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“Oooh, I wonder what’s over there,” I said, dragging my poor mother along behind me.

“I don’t like this,” she mumbled under her breath.

As we neared, I noticed a tall, broad-shouldered young man propped up against the wall next to the rest of the crowd. His skin was a sunkissed bronze, and his hair was tousled into messy perfection, the color of dark chocolate. But his eyes were what really caught my attention. They were an incredible amber, like honey flecked with gold leaf. And they were staring straight at me.

“I wonder if he goes to Columbia,” I snickered to my mom. But she gave no witty remark in response. Her eyes were deadlocked on the boy’s, and she was practically snarling at him. 

“Mom?” I asked. “Is something wrong?”

“We need to go, Everly. Now.”

Just then, the crowd parted ahead to reveal the art piece everyone was fawning over. A small girl tugged on her mother’s hand and pointed at me with a tiny finger. “It’s her, Mama.” 

The child’s mother turned to me with a broad smile. “It’s a remarkable piece. Truly breathtaking. The artist captured your essence beautifully.”

“Uh, thank you?” I glanced at my mom for help to get away from this crazy woman, but she was still too involved in the staredown with golden eyes to have noticed. The mother and child smiled warmly again as they moved toward the exit, and I stepped forward into their spot in the crowd. 

Finally, I saw the piece that had drawn everyone’s attention. Hanging on the wall in a gilded golden frame, illuminated by a small spotlight, was a four-foot-tall portrait of… me.

I never knew silence could be so loud.

I sat alone in the security office. The four walls surrounding me were a sickly greenish shade of white. A simple fixture with a single bulb of flickering light hung from the ceiling over a table and two chairs in the center of the room. The rest of the room was completely empty.

I had been sitting alone in there for probably twenty minutes. The previous three hours played on repeat in my mind. Cato’s grumpy breakfast. Sela’s smile. The test. The Outsider. His body on the floor. The man who never looked away from me. His firm grip on my arm as he dragged me out of the gym like a criminal.

He never told me why I was being taken away. He’d simply guided me into the back of a sleek black car parked in front of the school and locked the doors. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. Like most citizens of New America, I had never been in a car before. They were generally reserved for the Leaders. The rest of us used buses and trains designed for public transportation, though Cato did let me ride around the block in the sanitation truck once last fall.

But this car was different. The tiny backseat left me feeling claustrophobic, especially since I didn’t know where I was going or why I was being taken away.

Emmaline and the man had spoken outside my window. Her expression had been serious as he waved his arms with great animation. Finally she nodded, and they climbed wordlessly into the car. They ignored my questions during our ride. The only words spoken from the front seat had come from Emmaline. “You’re not in trouble,” she’d said. “We just need to ask you a few questions.”

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