Firedown Sun

Today we were training for "peacemaking work". Little did we know, a Peacemaker carried a little wooden stick known as a Groo. Groos were basically to lightly tap troublemakers on the shoulder or even whack them hard enough to knock them unconscious if they didn't stop the first time. So, Peacemakers could practically go around hitting anyone straying from the ordered path. Ha, like me, Hexa, Ankun. So many different people could receive a beating that didn't.

But, nonetheless, we began to practice. It was like play-fighting, but there was real strategy involved in it. You had to try and hit someone without actually bringing them hard. A Groo was at least two and a half feet long and made of a thick, black wood that wouldn't splinter if you cracked it against the side of a tree. A three-hundred old oak would snap in half with this baby if you hit the trunk right.

Of course, we treated it like a game. We chose friends as partners and began competing to see who could go the longest without being hit. We'd block, smack Groos away, lash out our hands or feet if all else failed, and even scream out battle cries. I was up against Resh, and I saw from the corner of my eye- NO, I was honestly not jealous, I convinced myself- Hexa was paired up with Lune. They seemed to really be going at it and hardly getting hit themselves but using plenty of awesome looking moves that were blinding and so impressive some kids gave up their own battles and watched theirs. Of course Hexa was good at this. She made her own weapons. She knew how to handle them.

And then there was Lune. He was just so... SMART. He could literally read her face, see the tiniest hint in her eyes of what her next move was going to be, and he saw through her foot-stepping techniques and perfectly planned out patterns of attacks.

They were perfect allies because, in a real battle, they would never be taken down. They made perfect enemies because, here in this room, they both refused to lose to the other and wouldn't quit until one of them was down on the ground with a concussion or something. Most likely Hexa. She injured herself accidentally all the time.

Against Resh, I knew I was doomed. Her passion was protecting friends and family and just being the best warrior she could be in her own, peaceful but powerful way. She wasn't the type of fighter that killed stuff on a regular basis.

That was impossible in Monten, however, because regulation number eleven- THAT one I had memorized- stated that violence would not be permitted in public.

In PUBLIC, I reminded myself.

Which meant you could do whatever the heck you WANTED in your own sweet hiding place.

"Sorry," Resh mumbled as she smacked down on my shoulder for the fifth time. "Don't let your guard down. I'm not going to let you be free of injuries just because you're my friend."

"Yes, I know that." I winced as I moved away, my whole left arm throbbing. I hadn't gotten her once. She was impossible to read. I couldn't figure out which way she was going, what attack she was about to trick me with, nothing. She was a complete mystery.

Fighting Resh ultimately sucked. If I ever had a choice of a partner, it would be uncoordinated, future-Kreature-Keeper Pharis Cuppard. He was up against Havva Twigley, who was surprisingly an expert at this.

It was just us three groups now. Hexa vs. Lune- tied. Resh vs. me- supporting Resh indefinitely. Pharis vs. Havva- an even worse bet than my own situation. Havva was like a hungry, fullgrown Macaruna set loose upon a sleeping baby, whipping out her Groo with no mercy in her soft green eyes. Pharis could hardly move a muscle without getting smacked by her wooden stick.

So, they said no violence in Monten. And then they taught us this cruel torture in class.

Great job, Leirre. This will definitely reflect how much he wants us to be happy little obedient robots, I thought.

Interrupting my pondering, Resh jabbed me in the ribs with her Groo. "Wake UP, Kitten! I'm still fighting, you know!"

"I give up," I said. "It's hopeless. You win."

She smiled. "Of course I do. You didn't even TOUCH me, Kitten."

"Rub it in, why don't you? Pour salt on the wound. Slap me right in the face. Yes. Love you, too, Resh."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, you know I love you. You just needed a good beating is all."

"Thanks. It helped SO MUCH."

"You know what?" Lune said excitedly. "We could have a rematch. My parents may not be Peacemakers, but they've got loads of equipment. What do you say we meet up after our after-school snack?"

"Brilliant!" Resh and Hexa said at the time.

I figured it wasn't my place to argue when it was already practically decided. "Great," I muttered. "Rematch. I wonder who's going to lose?"

Hexa smiled knowingly. "Oh, definitely not you, Kitten. You're the champion."

"I'm horrible when it comes to stuff like this. Why even try?"

"Just give it a try, okay? We'll LET you win, how about that?"

We walked out into the crowded hallway when the order came to leave. It was so easy, to just walk side by side as a group. Me on the outside left, Lune at my side, Resh and Hexa walking together to his right. It was like we were really all friends.

