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“I don’t know why you’re worried about what people in town think,” Teddy said. “You should be thinking about these soldiers. They saw Ruth burning like a torch, you don’t think that’ll get some attention?”

“We can trust the soldiers,” Clayton said. “They’re here to help. We’re lucky that Col. Deacon was on his way to follow up about that purple fog. And maybe now that people have seen we can help, they won’t be as scared of us.”

“They’re still scared,” Briar broke in. “Maybe more now, because they’ve seen you all in action. But they aren’t scared of you, just what you can do.”

All five faces turned to her, with expressions ranging from quizzical to outraged. “How is that different?” June asked.

“It means there’s hope. Maybe someday they can really accept us again.”

Ivan scoffed. “What do you mean, ‘us?’”

Briar’s hands were trembling. Telling Norine was one thing, but these people didn’t know her, didn’t care about her. Here it was, the moment of truth. “I have a power too.”

June sighed. “Briar, this really isn’t something that you want to lie about.”

“I mean it. Every since the Firelight Festival, I can hear when people are lying.”

June laughed. “You? I mean, I supposed you ought to have some experience, since everyone in town knows you can’t tell the truth to save your life.”

“That’s not true. Not anymore. Things have changed.”

June scoffed, but Clayton put a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. We both know that some people have powers that aren’t physical. Briar, can you demonstrate something for us?”

“Sure.” Now that she was on the spot, she wasn’t sure where to begin. “Why don’t you tell me three things about yourself, and make one of them a lie. I’ll tell you which one.”

“Okay,” Clayton said, and thought for a moment. “The last book I read was
Casino Royale
. I got a haircut last Tuesday. Cora baked a German chocolate cake last night.”

“It was the haircut. You got one, but it wasn’t on Tuesday,” Briar said promptly.

Clayton lifted an eyebrow. “That’s right.”

“Oh, come on,” June said. “She could have seen you at the barber shop. It’s right on the town square, after all.”

“I didn’t,” Briar said. “I can hear it, the word itself gets all garbled and tinny in my ears.”

“Interesting,” Clayton said, looking at her closely. “Would you be interested—”

A wave of “shush!” went through the crowd. Everyone turned toward Mayor Watkins-Price, who was standing in a wheelbarrow gesturing for quiet. “Folks, if I could have your attention over here for a moment,” she shouted, and the crowd pressed toward her.

“First of all, let me say how proud I am of our fine little town tonight. And I know that my grandmother, Mamie Watkins, would be proud of you too. Every single one of you folks came out here tonight prepared to work for the good of all of us, and I can’t tell you how honored I am to be one of you.” 

There was a polite burst of applause. The mayor continued. “I also want to acknowledge a very special group of people who are here tonight. They were the first to arrive on the scene, and they used their … unique abilities for the good of us all. I want to acknowledge June Powell, Ivan Sokolov, Ruth Baker, Theodore Dickinson, and Dr. Henry Porter.”

There was more clapping, but it was scattered and short. 

The mayor huffed out a breath and fixed a beady eye on her constituents. “Now, you can do better than that. My family has lived in this town since the very beginning, and one thing we’ve learned is that we all have to stick together. These young people risked their lives for Independence Falls. That’s heroic. Regardless of where these powers came from, we can count ourselves lucky that tonight, we had their abilities on our side.” 

This time, the applause was louder. “That’s more like it,” the mayor exhorted, clapping herself to get the crowd going. Suddenly everyone was looking at the small knot of powered people standing beside Briar. 

They all looked stunned. Just a few hours earlier, at the town meeting, the citizens had been as angry as a lynch mob. Now, the crowd was suddenly full of smiling faces. 

“As much as we appreciate your service,” the mayor said, drawing attention back to herself. “I have some bad news for you folks. We’ve got a real mess on our hands. I’ll give it to you straight—it will be months until we get this road repaired.”

No one looking at the mound of rocks and ruined asphalt could have doubted it, but hearing the mayor confirm it somehow made everything worse. People gasped and protested. Somewhere, Briar could hear a woman crying. 

“How did this happen?” shouted Peter Powell, who ran the general store. He was ashen-faced; without regular deliveries, he wouldn’t have anything to sell. 

