Author's Note: Thanks to everyone reading! Please comment and vote

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Shai got up out of Jasper's bed before dawn. He was curled up on his side still fast asleep. She crept around the room in the dark and searched for something to wear. She found her pair of jeans and slipped on one of Jasper's shirts. His scent enveloped her.

She made her way quickly across the room as quietly as she could. She opened up the door just a crack and slid out. She silently closed the door behind her and sat down on the floor. It was empty and she knew everyone else would be asleep. She let out a deep breath and pushed her back up against the wall.

Todd's pendant was in her fingers. The cold metal felt good on her skin. She slid her thumb over the carved dragon in the metal and the green rocks that made his eye. When Todd ripped it off his neck was the first time that Shai had ever seen him take it off. She couldn't stop wondering why he had given it to her. She thought that maybe it would be a souvenir of him; that he gave it to her so she would remember him. But Todd was never big on memories or emotions.

She took her knife out of her pocket and began to flip it in and out. She had watched Todd do it so often that she started doing it too years ago. She closed her eyes and flipped the blade in and our as she tried to breathe calmly. She wanted to clear her mind and just stay focused on what needed to be done.

It felt like only minutes to her before she heard another door open. She opened her eyes and stopped flipping her blade to see who it was.

Brodhi closed his door quietly behind him and looked shocked when he saw her sitting in the empty hallway. He walked towards her and sat down beside her. From the rings under his eyes she could tell he got just as much sleep as she did.

"You sure you still want to do this," he said quietly. The walls were thin in their house and everyone else was still asleep.

Of course, Shai thought to herself, try to convince me outta this again.

"Yeah," she said quietly.

She heard him let out a deep breath. Shai had put her knife back into her pocket, but still had Todd's pendant in her hands. She squeezed it so the stones pushed into her palm; trying to keep herself calm so she didn't raise her voice and wake everyone up.

"What if it's too late?" he asked her. "What if they already killed him? We both know Todd's gotta attitude and Officers probably already gave up and kill him. Is it worth it to get yourself and my brother killed too?"

Shai felt the rocks in the dragon's eyes cut into her palm as she squeezed it tighter and tighter. She didn't want to think about Todd already being dead.

"I don't care," she replied quietly. "Todd could be dead. But what if he's not? What if his living in a camp and bein' tortured? I saw it happen. I watched a couple Officers arrest him and I just stood there and watched. I need to at least try."

"Shai, you're grieving. You're just upset about watching it happen," Brodhi told her. "He was my best friend too and I hate that this happened to him. But in a week or two you won't be so upset about this."

She rolled her eyes and got up off the floor. Brodhi looked up at her.

"You don't understand," she muttered as she walked past him and down the stairs. She was in the kitchen and she heard the thudding sound of some one walking down the stairs behind her. The dim light above was turned on and Shai spun around to see Brodhi standing there with his arms crossed under his chest.

"I'm tired of being told I don't understand," he snapped at her. "I may have been legal lately, but I'm livin' in the same Slums as you. Don't tell me I don't know what's going on."

"Then how come you can't understand it?" she said with a voice full of venom. "If we can break Todd out then we can break anyone out. No Rat deserves to be treated like that."

"And what makes you so special?"

"Why can't I be?"

"Because you're just a Rat. We can't win against Brighties. If you're feeling like some hero now, you won't when an Officer has a gun pointed at your face."

"I'm not just a Rat," Shai said let a faint smile grow on her lips. "You have a Techi to help me."

Brodhi let out a groan and ran his hands across his head. He turned away from Shai and she thought that he might run back up the stairs, but he turned back around slowly. Shai still had a tight grip on Todd's pendant.

"Fine," he said quietly. "I'll bring you to meet Mikko. But remember this: I'm not helping you out anymore. Your insane plan could work, but it's most likely not going to. And I won't let that destroy my family. Sure Jasper wants to go with you and I can't stop that, but I'm not letting you send me, my mother, Lynn and especially not my baby to a camp or to their death. Don't come back here until you have given up."

"That's no problem," she heard Jasper say.

