Maybe a little Shakespeare in the summer.”
“But there’s still a draft,” Nat said. “Last I heard, the age was eighteen, so I’m guessing most of you should be eligible.”
Alec glanced at Christos. “I suppose it was decided that our talents would be better used elsewhere.”
“By whom?”
“Nat.” I put my hand on her shoulder, but she batted it away.
“No, I want to know who decided!”
“Who decided what?” Alec snapped.
“That you deserve all of this.”
“It doesn’t have anything to do with deserving things,” Christos said.
“Our parents made choices, hard choices, years ago,” Alec said in the patient lilt of a grade school teacher. “And because of their sacrifices—”
“Their sacrifices!”
“Nat,” I said. “Come on, let’s just—”
“My mother was an Army ranger,” Natalie said, a red fury burning her cheeks. “My dad just—” Nat dug her balled-up fist into the table. “My friends are all dead and you people sit here—”
“I’m sorry, Nat—”
“Oh, you’re sorry.”
“—but that doesn’t have anything to do with us,” Alec said.
“Your security guards should be in the Army,” Nat said, standing up now. “They should be fighting the Path!”
“Yes,” Alec said. “Absolutely. Because I’m sure this whole war would be over tomorrow if they were.”
“Alec,” Kate said.
“No, Kate.” Alec shot up from the table. “I’m sorry you got dealt a bad card, Nat, but I’m not going to be blamed for it. It’s the way things are and it’s not my fault.”
“Wait,” Diane said. “It doesn’t have to be like—”
“No, we gave them a place to stay and food to eat and now she wants to — Look, if you and Kate feel so strongly about this, then you two can stay and join up with the Feds too. I’m not making anyone do anything.”
Alec turned back to Nat.
“And I am sorry if my dad’s hard work allowed me to live like you wish you could. Honestly, I weep with guilt. But if you’re telling me that you’d throw it all away if you were me, then you’re either crazy or a liar.”
Alec and Nat glared at each other across the table. Nat didn’t say another word. She shot her chair away from the table and fled the room. Bear barked and ran after her. I looked back at the others, all of whom were glowering at Nat’s back, except for Kate, who was staring at me.
“Guys, listen, I’m sorry, she’s just… let me talk to her.”
I left the table and caught up to Nat at the far edge of the living room. She spun around when I took her shoulder. Her face was seething red and there were tears in her eyes.
“Nat—”
“How can you want to go anywhere with these people?”
I turned to see the group was breaking up and moving toward the living room. I took Nat’s hand and led her down the hall, away from the others.
“We’re using them for a ride,” I said in a hush. “That’s all.”
“We don’t need them,” she said. “We can’t be that far from Rapid City. We’ll get ourselves there and find a recruiting station.”
“I told you. They won’t—”
“We can talk our way in,” she said. “I know it. And even if we can’t, we can go back to Waylon and hook back up with Carlos and the others and enlist there.”
I flinched at the sound of a TV snapping on in the living room behind us. Kate and Reese had moved into the room and were being joined by the others. There was a rush of static followed by loud, hurried voices.