Chapter 1

Prologue

Eleanore Delano watched her sister, Rhapsody, crumple up the large flowers with white petals and a sunshine center that were in a flowerbed outside of her bedroom window. The petals fell to the pebbled ground and Rhapsody proceeded to smash them, grinding the white petals into the pebbles until nothing remained. Even the bits on Rhapsody’s shoe was ground away and destroyed.

               It took mere moments for the flowers to shudder and stand tall, the petals coming from the regenerating sunshine center, the small white tips growing outward and reaching out until the perfection of the flower was once again whole. Rhapsody reached to the regenerated flower and completely tore off the head and tossed it away. It took longer for the flower to regenerate, but still, the stem opened, allowing the center of the flower to regrow before the petals. Again, another whole flower stood before them, waving only slightly in the winter breeze.

               “You’re wasting your time,” Ellie called to her sister, knowing what step came next.

               It did not stop Rhapsody. She reached into the dirt that the flowers grew from and pulled them out by the stems. She tossed them to the ground, again stomping, the bulbs exploding under her leather shoes, spreading their insides out until they were strewn across the ground. Rhapsody refused to turn around towards the flower bed, staring at her sister, waiting. Ellie frowned and sighed. Again, it took longer, but the dead things were once again alive, swaying in the breeze. They lived.

               “How will I explain this to Mom?” Rhapsody asked pathetically.

Chapter 1

               “Happy New Year!” a happy voice called down the walkway, until the person jerked in recognition of the two flame-haired sisters that were standing outside of their friend’s home. The person frowned, grimacing at what she realized she had said and bowed her head. “My apologies.” She scuttled passed the two and went on her way towards wherever she had been headed.

               “Apparently, I have the plague,” Rhapsody joked, leaning into the bench outside of Sloane’s home. His home was much more opulent than the modest home of Rhapsody and Ellie. While Rhapsody and Ellie did have some perks, like their own bedrooms, it was a small home, one story, with only one opulence in the entire place, which was a painting their father had commissioned before their brother, David, had been taken to the capital, where Rhapsody would be headed tomorrow.

               “I don’t think they know how to react,” Ellie said honestly. “This is rare that not one, not two, but three people are going to be conscripted at the same time. It’s even more rare that more than one person in a family would have the power and end up being conscripted.”

               “Just tell me happy New Year and be done with it,” Rhapsody snapped. “It’s supposed to be a joyous occasion, right? I’m supposed to be thrilled to go work in the capital. To have my career set out before me and become a doctor on the sidelines, without any true training, because of this weird mutation. I mean, it takes the choosing out of things, right?”

               Ellie only sighed and glanced back at the gate that was still closed to Sloane’s house. Thomas Rafferty was on the council at the capital, one of the few people that worked in the capital that did not have the “power”, or mutation, that allowed them to have special abilities of unknown origin. His son, however, would be conscripted with Rhapsody tomorrow, in their 20^th year. Along with Rhapsody and Sloane’s other friend, Jacen. David had been the first one from their city to be conscripted in over five years, and two years later his sister and her two friends would follow suit.

               “You’ll come home and visit more than David does, right?” Ellie asked of her sister. “You’ll tell me what it’s like, invite me to the capital once in awhile?”

               “I don’t know,” Rhapsody told her honestly. “There has to be a reason David doesn’t come to visit us that much, right?”

               Before Ellie could answer the gate was pulled open by a butler and Sloane came popping out, dressed in slacks and a white button up shirt that was more open than buttoned. Sloane always managed to look like he was not the son of a councilman, with a black collar around his neck and a piercing in his ear that had been forbidden by the school but they could not complain about any longer now that he was finished with school.

               “They are going to make you take that nasty thing out,” Rhapsody said of the earring when she saw Sloane. “And where is your coat? It is cold out here right now.”

               Sloane simply laughed it off. “It’s not that cold. It’s almost spring. We should be embracing the warming whether.” He looked at Ellie and said, “And you don’t hate my earring, do you?”

               Ellie simply shrugged her shoulders in answer. She didn’t have much of an opinion on what Sloane did or didn’t do. He did everything for attention and she was not sure if the bad boy Sloane, sweet Sloane, or sophisticated Sloane was the real one. She just assumed everything was an act and would have spent no time with him at all if it had not been for Rhapsody, who had been his best friend, and Jacen’s, since they were in fourteen. Six years and Ellie was sure she still did not know the real Sloane.