Brodhi tried to act like he wasn't surprised, but Shai could see his eyes widen and jaw slightly drop when he heard Jasper's voice. He turned around and Shai could see Jasper. He was standing at the bottom of the steps with his arms crossed under his chest. He was already dressed and Shai wondered how much of the conversation he heard.

"Jas-" Brodhi started to say.

"No it's fine," Jasper cut him off. "The sun's almost up. We'll pack our stuff up so ya don't have to see us after this."

He turned around and started going back up the stairs. Shai brushed past Brodhi as she followed him. She climbed the stairs and head straight to Jasper's room. He had a backpack on his bed and was beginning to stuff it with clothes. She sat down beside it.

"Jas, you don't need to go," she told him.

"Yeah I do," he said. He turned around and opened the drawers to a metal desk he had underneath his window. He pulled a couple knives he had out and walked back towards Shai, putting them in the bag. "Brodhi can live his life the way he wants and I can live my life the way I want. And I can't spend the rest of my life tryin' to follow Brighty rules just so they can all kill us off in the end."

Shai hadn't been thinking much about what Riley had told her yesterday. If Zimmer was planning on getting rid of all the Rats by sending them to camps she could possibly stop that.

"Okay," she agreed. Shai didn't want to admit it, but she would much rather have Jasper with her than being alone.

He leaned in and kissed her quickly before looking over his shoulder to the window. The sun had begun to rise over the Slums.

"Come on," he said throwing the backpack over his shoulder.

Shai slid off the bed and followed Jasper as he left his room and went back down the stairs. Brodhi was still in the kitchen and they set off before anyone else woke up.

It was still cool outside, as the sun had barely risen yet. However, Shai knew it was only an hour or so before it would be sweltering outside.

They made the trip in silence and followed Brodhi as he led the way. Shai found it odd how they were going so far away from the Slums. She had rarely ever gone out this far. The broken highway was beginning to spiral up.

"How far away is this place?" Shai asked; finally breaking the silence.

"We're almost there," Brodhi responded.

They turned down a street full of empty and destroyed houses. They followed Brodhi as he climbed the steps to one of the houses. It was still well put together, with no walls caved in and only a couple boarded up windows. Brodhi opened up two doors and then walked into the house.

The floor was littered with dust and boxes full of junk. They followed Brodhi down a narrow hallway that felt even more cramped because of all the boxes. He walked into a kitchen with counters full of junk. Brodhi turned his head and looked around quickly.

"Mikko!" he shouted. Shai and Jasper stared at Brodhi while the house stayed silent. "Are ya home?"

There was a loud noise as Shai heard someone scurry across the floor upstairs. She gave Brodhi another odd look and he just shrugged his shoulders. A loud thumping noise came down the stairs and listened to the sound of someone walking down the hallway.

A middle-aged man with caramel coloured skin walked into the kitchen. His mop of dark hair was ruffled and stuck up in multiple directions. He had blue bathrobe that was frayed at the bottom wrapped around him. His hands were tucked under his arms and when he saw Shai and Jasper he squinted his eyes and stared at them. She knew this must be Mikko.

"Why are you bring people into my house, Brod-hi?" he asked angrily.

"This is my brother Jasper. He needs some help and I thought of that room with all the screens," Brodhi explained quickly. "I thought you could help him."

"I'm not the social type," Mikko told him.

"Brod-hi? This is the-" Jasper leaned in and whispered to Shai.

Mikko snapped his head and stared at Jasper. He closed his mouth and didn't finish his sentence. Shai then felt his eyes fall on her.

"If you're Jasper," he said pointing to Jasper. He then moved his finger over to point at Shai. "Then who are you?"

"My name's Shai," she said.

Mikko's hand and jaw dropped at the same time. His eyes grew big and a smile grew across his lips. He walked towards them.

"You're the two who got married!" he exclaimed as he grabbed Shai's shoulders. She was caught off guard by his reaction. "I was so happy when your brother told me about that. All these Rats are so heartless and care only about themselves. It was nice to hear that two got married. You know Brighties do it all the time before children, but it's rare Rats do it."

