“Doesn’t he like redheads?” Flint asks. 

“Angel’s got some red in her hair,” I mutter, laughing. Flint smirks. 

“We both like blondes, I guess,” He says, tapping his foot on the ground. 

“Oh, so you do like Sadie?” I tease. Flint stares at me. 

“Fine, I do,” He mutters, his face red. I shrug. 

“She’s nice. You guys look nice together,” I tell him. Flint nods, and leans back. My leg bounces slightly. Flint looks over. 

“Olive did that when she was anxious,” He comments, and I nod. 

“How did you manage to move on?” I ask, then look over quickly, my voice breaking. “Not that I… really want to, or expect to, but-” Flint nods slowly, then turns to me. 

“I don’t know. I felt really bad, when I started to get a crush on Sadie,” Flint begins, then sighs. “All it took to move on was reminding myself that Olive didn’t want me to like her in the first place. That wouldn’t work for you, she was head over heels for sure with you.” He looks down at the ground. 

“Maybe it would be better if we both died,” I mutter. “Then I wouldn’t have to think about if I-” Flint chuckles. 

“What actually would be better is if you both lived, actually,” He says, looking over. I nod. 

“If she was alive, believe me, I’d be ring shopping right now,” I mutter, and my voice breaks slightly. Tears start rolling down my cheeks, and I quickly turn away. “I’m going to sleep,” I tell Flint. I hear footsteps behind my back after I lay down, and Flint sits on the edge of my cot. He pats my shoulder, and I cry into my pillow, my knuckles white. 

A soldier nudges me awake, and I sit up, rubbing my eyes. “You’re getting a new room. Come on.” 

Flint is already up, his hands tied with rope instead of cuffs since he’s a Magnet. None of the Magnets know how to use their abilities anyway, since the only one who knew even a little bit about it was crushed in a falling building. 

They cuff my hands, and lead me away, behind Flint as we walk. They get us up the stairs to the hallway used for housing of the pageant champions. The doors of Olive’s room are removed from their hinges, and the interior has been scraped bare, with no furniture or anything. It’s almost as cold as her. 

“This is huge,” Flint comments, looking around. “What happened in there?” Flint asks, pointing at Olive’s room. 

“I fell in love,” I mutter to myself, and keep walking. They open up my old room, which now has two smaller beds in it, and take off our handcuffs. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Angel at the end of the hall, pressed against the wall by Kollan as they make out. She spots Flint and I, so they pull away, and talk for a moment. Angel walks over, and clears her throat. 

“I’m marrying your friend. I don’t want to marry you anymore,” She tells me, and I nod, my mouth slightly open. “He’s much nicer, and we get along.” She nods to herself, and walks off, giggling. 

“What kind of negotiating did Kollan do?” Flint asks, his eyes wide. Kollan starts over to us, his hands in his pocket.  

“Guys,” He says with a smile, nodding to us. 

“You were just supposed to-” Flint gapes. 

“I’ll reform her, she seems to like me, and she’s got potential to be a cute girlfriend,” He says, leaning on the wall. “And you guys can go home tomorrow if you don’t make her mad.” He looks down at the ring on his finger. “Either of you been engaged before?” He asks. 

“For a very short time, twice. The governor had Olive and I engaged, and then something happened, and Angel and I were engaged,” I answer. “It all started and ended in about five minutes.” 

“Yeah, I don’t think that counts,” Flint says with a laugh. Kollan turns to Flint. “I’ve never been engaged.” 

“And you better not be engaged for a while. Sadie’s still seventeen,” Kollan teases, pretending to be serious. Flint stammers for a few seconds, his face a dark red like the dye in Angel’s hair. He doesn’t speak, and walks into the bedroom behind us. Kollan smirks. 

“Alright, breakfast is soon, and I’m starving, and a little hungover, so I’m going to head down. See you later,” Kollan tells me, so he salutes quickly, and leaves. I look over at Flint, my arms folded. 

“How are you guys going to work out the engagement? He’s a revolution leader,” I explain, pointing at Kollan. Angel sits on the arm of his chair, and looks around the breakfast room. 

“Well…” She trails off. “Good question.” She leans over, and kisses Kollan’s head. 

“You should answer it before I have to explain to his family why he’s dating their number one enemy,” 

“Engaged to their number one enemy. Not just dating,” Angel corrects, showing me the ring on their hand. 

“That’s harder to explain, you know,” Flint mutters. 

“It shouldn’t be your business,” Angel hisses. 

“It’s Sadie’s business, and-” Flint pauses. “Kollan, come on. You need to have a plan here. It’s kind of selfish.” Kollan shrugs. 

“I’ll handle it. Just tell Sadie I’ll call her.” He reaches up, and grabs Angel’s hips, pulling her down onto his lap. She giggles, and kisses him, laughing. 

“I swear I’ll punch him. This was not the plan,” Flint mutters, as he and I leave the dining room. 

