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Chapter 2

I'd always hidden out in plain sight. Kat was the only one who knew that. I'd picked the top of the grocery store, there was an old compressor up there I could sit behind and be hidden in case anyone actually wanted to try looking for me. I didn't feel like contaminating the hills outside the village with my bad attitude.

Of all the people he could have done that with, it had to be Rayanne.

As I laid there and stared up at the stars, I knew what I had to do. There was a meeting in the morning with the Society. They had people who monitored things all the time, so there was always a briefing to get out the information. Once they'd had the briefing, we'd all get our assignments, so I'd know what I would be doing for the day. I'd finished with our version of school, and now spent my days learning all I could about how a government was supposed to work. There was a group somewhere they wanted to have lead us, but I'd never met them. They kept us all apart, not because they didn't want us to know each other, but they felt we'd be safer that way. I didn't question, I just did what I was supposed to.

That is, except for this marriage thing.

Once down from the roof, I made sure no one else was around. I'd been humiliated enough for one night, and just wanted to slink home and get into bed. I had to be up early and wanted to discuss with the Society that I wanted out of this arrangement.

My sleep was fitful. That kiss, and all the crap Rayanne would be talking, raced through my mind, and it morphed into things I just didn't want to see. After tossing and turning for hours, I got up and went to start my day.

Katerina had shown me how to make my face look like I'd actually gotten some sleep. The blogs we'd read, and other books, talked about make-up. That was a luxury we didn't have, and I didn't really care about. Instead, I just made do with washing my face and putting some ice on my eyes. Cucumbers worked too, but we didn't have any.

I made it through breakfast without my parents asking how things went the night before, and especially with Jace. Kat shot me a look that she wanted to talk to me after breakfast.

Before she could get me, Mom asked Kat to do clean-up while I waited for Dad.

"Sweetheart, could you get the door?" Mom walked by with her hands full. She no doubt had crafting plans for the day.

I opened the door and saw Jace standing there with his fist in front of him. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you," he flashed a smile at me.

"Why are you holding your hand like that?" I pointed, growing more agitated by the second.

"Flowers for you," he continued to smile, but gestured that I should take what he was supposedly offering.

"First off, you should know that illusions don't work on me," my voice dripped ice. "Second, if you can't be bothered to pick some flowers from my front lawn even, then you aren't worth my time. You made that abundantly clear last night." I shut the door and walked back toward the kitchen.

"Who was it?" my mother was drying her hands as she walked back toward the door. She must have heard me talking.

"No one," I walked past her to the kitchen so I could say goodbye to Kat. "Is Dad ready?"

"I sure am," he answered as he walked into the kitchen.

"Sweetheart, Jace was at the door," Mom walked in with the snake himself. "He came to see you? Isn't that sweet?"

"I guess he was tired of Rayanne," I shrugged and turned to Dad. "Ready to go? I have something to discuss with the Society."

My statement caused a lot of talking. My dad turned rather hostile, and Katerina was giving a play by play of what happened after I left. How Jace and Rayanne continued to put on a show of making out in front of everyone until I guess they realized I wasn't coming back, then they broke apart.