It was all I could've hoped for. To finally have a group. It used to just be me and Fawkes. And we both knew that, despite our special bond that we thought would never go away- ha, was that a laugh- it got lonely just with the two of us. And then, when the only one I could call "friend" was Ankun, I didn't even search for someone else to be with at school.

I just sort of... clicked into a place and stayed. I got two friendships, two birds with one stone, in just one year after my first one went down the drain.

I met Resh the same time I met Hexa. We had been ten years old, all in the same class and completely unaware of it. We saw each other, sure, and knew each other's names. But until that day, we were nothing more than just faces we say in our class each day. I walked in on an intense game of Hiccops, a childish game where you roll a little wooden die and try to move your four tokens all the way across the board and to "home" before you get sent back to start. Playing it now, I probably could win every time against a younger opponent, but back then I had never been good at it.

Resh and Hexa were so into the game that they didn't even see me walk toward them. I'd been working on some assignment, and when that was finished I had nothing left to do, so I just wandered over to see what was keeping them so intrigued.

"No, that's a six, brainless," Resh was murmuring, "not a nine. Duh."

"Leave me alone, you nitwit. I can move how many spaces I want."

"It's a six," I informed her, kneeling between the two of them. They both jumped at the sight of me, and Hexa's eyes got all dark as I failed to support her. "But you landed on a Bonus square," I whispered gently, tapping my index finger against the little board. "So you get to roll again anyway."

A grin crossed her face, and she stuck her tongue out at Resh. Resh did the same and crossed her arms, like she was above all of this.

"Thanks," Hexa said. "Stupid pretty perfect here's being a pain in the neck."

Resh was looking away, muttering, "I'm not talking to you."

But later that day, she came bursting over to me, all bubbly with excitement. She told me that she'd eventually won that game, anyway, and she gave me a detailed description on Hexa's face when she found out the score. "It was GREAT!" she babbled. "She lost, and now she wants to have a rematch tomorrow, and I'm having a celebration over at my house tonight do you want to come, I'm inviting her, too, just because I bet she won't come anyway, it'll be so much fun, please tell me you'll come."

I just nodded, trying to keep up with her. At that age, she was always bursting with energy and she spoke very fast and loud, no matter what she was discussing. Even if she was telling me what her favorite color was, it would always be loud and at a rushed speed that was hard to comprehend. She grew out of that, of course, as we all overcame our little childish idiosyncracies.

And Hexa did, actually, show up at Resh's house, and we all drank hot chocolate in her kitchen, laughing and joking like we'd been friends forever. We played other board games, or games on the Telo, and came up with scenarios to act out, and we dressed up as the leaders and pretended to be ruling the city and coming up with new laws for the Doctrine. Resh decided she wanted all kids to have the right to eat ice cream sundaes every day for breakfast and as much spaghetti they could eat for dinner. Hexa's law was to ban school, so we wouldn't have to go and could just hang out like this every day.

Mine was that there would be no more sacrificing at the Fire Pit. And that led to the intense, solemn discussion of what we were going to sacrifice at the end of this month. We weren't too happy about this, and that sort of gave a melancholy aura to the final hours of the evening together as friends. We drank the last drops of our cocoa, then fell asleep on the floor by the couch, heads together, like we were planning some big way to stay here forever, not bothered by anyone else in the world and never needing any rules or any Order to our lives. We were together. That was all that mattered.

As we walked down the corridor, I felt their spirits gliding with me, connected to my own soul in a way no one else could understand. Lune was different. His friendship wasn't something that just sparked immediately and stuck. It was a bunch of different emotions wrapped into one humongous throbbing drumbeat, identical to the thrumming of my heart.

A thrumming that was constantly changing. Because every time he drew nearer, I felt my heartbeat race ahead, and I suddenly couldn't breathe.

Taking a deep breath just in case my lungs did give out all of a sudden, I walked with Lune, Hexa and Resh out the school doors and to the bus.

And I felt something flutter in my stomach when I saw Lune walk away from me. It was so unexpected, it felt like I was going to throw up. And then I wanted to. Groaning, I got on the bus, didn't even say hi to Jaz when he got on, and just stared out the window, willing myself to forget the Drumer boy's existence so I didn't have to be so stupid. My cheeks were on fire, and I really did feel like my lungs were giving out.

"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you," I muttered. "Gosh, why do you even have to exist?"

