The voices in my head are getting too loud, and they are not helping me calm down.

“Can you talk to me again? I think that helps,” I tell Aiden when it starts becoming hard for me to breathe.

It takes a second for Aiden to start talking, “I was fifteen when I met Theon. We became friends almost instantly,” Aiden lets out a little laugh. “I remember sitting at lunch one day in school, and all of a sudden, I got hit in the face with an apple. It hit me so hard it broke my jaw.”

Aiden stops talking as the sound of footsteps approaches. He continues again after the sound fades. “He did not mean to hit me in the face, nonetheless, break my jaw, but he was fooling around with some of his friends, and I got caught in the crossfire. He kept apologizing to me long after I had forgiven him and told him to stop saying sorry. After that, though, we became best friends and hung out almost every day together.”

“He didn’t grow any less stupid as we got older,” Aiden continues, “When we were seventeen, he tried to steal a bag of blueberries from our local store just to see if he could get away with it. He didn’t. He thought that he could hide it in his pocket and no one would ask questions, but the blueberries stuck out, and the salesperson looked at him as if she knew, which she did, of course, since it was very obvious. Theon panicked and tried making a run for it. The second he ran out the door, he slipped on black ice, and he was caught instantly.”

I try to picture it in my head as he is telling me this story, and the more I think about it, the funnier it is becoming.

“Wait, it gets better. I helped him up, and the salesperson told him that if he gave back what he had taken, then she wouldn’t get him in trouble. When Theon went to take the berries out of his pocket, they were mostly smushed, and I guess Theon didn’t know what to do at that point, so he scraped up as much of the berries as he could out of his pocket and handed it to the salesperson who looked at him with the most disgusted and shocked face. I swear it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen him do.”

I have to fight to muffle the sound of my laughing. When I can catch my breath again, I ask him what happened next.

“So because Theon technically gave them back the blueberries, they had to let him go, so we left afterward, but each time we went into that same store after that, one of the salespeople had to follow him around. Luckily, he did it at one of the stores at the other end of town, so we didn’t really need to visit it frequently unless it had something that the other stores didn’t have, like salt,” Aiden says.

“I don’t understand it, but salt was so hard to get. Do you guys have that problem here?” Aiden asks.

“No, I never had trouble getting salt. It must be a Tundris thing,” I tell him. “We have a problem getting things like fruit, but at least we can grow our own here when the weather is right.”

Aiden turns his body more to face me better before speaking again. “We had a fruit problem, too, but it was always too cold to grow our own. We could grow apples, cherries, and peaches, though, which was nice, but that was about it.”

“We did always have an abundance of acorns, though, so if you ever need those, then I know where to go. They were always around. If they were not falling on your head, then you were probably slipping on them,” Aiden says.

I laugh at that, “What do you do with all of them?”

Aiden thinks for a second before responding. “Well, we had some people go around gathering them, and they would be turned into things like flour, or some people would bake and eat them or use them in decorations.”

“Well, at least you were able to turn them into something instead of getting beaten up by acorns all day. Too bad you couldn’t use them against the guards when they came.”

“Yeah,” Aiden says. We sit for another minute in silence, not saying or doing anything. I think the both of us are just tired. There is nothing left to say or do besides getting out of here.

Aiden is the first to speak again, “I am going to make them pay.” The seriousness in his voice lets me know how committed he is to what he is saying. “I am going to get back at them. I don’t know how, I don’t know when, but I will. They can’t get away with doing this with no punishment. I never expected this, any of this, no one did. I wish I knew sooner.”

“It is not your fault.” I tell him, “And you won’t be getting back at them alone. You are not doing anything without me.”

Aiden has his head down, and he doesn’t seem to think much of what I just said, but I hope he knows how much I mean those words because I mean them with everything in me. It is not his fault. He didn’t ask for any of this, he didn’t cause this to happen. It was all our governors. He won’t be doing anything alone, he has me, and I am sure he has the Jumpers on his side. I don’t know how we are going to do it, but I know that we will. They will pay.

“We are going to get out of here. We are going to go from town to town, and we are going to warn people about what the New World government is doing.” Aiden lifts his head to look at me as I speak, “We are going to stop the carnival from happening anywhere else, and we are going to prevent more people from dying. I promise that.” I tell him.

“Okay then,” Aiden says while he moves to stand back up. “I guess we should complete step one, getting out of here.”

The story of Aiden and Theon calmed me down, and I am ready to get out of here. I don't think I will ever fully get rid of the immense amount of fear that built itself a home in my head since the government announced their "solution."

