My dearies! I'm so sorry this took so long - I didn't forget about you or anything. I have a lot on my plate right now - almost too much, frankly - and making time to write has been on a scale of "Impossible" to "Improbable". But...I hope to be more freed up soon :-)

Anywaysies, hope you all like this chapter!

Lily's POV

By the time Samantha and the doctors contact us again, the balmy late springtime weather has given way to the sticky heat of July. Jonas, Fiona, Asher and I lie down in a circle on the grass outside, our heads forming a square in the middle. Gabe's laughter permeates the air from his resting spot in a small inflatable swimming pool, which we filled and placed a few feet away.

"I hate hot weather," Asher grumbles. "I see why Sameness got rid of this."

Jonas and I laugh nervously, leaning a bit to glance at Fiona, who glowers at the heavens, having heard the mention of Sameness. Fiona, being the last of us to leave, has yet to cease her anger at the Community. I don't blame her, of course - but I do resent the awkward silences the bitterness induces.

"Hot weather's not too bad," Jonas offers in the awkward lapse. "Gabe's loving it." As if illustrating Jonas's point, a ringing wave of laughter sings out from Gabe.

"I definitely like the presence of weather," I add, laughing. "And color. And emotion. And quite literally everything. Because the first decade of my life included none of it whatsoever."

Jonas sighs, and sounds as if he wants to say something, but Miriam runs outside, interrupting him before he can even begin to speak. "All of you!" She calls, breathless despite the fact that she hardly had a distance to run out to us. "Come inside, get dressed in nicer clothes!"

"W-Where are we going, Miriam?" Fiona asks, a bit cautious.

She pauses. "Samantha called. She wants to talk with you all about something at Dr. Astra."

"Something, huh?" I giggle. "Sounds intriguing. Somethings are some of the best things."

Miriam chuckles, picking up Gabe in her arms. "We're supposed to meet them in an hour and a half. Get dressed!"

We stumble inside excitedly. Fiona and I lag behind the boys a bit, as they've decided to race each other up the stairs.

"It's about that interview a few months ago, isn't it?" She asks me, her eyes igniting with the fire of hope. "Do you think they've found the people in charge of our Community? And we can talk to them about other possible Communities?"

I shrug. "Could be anything, really. The real question for now is..." I push open my bedroom door. "What do we wear?"

Fiona laughs. "I have no idea, really. I like that skirt though, Lily," She says, pointing to a black skirt that flares out at the bottom. "Wear that, for sure!"

"This skirt…" I murmur, pulling the hanger from my hyper-organized rack of clothes. As I lay the skirt on my bed, a flash of light purple catches my eye. I plunge my hands back into the closet, yanking out a simple, purple long-sleeved shirt. "I feel like wearing purple. Do you like this shirt?"

Fiona nods eagerly. "It's a lovely shade. Color...color is just amazing. All color."

I grin wistfully at the shirt. I've been in the civil, non-Community world longer than she has, so I have grown so used to the beauty of everything - the glow of the blue skies, the shocking red berries on bushes I see outside sometimes. Fiona, however, still gazes into space sometimes, just losing herself in the colors and sensations around her. I almost feel guilty for losing this awe.

"I think I want to wear this," I gently motion for her to leave the room, so I may change clothes, and she rushes down the hall to her own bedroom to find an outfit for herself.

After we have all gotten dressed in clothing other than shorts, denim skirts, and t-shirts, Asher, Jonas, Fiona and I stand in the middle of the kitchen, waiting for Miriam to finish fixing up her hair.

"What do you think is going on?" Asher asks, squirming in his collared shirt - he's not one to enjoy wearing remotely formal clothing.

Jonas scowls. "What if they've brought people who think we're crazy, and they want to lock us up after the questions we answered? How do we know they aren't betraying us?"

Asher holds up a hand. "Hey, Jonas, even my crazy imagination doesn't think that poss-"

Jonas interrupts his friend, his voice growing anxious with each syllable. "What if they want to force us into a new Community?"

Asher's POV

By the time we reach Dr. Astra's office, we have to defy our own minds to remove ourselves from the car, and go against all the apprehension we feel.