“At this point, I’ll just go home without him,” I mutter. “He was offering us pardons. He’s not-” I sigh. “Sadie won’t like this,” I tell him. He nods, his hands in his pockets as he walks. “If he officially leaves the revolution for that girl, you’re in charge. He said last month, if anything happened-” 

“Okay,” Flint says, nodding. “Is there a phone to call Sadie? I need to talk to her,” He asks quietly. I nod, and we get back to my room. I pull out the secret phone I installed in the cupboard, which saved Olive’s life by contacting Isaiah that time Connolly wanted her executed. 

Of course, it was for nothing. Since she’s dead. I choke up a bit, and hand Flint the phone. He dials on it quickly. 

Casey walks over, Peach on her shoulders, as the helicopter lands Flint and I in the revolution camp. Flint gets down, and a girl in a dark green jumpsuit runs over, jumping into his arms. 

“Hi,” Flint says to Sadie, whose blonde hair flies everywhere, as she hugs him. She laughs. 

“What took you so long to get back?” She asks, as he sets her down on the concrete again. “And where’s Kollan?” She looks around for her step-brother. 

“He’s going to call later tonight to explain things, but he’s staying in the capital,” Flint answers, and Sadie nods, grabbing his hand, and pulling him along. Casey just stands awkwardly next to me. 

“You changed your hair while I was gone,” I comment, looking over at her. She nods, playing with a strand of her dark burgundy hair. Peach hops over onto my shoulders. “Are we going to talk about our argument before I left?” I ask, scratching the cat’s ears. She shakes her head. 

“You’re not my family, Cai. I shouldn’t have to listen to you about this,” Casey mutters, her arms folded. She walks off, Peach following her quickly. 

I straighten my glasses, and walk into the compound, the helicopter disappearing into the clouds above. Rain flies everywhere from the helicopter wind, and I shiver, rubbing my arms. 

Sadie and Flint are sitting in the cabin I share with Flint, talking while they sit on his bed. Sadie sews colorful buttons from her collection of hundreds onto her jumpsuit. 

“Hi, Cai,” She says, waving, and pulling her needle through again. I see that the sleeve of the shirt she’s wearing says “Sterling”, and it’s a bit too large for her. “Is dinner soon?” She asks, leaning on Flint’s shoulder while he pulls buttons out of her jar, looking at them. 

“Yeah, maybe fifteen minutes. I came back here to get a book,” I tell Sadie, and reach for the collection under my bed. 

The red-covered one falls down as I grab one under it, and I swallow as The Scarlet Pimpernel opens to a random page. Sink me. I think, and stand up with a different novel, dusting it off. Sadie and Flint wave as I leave. 

Sadie hangs up on the phone, as we’re standing in the meeting room. She folds her arms and walks over to Flint, burying her face in his chest. He slowly puts his arms around her, swaying gently. 

“What was it?” Isaiah asks. I glance over at Flint, who leans his cheek on Sadie’s. I sigh. 

“Kollan defected. He’s engaged to the queen,” I answer. Sadie starts crying quietly. Isaiah’s jaw drops. 

“He didn’t… indicate it was anything of a bigger plan?” Isaiah asks. Ember’s arms are folded, as she stares at the ground. 

“We confronted him about it when she wasn’t around, and he got angry at us. I think he’s serious,” Flint answers. 

“He’s not usually like this,” Austin mutters. “Cai, did it seem like he was drugged, or-” 

“He’s always drunk or on something, that’s normal. This isn’t it,” I explain, then sigh. “Let’s just move on for now.”

◈◈◈◈

I rub my eyes, and sit up, reaching for the black jumpsuit waiting for me. This isn’t my family’s room. I think, noticing that I’m lying in a large queen bed, in a dimly-lit room with a view of the gray seashore out past the balcony. 

I’m wearing a white tank top and shorts, and a couple clear tubes are connected to syringes in my right arm. One of the tubes has something watery, the other one with a dark green sludge. I pull the needles out, quickly, and tiny pinpricks of blood appear on my forearm where they used to be. I peel off all the tape holding the tubes to my arm, then climb out of the bed, starting for the door. 

There’s someone standing in the kitchen as I exit the room into another part of the cream-colored villa filled with plants and natural light. It’s someone around my age, maybe a year older, a guy with dark brown hair and amber yellow eyes, dark tan skin. He’s wearing a gray t-shirt. 

“Um…” I start, and he looks up from the vegetables he’s slicing, his jaw dropping. 

“Olive!” He exclaims, and runs over, chuckling as he picks me up around the waist, and hugs me. 

“Where am I, and who are you, and how long was I asleep?” I ask as he sets me down, then I pause. “Sorry if I’m being rude, I recognize your voice, but my memory is spotty.” He laughs. 

“You would only recognize my voice anyway, so don’t sweat it.” He offers me a hand to shake. “I’m Harrison Anders, I was the voice in your head.” My jaw drops, and I turn away.