It's sunny. Golden rays drip down between the leaves. I'm in the woods. Takeda and Bailey are there; a memory of a laugh hangs in the air. They dissolve into the golden greenery. I follow them. I pass through trees and shrubs easily. Takeda and Bailey are around here. I can sense them. Their laughter floats in the heavy air, fizzing with light. I try to find them, but I'm floating. Trees strip away, and everything is flying. I stay, unmoving, watching the golden world dissolve into a dark one. All is shadows and the laughter dies away.
I'm standing alone, shivering. Suddenly, the ground gives way under me and I'm falling. I fall into the Reaping Bowl, its clear sides fluorescent in the neon darkness. I fall into the strips and my name echoes inside the bowl. The papers are huge, and growing still, and every single one of them has my name on it.
"Miles!" May is calling me. Sweet, innocent May.
"I'm coming!" I scream, but I can't climb the round, slippery edges of the bowl. And Effie's perfectly manicured hand is already reaching in, to pick me, to kill me.
I wake up suddenly. Apparently, I have been screaming, because Effie is knocking on my door. I pull on a robe and open my door. It's not Effie, it's Wren.
For a moment, I'm so surprised, I can't move. Then I suddenly react.
"What are you doing here?" I question suspiciously.
"You were screaming 'I'm coming, May,'" he answers, as if it were an obvious fact. I sigh.
"Do you want to come in?" I ask as I open the door wider. As response, he gets in my room. I close the door quietly. I sit down on the bed next to Wren.
"So, who's May?" he finally asks.
"She's this little girl. Only nine." I explain.
"Takeda's sister?" he asks.
"How did you know that?"
"You said other things in your sleep,"
"Well, yes, Takeda's sister,"
He sits there for a while, pensive.
"Then who's Bailey?" he asks again. I think he's being a little too curious, but I answer anyway.
"She's my cousin." I lie, hoping he'll buy it.
"Really?"
"No," I admit. "We just pretend. She and her family took me in after the mine explosion,"
He nods like he understood something, and I'm just thinking about how I can politely tell him to go. I turn around to tell him but he's already gone. He's stealthier than I thought. Just one more reason not to trust him.