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swarming with beautiful men and women wearing nothing but their smiles.
    Jonah’s body was lifted into the hovercopter.
    Kirkman’s voice invaded the copter’s interior as the orb hovered an inch from his face and he asked if the first thing Jonah wanted to do in City 7 was take a nap.
    Jonah opened his mouth to answer, then passed out instead.

CHAPTER 5 — Anastasia Lovecraft
    Inside The Walls of City 6
    Sunday
    I t took Ana a day’s worth of courage to finally visit the church. Then when she did, she spent the service sitting alone, wishing she hadn’t been so stupid.
    It wasn’t easy getting to the church since Ana didn’t want Adam to know she wasn’t around. She got Michael to look after him while she was gone, which made her feel bad since he’d already spent the morning in jail defending her name.
    Michael pulled Adam from Chimney Rock with a day pass. He was one of two authorized white-card friends who could sign her little brother out for a four-hour interval, twice per month. This particular day pass bought Adam a half-day in the Arcade — his favorite place in the world. Michael loved the Arcade, too. Of course, everyone did.
    The Arcade was filled with every game, movie, and digital book in The City’s library. It was a digital paradise. Beyond the countless games and miscellaneous media, there were long aisles of simulators, though unlike everything else in the Arcade, simulator time had to be booked. It was the most popular part of the Arcade by far, so walkins were never available.
    The Arcade offered everything from foods you could never eat otherwise to lovers real life would never allow you to taste. Adam hadn’t visited any of the adult delicacies, but Michael had, even though he wouldn’t while at the Arcade with Adam, and it had taken him a forever and a half to admit the truth to Ana the first time he did.
    She imagined Michael at the Arcade with Adam, standing in line for the virtual coasters, eating fry bread dusted with sweetener, and maybe catching a movie — probably Interior Solace, the story of the Third Plague and Jonathan Clark’s midnight ride into the forests just outside City 2.
    Interior Solace was one of Michael’s favorites, and Ana hoped he was able to share it with Adam, who had never seen it before. Michael was good to her, the best. No one else in her life would have ever risen to defend her like that, or gone to jail for the honor.
    Michael had, and had done so without flinching.
    Ana’s mind flashed to Liam, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made it out of jail. She hadn’t seen him since the incident at The Social, not that she ran in the same circles as he did, anyway. But Ana was worried and couldn’t help but feel responsible for Liam’s whereabouts, even though he had started the whole incident.
    Ana asked Michael if he knew what happened to Liam, but he wouldn’t even look at her when he answered that he didn’t know, or particularly care, what happened to the “jerk.”
    Ana turned her attention back to the pulpit. The pastor was the same black man — Duncan — she had met at The Social.
    As Ana sat in a pew with her hands folded in her lap, looking up at the pulpit like everyone around her, she felt like a fraud among so many holy people. She wasn’t a believer, and the words flowing from Duncan’s mouth didn’t sound all that different from the fairy tales her parents had told her as a child.
    Ana wondered why Red Beard had given her the message to come here. Had he merely been offering her a place of worship, or did Duncan want to see her? She assumed the latter, given their conversation at The Social. Perhaps Duncan was going to offer proof she was a “liar,” and that her dad hadn’t done what she had clearly seen him do, she figured.
    Though it would have to be some damned impressive proof.
    There was a small girl to Ana’s left, tiny really, and adorable enough to crease Ana’s unhappy face with a smile. Most of the children living in the lower floor apartments of The City looked malnourished. Their clothes were often threadbare and dirty, no different from their spirits.
    This girl seemed different — scrubbed rosy, her body clean and almost glowing. Her clothes were thin but well mended and neatly pressed despite their wear. Her short blond hair was trimmed in a severe line just beneath her chin. She stared up at the pastor, lightly swinging her legs, fingers braided and resting in her lap, wearing a smile that