Hey! Been a while, hasn't it! Sorry! I was suffering from the lack of a computer, but now I have a loaner so I'm good. So now Rowan has his sister back, safe and sound, but how will this affect his place in the naturalist movement? Will Rhine be considered a risk or an asset? This chapter is dedicated to Divergentlover, who wanted me to update so much she wrote the word 36 times in her review. Enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own the Chemical Garden triology. I would like to own Lauren DeStefano's next book, however.

Time went by. Sara and Joseph came back from the demonstration, furiously yelling about how I had messed up the whole plan by not setting off the explosives. All the noise got the attention of my sister, who carefully made her way down the stairs. Her eyes flinted between the two of them, her lips pursed worriedly.

Sara noticed Rhine first and froze. Joseph didn't register Sara's shock and kept on yelling until she elbowed him. He looked up at the staircase. Joseph stared at my sister and then glanced at me. No one said a word. The only sound in the house was Maddie and Chris's strange laughter.

After a few minutes of staring and silence, Rhine spoke up. "Hi, my name is Rhine."

Sara snapped out of her daze and smiled. "I'm Sara." She gestured to Joseph, who was still staring at Rhine. "The staring idiot is Joseph."

Joseph too snapped out of his daze and give Rhine a suspicious look. I recognized it from when I first came into the group. Joseph suspects everyone of something until they give a reason not to.

"Aren't you supposed to be dead or something?" he asked coldly. I winced internally at the question. Joseph, like Sara, actually knew the story of what had happened to my sister. He had suggested that, because her beauty, she was probably sold as a wife to a rich husband, most likely out of the state since there wasn't much wealth in New York anymore, instead of being a prostitute in one of the local red districts. This was merely a test. I was sure I looked furious, but Rhine showed no emotion at all.

"Gathered, not dead," she corrected casually. "Though I did almost get killed in a hurricane if that helps."

Sara and I both had to hold back laughter at Joseph's stunned expression. He looked over her appraisingly before giving a short nod and going off to attend to business. That was basically his stamp of approval. Sara followed after forcing Rhine to promise to make herself at home and to help herself to anything in the pantry. It was clear she and I were thinking the same thing: my sister was much too thin.

Once they were gone, I laughed. Rhine gave me a questioning look. "The commanding officers approve of you," I teased. She smiled tentatively.

It was true. Dinner that night went well. It was only Sara, Joseph, Rhine, Gabriel, Chris, Maddie, and I since the others had gone home after the demonstration. Sara was the only girl in the naturalist group, and so she immediately bonded with Rhine, who accepted the offer of friendship more easily than I had seen her do in the past. From this, I deduced that she'd definitely had at least one sister wife, if not more, despite the fact Gabriel claimed her husband hadn't been the type to buy a wife. I vaguely remembered him mentioning the husband's father, Vaughn. Maybe he was the one pulling the strings. I would ask Rhine if I could get her to talk.

Gabriel and Maddie were introduced. Gabriel was quiet for the most part, listening intently and answering questions when asked. He and Rhine were sitting next to each other, and much to my annoyance there seemed to be constant contact between them: Rhine's hand resting on his leg or her head on his shoulder, Gabriel kissing her hair. I got the same feeling I'd had earlier, that he was afraid someone was going to snatch her. Still, couldn't they tone it down at dinner? I liked Gabriel (from what I'd seen of him). He seemed like he had been both good to and for my sister. Still, the overprotective brother in me didn't like it one bit. And, if I was honest, I was afraid of losing her again.

Maddie and Chris sat at their own little table nearby, eating and communicating in their own way. Maddie ate a little more ravenously than Chris, and it was clear there had been a lack of steady meals for a while. Still, she seemed happy enough, and I could see that Rhine was watching her from the corner of her eye.

Joseph invited Rhine and Gabriel to stay at the house for however long they needed. Everyone else was coming over for a meeting that night, and surprisingly Rhine and Gabriel received an offer to sit in. Gabriel declined politely, but there was an angry glint in Rhine's eyes as she said no. She glanced at me before going upstairs, and for a second I saw a flash of something go through her eyes: disappointment.

I got my ass handed to me at the meeting. Everyone seemed to want to yell at me, and most did. Finally, Sara got sick of it and whistled. That got everyone's attention. Joseph did most of the explaining of how I had found my sister and where she'd been. I leaned back, carefully watching the reactions of those around me. Some seemed shock, other suspicious, and a few disinterested.

"Is it safe to have her stay here?" one of the guys whose name I could never remember asked. "What if her husband comes and tracks her down? It's risky for us."

I just glared at him. "She goes, I go," I threatened. A couple people looked worried at that. As unpopular as I was, I was valuable to the movement. Without me, they'd have to go back to spending an arm and a leg on explosives or attempt to make extremely low-grade ones.

Joseph cleared his throat, probably so this guy and I would avoid a fight. "No one is going anywhere," he stressed. "Tomorrow, we'll check her for any tracks and get her and Gabriel fake identities." No one argued with him. It usually wasn't a good idea.

Despite many initial worries, Rhine was soon more popular with many of the guys than I was. Her swinging blonde hair became a fondly familiar sight for many, and early attendance for meetings was not uncommon. None ever made a move, though, since Gabriel usually wasn't looming too far away. He was also quickly accepted into the fold, proving to be extremely helpful in the kitchen (an extreme weakness of the house).

Maddie was treated much like Christ, as if she were not there, by everyone but Joseph, Sara, Gabriel, Rhine, and myself. Rhine, however, was the best with them. Gabriel would be working in the kitchen, making something delicious smelling, and Maggie and Chris would be sitting at the table, listening to Rhine tell a wonderful story. It was hard not to listen to Rhine when she was telling a story. Even I would stop and listen, still reveling in the calming sound of my sister's voice.

Once, Mac ignorantly asked her, "Why do you bother? They don't understand you. They never even talk."

I had been standing in the doorway and looked over at Gabriel, who was wincing. We both knew that would set her off.

She fixed him with an icy glare. "They don't have to talk to understand," she responded coolly. "Sometimes, I think they understand even more than we do."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "How's that?"

Rhine smile. "They know what's important." It was in this statement that I understood the earlier disapproval in my sister's eyes. She thought we were wasting our time, wasting our limited lives, with trying to burn an already dying world. And, for the first time, I was starting to agree with her.