Mara walks towards the large body of water and takes off her robe, revealing a stunning black one-piece that hugs her figure perfectly. Cassie does the same, and we take off our slippers to follow Mara into the water. Cassie is wearing one of Mara's swimsuits, a red bikini that looks wonderful against her dark skin, the little frills that hang in the front sway as she rushes towards the pool.

"Now this is what I'm talking about!"

She throws herself into the water, managing to get both Mara and I wet in the process. I walk down the steps, loving the feeling of the cool water against my skin. I wade into the deep end and turn to float on my back, sighing contently as I stare at the ceiling. We enjoy the quiet and relax, allowing our bodies and our minds to rest after these intense few weeks.

"So, Cassie, when did you learn about your Gift?" Asks Mara, swimming up to the two of us, starting a friendly conversation.

"Well, funny story actually," starts Cassie, and I close my eyes to listen, already knowing this story by heart.

"It was when I was around four or five years old. I found a piece of sea glass when we went to the beach, my family and I used to have a house right near it, and I decided to start picking up the little pieces. When it was time to get back my dad told me to put the glass down, because we didn't need any of it in the house. I kept asking him to let me keep it, and I guess he lost his patience because he scolded me and told me to put it down or I wouldn't have any treats. I know, it doesn't sound like a big threat, but I was four and wanted my treats!"

Mara giggles at her outraged expression.

"So, I imagined my dad was the pieces of glass and threw them as hard as I could towards the water. I will never forget his face when he came up spitting out seawater with seaweed hanging from his ears. In the end he was so overjoyed that I found my Gift he let me have my treat and stay up late. It was every child's dream."

She laughs at the memory, and I allow a small chuckle to escape my lips. I know it's a sore topic for her, talking about her father, I'm glad she's trusting Mara enough to open up to her.

"Your dad sounds like a nice guy," says Mara, drifting towards the edge of the pool to give her arms a rest from keeping herself afloat.

"He was," mumbles Cassie, and I can pinpoint the exact moment her words register in Mara's brain.

She looks at me for confirmation, shock written all over her features. I give a subtle nod, and she looks at Cassie with a sad look in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

Cassie, to my surprise, just shrugs and gives her a tiny smile.

"It's in the past now, he used to work here with Bri's dad, but he was probably gone by the time you and the boys joined."

That seems to make it worse, as Mara swims over to give her a one-armed hug, or at least she tries to. It's hard to swim and hug someone at the same time.

"But how about you?" Says Cassie, gently pulling herself away from Mara and flashing her a grin, trying to get rid of the tense atmosphere.

"What are your folks like?"

"Well," She starts, still hesitant after Cassie's confession.

"I guess we are your typical family. Our parents always wanted us to join the compound, they were constantly bringing us with them when we were younger. Leti always loved to watch the older kids spar. We were usually left alone, our parents are part of the board, so they were almost always in meetings."

"Who's on the board?" I ask. I had heard about them, but still hasn't met any of the members, at least not that I knew of.

They are the Elites with the highest clearance level within the compound. They organized the missions and come up with the cover stories to tell the public if anything ever gets out of hand.

"Well, my mom and dad for one, Christian is one of the heads of the board, Alexa is one of their advisors, and a man named Michael Cooper. You haven't met him, and I only ever see him when inspection comes every year to check that everything is in order. Otherwise he is usually hiding away in his office on the first floor."

"So your parents didn't supervise you while you came? What if you went somewhere you weren't supposed to?" Cassie asks, imagining a little five-year-old Mara running around the halls, getting into all sorts of mischief.

"I mean, they had important stuff to do, and besides, they usually left us with the mentors."

Her voice dies off as she relives memories of her past, a slight crescent forming between her eyebrows as she frowns. It sounded like she and her parents didn't get to see each other much. I know for a fact that they talk a lot, they call her almost every day to check up on her, but I never actually saw them around. And she didn't go looking for them. I wonder if she had ever felt lonely as a child. I don't know what it would be like if I didn't get to see my mom, but I'm starting to understand the feeling.

I've talked to my mother a total of fourteen times since I've been here, but every phone call seems too short, the distance between us too large. I miss her, and I can relate to how Mara must have felt. Cassie probably can as well.

Cassie shivers and tells us she is going to go to the hot tub, while I stay behind with Mara, who still seems lost in thought.

"Are you okay?" I ask, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. She nods and focuses on me, leaving whatever it is she was thinking about behind.

"Yeah, I guess I never really thought about how little my parents and I get to see each other. You don't realize that sort of thing when you've lived a certain way your entire life, you know? It only becomes obvious when someone points it out to you."

She paddles over to the stairs and sits with the water up to her waist, gently leaning her arms on her knees. I sit next to her and debate whether I should comfort her or let her sit in silence. Sometimes letting someone think in peace was better than trying to help.

"Well, you guys are close. And you know if you ever need a family, you've got one right here."

I spread my arms out and signal to myself and Cassie, happy to see my gesture put a smile on her face. I admire Mara, she is so strong, it's hard to see her feeling down.

"How about we join Cassie in the hot tub, that warm water is calling to me."

