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who’s been through God knows what?
    Ana lunged forward, twisting her face into an angry scowl. “GO!” she cried.
    Ana swung her sword so close to the girl that her blade came back carrying a bloody tatter of coverall. The girl’s eyes widened, then she turned and ran back into the darkness of the woods.
    Ana swayed in the snow, sick to her stomach as she listened for the final fade from the girl’s retreat. She felt horrible, but there was no time for feeling horrible. She had to get moving and find Liam.
    Once the child’s footsteps had trailed into the distance, Ana began walking so fast it was nearly a run, trying to spark her body back into warmth. She made her way through the darkness, still freezing, slowing every few hundred steps as her brain begged her body to pause. She rested for only a second, then pushed forward, knowing that to slow was to stop and to stop was to die.
    Eventually, she found herself back at the Fire Wall, breaking into a smile, grateful for its promise of warmth. She was just about to run from the woods and to the fire when movement stopped her cold in her tracks. There were four orbs floating in the distance. And below them, four players coming from the south.
    Ana glanced up at her own orb, waving it back so as not to give away her location. To her surprise, the orb came down lower, resting just inches from her, and powered down its lights.
    “Thank you,” she whispered as she dropped to her knees and waited for the players to pass her by. As they drew closer, so did their voices, chatter, and laughter.
    She gasped in recognition of one of the voices.
    Liam!
    She wanted to run toward him but didn’t dare.
    He was with others, and she had no way of knowing if the other players would see her as friend or foe. She waited as they walked past her. She noted that one of the players was a particularly pretty blonde who was laughing at Liam’s every joke.
    Ana felt a bitter taste in her mouth, a mixture of betrayal and jealousy.
    Did he even look for me, or did he just fall in with the first group he ran into?
    As the group passed, Ana felt more confused than ever.
    Should I follow?
    Should I just go my own way?
    The girl’s laughter carried back on the wind, bothering Ana more than she knew she should let it.
    Fuck that bitch.
    Ana decided to follow.

CHAPTER 18 — Jonah Lovecraft
    It was Monday morning, by Jonah’s estimations, and it had been many sleepless hours since Egan disappeared from the room Jonah was being held in, leaving Jonah alone in the darkness to ponder what was happening with Ana.
    Why is she in The Games?
    Is it to punish me, or is there something more?
    Did she get in trouble?
    Where is Adam?
    Who is taking care of him now that Ana isn’t?
    Is Adam next?
    Jonah waited for someone to come and turn on the tube lights above him, flickering though they’d been. Anything was better than the darkness. He’d had enough darkness to last a lifetime. In The Barrens, the darkness mocked you, reminding you that even though you should be sleeping, you dare not, or you might not wake up.
    Now the darkness only served to add to the multiplying fears for his family. He had to get out and find Ana and Adam. Until then, nothing else mattered. Nothing.
    The same curse that kept him from sleeping poured more memories forth, stacking the front of his mind with image after haunting image of a life with Molly, Ana, and Adam and the old world the four of them could never orbit again.
    Remembering the holidays made him saddest, since that was when he had spent the most time with his family. Being a senior Watcher meant staying indoors while men with fewer credits, or no families, were obligated to clock double and sometimes triple shifts.
    Nativity was a favorite holiday, though the Lovecrafts weren’t religious enough to enjoy the long weekend for more than a light upgrade in rations and the exchange of simple paper-wrapped presents. As much as he loved Nativity, Fertility was the family’s most loved, leaving them with a memorable week each year, starting April 1. The children enjoyed Fertility as much as he and Molly, though of course for an entirely different set of reasons.
    The children loved their baskets, filled with two bars of chocolate and a bag of jelly beans each, left by the Fertility Bunny. And though Ana always proudly proclaimed that “this year” she’d be patient and make her candy last, it was always gone before nightfall.
    He and Molly loved having an