               “Is Jacen meeting us here or is he meeting us at the Temple?” Rhapsody asked.

               “At the Temple,” Sloane said. “I guess his father is not thrilled that he wants to spend his last night a free man out with us and the compromise was that he would stay home and have dinner with them and then go to the Temple.”

               “I promised my mom and dad a big breakfast tomorrow before we headed out,” Rhapsody said. “They insist they are heading with us all to the capital, but I would rather them not be there. It’s not like we are going to school.”

               Rhapsody turned to Ellie and said, “Won’t you be sad when Mom and Dad walk you up to your college and drop you off?”

               Ellie sighed. “I’m just going to the one in the city, I’ll be living at home still.”

               “You’re going to Chastain College?” Sloane asked. “Isn’t that for geniuses?”

               “I’m pretty smart,” Ellie said. “I spent this last year going to secondary classes instead of taking the time off you all did.”

               Rhapsody crinkled her nose. “Yeah, well, we knew what we would be doing at 20. You still have another year to change your mind.”

               “I haven’t even made up my mind,” Ellie admitted, “hence the classes.”

               “Mom and Dad have been going nuts about it,” Rhapsody whispered to Sloane, though Ellie was right there and could hear it. “It costs so much to take secondary classes, but Ellie insists she was able to convince them to give her a scholarship because of hardship.”

               “Hardship?” Sloane looked at Ellie with a curious raise of his eyebrow. “Are you guys going through a rough patch?”

               “No,” Ellie admitted, pushing away from the bench and starting down the cobblestone that would lead to the temple. “But if they had to pay for my schooling they would push for me to pick something in particular, and right now I don’t know what I want to do. I was accepted into the college, so I have been trying out classes that meet their curriculum.”

               “She is smart,” Sloane sneered.

               “We have known each other all of this time and you have just figured that out?” Ellie snapped. Hypocritical, she knew, as she was just thinking she did not truly know Sloane, but it was a good way of keeping him at bay. She wished she could have kept her sister at bay these last six years and not cared about her the way she did. Her heart was breaking she would be gone tomorrow.

               Rhapsody and Sloane caught up with Ellie, one walking on each side of her. Ellie may have had her sister’s flaming red hair, but Rhapsody had the height. Between Sloane and Rhapsody, Ellie felt like a small figure in need of a bodyguard, and the two flanking her were doing just that. They would protect her. Maybe it was her own imagination, but she felt safe with her sister around. Perhaps Rhapsody not being a part of her day-to-day would be good for her. She could have time to decide who she really was without being dependent on her sister.

               She regretted the thought immediately. She did not want her sister to leave so Ellie could discover who she was. She would do that soon enough at college. Was that not what college was about? About learning who she truly was?

               “So many fox masks this year,” Rhapsody commented.

               Ellie pulled herself out of her thoughts, not realizing they had walked that far until she saw the temple raised up before them. Behind the temple was nothing but trees, trees that lined the mountain behind it. The local temple, though at the edge of the city, was actually pretty small. The only time people went to temple and worshipped the gods was at New Years, in a more traditional sense than a literal sense. Their gods were based off of animal-human hybrids. The fox, the cat, the elk, and the bear. There were legends of the hybrids and their creations, which were the people with special abilities. They were said to be descended from the gods themselves.

               “Then we should be worshipped,” Sloane had once said, and Rhapsody had readily agreed. Instead, it meant they were forced into a career that suited their ability.

               “The fox was always my favorite,” Ellie said, eyeing the booth selling the masks. The masks ranged from cheap, so even a child could afford one with allowance money, to elaborate pieces that Sloane could have afforded with his pocket change but that the girls would have spent weeks trying to earn enough to afford.

               Rhapsody picked up an elk mask, toying at the horns. It was odd she had been granted the power of healing when she had always seemed more likely to want to do damage. Perhaps it was the healing that drove her to want to cause damage. She wanted to hurt things, because she could heal them, or because she had no choice but to heal them. She was somehow ostracized for her ability once it was discovered, and turned to because of it. A simple cold had people on her doorstep begging her to help, because their child was certainly dying. Rhapsody scoffed, but she had no choice. When something needed healed in front of her it just kicked in. What those people did not realized was how much of herself she gave to heal. Everything came at a price.

