Chapter 21 | Illusions

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The path was the same. The outpost was the same. The glass was the same, and the crack in it was just where it had been every time before. But as I pushed my way through, I knew I wasn't the same.

I spent hours fuming the night before. I thought about all the things I wanted to say to the director for putting me in such a horrible position. I thought about what I did to save Hayley, and how the girl wasn't even talking to me anymore. I thought about the block I wished I had thrown to keep Elise's fist from my face—even though I knew I deserved the punch—and I thought about all the things I wished I could have said to her after to apologize for what I had done.

Then around midnight, with countless insults, accusations, apologies and reprimands agitating my mind, I remembered that at least part of the world around me was nothing more than a lie. I had been lied to, and I was sure I didn't know the extent of it either. But that simple realization seemed to neutralize the bitter acid of my regrets, and then I remembered Mia and the uncomplicated strength that made her beautiful. I thought about my prison inside the glass and I thought about the adventures I could have outside, if I wanted them. I felt my mind and my muscles relax.

When I woke, it was almost midday. I dressed quickly, this time in black fatigue pants, my training boots and a lightweight long sleeve shirt I figured was dark enough to blend in with the trees. I knew I might draw some attention dressed the way I was, but I really didn't care. I had very little time to figure out if I really wanted to live outside the glass, which also meant I had little time to worry over what anybody else thought. So, I left my apartment, strolled through the center of town and was only mildly careful to make sure I wasn't seen before I ducked down the path to the outpost.

I walked through the grass on the other side of the glass, thinking about the firmness of Mia's lips. As I walked into the shadows, I thought about her dark hair and bottomless brown eyes—eyes that had seen things I couldn't even dream of. I headed up the side of the mountain, listening to the shrubs swish against my pants and smelling the clean bite of pine in the air. I wondered how many miles she had walked and mountains she had climbed to find herself looking through the glass at Wonder—at me—that day that felt so long ago.

I came to the spot—our spot, I had called it—and sat on her rock and I waited. Then she was there. I hadn't even heard her coming until she slid around the rock and sat beside me. I could smell the wind in her hair and the salt on her skin, and neither of us said anything for what seemed an eternity. We traded smiles.

"So, what do we do now, Bo?"

Her question hung in the air between us with all the promise of childhood dreams, and all the magic of a star-filled sky. It was a question I knew I could answer a thousand different ways, most of which would make at least one of us blush. I smiled, and as I looked at the girl, I watched as her expression shifted subtly, from the mischievous grin of a curious girl daring the boy to say what was on his mind, to the knowing stare of a girl who had seen a fair amount of trouble in her life.

She raised her hand quickly, putting her finger in front of my lips, looking past me into the trees. I sat as still as I could, breathing shallow as the girl looked at the ground at our feet, obviously straining her ears. And then, faintly at first, I heard it. Whatever it was, I couldn't tell, except that something about it didn't sound natural and that fact alone sent a shiver across my shoulders I was only barely able to control.

"Get behind the rock," Mia said quietly, glaring down the slope as the sound grew louder. I finally recognized it as the methodical footfalls of something plodding through the woods.

"What about you?" I said, grabbing her arm.

She only glanced at me for a second, her hawkish gaze returning to the shrubs. "It's a sentinel. It must have seen one of us. I'll be fine, but I don't know what it'll do if it finds you here."

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