“Investigators are now launching an inquiry into the methods of Supervisors in Metal Island Factories. Lady Olive Ferrum has exposed her way of life to the world,” Cai reads aloud, then dumps the magazine on the bedside table, sitting next to me. “This is all my fault. They’re wolves.” He apologizes, folding his arms. 

“It’s better that everyone knows,” I say, sighing. “Maybe it will get people to fix things.” Cai nods. My maid walks into the room, holding something on a tray. I still can’t get her to tell me her name. 

“Mail, my Lady,” She says, setting the tray down on my table, and leaving, with a quick glance at Cai.

“You know, she’s going to gossip to all the other servants that you were in my bedroom,” I say, picking up the various newspapers from the silver tray, and throwing them aside, not wanting to see myself crying, in color print, for a thousandth time. 

“Yeah, I guess she will,” He says, then rifles through the papers, picking up one of them. “This one isn’t about yesterday,” He offers, passing it over to me. “Just your leaked security scan results. I’m guessing that’s my uncle pulling those strings.” I take the paper, where it tells about my CW percentage and BL score. “You got 143?” He asks, his eyes widening. I nod. “That’s…” He blinks at me. “It means you’re about 95% perfect, Olive.” 

“The scanner’s wrong,” I mutter. Cai shrugs. 

“I see it,” He says, looking at the page. “You got a 36% CW?” He stares at me again, then stands up. “I’m… going to leave. Gossip, you know.” He exits the room. Am I the girl he likes from the interview? I don’t think I’ve seen him talking to Angel or Julia. 

I find an envelope from home under the newspapers, my mind racing. I put the thought aside, as three letters fall out onto my lap from the envelope. I grab Casey’s, and open it. 

Olive, 

I saw you on TV! You look so pretty. I was trying to hear what the commentator was saying when they introduced you guys, but then these girls just started screaming. 

Is there some movie star guy in the running? Is he cute? And does he have a little brother who would be open to dating me? Just kidding. Teddy is perfect, and mainlanders are jerks anyway. 

Flint came over to our house a lot. Whenever he sees you on the TV, he always smiles so much. He’s leaving in a week, with Ember. They are going to visit you. I want to go, but Mom says I have to stay here. 

The mayor got me piano lessons. Pianos are so cool. They make so many different noises. It reminds me of when we were young and Mom would tuck us in with a song at night. 

I miss when she used to do that. And Dad would come home late because of work, and he would creep into our room, and ask us how our day was, and we would talk for hours, until Mom had to yell at him to let us sleep, we had school tomorrow. And then he would kiss us goodnight and we’d make a wish on the stars outside our window that our lives would stay this nice forever. 

Anyway, that didn’t happen. Hope you’re doing really well, and you bring me home something really cool! 

Your all-time favorite sister, 

Casey 

I laugh, reading Casey’s note. Oh, never grow up, please. I pick up Mom’s, which is short, and to the point. 

Dear Olive,

I hope you’re behaving yourself over there. We are Golds now, and your reputation matters. Not that you’d do anything bad anyway. You do tend to restrict fun sometimes. Anyways, win the competition. 

Regards, 

Raeven Kuper Ferrum 

Well, thanks, Mom. I really needed to hear that. And I know your maiden name, so you don’t need to list it. I open Dad’s letter, which has a very different tone from the first two letters. He opens it by using my childhood nickname. 

Hey, sweetpea. 

I can’t say I’m adjusting well to Gold life as well as your sister and mother. The big house is easy to get lost in, and I’m only able to be on the first floor. I can imagine you smiling and rolling your eyes at this. That’s my girl. 

People have stopped attacking our house, and have moved their vandalism to the streets. And it’s not our Gold neighbors anymore. The Irons and Coppers have started to rise up in rebellion against the higher-class people. They’ve taken mercy on us, because one of the rebels’ sons is Casey’s close friend, and he told them to keep us safe. I think his name is Teddy or something. 

If you become governor, then I hope you’ll be able to help the people here. Get them to find a peaceful resolution. Either way, I’m so proud of the woman you’re becoming. I love you so much and I’m so glad that you’re not stuck in a smelly factory. 

All of my love, 

Dad 

I smile to myself as I read the letter, then frown as I read about the rebellions. This is exactly the sort of thing that will give me more interviews. I promise I’ll try my best, Dad. I hold the letters to my chest, trying to breathe in the scent of home, of metal, and seawater. 

I can’t smell anything but paper and ink. I lay down on my bed, and stare at the clock. I’ve got three hours until dinnertime, and I have nothing to do. 