               “What do you think?” Rhapsody held it up to her face and hid most of herself away in one simple mask. The mask was elaborate, a shining silver color with blue streaks through it, taking over her entire face and the horns another hand length over her head.

               “Looks good,” Sloane admitted.

               “Might be out of our price range,” Ellie said, knowing that was a third tier mask, one of the ones that were Sloane’s pocket change, but not theirs.

               Rhapsody looked to the clerk and said, “I’ll take this one,” and fastened it to her face before handing over a wad of money.

               “Rhapsody,” Ellie chastised.

               “It’s not like I need it,” Rhapsody explained. “Tonight I am going to feel beautiful. I think you should buy this fox one.”

               The fox one was done in the same style, but made of golds and rubies. Ellie gently declined and picked up one of the child’s masks of a fox. “This one is more fitting.”

               Rhapsody tossed the elaborate fox mask Ellie’s way and handed over more money to the shopkeeper. Sloane chose an onyx bear with obsidian jewels and a bronze cat with topaz, most likely for Jacen. He slid the bear mask on his face and said, “Come on, Ellie, why don’t we enjoy our last night together?”

               Ellie placed the mask carefully to her face. If she was truly gentle with it she might be able to re-sell the item for half of the cost, a cost she could use for something else later. In the meantime, she glanced at herself in the mirror and could not deny that it looked beautiful on her, especially against the red hair and pink dress.

               Rhapsody hooked her arm through her sister’s and began dragging her up the steps to the Temple. The gates surrounding the temple were pulled metal that was meant to represent the elk’s horns. The trees were for the bear, the hidden tunnels were for the cat, and the elaborate red colors were for the fox. Most people no longer believed in the gods, Ellie was sure that was including the priestess who worked the temple selling charms and promises, at least not those in the city. Ellie had hear that people in smaller towns were more likely to still worship with earnest, which is why those towns had more elaborate temples.

               “I hear at midnight that everything gets wild up here,” Rhapsody said. “I hope that’s true.”

               “How have we never been out here all night before?” Sloane asked.

               “Because it was illegal for Ellie until this year,” Rhapsody said. “And I wasn’t coming without my baby sister.”

               “That’s stupid,” Ellie told her. “I could have found something else to do for Near Year.”

               “But would you have?” Rhapsody asked. “You know the answer is no.”

               “In all likelihood, we wouldn’t have been caught,” Sloane said. “We should have escaped and come last year when we didn’t have a cloud hanging over our heads.”

               “Don’t be a downer, Sloane,” Rhapsody chastised. “Let’s just enjoy the day and night.”

               “Once Jacen shows up,” Sloane said. He glanced around the Temple area, which was crowded already, though most people were going to only be there long enough to get their charms, buy some refreshments, and then would hurry home, especially those with young kids. It would still be crowded later, but it would be a different type of crowd.

               Ellie felt awkward standing there with Sloane and Rhapsody. While many people were giving well wishes to friends they met near the temple, telling them, “Happy New Year,” in joyful tones, those with the abilities were being avoided and receiving glances. No one wanted to make eye contact. It was not because people did not like Sloane or Rhapsody, it was a guilt of not knowing what to say, of how to speak to them, knowing that the two of them would be gone tomorrow when their 20^th year began.

               “I need a drink,” Ellie said. “I’ll be right back.” She walked away from her friends and went up to a booth where a girl the same age as Ellie was selling a sour yellow drink that would somehow be an incredible thirst quencher and energy jolt. Ellie felt she needed the energy, but she also wanted to see the girl.

               “Eleanore!” Baye squealed and stopped pouring the drink she was working on to run around her booth and throw her arms around Ellie. “I thought I wasn’t going to see you again until classes started.”

               “You recognized me even with the mask, huh?” Ellie asked, hugging the dark haired girl back.

               “Who else has red hair like that besides your sister? And you are much shorter.” Baye turned back to the person who was looking at her incredulously for forgetting to fill her drink. Baye gave a quick bow of apology and turned back to pouring drinks for people lining up. “I see you are here with her.”

               “Yes, it’s her last night,” Ellie reminded Baye.

               Baye’s eyes darkened, her dark skin seeming to go dark with her mood. “I can’t talk about that, or else I’ll get political, and I’m not allowed to get political at the booth, so says my father.”

