"You're Elites, aren't you?"

He stares back at me, seemingly unimpressed by my discovery. "It's pretty obvious, isn't it? Did it actually take you that long to figure it out?"

This guy, who does he think he is, Mr. Perfecto?

Before I get to answer him with my own snide remark, the girl that searched Simon appears in the doorway.

"Hey, Kalen," her eyes widen at the scene in front of her.

I can't blame her. What a sight we must be.

Cass, with her miniature frame, standing defensively in front of me. Jerk face, who I guess must be Kalen, stuck against the wall doing a pretty good impression of a tapestry. And me, standing with my arms crossed over my chest, equal expressions of annoyance plastered on all our faces. The girl rolls her eyes and cocks her head to the side.

"Can I not leave you alone for one minute before you're getting yourself into trouble?"

"Don't look at me, they're the ones who started it." He glares at us and pointedly asks Cassie to release him, although it sounds more like a command than a question.

I think I know who is used to getting his way in that little Elite group.

Cass huffs before stuffing the doll back in her pocket, effectively relinquishing her control over Kalen, who pushes off the wall and dusts himself off like nothing happened, turning back to us with a face that means business.

I snort. Typical Elite.

"We have a problem," says the girl. I wish I knew her name so I could stop calling her the girl in my head.

"The files weren't on him. He must have dropped them or gotten rid of them somewhere."

Kalen's expression turns from smug to annoyed in a second, and I can't help but feel good at his confusion. Who's the clueless one now, huh? I'll let him worry about it for another minute or so before I tell him.

"What do you mean?" he snaps.

"He had them with him the whole time we were chasing him. He put them in his jacket when he--" The answer must come to him because he spins around to face me once again. Darn it, and I really wanted to rub it in his face too.

"He hid them somewhere in these crates," I say, pointing to the boxes of fruit all around us.

"He was rummaging around back here, that's why I came to investigate. He was crouched somewhere over there when I found him. That's why at first I thought he was trying to steal from us."

"What would he be stealing?" asks Kalen, already scanning the boxes for the documents. "A mango?" He points to the fruit with an amused glint in his eye.

I really want to throw that mango at his face right now.

The girl seems to sense my annoyance, because she turns to me and smiles, and I feel my anger evaporate just a little.

"I can help you search for the files if you like."

Kalen looks like he wants to deny the offer, lips pressed into a thin line and eyebrows drawn low, but before he can his friend nudges him with her elbow and beams at me.

"That would be great help, thank you. We are truly sorry about the trouble we caused you both. Are you alright?" she asks

I glance at Cassie, who is staring at the girl as if she were a rare piece of artwork hanging on some private collector's wall. How could she and Kalen be on the same team, yet she be an angel and he be a complete jerk?

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reassure her. Her shoulders relax slightly at the affirmation.

"Good. My name is Mara, and this here is my friend Kalen. The guy you saw outside is Jayson."

Cassie's eyes go comically wide.

"There's another one?"

Mara laughs.

"Don't worry, it's just the three of us. Four, if you count that scum bag we have tied up in the van. And you are?"

I quickly introduce myself, speaking up for Cassie when she makes no move to answer Mara's question. My friend glares at me, not seeming too happy about having strangers know her name.

"So, what exactly is it that we are looking for?" I had heard something about the President's secret files, and to say my curiosity is at its peak is an understatement.

"They are some," she pauses, choosing her words carefully, "important documents. In a red folder with big white letters."

I can see they are hesitant to share too much information with us, and I can't blame them for being wary. I'm not completely trusting of them either. We start to look through the boxes, Cassie mumbling about how weird all of this was and how her day had been pretty good up until now. I had to agree. I had only had two incidents today, spacing out in Mr. Roscovic's class and the dizzy spell before lunch. But other than that, my day had been great.

Now, I can't say this is ruining my day. It's been quite an interesting experience. I never would have imagined something like this could happen to us, to me, literally the most boring girl on the planet.

I finish searching through a box of pineapples when something catches my eye, shoved between two crates at the back of the room. I make my way over and inspect the little red corner. It's definitely paper.

I separate the boxes from the wall, not wanting to damage the documents in any way, and grab the red folder. In my hands I hold the Presidents' secret files.

Should I look?

Nah. I've had enough excitement for one day.

"I found it," I say, speaking loud enough to get the others' attention.

"Nice job," says Mara, making her way over to my crate.

I scan the cover of the folder, where there are indeed some big white letters.

DIANA.

Hmmm. Well, if these are President Khan's files, then it could only be referring to his daughter, Diana Khan. What is so special about her that she would need to have her own files? Diana is a Norm, isn't she?

I hand the folder to Mara, and as soon as it leaves my grasp, the room starts to spin. I shake my head to try and focus, but that only makes things worse. Everything is flickering in and out of existence.

Someone is talking to me. Everything sounds muffled, like I'm under water. Or like my ears are stuffed with cotton. My head definitely feels that way. I stumble, grabbing onto the wall before I knock myself out on one of the crates, and lean on it for support.

"Bri, you okay?" Cassie puts a comforting hand on my arm.

"Yeah I'm fine, just another dizzy spell I guess, nothing to worry about."

I get these all the time, so Cass is used to them by now. It's because of my anxiety, or at least, that's what the doctor told us when my mom and I informed him of my many close calls down our stairs. I've always suffered from anxiety, ever since I was a little girl, but the dizzy spells didn't start until much later, sometime around my sixteenth birthday.

I clench my teeth in an attempt to ground myself, closing my eyes so tight that little dots flicker amidst the darkness.

I hear laughter coming from somewhere, but I'm pretty sure it's all in my head.

I try to get up, but I stumble again.

"Catch me!" I hear off to the distance.