We stand up and make our way to the edge of the game booth and look to see if any guards are around. I can see the outline of a guard walking away in the distance, so I inch myself further into the booth and keep an eye on him.

Once the guard disappears from my sight, I check to make sure no one else is coming before making my way behind the next game booth. Like the booth we were just in, this one has its lights turned off. Unlike the booth we were just in, this one has a lot more wires around it, and I have to be extra careful not to trip and fall. This is a whole lot easier said than done since it is very dark and almost pitch black behind the booth.

I try putting my arms out to hold onto the tarp covered fence and the back of the game booth, but the sound the fence makes is too loud for my liking, and I put both arms on the booth. I shuffle my feet around and try to make small steps, so I do not end up getting tangled in the wires. When I make it about halfway behind the booth, Aiden joins me.

He seems to be having just as hard a time as me because he is moving slowly as well. When I make it to the edge of the booth, I look out at the area around us once more. When I do, I can immediately tell that something happened.

The lights that were on just minutes ago are now off. The lights that made it possible for me to see the guards before are now nowhere to be found.

My heart skips a beat at this, but I push down the panic that I am feeling inside. It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay. If you can’t see them, then they can’t see you.

I jump a little when Aiden lightly taps me on the shoulder. I look back at him, and then I quickly turn to look at the other side of the game booth again. It is still pitch black, and I can’t tell if anyone is around. I turn back to Aiden, whose face I can just make out in the dark.

“It is dark. Very, very dark. I can’t see anything,” I tell Aiden in as quiet of a whisper as I can. “I can’t tell if there are any guards around.”

Aiden moves in front of me while keeping one hand on the booth for what I assume is for stability and looks out from behind the booth to see for himself. When he is done looking, he turns back towards me with a slightly concerned look, but it goes away almost instantly.

“We will just have to move slower and quieter,” he whispers to me with his face so close to mine. I nod my head in understanding, and he looks at me for another second before moving to the next game booth. I wait until he sounds far enough away for me to join him.

I move slowly and cautiously over to the next game booth. I try to make the transition from one booth to the other quickly since the last thing I need is some guard turning on a flashlight, and I end up getting spotted instantly.

After two more booths, Aiden stops, and I almost walk right into his back. He turns around, and I can see by the look on his face someone must be coming. Aiden points to his ear, so I listen to see if I can hear anything. It only takes me a few seconds before I hear the footsteps that Aiden must have heard.

I motion my head for Aiden to peek out of the booth on the side closest to him, and I will look out the booth on the side closer to me. The footsteps sound far away enough that I think it is safe to check. I want to know how the guards plan on finding us. I don’t see the reflection of light coming from anywhere, so I don’t think they are using flashlights, but if they are not using flashlights, then how would they see us? Have they given up?

I bet they haven’t. This is probably just a new strategy.

I make my way over to the side of the booth opposite from Aiden, and I slowly move my head to look at the other side. Like before, the other side is pitch black, and I can only see the outline of a few things. I can barely make out the game booth I see across the way, but I am pretty sure that it is one of the booths we used when we were crossing over from the kitchen the second time. If I am right, then it is almost a straightaway walk to the Mirror Maze.

I keep looking around the area, trying to spot where the guard went, but I can’t. I wince, and my heart abruptly starts racing when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I calm down when I look to see that it is just Aiden’s hand. I think that is the second time now he has nearly given me a heart attack.

Aiden moves behind me and leans over my shoulder. “Over there, look a little left of the tree,” Aiden says.

I look to see where he is pointing, but I do not spot a person. There is only a tiny green light. I stare at it, trying to find out why Aiden would want me to look at it.

“What about it?” I ask Aiden after another minute goes by, and nothing has happened.

“Keep looking,” is all Aiden says.

It only takes about ten seconds after Aiden speaks for me to see what he is talking about. The green light starts to move around slowly. No, it is not just moving around, it is attached to something.

I keep my eyes on it and try to see if there is a pattern or cause for the light being there. When I can’t figure it out, I move back fully behind the game booth and turn my body to face Aiden.

“What is that?” I ask him.

“I don’t know. I have never seen them use anything like that before.”

I think for another second before asking another question, “Do you think it is dangerous? Do you think they can see us with that?”

“I don’t know. I would not put it past them to use some sort of technology to hunt us down. I think we will be fine if we continue the way we have been, but we just have to be extra careful and avoid whatever it is.”

I agree. I don’t know what that moving light means, but I really do not want to find out. We are not far from the Mirror Maze now, and we can’t risk getting caught and having to run around the whole carnival again.

Chapter 31

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