               Baye was an outspoken activist at the secondary school Ellie was attending. Ellie was not sure if the girl had ever been to a class, to be honest, they had met when Baye was protesting conscription. Ellie had asked her what she thought protesting would do and Baye simply said, “Get me heard.” For some reason Ellie had adored the girl ever since and found herself going out to lunch in secret with her. It was not a secret that she had a friend so much as she knew her parents would not approve of the friendship. Baye proudly mouthed off about everything she could think of, and her father’s job would have been, and had been, one of those things.

               “Well, I am spending the evening with her since it will be her last night,” Ellie explained.

               “See, you say that like it really will be her last night,” Baye said. “That’s why this conscription crap is so wrong.” The woman getting a cup of drink in front of Baye gave her the side eye and Baye simply shrugged at the woman. “You know it’s true.” The woman left no tip for the drink and walked away, leaving no one waiting for more at that particular moment. “I only have to be here until it closes down for the younger crowd, so I’ll come find you and join you all later.”

               “Great,” Ellie said with a smile. She didn’t feel great. Rhapsody hated Baye. Ellie believed it was possibly because Baye constantly reminded her of the conscription, but Ellie was not completely sure. Sometimes Ellie wondered if Rhapsody was just jealous that Ellie had her own friend, a friend that Ellie met without the others. Ellie had not had a lot of friends in school and had always found herself with Rhapsody, Sloane, and Jacen. It made school hard and easy. Having ones sister as her best friend did not always work out, and was odd to many people. Understandable, since Ellie and Rhapsody were already odd to many people.

               “See you soon,” Baye said, handing Ellie two drinks to bring with her. Ellie offered to pay but Baye waved her away and turned back to a customer who came up to the booth.

               Ellie walked through the crowd and was found by Jacen, who already had his cat mask on, covering his similarly dark skin as Baye had. Finding an Aronian in Chastain was rare, and there were two families in Chastain, Baye’s and Jacen’s. Again, Baye and Jacen did not seem to get along, though. Baye just rubbed people the wrong way.

               “Ellie,” Jacen said, and Ellie thought he might be smiling, but it was hard to tell behind the full mask. Ellie was glad her fox mask was only a half mask. “Has anyone told you that you stand out in a crowd?”

               “So do you,” Ellie told him flatly.

               Jacen looked down at his arms and laughed. “I guess I do. Was that Baye you were talking to?”

               “Yes,” Ellie said, and dropped it at that. Jacen, while not being overly fond of Baye, was also not a pushy person unlike Sloane and Rhapsody. He simply nodded his head, taking one of the drinks from Ellie, and walking with her to find her sister and Sloane.

               Ellie saw them standing at the corner of the temple, closest to the gates surrounding it, whispering to one another conspiratorially. “I guess now they can actually be together,” Ellie said to Jacen.

               “What do you mean?” he asked her.

               “Come on, isn’t it obvious?” Ellie asked, waving a hand in their direction. “They are obviously smitten with each other. I’m not sure why they have never acted on it.”

               “You’re joking, right?” Jacen asked her.

               “What?”

               Jacen let out a laugh and wrapped an arm around Ellie. “You are so innocent it hurts.”

               “What am I missing?” Ellie asked.

               Jacen simply walked away from her. Ellie struggled to follow him until she caught up with her sister and Sloane. Rhapsody glanced at her sister and at the drink in her hand and wrinkled her nose in distaste. “You went to see Baye?”

               “Yes, I did,” Ellie said, her back straightening. “She is going to meet up with us later.”

               Rhapsody visibly paled and she shook her head hard. “No, she can’t.”

               “Why not?” Ellie asked. “I know it’s your last night-”

               “Exactly,” Rhapsody said haughtily. “It’s my last night, and I’m going to enjoy it. I don’t want to hang out with your protestor friend.”

               Ellie sighed, but she did not argue. Not because she was conceding, she was simply letting it go for now. When Baye found them later Ellie would not ditch her friend to spend time with the others, she would just drag Baye along. Baye would ignore their biting tones and furtive glances and just enjoy herself.

