The Forsaken

that, I can tell that you’re smart. Honest. You have a good heart. You volunteered to get to work after the first feeler attack, and you brought food to the prisoners. That’s not a job many kids volunteer for. I see how you interact with people. So far, everyone likes you and—”
    He stops talking, because I’ve started laughing. I can’t help it.
    “What’s so funny?” he asks.
    “It’s just that back home, it was the exact opposite. I never really felt like I fit in with a group, even when it seemed like I did.”
    “That’s one thing we all have in common on the wheel.” He leans back in his chair. “So will you do it for me?” He grins. “Be my spy?”
    “I guess so.”
    He pauses and looks at me sideways in the candlelight. “You remind me of Meira sometimes, you know that?”
    “Really?” I glance away, embarrassed. He must mean my personality or something, because I know I look nothing like her. I don’t have perfect blond hair and perfect skin. And I’m not supersmart. I’m just me.
    His words have made me blush. What does it mean that he thinks that? And why should I even care? He’s probably just saying it so he can manipulate me. I know he lied about how much the prisoners know, and I’m guessing he’s keeping a whole lot of information from me and most of the other villagers as well.
    “I’m looking forward to our journey,” he finally says.
    He stands up, and I do the same. He walks around me and swings open the door, letting in the night breeze.
    “If anyone asks why I summoned you here, just tell them I wanted to ask you about the raid today. If you saw anything.”
    I nod. “Sure.”
    I exit the cabin. The hunters are still gorging on food as I walk past them. I’m struck by the irony that even though Veidman is trusting me to be his spy, I’m actually keeping a huge secret from him.
    I see the light of the fire pit ahead of me. I vow to keep my promise. I will be a good spy for Veidman, at least on the surface. But I’ll be a much better spy for myself. I will trust no one, and focus on learning the truth about what happened to my parents.
    “Alenna!” I hear a voice blurt out, right before I reach the fire pit. “Hey.” It’s Liam.
    “Hey, yourself,” I reply.
    “So, I heard you’re going with us?”
    “Yeah, I figured I only have my life to lose.”
    We stand there for a moment, kind of awkwardly. Gadya’s warning keeps echoing in my head. Stay away from this boy.
    “You wanna see something cool?” Liam finally asks.
    “That depends.”
    Unexpectedly, he takes my hand in his. “Just come with me. It’s right this way.” Before I can even resist, he starts leading me along a narrow dirt trail I haven’t been down yet.
    “Where are we going?” I ask, intrigued, despite myself. I pull my hand gently out of his.
    “Don’t you like surprises?”
    “Only the good kind, but I haven’t seen too many of those on the wheel.”
    Liam keeps walking. The path finally ends at a small ravine with water at the bottom. I realize it’s another shallow tributary of the main river.
    But the water isn’t what catches my attention. In fact, I barely notice it, because hovering above the surface are thousands of tiny glowing butterflies—all different sizes and colors, from pink and white to silver and blue.
    “They’re beautiful,” I breathe. I’ve never seen butterflies like these before. They respond to my voice, darting upward in delicate multicolored clouds as they whirl around in the night breeze.
    One flutters down toward me, so I hold out my hand. It alights on my knuckles, shimmering there, opening and closing its purple and gold wings.
    I turn to Liam. “You probably take all the new girls here, don’t you?”
    “Only the cute ones,” he replies. Then, turning serious, he adds, “I usually only come here by myself. To get away from everyone. To plan battle strategies without getting distracted by the other guys.”
    I turn back to watch the butterflies, conscious of Liam’s gaze on me. The butterfly on my hand departs, rising upward on a draft of warm air. I hold out my hand again, hoping another will land on me.
    “So, do you have a boyfriend back home?” Liam asks from behind me, completely out of the blue.
    The moment is ruined.
    I turn and face him. “Are you for real?”
    He looks surprised by my reaction. “What do you mean?”
    “First of all, why would that even matter at this point? It’s not like I’m ever going back