I get up, water dripping off my arms and legs, and stretch out my hand to help her up. She stares up at me, her dark eyes meeting mine, and she grabs my hand and lets me pull her up.

Together we head to the hot tub, where Cassie is waving us over excitedly

"Guys! They even have jets in here! I swear I'm going to be coming here every time we have a free day."

For the next few hours we chat about anything and everything, about our lives, about the recent changes, about our worries and Simon Says. Since we talk about everything it's natural when we start to talk about boys, Mara and Cassie ganging up on me as they get back to the "Kalen conversation"

"Well what about you?" I say, trying to change the subject.

"I've seen the way you and Jayson act around each other, you can't tell me there is nothing there."

She glares at me but I see the color rising to her cheeks.

"There is nothing between us," she mumbles, her disappointment leaking into her words.

"But I bet there could be," Cassie sing songs, spitting out water when Mara splashes her in annoyance.

"It's complicated," she sighs, and I can tell that we've entered dangerous territory.

"Well I think you would make a cute couple," I say, trying to ease the tension. Mara shrugs, giving a sad attempt at a smile, which looks more like a grimace.

"I think I've had enough of the hot tub, I'm going to head back to the dorm." She slips out of the water and starts to dry off. I share a look with Cassie, who seems to be conveying "What did we say?" with her eyes. I signal her to follow me and head towards Mara.

"I'm sorry if we overstepped our boundaries, whatever is going on between you and Jayson, don't worry about it, we'll stay out of it."

She sighs, giving me an apologetic look.

"You don't have to apologize," she says. She sits on her towel, and Cassie and I lower ourselves onto the floor with her.

"It's just, well about a year ago I--" She looks up at the ceiling, red coloring the tips of her ears "I caught him kissing another girl." She almost whispers the last part, and I feel my heart break a little for her.

It was hard when the guy you liked didn't like you back, I had a similar experience about two years back. The guy I had been crushing on since middle school started dating a classmate of mine, and I had felt so sad when I found out that I avoided him altogether for the rest of the year.

I honestly couldn't believe what Mara was telling me. Jayson talked about her as if she was a goddess, looked at her as if she were the only person in the room, but I wasn't about to intervene if I didn't know the whole story, so I keep my mouth shut and opt for squeezing her hand.

"It's in the past now, and he hasn't had a girlfriend, at least not that I know of. So maybe I'm just overthinking things."

"Well, you know what," says Cassie, turning to her with a stern expression. "You are beautiful and smart, and kick-ass and anyone would be lucky to have you"

Now that gets a smile out of her.

"Thanks," she says, getting some of her spirit back.

"I think I've had enough boy talk for our girl's day. How 'bout we go back to the dorm and relax for a bit?"

I think that sounds like a great idea, so we grab our towels, put on our robes, and get back to our room. We spend the rest of the afternoon laying around and reading books. We watch a movie called "The one I let go" which was fun. Getting to watch more teenage girls stressing about their love life and only having to worry about the way they looked and what grades they got, was actually pretty refreshing.

I'm not looking forward to waking up tomorrow and heading to class, but I can say that this has been a very successful free day. I feel like the three of us have gotten closer, and I have a new understanding of the way Mara must have felt before Cassie and I came along. It makes me like her even more.

Just as we were getting ready to watch another episode of Red and Black, Kalen and Jayson barge into our room.

"Hey! A little warning next time would be nice," says Cassie, waving a pillow menacingly at them.

"You have to come down to the cells," says Jayson, and the look Kalen sends me has dread pooling into the pit of my stomach.

"No," I say, but I already know what's happened.

"Simon Says managed to escape," he says, and I bury my head in my hands.

"I don't understand," I say, frustrated, getting up to pace the room. "We doubled security, cameras were on him at all times!"

"That was the problem, no one saw him leave because the cameras didn't show anything out of the ordinary. He was still there when we got to his cell."

Wait.

"What do you mean? If he's still there, then why did you say he got out?"

Kalen groans, and starts walking away.

"If you want to find out, come and see for yourself."

We hear the door slam shut behind him.

"What's his problem?" Asks Cassie, getting out from under the blanket, brushing off the chip crumbs stuck to her shirt.

Jayson just shrugs, waiting for us to follow him as he leads us towards the cells.

"I wouldn't blame him, Christian had him checking the camera's when we realized something was wrong. I think he's blaming himself for not catching it sooner."

"For not catching what sooner?" I ask, getting more puzzled by the minute.

"The cameras were hacked, they stopped recording last night around twelve and started up again at eight o'clock this morning," he says, as we follow him down an unfamiliar corridor.

We make it to a large elevator, similar to the one we took down to the pool, and presses the button to open the doors. Once the elevator arrives, we all step in, Mara pressing the button for the third level.

"But then, shouldn't they have realized this morning if there was no one in the cell?"

Jayson just laughs at my question, a humorless sound that leaves me feeling confused. The elevator opens and we enter the cell room, walking past other prisoners towards the back of the room, where the main object of our problem was supposed to be.

Which is why I do a double-take when I find the cell occupied.

"I don't understand," mumbles Cassie, looking just as surprised as I feel.

In the cell, staring right at us, is Simon Says.