               The four of them made their way to the inside of the temple where the priestess stood giving out the charms. The priestess was also a person with special abilities, but hers were mostly unknown. Ellie watched a little girl walk up to the blonde priestess and reach her hands out. The priestess, dressed in white robes with a silver and gold trim along the neck and waist, pulled out regular white paper, no words on the paper. However, when she started handing it to the little girl black ink began to appear, offering up a blessing for the year. Ellie could not read what it said, but the little girl was delighted and clutched it to her chest. Ellie sometimes was jealous of those with abilities, something she would never admit to her sister. After all, her sister had complained the last six years since she found out what she could do about having her decision made for her, but Ellie would have loved to have been as amazing as her siblings. To be able to heal someone seemed like such a gift, until she watched Rhapsody turn paler afterward, or throw up hours later after a particularly bad one. She wondered what the priestess’s ability cost her at the end of the night.

               Rhapsody walked up to the priestess with a smile and offered her the small change it cost for the charm. Rhapsody, in a show of disrespect, kept her face completely covered by the mask still.

               “Good day, young miss,” the priestess, who did not look a day over 20 herself, but had been at the temple as long as Ellie had been alive, smiled to her sister. “I hope this year finds you in good spirits.” Rhapsody took the charm and walked back to her friends, holding out the paper that was now covered in black ink.

               “Bad luck,” Rhapsody read aloud. “Well, I guess this conscription thing isn’t going to go well. Or, she just doesn’t actually know what she’s doing. She didn’t see my face after all.”

               “My turn,” Sloane said, and went up to the priestess, offering her a coffer before taking his charm and walking back to the group. “Bad luck.”

               Jacen and Ellie, who both politely removed their masks before going up to the priestess and taking their blessings.

               Jacen held his up and said, “Maybe this bad luck streak means we shouldn’t-” Rhapsody shot him a look before he could finish his sentence that shut him up.

               Ellie did not really pay attention, she was staring at her own charm that read, “Wish Fulfillment.” Sloane, Rhapsody, and Jacen were all watching her, waiting for her response. She glanced up and said, “Bad luck as well.” She tucked her charm into her dress and left it hidden but they seemed to shrug it off, having seen their own bad luck charms. The three, though, did not keep their charms. They tossed them into a trash bin before walking out of the temple.

               Ellie glanced back at the priestess, expecting to see her watching her, but instead she was talking to another patron, completely back into her own world. Did she even known what the words were on the charms? How did her abilities work? Was it just an illusion? She had heard of illusion abilities before, she knew one of the soldiers from the capital had that very ability, David seemed enamored with him when he had come home last New Year to celebrate with them. This year he had not returned, and gave no reason. He actually had not sent any word to them, even a letter, in the last three months. Perhaps he was terribly busy.

               Ellie ran into Sloane’s back when he stopped. She let out an, “Oof,” and started to fall backward, but he reached out and grabbed her arm and twisted her back up to a standing position.

               “Are you all right?” he asked her.

               “I’m fine,” she said, glancing down at his waist. For the first time she noticed the weapon he had hidden under his shirt and in his belt. It was a white handled revolver, meaning that it matched with his clothing, the bulk of it the only reason to notice it at all.

               He saw her eyes go to it and he waved it off. “I was using it for practice,” he said.

               “Do you need practice?” she asked of him. “Isn’t practice kind of superfluous for you?”

               “Don’t use big words you know I won’t understand,” Sloane said, joking his way out of the situation. Ellie let it go, not wanting to question the reason he thought he needed a weapon at a New Year celebration.

               The time slipped away from them, the sun setting over the city. The sky grew dark and the moon rose, higher in the sky. The booths closed down and the priestess came out of the temple. As the priestess stepped out of the temple the lighting around the temple changed. Lanterns dimmed but everything became more vibrant. The green on the evergreens seemed to become fluorescent, the red of the temple glittering, the yellowed cobblestones beneath them shining gold. Everything grew radiant and Ellie looked to the priestess, who seemed to glow herself in her white robes, her blonde hair looking like a yellow light floating around her head.

               “It has to be illusion,” Rhapsody whispered, staring at the priestess.

               Ellie held out her hands and waved them in front of her. She was trying to cut through it, but everything was truly glowing, whether it was in her mind or not. “It doesn’t matter,” Ellie said, “it’s truly beautiful.”