"We-" Jasper started to say.

"Thank you!" she cut him off. "Everyone told us we were stupid for doing it."

Shai couldn't see Jasper's face, but she knew that he would be trying to cover up the confusion on it.

"No. It's adorable," Mikko told her letting go of her shoulders. "I've noticed that you never know where you'll be in the Slums. One day you can be together and the next day you're killed. Either shot by the Officers or stabbed by another Rat. Or worse you can be sent to one of those camps.

"So I think it's romantic. You'll two be together no matter what."

"Yeah," Shai said wryly. "That's what we were goin' for."

Mikko spun around on his heels so he was facing Brodhi again. He ran his hands through his thick hair and tucked a few stray pieces behind his ear.

"So," he asked pulling his bathrobe in closer to him, "what do you want me to do for you?"

The kitchen was quiet and Shai looked at Brodhi. Her plan did sound a little unachievable to her now, but it was too late to back out.

"Tell him, Shai," Brodhi told her.

Mikko spun back around on his heels so he was facing Shai again.

"I wanna break someone out of a camp," she said quickly.

"Excuse me?" Mikko asked arching one of his eyebrows.

"I have a friend that was just arrested. I wanna a way to get him out."

Mikko snapped his back towards Brodhi. He just shrugged his shoulders.

"She's delusional," Mikko said. "Why'd you bring her to me?"

"If she was going to do this then she'd need help. You said you were a Techi and you showed me that room with all the screens, so I thought you'd be the best option," he explained.

"Oh, how considerate. You came to me first?" he said wryly. "Are you planning on helping her too?"

"No," Brodhi said shaking his head.

He snapped his head back to stare at Jasper.

"What about you?" Mikko asked.

"I'm helping her," he said.

A smirk grew across Mikko's lips and Shai expected him to turn them down. She tried to control her breathing, but her body was betraying her.

"I'll help," Mikko said. Shai let a deep breath out and a smile grew across her lips. She looked over to see that Jasper had done the same thing. "Well, I'll try to help. I make no promises."

Shai looked over to see that Brodhi's eyes were on the floor and he was chewing on his bottom lip. She knew he was disappointed that Mikko didn't decline. It put his brother in automatic danger.

"How odd," Mikko started saying. "That we have one brother trying to follow ever rule and conforming to the mould Brighties want them to be. Then we have the other brother. The younger one. More daring and wanting adventure. It's why the young ones always rebel."

Jasper held Brodhi's gaze forcefully. Shai looked away from them at Mikko, to see he wasn't paying any attention to them and was now examining the dirt under his fingernails.

"I'm leaving now," Brodhi told them. "I want no part in this."

"Then just go," Jasper said sternly.

Brodhi scowled at him and started to walk away. He stopped and turned around and Shai stared at him.

"Remember Shai," he said. "If anything happens it'll be on your conscious not mine."

Then he left.

Mikko pulled out a stool and cleared off a small section of the counter. Shai and Jasper stood on the other side and watched him as her stirred a hot liquid in his cup. Earlier they watched as he sprinkled in some leaves he had from Bright in hot water. Shai hadn't remembered ever watching someone do something as strange as that.

"Now," Mikko said bringing the cup up to his lips and taking a sip. "Who is this friend you're trying to break out of a camp."

"His name is Todd," Shai said.

"Todd what?"

"I don't know."

Mikko rolled his eyes and then put his cup down on the counter.

"We have his first name. That's a start," he told them. "You know which camp he was sent to?"

"No," she said shaking her head. "He got arrested yesterday in the Market. That's all I know. I remember them sayin' that he didn't have a file. Can that help?"

"Anything will help," he said. "Now I'm only going to help you if you two do something for me."

"What's that?" Jasper asked.

""Now you may have noticed that I don't exactly 'fit in' here." Shai had to control herself from not laughing. Nothing about Mikko had seemed anywhere near normal. "There's good reason for that. I use to live in Bright and I was in charge of the technology. Now Brighties can be some real wusses because they don't like exploring with what they don't understand. There was some theory about that's how the Virus was created, but I never listened to that kind of drama. It wasn't really my thing."