In my peripheral vision, I caught sight of Leirre Talma standing on the sidewalk, grinning in that same, cruel, friendly way. I could have sworn that he was looking directly at me, but he had to be looking somewhere else. He wouldn't watch me would he?

Then I saw him wave, staring at me and losing that smile altogether. His eyes became harsh and dark and ice cold. I felt like I was looking into a pool of frozen water, and I shivered.

Yes. Yes, he would.

*

"Hey, Kitten, welcome home. There's some apple pie for you on the kitchen counter."

I let the door click shut beneath my fingers and stared at my mother. She was digging in a big black purse I'd never seen her hold before, murmuring something that sounded like "where is it? Where IS it?"

"Mom? Is everything okay?"

"Huh?" She glanced up at me. "Oh, yes. Everything's fine. I'm just getting some things for that blind woman. Oh, where did I put it?" Groaning, she let the purse fall through her fingers. It landed with a soft thud on the table, and she gazed at me. She exhaled in a huff, then seemed to get a brilliant idea. "Ah, that's right. it's in your father's private room." She continued speaking as she moved out of the kitchen, looking me in the eye and pointing at me shakily. "Kitten, go ahead and eat your pie, then go upstairs. Your father will be home soon."

"But I'm meeting up with-"

"No, you're not. You're staying home with your father. This is my job tonight, alright? Let him know that. I've got everything under control, alright?" And then she breezed out of the room, looking like she was having a mental breakdown of some sort.

I stared after her and tried to figure out what was going on. Why was she so... anxious? Either something was wrong, or she was really stressed.

What in Monten could possibly bring stress to my mother?

I sighed and went to eat my pie. But something flew at my face suddenly, making me leap back in surprise. It was my- Lune's- robby, Baine. He started making all these little chirping noises and spiraling around my mother's purse, flashing his multi-colored lights at me in a string of chirruping hums.

"What is it, Baine? What's the matter?" I moved over to the table and tried to calm him down, whispering, "I don't know what my mom will think if she sees you. Wait. How did you even get out of my bag? I shut you-"

A glimmer of metal caught my eye, and I inhaled sharply. Why would my mom have something metal in her purse? Baine fluttered rather clumsily toward my face again, still humming, "Shree, shree, shreeee!"

"-off," I finished. Motioning for Baine to be quiet, I stuck my hand slowly into that black bag, reaching for the shiny object with a bated expression, holding my breath as nervous butterflies jittered around in my stomach.

My fingers wrapped around something cold, long and narrow. I drew it out, my heart racing as I tried to come up with what it could be.

Nothing could have prepared me for what it was.

In my grasp was a steel tube, twice the thickness of my thumb. Shaking, I flipped the protective cap off, and as it clicked open, a small, sharp needle protruded out of the tip, smelling of chemicals and shimmering threateningly from the light above my head.

"Kitten, you haven't touched your pie. Aren't you-"

I spun around, staring at her with wide eyes. She stared back, and I noticed with aversion she was holding an orange, plastic bottle of sleeping pills. I blinked and glanced again at my mother's face.

Harsh, vile chemicals burned my nose from the needle. Baine hovered above my shoulder, making no more clicking sounds.

My focus darted again to the sleeping pills, and my fingers wrapped around the metal tube in my hand tightly as anger and revulsion overwhelmed my sixteen-year-old body.

"No! Mom, how COULD you?! THIS is what doctors do?" I glared at her once so-innocent face, wishing she were dead. "How could you DO this, Mom?"

Her voice was steady, her eyes blank. "I don't know what you're talking about, Kitten. I haven't done anything."

"You're going to kill Asrid!" My whole body was burning with hate, and I felt every muscle scream as I clenched the needle tighter. If it broke, the chemicals would eat my skin alive and kill me instead of Asrid.

If I plunged the needle into my mother's heart, she'd die instantly.

"She hasn't done anything! How could you kill her?"

She came over to me and released my clutch around the deadly weapon. I let it go, stepping backward until I crashed against the door, the knob protruding into my spine. It hurt, but I couldn't look away from my mom. Baine flittered onto my shoulder, angrily clicking, "Shree, aahhheee!"

"That Ankun," Mom reminded me, "called me to take care of her. Your father and I asked him questions, and we've discovered she's not as innocent as everyone thought. She's a rebellious threat to the city, and what do we do to threats? We get rid of them. So DON'T stand in my way, Kitten. Move away from the door. Let me by. This is my job, Kitten. This is what doctors do."

I shook my head, refusing to step aside. She came at me, flicking the cap over the needle, just in case I tried to stab her with it. I'm sure, at that moment, I looked like I was ready to.