It's a little boy's voice, laughing and giggling. I only have a second to wonder what's going on before I'm on the ground, three blurry faces hovering above me, as color explodes behind my eyes.

"Catch me!"

My eyes fly open, and I let out a startled gasp as I sit up, feeling the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I'm not at the smoothie shack anymore; and I look around in wonder as I find myself lying in a green field under a big old oak tree, surrounded by flowers.

I sit up slowly, taking in the rolling green hills that seem to go on for miles. I wince, why does my head hurt so much? And how on earth did I get here?

I turn, finding what looks to be a school off in the distance. I spot children running about, laughing their little hearts out. I also spot an older woman, probably in her sixties, talking to one of the little girls. She must be the teacher.

"Catch me!"

There is that voice again.

I whirl around, determined to find the owner, when I finally spot him.

A little boy, probably five or six, is climbing up a rock wall and jumping into the waiting arms of a young girl, who can't be much older than me, dressed in a simple white sundress.

I can't see her very well from here, but the way she carries herself tells me she isn't a teacher's assistant. There is an aura that demands respect surrounding her. The children steal glances at her every five minutes, and the girls seem to idolize her, running up to her with flowers in their tiny hands.

I get up, pushing myself up off the grass, and nearly fall again when my hand doesn't touch wet soil. Instead, it seems to go through it, as if it were some sort of hologram. Okay, now I'm starting to freak out a little bit.

I make my way towards the school, hoping someone there can help me, and I nearly walk into a giant sign that I could have sworn wasn't there a minute ago.

SAINT THOMSONS HOME FOR CHILDREN

Oh.

So this isn't a school, it's an orphanage.

I look back at the kids playing in the sun. Some can't be older than four years old. What happened to their parents to have them end up in a place like this at such a young age?

"Declan get down from there!"

I turn at the shout, and I watch as the little boy climbs up the wall once again. Only this time he doesn't jump. He keeps climbing towards the top and stands looking over the playground.

"You can't catch me," he taunts. "Come and get me, Diana!"

Diana. That name sounds familiar, didn't I see that somewhere recently?

When I finally remember, I'm left reeling from the shock, the answer hitting me like a bag of bricks.

The folder, those Elites, Simon Says, Diana Khan...

I do a double take as I finally register the president's daughter standing just a few feet away from me. That's her alright. I can't believe I'm standing just a few feet away from her!

Diana Khan, Norm daughter of the highest-ranking Elite in the whole world, known for her kind heart and giving nature. She's opened at least thirty charities and over fifteen schools and orphanages. She fights for Norm rights and equality, wanting a better future not just for Elites, but for all her people. She is loved by all, especially the Norms, who see her as a kind of role model. A shining star, born in the corruption of her father and his council. That girl doesn't have a bad bone in her whole body. If she were dissected, I bet you wouldn't find any imperfections. What is she doing here? More importantly, what am I doing here?

I run towards her, but just as I'm about to tap her on the back the world seems to crumble before my very eyes. The walls of the orphanage start to shimmer and crumble, big chunks of brick and wood falling to the patio below. No one seems to notice however, as the children keep playing their merry games, oblivious to the danger around them.

"Watch out!"

The scream makes it out of my mouth as I run towards Diana, intending to push her out of the way of the giant wall that is coming down on top of us. Before it reaches us, it vanishes, disappearing in a ripple, as if it had never been there to begin with. The children are starting to disappear as well, and it almost looks like Diana sees me for an instant before she, too, vanishes before my very eyes.

"What's going on?" My heart hammers against my ribs like a bird that wants to escape its cage.

I close my eyes, cover my ears, and try to get my breathing under control. When I open them again, I find myself in the middle of a giant room. If I were on the set of one of those FBI shows, it would look something like this. There are desks with computers everywhere, weird gadgets and gismos scattered about like toys. A whole wall that must be a screen is projecting different parts of the world, the scenery changing every second. I see my city, then New Boston, countries in Europe and Africa, its towering buildings shimmering in the hot savannah sun, then back to our home. Mins looks small up on that screen, its citizens like ants, going along with their daily routine, unaware to the cameras that watch them from afar.

"You need to be a bit clearer."

A sliding door opens in front of me to reveal a large man dressed in the same style suit I saw the Elites back at the shack wearing. Except his isn't black, it's green, contrasting nicely against his ebony skin tone. I spot someone following him. Mara? Wasn't she just at the shack?

"I'm telling you sir, she's convinced she doesn't have a Gift, yet she was able to predict Simons' exact same words. Doesn't that sound like..."

"Who is this girl?" He turns around, and I only make out half the conversation before my brain short-circuits.

Another me enters the room. The feeling of ants crawling across my skin makes the hairs on my arms stand on end. A steely band of panic constricts around my chest, making it hard to breathe. It's me. Right there, standing in front of me. I blink hard, but she's still there. She's me. It shouldn't be possible, and yet there she is, as real as if I were staring at a mirror.

This me looks about just as confused as I feel, but there is something else in her eyes. Familiarity. Had I been here before? How, I've never seen this place in my life! Its official, I'm just going crazy.

"Bri!"

Cassie? I look around the room for any sign of her, but I don't see her. Did I just imagine her voice?

"Bri wake up!"

Wake up? But I'm not asleep. Or am I? Is this all some sort of messed up dream?

Just like the orphanage, the room around me starts to disintegrate, shimmering before it fades out of existence. If I really am sleeping, then I must be waking up. No! I never remember my dreams, and I have a feeling this one is important. I try to hold on, to stay in this room.

"Wait!"

But it's already too late. Everything is disappearing, and as I look down at myself, I see that I am as well. My legs are becoming translucent, but before I disappear completely, I hear a voice echoing in my head. Is that Simon Says?

"The second one is back, and this time, he will not be so forgiving."