               A drumbeat hit to the side. Ellie had not noticed that a band had set up in the corner. The pounding mallet struck the drum again and then the other stringed instruments took up behind it until the beat joined together in something that bodies could dance to. Ellie jumped up and down excitedly, watching people take to the center of the temple grounds to do just that, taking partners and moving together.

               “Come on, Jacen, let’s enjoy this,” Rhapsody said, holding out her hand to the shorter man. Jacen took it and let her lead him to the center of the grounds with the other young people that were dancing along to the music.

               Ellie glanced up at Sloane and offered a quick, “I’m sorry.”

               “Why?” Sloane asked. “Are you a bad dancer?” He took her hand and dragged her out to join them. Ellie flushed slightly but then decided she was going to dance with him, if just because she had never danced like this before. She was not even sure what to do. She had learned ballroom dancing, it was the one secondary class her mother had insisted on. It was possible that Ellie would marry someone of worth, at least she hoped, and Ellie might need to know how to dance. This, this was different. Ellie found herself at first just kind of jumping up and down, not knowing what to do. She was trying to copy the people around her, and it was working well enough. Sloane grinned at her and did the same, while Rhapsody and Jacen beside them were entwined together, moving in what looked like a suggestive way. Ellie could not watch and again glanced at Sloane, an apology on her lips, but he was paying no attention to Rhapsody and Jacen, he was only watching her.

               “Eleanore!” Arms wrapped around Ellie and pulled her close and Ellie found herself encircled in Baye’s arms. “I found you!”

               Sloane groaned and stopped dancing. Rhasody and Jacen did the same, watching Baye and Ellie exchange a hug.

               “Hi again,” Ellie called over the music. “How did the sales go?”

               “Everyone was thirsty,” Baye told her. “I can afford to live yet another day due to capitalism.”

               “It’s always good when capitalism works out in your favor,” Ellie laughed.

               Sloane reached out and grabbed Ellie’s arm, dragging her away from Baye’s embrace. “Excuse us, we were dancing.”

               “Great,” Baye said with her usual smile. “I’ll join you. Last year I had to work through the display of lights and could not enjoy myself. This year different vendors are coming in for the night.”

               “What a shame you didn’t have to work,” Sloane said.

               “Baye,” Rhapsody said, joining the conversation. “I heard you would be joining us. I’m sorry, though, that I will likely want to monopolize Ellie’s attentions, since it is my last night with her.” Rhapsody wrapped her arms around her younger sister and smiled at Baye with a flutter of eyelashes.

               “That’s fine,” Baye said. “I’ll just stay tagging along.”

               “Or you could not,” Sloane said, not hiding his disdain.

               Jacen looked worried but was quiet. He simply decided to grab Rhapsody again and continued dancing to the music. Rhapsody joined him, but she would not take her eyes off of Baye and Ellie. Sloane grabbed Ellie again to get her dancing and Ellie grabbed Baye to force her to join in. He tolerated it, no more biting comments, and the teens enjoyed their dance.

               An hour of dancing to the pounding beats of drums and the chords in the instruments and Rhapsody pulled her sister to the side. “Come with me, I need a drink.”

               Ellie gave a quick wave to Baye to explain she was going to retrieve a drink with her sister. Baye started to go with, but the boys stopped her, likely telling her to give the sisters a little time on their own. Rhapsody dragged Ellie away from the makeshift dance floor, but instead of heading towards the drinks section she dragged her further towards the gates, back towards the corner near the temple entrance where Sloane and Rhapsody had been whispering.

               “I thought you wanted a drink,” Ellie said. “I could have used some water myself.”

               “Come with me for now,” Rhapsody said. “We’ll get a drink later. I want to show you something.” Rhapsody pulled the elk mask from her face and hung it on a nearby pillar and did the same with the fox mask on Ellie’s face. Ellie did not want to leave the expensive accessory behind but she seemed to have no choice when Rhapsody tugged her along.

               In the back corner the gates had an opening that were large enough for people to slip through. It seemed odd, as it was not like the temple was a prison. Rhapsody tugged Ellie towards it and showed her the opening before gesturing for her to go ahead.

               “What are we doing?” Ellie asked, not really wanting to step behind the gates and out into the trees.

               “Do you trust me?”

               “Not when you ask me that,” Ellie answered honestly.

               Rhapsody snorted. “Go.”