"NO!" I screamed. "You can't do this! She didn't do anything, Mom, she's just an old woman! A HARMLESS old woman! She never did anything wrong, leave her ALONE!"

"Well, talk to Ankun, HE'S the one that told us to take care of her. And if you think I'm going to let her live, then you, my girl, are most mista- OW!"

I elbowed her roughly in the ribs, pushed her off of me, and opened the door. "Baine, follow me!" I sprinted out the door, my robby flying behind me, struggling to carry my winter coat to me. I didn't care about staying warm. I had to warn Asrid!

It might already be too late, but I couldn't accept that. I had to keep running.

"Hey, Kitten!"

It was Lune's voice, so tempting to answer. But I shut my eyes in defiance for a moment and refused to let myself turn around. "Come on, Baine," I hissed, flashing my gaze back to the snowy road in front of me.

"Hey! We're having the rematch! Come back, come back!"

No, I wanted to yell. I'm not coming back. I've got more important things to do than go fool around in a rematch I'm going to lose anyway.

Lungs heaving, I raced to the Retiring Circle. Asrid Roygreen's house was right across from Ankun's. Of course! He must have heard something going on during the night and decided to voice his complaint. But why? To save his own skin? Why would he even do that- here we go with the whys again- when she and Ankun were friends? All rebels were automatically friendly with one another. Asrid was a strong believer of the olden times, sharing stories with the little kids of how the ancient "heroes" of the world before Monten really were amazing.

I never believed her. Until now. Until I realized she was going to end up just like those long-lost heroes. Dead, gone.

Eventually forgotten.

I was almost suffocating by the time I reached her front lawn. But I caught a glimpse of Ankun in his kitchen window.

Without warning, anger once again ignited beneath my skin and I found myself bursting through Ankun Winkle's front door, Baine clicking behind me.

"What did you do?" He whirled as I started screaming insults at him, not looking at all surprised at my breaking and entering. "You turned her in? For what, for being a little CRAZY? You're her friend, Ankun! How could you betray her?!"

"Kitten," Ankun said quietly, setting the glass down on his counter. "I don't expect you to understand-"

"Good, because I don't. I DON'T understand!" I shook my head, absolutely FUMING. I was shaking, my hands clenched into fists at my sides and I was tempted to hit him.

"Look, it's really very complicated, Kitten, so enough of this... yelling. You don't need to know my reasons, alright? Back off, child."

"Child? CHILD?" I glared him square in the eye, still yelling, of course. Why would I take his advice? "I'm not a child anymore than you're a traitor. So why'd you betray Asrid, huh? Why'd you turn her in? My mom's going to-"

He cut me off, his eyes becoming suddenly dark. "I know very well what Dr. Zigbol is up to."

It wasn't just the fact he knew Asrid's fate that unnerved and silenced me. It was how he said my mother's name. Dr. Zigbol. Her last name. Her occupation title. Combined, it made her sound like some heartless killing-machine, like she was no longer sweet, obedient Avalinss Zigbol with a seemingly useless job.

It all made sense now. The hospital was empty and abandoned because doctors didn't heal or cure anymore. At least, not people. They cured Monten. What of? Just a single, solitary illness that was increasingly obvious to me.

Rebellion.

They kept it from existing. They found those infected with the virus, got the evidence they needed, then took the rebel out. Like Nimeous Bloom. Like the several other teenagers that had suddenly "disappeared" like they'd never been born. Like Asrid Roygreen pretty soon.

Like Kitten Zigbol, if any more suspicious rumors spread around the city about an uprising, with her as the leader.

I couldn't breathe. It felt like someone was choking me.

"They're going to come after me," I murmured.

"Yes."

Baine brushed my coat against my arm. I took it with numb fingers. "If I do anything else, I'll be hunted down. And... and if you..." I swallowed. "If you let Asrid live, they'd come after you, too." My eyes sank to the wooden floor, my stomach twisting funny ways. "I'm as good as dead now, anyway, now that I've run away from my mother. She could come any second and kill me. Ankun!" I stared at him again, and I found it difficult to form the words. "Ankun, I don't think I can fight her! She's my MOM!"

He blinked. "No young rebel is worth anything to Monten dead."

I couldn't think straight. My own mother might be my own murderer! It wasn't like I could fend her off if she attacked me. Today's Peacemaking practice proved that. I didn't have any Groo in my reach, anyway, so without any weapons at all, I'd be dead within seconds against her poisonous needle. She or my father could kill me in my sleep and get AWAY with it, too!

