"Father?" Asher said. He bit down on his lip. He felt embarressed to bring up the subject of the Stirrings.
"Yes?" His father looked at him through his glasses.
"Where are the Pills? I. . .I can't seem to find them. I just had them on my dresser yesterday, and I had an extra bottle in the bathroom. But now they're gone."
His father blinked. "Umm, well, I can't find my Pills either. It's interesting that you brought that up. . .Do you know what might have happened to them?"
"Er, I don't know. Actually, the Stirrings are coming back." Asher's face flushed. The last time he had the Stirrings was when he was an Eleven, and that was quite a while ago. Now he was a Seventeen and the Stirrings were back stronger than ever.
He had searched the whole house. They wasn't a bottle in sight. He even had to ask his mother, and she had no idea what had happened to them either. It was strange, because the whole time he was looking for the Pills he couldn't stop thinking of Lily. And for some odd reason he felt kind of stupid, having this craving for a Thirteen.
Last time Asher had ever felt such a craving was when he was an Eleven and it was for a different girl. He had a couple of dreams about Fiona, who was working in the House of the Elders now. But they weren't nearly as powerful feelings as he had for Lily now.
Asher also remembered Jonas, who told him akwardly that he felt the Stirrings for Fiona. But he didn't feel jealousy at all since Asher had already been put on the Pill when he told his parents about his own dreams.
It would take a day to re-order the Pills. But something deep inside Asher made him not want to take them anymore. Before in his school, many years ago, the Instructors told the class that it was dangerous to not take the Pills - and the older you got the more dangerous it would get. But really, it didn't seem dangerous at all to Asher.
But it wasn't just the Stirrings. It was something else deep inside him. It made his heart sort of flutter everytime he thought of Lily's face and their small conversations. She was so enjoyable, so likable, so sweet. . .
"Mother, father, I'm going over to go bike riding. I'll be back soon." His parents looked at him, puzzled, as Asher ran out of the house to get his bike.
But he didn't tell his parents that he was going to see Lily. He didn't lie to his parents, however. He just told them that he was going to go bike riding, which he was. So they wasn't anything wrong in doing this, right?