Z 2134

seemed so big and happy .
    Ana couldn’t ever remember a time being filled with that much joy.
    The girl hung on the pastor’s every word, singing every song while swinging her feet beneath the pew in front of her. When Duncan finished speaking, Ana waited for the traffic to pass before climbing into the open aisle. Ana waited behind the girl, waiting to see where her parents were. But nobody came for the girl.
    She just sat there, smiling, watching the pastor.
    Ana leaned over the aisle, “Are you here alone?”
    The girl turned to Ana and said, “Yes, Mommy and Daddy let me come to church whenever I want. They said it’s better than being at home and watching The Games.”
    Ana swallowed, still confused about whether she should be celebrating or mourning her father’s win this morning, which she had seen just as she was leaving for church.
    “I haven’t seen you before,” the girl said, looking sideways at Ana. “Was this your first time at church?”
    Ana nodded.
    The girl smiled. “It’s great to have you,” she said. “Father Duncan says we can never have too many people in church.” After a pause, barely long enough to draw a decent breath, she said, “My name’s Iris, what’s yours?”
    She had “Ana” in her throat, then choked on it and said, “Rebecca” instead.
    “Nice to meet you, Rebecca.”
    “Nice to meet you, too,” Ana said.
    She was about to ask Iris where she lived when she felt a strong hand on her tightened shoulder. “Come with me,” Duncan’s soft, firm voice said from behind her. Ana turned and met Duncan’s eyes, larger than what she remembered from The Social, and infinitely sadder. “I have something to show you,” he said.
    Ana said nothing, just nodded, turned to Iris, and waved goodbye, then followed Duncan through the church, past the pulpit, then down some stairs and into the basement where there was a handful of kids and grownups sharing food and discussion.
    Despite the goodbye, Iris followed them anyway, jumping from the second to the final step, then onto the basement floor just a beat behind them, practically skipping across the room to the table on the far wall, where she grabbed a piece of bread with a layer of sweetener crusted across the top, then started nibbling on the end, like she probably did every week.
    Ana gave Iris a one-fingered wave, her curled pointer bouncing up and down from across the room. Iris looked up, smiled with her crumb-coated mouth, then waved back at Ana with her entire hand.
    Ana turned to Duncan. “Mind if I sit?” she asked, then made her way across the room to a tattered fabric chair in the corner — the only unoccupied seat in the room — before Duncan could answer. Ana tried to swallow her rising tide of panic while slowly breathing through an obvious new truth: the church, and everyone in the basement, were clearly members of The Underground.
    She couldn’t hear their words or be completely certain they were Underground Rebels, but the same father who had murdered her mother had also sharpened Ana’s instincts. She imagined Watchers bursting through the doors, arresting them all. If that happened, she was done for. And her brother would have nobody to look after him.
    She had to get out of the basement.
    But she also had to find out why she’d been summoned.
    “You’re part of The Undergound?” she said, half-statement and half-question.
    “Yes, I am.” Duncan nodded. “And so was your father.”
    Ana was about as surprised to hear her father was part of The Underground as she would have been to hear a City Watch broadcast announcing early curfew. “Why did you ask me to come here?”
    Duncan smiled, slowly rubbing his hands across his knees. He looked like he was about to say one thing, but then drew in his breath and said something else. “Before I start, Ana,” he narrowed his eyes. “I want to thank you for coming here today. I know it wasn’t easy, and that getting brought down into a basement by someone you don’t trust, well, that’s scary, and I admire you for swallowing your fear and listening to your gut long enough to get here and maybe listen. Your father would’ve been proud.” Duncan smiled.
    Ana didn’t want to admit it, not to Duncan, Michael, Adam, or anyone else, not even to herself, but Duncan was right. The layers of her last two months were horrible — every one — and walking up the church steps and following the address on a paper shred slipped to her in secret by