And yet, Asrid Roygreen was in more danger at the moment than I was, no matter what I'd done and who knew where I slept. Mom was going to kill her if I didn't do something. She might have already done that.

"No!" I shouted, sprinting out the door, my mind spinning with new discoveries and all the other crap I'd stored in there over the years. Most of it wasn't helpful at all, but I had no control over my thoughts. Everything inside me was messed up and driving me insane.

I understood one thing clearly, though.

I had to save Asrid.

Completely jumping up and over the single porch step, I banged on the door, shivering with cold and fear. "Asrid Roygreen!" I cried. "Asrid Roygreen, please! It's Kitten Zigbol! I'm here to help you..."

Would she even open up? She was what? Eighty something years old? Could she even walk to the door without breaking a hip or something? Not to mention she was blind. She might never come to the door, and then what? Breaking and entering on Ankun's property was one thing, but invading Asrid's house seemed totally illegal. She might call the police- or worse, the Ordermen- and then where would we be? I'd be killed, too. Guilty by association.

But luck was with me. The door creaked open to reveal a withered old woman in a bathrobe She was leaning heavily onto a crooked, black cane, and her eyes were just as milky white as her hair.

"Asrid, you have to listen to me." I slipped inside and shut the door before she could say a word. "You're in trouble. Big trouble. My mother's coming, and she's a doctor. She's going to-"

"You're that girl, aren't you?"

I blinked. I hadn't expected her to interrupt. "I beg your pardon?"

She laughed, but it sounded more like wheezing. "I know you. You and those friends of yours were in the paper. Ha ha, don't you think that just because these eyes of mine can't see that I don't know what's happening nowadays. I feel it's you, the one whose face was put on the front page."

I couldn't help but stare, mouth hanging open in shock. How could she FEEL it was me?

"You caused quite a ruckus, now didn't you?" She started moving toward her kitchen. "What's your name, girl? Would you like some cookies?"

"Kitten," I replied, staring after her in confusion. "Um, no thank you. I'm not here for a snack, I'm here for-"

"All in due time, girl. Sit down." She motioned with a shaking finger toward a stool at her counter.

I refused, wondering how in the world she knew there was even a stool there if she couldn't see. "I'm not here for a visit," I explained as politely as I could. "Just please, listen to-"

"Why don't YOU listen first, girl?" She laughed again. "You know so little, and yet you burst through my door, expecting me to leap right up and do as you say? That's ridiculous. I'm too old for leaping, anyway. What did you expect, that an old woman like me could escape from a doctor that wants to kill me? Now THAT is something I'd like to see."

"You know?" I gasped. "You know they're coming? But why-"

"You know so little," she repeated. "And yes, of course I know." She sighed sadly. "I've expected it for a long time. And I had a feeling it would come sooner than later. I was given fair warning, after all."

"Fair warning?"

"Ankun had this all planned out, you know. He'd betray me no sooner than he'd pick up a rock and bash you over the head. Now what did you say your name was again?"

I took in a deep breath. I wasn't getting anywhere with this woman. In her mind, all that mattered was being polite to company. So I sat down on the stool and hoped Mom would have some sort of delay. Like maybe she ran into an old friend on the street and couldn't very well ignore them just to go kill someone. That seemed rather rude, in my opinion.

"Oh, it's about time. Let me wrap these up for you." Asrid moved her hands across the counter, in search of something. "Where did I put that?" she asked herself, her mouth curving into a frown.

"Do you need some help?" I asked, leaning over the counter to see what she wanted.

She waved me away. "I've got it, girl. Don't you worry. I feel it here. I just need to get my hands to cooperate. Ah, there it is!" She smoothed a reddish towel out on the countertop, then laid eight or nine cookies in the middle of it. She folded the corners over, then pulled open a drawer to grab a rubber band. "I think this should suffice," she told me, twisting the band around the corners of the towel and tossing it to me like a little sack.

"What do I need these for?"

"No questions, just follow me." But instead of waiting, she flitted, rather quickly for a woman her age, to my side and dragged me behind her as she headed toward the opposite kitchen wall. "I feel them coming," she explained. "If your mother finds you here, she'll report you. Now don't you make a sound, alright? Eat those cookies ONLY when you're hungry, because this is all you get. Now where is that miserable button?"

"Down where?" I started to ask, but suddenly the floor tiles I was standing on collapsed from under me, and I was falling into a dark pit. I didn't even have time to shout out in surprise before I hit the bottom, pain jolting up both legs.