“It’s too early to say,” said Mayor Watkins-Price. “The miners dug deep in the old days. We’ve had cave-ins and sinkholes from time to time. It’s nothing we can’t fix,” she said, raising her hands to quell the rising whispers. “Come on, folks. We’ve had disasters before. What about the fire in 1914? Or the snowstorm of ‘34? The people of Independence Falls aren’t cowards, are they?”

“No,” the crowd murmured.

“We’re not going to give up just because it’s tough, are we?”

“No,” the crowd said, stirring.

“We’re going to knuckle down and give it all we’ve got, because we’re in this together. Isn’t that right?”

The crowded cheered and whistled in response. Briar applauded too. The mayor hadn’t lied once. 

“Now, some of you may recognize Col. Deacon. He was part of the team that was here earlier this summer, during that terrible illness. He was here to help us before, and now he’s here to help us again. He and his men are going to be taking over the project of rebuilding the road.” 

A buzz of protest interrupted the mayor. 

“Now, now, I know you’re all willing and able to help. I wouldn’t expect any less of you. That’s part of living in the mountains! But folks, I won’t lie to you: This is going to be dangerous work. We’re going to need the help and support of our boys in uniform. The army has tools and manpower that will make this whole process faster and easier. Come daybreak, Col. Deacon and his boys are going to get to work on clearing these here rocks and getting us connected to the rest of the world.”

The crowd applauded again. “And that’s not all,” the mayor said, raising her voice to be heard. “Col. Deacon has promised to help us out with airdrops of food and supplies. They are committed to getting us through the winter, and getting this road rebuilt.” 

A cheer went up, and Mayor Watkins-Price clapped along with the townsfolk. 

“Now, in order to make sure no one gets a wild hair, we are asking that no one attempt to leave town in the next few weeks. Col. Deacon and his men will provide us with anything we need. They have asked that we go about our business as usual, but make no attempt to go overland to get help. It’s dangerous, and completely unnecessary. We’ve got more important things to do than a search-and-rescue mission, all right? I’m looking at you, Arlo.”

The crowd laughed. Arlo Calhoun sheepishly waved his three-fingered hand. He’d lost the other two a couple of years ago to frostbite when, full of whiskey, he tried to hike Desolation in the middle of winter. 

“Now, I know some of you ladies brought food and drink,” the mayor continued. “And I normally would never turn down a free meal. But we need to clear out so our men in uniform can do their work. I promise you, when this road is repaired, we’ll have a shindig out here that will put the rest of our festivals to shame.”

Briar wanted to speak to Clayton again, but Norine appeared out of nowhere with Mitzi and Rhonda beside her. “Mom said you have to go move the car so people can get out.”

Norine’s voice twanged and stretched, and Briar could tell she was lying. “Aunt Patrice didn’t say that.”

Norine rolled her eyes. “Fine, she told me to do it, but I want to spend a little more time with the girls.”

That was a lie too. Mitzi and Rhonda broke into giggles as a soldier walked by, and Briar suddenly understood why Norine wanted to stick around. She sighed and put her hand out for the keys.

As she walked back through the cars, she spotted Charlie Huston carrying a load of blankets in one arm while using his cane to balance with the other. He was cursing under his breath as he tried to angle the blankets between the cars. 

“Swearing is a lazy habit,” she called to him.

Charlie lurched and banged into the side of a car. “Dammit, woman.”

“See what I mean? You have all the words in the English language at your disposal, and all you can think to say is ‘dammit.’”

“I’ll say whatever I want,” he growled. “You should mind your own business.”

“There’s no need to be rude,” she said. She watched him struggle with the blankets for a moment. “Do you need any help with that?”

“I’ve got it,” he snapped. 

“Liar.” She cut between the cars until she was standing in front of him. “You should know better than to take on more than you can handle.”

He mumbled something. 

“What was that?” she asked.

“I said, I know what I can handle. I don’t need help from you or anyone.”

She cocked her head at him. “Still lying. Why do you do that?”

He dropped the blankets with a thump. “Oh yeah, you’re one to talk.”