"Come on, Jonas," I moan. "Why'd you have to get those thoughts in my head?"

Jonas smiles sadly. "I guess we are all Receivers now. But you've received an idea. And an emotion."

"Yeah," I grumble sarcastically, holding the glass door open for our group. "Thanks a lot."

The lobby is very navy. The carpet is navy blue, the chairs match, and even the curtains are navy drapes over contrastingly bright windows. We awkwardly occupy a row of seats, all of us too freaked out by Jonas to say anything. Miriam sets Gabe on Jonas's lap, and approaches the desk at the front of the room.

"Yes, I have four children here to see Dr. Astra?" Miriam wrings her hands a bit. "I think he wants to see them without me."

The man at the desk has a very short haircut and a stern, severely chiseled face. His eyebrows knit together like two caterpillars approaching each other to engage in a fistfight. "I'll call him. Names?"

"Lily, Jonas, Asher, and Fiona," She winces at her lack of surnames. "Surname does not matter. He'll know."

The man at the desk winces slightly out of confusion. "I'll...I'll make sure to tell him."

Miriam, either not caring or failing to realize how befuddled the man is by her, wriggles her fingers. "Thank you!"

We haven't anything to say while we wait. I mean, we could find something to say, if we wanted. But if we talk, we might start wondering what Dr. Astra wants from us, which will only make us more apprehensive. So, no one utters a word.

I sit hunched over in my chair, pretending my thumbs are wrestling with each other - the left one is winning. Just as I'm enjoying this game I've created, a deep voice clears its throat on the other side of the room. "Fiona, Jonas, Asher, and Lily. I'm free to speak with you all now."

We stand slowly, glancing around at one another, and follow him down a painfully quiet, completely white-painted hallway. Eventually, the silence drives me off the brink. "Don't you have someone to come out and get us?" I blurt out, before my brain - or any other organ - can stop me. "You're a doctor. The hospital where Jonas was after he hurt his head had one, and that place had doctors. Lots of them."

"Asher…" Jonas sighs. I shoot him a glance, and he shrugs in surrender.

Dr. Astra chuckles. "I do, in fact. She would normally have gone to bring you all to me, but I wanted to get you myself."

"Why?" Fiona asks - not bitterly or accusingly, simply out of curiosity.

"I wanted to see you all as quickly as I could," the man answers, opening up a heavy-looking wooden door. He leads us in to find a black desk, a matching armchair, and four black folding chairs.

"This is my office," He tells us. "Pardon the folding chairs - getting ahold of four black armchairs on short notice is harder than it should be. But, please, sit."

He sits in the armchair, and we sit opposite him. "What is it you want to tell us?" Lily asks, leaning forward a bit in her seat.

He smiles, looking at each of us in turn. "My partners in this couldn't quite make it to speak with you today - Miss Hartfeld had an exam, and Dr. Leos is attending her niece's wedding. Nevertheless, I intend to speak with you about our idea."

"And this idea is…" I prompt, waving my hand in a small circle of impatience.

"Asher, hush!" Fiona scolds quietly.

"Oh, it's fine," Dr. Astra laughs. "Really, I'm making myself impatient. Straight to the point - given the resources, and your permission and aid, we want to make it our mission to locate and rescue Community residents worldwide.

I can feel Fiona's ears perk up. After her traumatic time without us in the Community, full of fighting savage people - people we once knew - to the death, this must be an amazing opportunity to her.

I nod vigorously at Dr. Astra. "I love the idea. It really sounds-"

"Hang on," Jonas interrupts, lifting a hand and standing up from his seat. "Will we actually be helping, or just being your little charity-case faces?"

Dr. Astra holds up both palms in surrender. "Minds like yours? Of course you would do actual work! Don't think I ignored how advanced your minds appear in several aspects, compared to non-Community adolescents!"

Lily stands and holds out her dainty hand. "I think we all agree to work with you."

"I-" Jonas immediately says. As we all turn to look at him, he smiles guiltily. "I like the idea as well."

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter - byyyyye!