I breathed in deeply, and the air tasted moldy. It was almost like I was drinking it in, along with dust and spiderwebs, no doubt. Carefully, I shifted my position, and I winced as I moved my leg. It wasn't broken; it just hurt to move it.

Something flashed above my head. "Baine!" I said with a smile. "You're stuck down here, too? Aw, thanks, I'm going to need your company."

"Quiet down there, girl, they'll hear you."

I glanced up, but the trap door was no longer visible. I knew why within a few moments, because I heard a muted pounding on Asrid's front door, then a loud voice I recognized.

"Asrid Roygreen, open this door now, or we'll open it for you!"

We? But Mom said she wouldn't need anyone else on the job! Why would she need backup?

Baine settled on my shoulder and chirruped, "Yee, moreee, lie."

"What, Baine?" I whispered. "What is it?"

He shivered against my collarbone, and his lights flashed off. He was suddenly pushing me, shoving me onward in the dark, as if leading me toward a new hiding place.

And I got it. Of course Mom would need backup.

I was here. I had come to warn Asrid of her fate. So my mother, of course, expected a fight or struggle from the old woman.

And she was so dangerously wrong.

"Asrid Roygreen, we're coming in one way or another! So I suggest you come open this door NOW!"

"On my way," was the old woman's reply. "My tired, old body is so slow these days. You'll have to give me a few extra moments opening up."

"Well, hurry as much as you can. We are NOT patient."

I heard the door creaking open, and then hurried footsteps stomping inside. Baine huddled closer to me. I held him to my chest and cooed softly, but I dared not make another sound. Who knew what sort of advanced technology murderers had these days?

"Welcome," Asrid greeted, clearing her throat as her killers came into her kitchen. I knew they were there because the footsteps echoed RIGHT above my head.

I scooted even further into the shadows, hoping they wouldn't discover the button to open the trap door. Then Asrid's trouble in hiding me would have been in vain. And I didn't want a dying woman's last act of kindness to be a failure.

"Would you like some cookies? I think I have enough for all of you. Gosh, what sort of business would you be on if you need a dozen Ordermen at your side, Avalinss?"

"No, we wouldn't like anything of yours to eat. But here, I'll get you one. They look so delicious. Did you make them yourself, or were they a gift?"

"Why, yes, my friend Ankun gave them to me just the other day. They're my favorite. Chocolate chip. Mm, thank you, I'll be forever in your favor, Avalinss. I do appreciate you giving one to me before I head off to bed. I've been feeling tired lately. I think I need a long nap..."

I could just imagine my mother placing a sleeping pill on that cookie before she handed it to Asrid. I wanted to scream for her to refuse it, to throw it away, or at least FEEL the little white pill was on her treat before she placed it in her mouth.

Being blind must really bite if you're being poisoned.

"Well, that's fine with me. We would just like to speak with you, and then you can head upstairs for your... nap."

"Yes, yes, talk to me about what? I'd be delighted to share anything with you, Avalinss. You are SUCH a dear."

"Well, it's rather quite simple, Asrid. We've heard you betrayed the city from a very reliable source. But we cannot accuse you unless you admit it. We wouldn't want to do you any harm, you know."

"Oh, Avalinss," Asrid scoffed, losing the polite tone to her sweet voice. "I know your intentions. Every one of them. You need not hide them from me."

"So tell us, then. Did you or did you not betray your beloved city, Monten? Tell the truth and you will be rewarded. Tell a lie, and you will suffer severely."

"Why, of course, girl. I'll tell you the truth about everything."

Girl. She called my mother "girl".

Asrid started to laugh. "Time sure does fly by, doesn't it, Avalinss? Your daughter will be grown long before you can track the time. She's got such spirit, that girl. Now you tell her I said hello, won't you? I wouldn't want my granddaughter growing up like YOU."

My mouth fell open the same moment something crashed to the floor. Then I heard my mother ordering, "Hurry! Inject her, inject her! Those pills only last so long!"

"Yes, Doctor, right away."

"Get on with it, then! I don't... I don't want to see that woman again. Just... just do what you have to do and... and let me go home. Search the house. I don't doubt SHE'S here hiding."

Several minutes passed by, and all the footsteps faded away. The front door closed, and I knew everyone was gone. They hadn't found the trap door, and I was stuck here with no way out.

Baine snuggled closer, humming a reassuring tune and blinking his little lights again.

"We're going to be okay, Baine," I said. "It's going to be fine."