She acknowledged the truth of that with a tilt of her head. “Take it from a reformed liar, then. You’re not just trying to convince me, you’re trying to convince yourself. But you need help. The truth is obvious.”

“Where do you get off trying to tell me how live my life?”

She stepped closer to him. Was it wrong that as he got angrier, Briar thought he got more handsome? Something about the intensity of his gaze. “I know that you could probably transform into a mountain lion and make this a lot easier on yourself.”

He leaned in. “Don’t you dare tell anyone about that.”

Briar had no intention of telling anyone. As far as she was concerned, Charlie’s secrets were his own. But he was so huffy and irritable, she couldn’t resist needling him. 

She blinked innocently. “Why not?”

“Oh, sure. It’s great gossip, right? Charlie Huston’s a shape-shifter, whoop de doo.”

Briar laughed. “That’s probably not how I would put it, but okay.”

“Nobody knows about me. And I intend to keep it that way.”

“What are you going to do, kill me if I talk?”

“Of course not.” He looked genuinely taken aback, then arranged his features back into his signature scowl. “I could, you know.”

She snorted out a laugh. “Your threats are terrible. I don’t need a superpower to tell that was a lie.”

“Nobody will believe you. Everyone in town knows you’re a liar.”

“Oh, come on, Charlie. We’ve got people walking through walls and throwing up force fields. A shape-shifter isn’t that far out of the realm of possibility. How do you do it?” she asked. “How did you discover it was possible? What else—”

“Keep your mouth shut,” he growled, sounding more forbidding than he had as a cat. “It’s my goddamn business.”

“You shouldn’t swear. And if you wanted to keep it so private you shouldn’t have made it my business by transforming in front of me,” she said reasonably. “And I would think, if you’re trying to convince me to cover for you, you might be a bit nicer to me.”

He just about ground his teeth. Briar felt she ought to be angry, but it was too much fun poking at him. Despite the hour and his unshaven face, he still smelled faintly of Ivory soap. It wasn’t at all unpleasant to stand close to him in the moonlight. 

“Have you considered groveling? Or bribery?”

He was fuming. It was kind of cute. His remarkable blue-green eyes were glowing with frustration. His mouth, even in a scowl, was well-shaped and full. 

She smiled a little, amused at herself. What would the big lummox do if she kissed him right now? 

“It’s not funny,” he snapped. “No one can know, got it? That ought to be simple enough for you to understand.”

Just like that, her temper rolled in full force. “I’m not simple, Charlie. And I’ve had enough of this conversation. You’ve insulted me, made assumptions, and generally behaved like an ass. You’re a jerk, Charlie, and I don’t have to do a thing for you.” 

Despite her words, she grabbed the blankets before he could and strode off. He had no choice but to follow her through the maze of cars. When she reached his truck, she plopped the blankets in the back without any further ceremony and turned to go back to her aunt’s car.

“Wait,” Charlie said, laying a hand on her arm. 

She shook him off, still angry. It didn’t help that a single touch brought Briar back to the way she had felt, standing amongst the trees with Charlie’s naked body in front of her. She could still envision the way the moonlight had traced the strong muscles of his torso, and it made her furious that he could affect her that way. 

Men were all the same, she thought savagely. Charlie had tricked her into touching him by pretending to be a playful and curious mountain lion, but as soon as he got what he wanted he pushed her away. He was just like Kent and Danny, and all the other boys who had started rumors about her. She didn’t know why she had expected any different. 

Then he surprised her. 

“Thank you,” he said, his voice grudging but genuine. 

“You’re welcome,” she said primly, refusing to look at him.

He rubbed a hand through his carelessly spiky hair. “Sometimes I have trouble asking for help.”

“I’m not surprised.”

The corner of his mouth quirked up for an instant before the scowl returned. “But I’m asking you now. Please don’t tell anyone about what I can do.”

She hadn’t intended to, and nearly told him that. Then she thought about Ruth, and the mayor’s speech, and found herself saying something else. “You could have helped tonight.”

“What?”

“It would have been easier for you to climb up the side of that rockslide. Faster, too.”

Charlie gaped at her for a moment. “I didn’t know. I was headed back to town to raise the alarm.”

She nodded. “Good thing there are people around who aren’t ashamed their powers.”