Shai and Jasper were listening to him intently. Once he stopped speaking they both looked at each other with the same puzzled expression on their face. They stood there in awkward silence.

"I don't understand," Shai told him.

"Yes!" Mikko said slapping his hand down on the counter. It caused Shai to jump and she could feel Jasper right behind her do the same. "That's because I hadn't gotten to the ending yet. It's always my favourite part. It always ties everything up so neatly. You know what the final outcome is and whether it's good or bad, a certain amount of relief and anxiety is lifted from you."

He picked up his cup off the counter and took another sip out of it. Shai was questioning how much this man would really be able to help them.

"Are you goin' to tell us the end of your story?" Jasper asked.

"I was on my way there. I was using technology that apparently was unauthorized and I became a danger to Pangella. So they gave me an ultimatum: either I go to a camp or I get banned from the city. And that's how I ended up here," he explained to them.

"And what does that have to do with us?" Shai asked.

"I need to prove that technology isn't always bad. So when you said you wanted to break out your friend, I knew you'd be the perfect candidates for this thought I've had in my head. Before I help you break out your friend you have to break someone else out for me. Tegan Dyer."

"All of the Dyer's are dead though," Jasper told him.

"Wait," Shai said looking around at them very confused. "I know who the Dyer's are. They're the Archeys in Royale. Cambrie is the queen and her son is Cyrus. But who's Tegan?"

"Do you two remember about the assassinations?" Mikko asked them.

"Not really," Jasper said.

"Same," she said.

Mikko stretched his arms up over his head and pushed his cup away with the back of his hand. He pulled out a small black object out of his pocket and laid it on the counter. The top half of it lit up as he rubbed his fingers across it. He curled in his fingers and flicked his wrist so that the lights on the screen hung in the air. Shai and Jasper stared at it in amazement. The only technology they had ever seen before was the scanners the Officers use.

A picture of a large stone castle hung in the air. Certain areas stood higher than others, but all of the large columns tore into the sky. None of the buildings in Bright were that high. A small amount of land surrounded it as it was sitting in the water. A large stone bridge connected it to what Shai assumed was the rest of Royale.

"Now I assume you two know that the Monarchy lives in Royale," Mikko told them. The picture in the air switched to a man in a suit with an odd looking flag with red and white stripes behind him. "Jonathan Dyer was a politician before the Virus broke out. He was young and full of charisma, so naturally people started following him. When people first started getting sick he dedicated his campaign to finding a cure. Then that day came where within twenty-four hours five billion died. Everyone became scared and Jonathan was their only hope.

"When the Cure was found he became a hero. The population had diminished to 2% of the population it was before. Majority of those left were already following Jonathan, so they all agreed he would be in charged. That turned into the Dyer's being a royal family."

Shai rolled her eyes and let out a deep breath. She was interested to get the story of who the Dyers were. She had always heard the names, but she didn't know much about them. She didn't even know much about the Virus and the Cure.

"That's Jonathan," she said. "You said you wanted Tegan Dyer."

"Let's skip a couple generations," Mikko said flicking his finger up and the image changing in the air. A woman in a large red dress and a man in a suit lined with red silk each sat on a large chair that spiral up and was encrusted with jewels. A little girl, around six-years-old, sat in front of them with another large dress, but hers was blue. She had a little baby wrapped up in her arms and a wide smile on her lips. A boy a couple years older than her was sitting down next to them. He had bright blue eyes and a shirt that matched the colour.

"This was the last photo taken of the Dyer family eleven years ago," Mikko told them. "One night there was an attack on their palace. Everyone was executed, so now Nathaniel's sister Cambrie has taken over. The thing is though that there is something that they didn't tell anyone. Only four bodies were found. I don't know how good they teach you Rats to count, but that's five people up on the screen. I think he's out there. I think that Tegan Oliver Douglas Dyer's body is alive somewhere. And I have a great hunch that it is in a camp somewhere.

