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to,” he admitted, shaking his head. “I didn’t want to. But I never thought any of this would happen.” He gestured around him, as if piles of snow and naked trees were murdered mothers and guilty fathers. “I didn’t think I gave them enough to go on, especially since your father covered his tracks well. I’m sorry.”
    Ana could feel her face flushing red with anger. She said nothing for fear she would scream.
    Liam spoke instead.
    “They didn’t even act on the information for a while. So I kept my mouth shut, figuring he’d avoided capture. I thought we’d gotten lucky. But I guess now that they decided they’d take a different angle in bringing him down — murdering your mother and setting him up for the crime.”
    Ana closed her eyes, trying to keep the tears inside. Liam was responsible for everything that had happened to her family. She wanted to scream, hit him, puke, something.
    But instead, she listened as he continued his story.
    “After they locked your dad up, I thought it was over. But no, they came back. They wanted more. But after what they did, I wasn’t willing. I ran roadblocks, working both sides while trying to keep everyone safe. I did my best. But it wasn’t good enough. City Watch terminated our baby, but by then Chelle was in her third trimester, less than two months from delivery. It ruined her. Maybe they did something else too, I don’t know, but when she came home, Chelle wasn’t the same. She left me that day and never came back.”
    Ana stared at him, trying to reconcile her anger against his situation. He had done what he had to do to protect his family, never knowing he’d be responsible for the destruction of hers.
    Liam wiped the back of his hand under his right eye. “Can we keep walking? I’m freezing my dick off standing here.”
    “Of course,” Ana said.
    Liam continued, “After that, City Watch made me their bitch. Even though Chelle was no longer in custody, they threatened to arrest her and stack the charges, make her an accessory to my Underground involvement. Publicly humiliate her and put her in The Games. I had to go back, giving them just enough to satisfy but not enough to blow The Underground apart. There’s thousands of people we’ve helped escape City 6. Thousands whose lives depend on The Underground and the hidden village.”
    Liam stopped mid-step, rubbing his hands across his folded arms. “So I kept giving them bits and bits…until you were arrested. That was too much. I couldn’t allow you to pay for my sins, not after what happened to your dad. So I got myself thrown into The Games to protect you. To help you get to the end. And then I’ll get myself killed, let you live, so you can go to City 7 and be with Jonah.”
    Ana stared at him, torn between guilt, anger, and gratitude until she was no longer sure what she felt about Liam. She only knew that she couldn’t continue to hate him. He did what he did and had his reasons. Now he was trying to make things right.
    Even her father could appreciate that.
    Liam suddenly gasped, startled as the trio of orbs above them descended all at once, swirling around them with a speed and pattern Ana hadn’t seen before. Liam’s arm made a fence of protection around her.
    “What’s happening?” Ana didn’t mean to whimper, even though she did.
    Are they going to attack? Has Liam just said too much, and now we’re both going to be killed?
    The three orbs hovered in place, and then, in an instant, all fell to the ground at once, their screens and lights going dark.
    “What the hell?” Liam said, inching toward the closest one on the ground. “They’re dead!”
    Suddenly another orb appeared, a black one, racing from the woods and flying right at them.
    “Is that a hunter orb?” Ana asked, seeing the weapon beneath its screen before she finished asking the question.
    “Down!” Liam said, falling on top of her.
    Ana braced for the impact of an energy blast, certain that they, or at least Liam, was about to be evaporated into ashes in an instant.
    But no blast came.
    Instead, she heard a humming sound, and then a voice that said, “Follow me!”
    They looked up to see the orb’s monitor showing a familiar face on its screen — Duncan!
    Liam was running before Ana realized what was happening, grabbing her hand and pulling her behind him as he chased the orb into the forest. Behind them, they heard one of the “dead” orbs coming back to life.
    “Oh shit!” Liam said, turning