I've heard it said that you will always remember the exact moment you hear big news, which I, of course, never believed until I found it out for myself. I still remember it like it was yesterday, I was going out to the Summers' family farm, I remember I almost didn't answer the call because I was just about to go up the big hill and didn't want to lose my momentum, but luckily I answered. I tapped the handle bar, expecting it to be my dad or possibly the Summers, so I was shocked when my girlfriends face popped up instead. Her normally smiling face, was grim and stressed. "What's up Char?" I asked, concerned because she was never this quiet.
She frowned before answering, "It moved."
That was all she said, but I didn't need any more information than that, I quickly skidded to a halt, causing dust around me to fly up in a cloud, and headed back towards the center of town. I knew the Summers family would understand me not coming because once they heard about the clock they were probably going to go see it too. Charlotte laughed at my quick turn, and laughed even harder when I started coughing as the dust agitated my asthma. I glared at her and she quickly stopped laughing, but I could still see the hint of a smirk she was trying to hide, which was nice to see.
"I'll meet you there." I told her, she got serious again thinking about the task we had before us preparing for an exchange and nodded once, she blew me a kiss before hanging up and leaving me once again alone, this time heading back towards town.
It took me fifteen minutes before I arrived at The Council building, still coughing because of my stupid lungs, where Charlotte stood outside staring wonderingly at the clock. I followed her gaze, taking in the tall tower in a new light now that it was moving, the hands, which since way before I was born have been stuck on 24 hours, were now showing 23 hours and 42 minutes, and the dark shadow it cast seemed less ominous and the whine of the gears was comforting after so much silence, what I didn't know at the time was sometimes silence can be a good thing.
Char turned around and smiled at me softly, but I could see the tension in her smile. I glanced around quickly making sure we weren't being watched before giving her a small peck on the cheek and grabbing a hold of her hand, suddenly there was clapping and we both jumped springing apart.
"Relax you two, it's just me, although you really should be more careful, I'm sure you saw the executions last night."
I glared at James, my heart still pounding in my chest, before answering, "Of course we saw, now do you actually have a plan or are you clueless like always?" I demanded, a little sharper than was absolutely necessary. He gave me a small shrug. "Thank goodness I'm here." I said rolling my eyes.
"Let's go to your house before someone sees us." He nodded slightly, and we began walking. It was a short walk to his house which was good, because my lungs were still aching from my experience with the dust.
Once we were inside I relaxed slightly, I frowned at my two best friends, "So, what's the plan?" I asked, deciding that any small talk would just be wasting time, which would very precious in the coming hours. I was disappointed, but not surprised when they both shook their heads matching looks of despair.
"Henry was the last council member alive when an exchange happened, and he died last month." Charlotte explained. James just nodded, a slight grimace on his face.
This was worse than I thought, the new island drew closer every minute, and no one in charge remembered exact protocol. If we messed this up all of our lives could be in danger, if the government so much as thought we wanted to be anything other than what we're born into, it would be us in the town square at six waiting to be executed. From the grim look on James' face I could tell he was thinking the same thing. Charlotte gave me a smile, and pulled off her backpack.