               Ellie sighed and moved to the opening, sliding through and into the trees. She immediately slipped on a stone and fell to her butt. What she found amazing, though, was that she slid downward. From this opening it should have been a rise into the mountains, even if a slight hill, but instead the ground dropped away and tunneled. Ellie, curious, could not help herself, crawling down the hill carefully and looking forward. There was a cobblestone walkway hidden in the trees that went down and then into the mountain. There were lights on the inside that lit it up, but not enough to be noticeable from the temple.

               “How did I not know this was back here?” Ellie asked.

               Rhapsody reached down and pulled her sister back to her feet. “I didn’t either. Sloane told me about it. We came out here to check it out.”

               “Where does it lead?” Ellie was following Rhapsody, her curiosity peaked she was forgetting about Baye waiting for her on the dance floor and the boys who had been left behind.

               “Come on, I’ll show you.” Rhapsody turned slightly to the side, heading downward at an angle to better leverage herself on the slipping dirt before they came to the path. Ellie followed her lead, sliding down the hill to the path. At the bottom she offered a glance back where they had come from, but behind the tree branches she could no longer see the opening, or even the temple. She saw enough of the fluorescent lights and could still hear the drums, but other than that it was like it was miles away not a few feet down.

               Ellie turned back to Rhapsody’s figure and hurriedly moved to catch up to her. It was easier to walk downhill on the path, there was less dipping and less loose ground beneath them. They walked until they reached the tunnel itself. Ellie felt her heart begin to race at the thought of heading into a tunnel that was in the mountain, but as she grew closer she realized there were walls surrounding the path, and the walls held the amber lights that were offering enough light to keep them moving forward.

               “What about Sloane and Jacen and Baye?” Ellie asked.

               “Sloane and Jacen will catch up with us soon,” Rhapsody told her.

               “And Baye?” Ellie asked.

               “They will probably give some excuse to Baye and leave her behind,” Rhapsody said. “Come on.”

               Ellie stopped walking and looked around the tunnel. They had gone far enough that the entrance was a speck in the distance. Ellie had time to turn back. She did not have to go with her sister. “You planned this.”

               “Of course we did,” Rhapsody said. She did not stop and wait for Ellie. “If I had told you about it you either would have told that girl or you would not have come with. Come on.”

               Ellie hesitated again, looking back and forth. Her stomach dropped. She had a feeling that took over her entire being that this was the last time she would enjoy a choice such as this, and the last time she would see Chastain again, at least like this. “Rhapsody, where are we going?”

               “Away,” Rhapsody said. “I’m not joining the conscription, and there’s a way out.”

               Ellie did not follow her sister. Instead she let the vertigo take her as the tunnel spun. She was going to attempt what many had attempted before. She was trying to escape the mainland and go to one of the islands, where the capital had no jurisdiction to take those with special abilities. The islands were not far, but they seemed far enough considering how hard it was to go to them. On maps in school they were drawn an exaggerated distance away from main continent. The only reason Ellie knew was during the secondary school she was able to study scholarly maps, and see that the islands were only days away of sailing, not weeks and months.

               Rhapsody had come back to Ellie and was shaking her. “Come with me, Eleanore. I don’t want to do this without you.”

               Ellie pulled out of Rhapsody’s grasp. “Do you know what you are asking me to do?”

               “I do,” Rhapsody said. “You have to give up Mom, Dad, David, and Baye. But you will have me, Sloane, and Jacen. Aren’t we enough for you? We love you more than they do.”

               “We will never see them again, Rhapsody,” Ellie begged. “At least if you were conscripted you would see them again.”

               “I don’t care if I see them again,” Rhapsody snapped. “I don’t want to go to the capital. Look at David. David is a healer and he lost an eye because of whatever it was they did to him. I refuse to be their pawn. I want to make my own choice, and my choice is to get to the islands.”

               “Ladies,” Sloane called, catching up behind them. “We should be moving. This entrance will not stay open for long.”

               Her parents or her sister. That was really the only choice that Ellie had here. She loved Baye, but not more than Rhapsody. Did she love her sister or her parents more? Sloane and Jacen were not rushing her, despite the urgency that was clear on their faces.

               If they were caught it would mean a death sentence.

               If they escaped it would mean their own choices.

               Ellie slipped her hand into her sister’s and nodded her head. “All right, let’s go.”