Wait. I say, sitting up. I am going to try to win this thing, for Dad, and for Julia, who wants to see Angel fail. I kinda want to see that too. I stand up and start walking towards the third floor library, finding all the books on government I can, and piling them on a desk. 

I open the first one, and start looking through the table of contents for the things I need to learn about. The clock ticks above me. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. 

There’s a laugh from the hallway, and Angel pulls someone into the library, giggling. I see Cai following her, and my face falls. I’m not the girl. He played me again. I stand up, and walk past him, shutting my book loudly. 

“Olive?” He asks, but I’m gone. I make it down to the stables, and sit with my hands in fists, next to Poppy’s stall. She blows air onto my face, and I laugh. 

“I’m such an idiot.” I tell her. 

I make it to dinner on time, and stare at the ground seeing that Angel took my spot next to Cai. I swallow, and sit down, fixing my black dress. 

“Do you mind if I switch with you, Angel? So you can be closer to the soup? I know you like it.” Cai says. Angel nods, and stands up, moving to switch. Cai’s now next to me, and he kicks my foot. I kick it with my heel hard, and ignore him. He watches me for a bit, then sighs. 

“I,um… think that I’m not feeling well. Pray excuse me.” He says, and stands up. I look over at him, as he leaves the table. His eyes are red, his nose is red, his face is pale. Gully fever. I think. I’ll go check on him after dinner. So it doesn’t look suspicious. I return to my food, tapping my foot. 

As soon as dinner is over, I slip out of the room, searching for his bedroom door along the hallway. Once I find one that has a star on the doorknob, I enter, closing the door quickly behind me. Cai’s lying in bed, a book open on his lap, while he’s wrapped in blankets. His glasses nearly fall off as his gaze jerks up to me. 

“What are you doing in here?” He asks. 

“You’re sick. Gully fever,” I mumble, walking closer. He nods, folding his arms. I notice that he’s not wearing a shirt. 

“I thought you were mad at me,” He says. I nod. 

“A little bit,” I mumble. “I’m just being weird, I saw you hanging out with Angel, and she’s mean, so I got sort of angry,” I explain. He tilts his head. 

“Angel’s not mean.” 

“She’s mean to Julia,” I say. “And me, but indirectly. She blackmailed Julia to be mean to me.” Cai nods. 

“She wanted to hang out with me. I was looking for you, but I got intercepted,” He explains. 

“And you’re weak, so you listened,” I add. Cai laughs. 

“There you are,” He says, smirking. I roll my eyes. “It’s so cold,” He mutters, shivering. I step closer, and put my hand on his forehead. 

“You’re burning up,” I mutter, and sigh. “What are your other symptoms?” 

“I got so nauseous at dinner, so I threw up a little after getting back here,” He explains. “And I’ve got the nastiest migraine.” I nod, and flick the lamp by his bed off, grabbing the book. “Hey! I was reading that.” Cai says, as I bookmark his page and set it on the table. 

“You’re straining your eyes. The headache will only get worse,” I say, then kick off my shoes, and climb onto the bed. “Lie down. Casey gets migraines all the time when she’s-” I pause. 

Whenever Casey gets her period, she gets really sick, so I used my one day off a month then when we were Irons, to stay home on the worst day for her. The rest of the days aren’t as bad. 

“I know how to help,” I finish. Cai stares at me, his arms folded. 

“You took away my book,” He says, sighing. 

“Yeah. Get over it.” I mutter, then sit by his pillow. “Just put your head in my lap, and rest, okay?” Cai sighs, and scoots over, resting his head on my lap. I brush his brown hair with my fingers, as he stares up at the ceiling, gently massaging his scalp like I do with Casey. He sighs and pulls his glasses off. “That will also strain your eyes, you know,” I point out. 

“Yeah, well, I’ve been told I look better with them off.” He mutters sarcastically. 

“Then whoever told you that needs glasses too. I like them on better than off.” I grab the glasses from his hand, and put them back on gently. He looks up at me, his eyebrows raised. “When you wear glasses, you’re not Caden,” I explain. “And he’s not my best friend. Cai is. Cai wears glasses.” He chuckles. 

“I’m your best friend?” He asks. I nod. “Nice. I don’t think I’ve had many of those before.” I chuckle, and he stares up at me with a smile. I pinch his ear, and he laughs aloud. “You’re so annoying, Olive.” He jokes. I roll my eyes. 

“I know.” I comment. “See? This is more fun than reading, right?” He furrows his brows. 

“Well, actually-” I interrupt to pinch his ear again, and he laughs, just looking at me instead.