"If I can find him then I can prove to Brighties that technology isn't bad, if it is bringing back their beloved prince, then they'll believe me. And I can get out of this godforsaken house."

"How will you be able to prove that it's him?" Jasper asked.

"Scanning his finger will show his file," he said.

"Then why doesn't he just do that then?" she asked. "If just scanning his finger would prove that he is an Archy, than why hasn't he done that yet? It would send him back to his palace and he wouldn't need to hide in the Slums."

"They protect the Dyers as much as they can and one way they did that is by protecting their identity. Their files are only available to Techis," Mikko explained. "If any Officer were to scan their finger they would either have a Brighty file or none at all. So do we have a deal?"

Shai looked up at Jasper and nodded his head. Her lips curled into a faint smile.

"We'll do it," she said.

Mikko threw up his hands into the air and let out a shout. It caught Shai off by surprise. He clapped his hand a couple times and a large smile was plastered on his face.

"Finally! I have people to help me. And I don't care about accidentally sacrificing you either. This has been an eventful morning and I need to put my plan together. So you two can be dismissed. Go find a house somewhere and come back in the morning, but not too early. I prefer staying up later, so don't come into my house and effect my beauty sleep."

Shai and Jasper said a quick goodbye and then weaved their way back down the cramped hallway. When they got back out into the hot air outside, Shai wrapped her arms tightly around Jasper's neck. A wide smile was plastered across her face. When she pulled away she saw Jasper had the same smile. His chipped tooth was visible. She leaned in and kissed him.

"It's goin' to work," she said.

"Of course it's goin' to work," he told her. "We should go clear out a house."

Shai looked over her shoulder to the row of houses. Most of the roves were caved in and all the windows were smashed, a few were boarded up. Jasper threw his arm over her shoulders and they walked down the steps and made their way down the street. The asphalt was cracked and thick weeds were poking up.

They spotted a house with a roof still intact except for a few shingles it had lost. The red bricks were scratched on the side, but the rest of the house seemed fine.

Jasper went up the stairs first and tried the door. It was locked and he gave it a few more hard tugs.

"It's locked," he said.

"Wonder why?" Shai said. "There's nothin' to protect in there anymore. Unless, someone is already livin' here."

"Who lives out here? Mikko is the first person I've seen out this far from the City."

Jasper ran down the steps and out to the lawn full of dead grass. He leaned down and picked up a rock and ran back up the steps.

"Watch out," he said lifting his arm with the rock. Shai turned her face as Jasper brought down his arm and threw the rock. It shattered the glass window in the front door. Jasper's footsteps crunched as he walked over the broken shards of glass to the door. He put his arm through the broken window and unlocked the door. Shai saw that when he pulled his arm back out that he had a strip of red running down his forearm. He opened the door and they walked in.

A pungent smell hit their nose as soon as they stepped in. Everything was covered in a thick film of dust and large cobwebs hung in the corners. The walked past a room with a large brown couch with a wooden table flipped over on its side. Papers with writing Shai couldn't read covered the ground.

"It's homey," Jasper said wryly.

"Could always be worse," she told him.

They walked through the kitchen. The cupboard doors were open to reveal the empty shelves. A few doors were ripped off and lying on the ground. Shai looked up at the staircase that led up to the next floor. The wood had begun to rot away and the steps had holes in them.

"We should see if anything is up there," he said.

"Should limit how often we go up there. Doesn't look safe," she told him.

"That's true. Let's just grab whatever we can find and bring it down."

Shai wrapped her hands around the metal railing and cautiously stepped on the step. She could hear it creak so she slowly brought her other foot up. Shai made her way little by little up the staircase. When she got to the top she turned around to watch Jasper do the same. It was comical to her to watch him take odd steps to avoid the weak part of the stairs.

Once he reached the top they started walking down the hallway. Their footsteps would crack, so Shai tried to step as lightly as she could. She knew that she'd never come up here again after and she knew Jasper thought the same way.

The first room Shai turned into must have been a bedroom before it was vacated. The pale blue walls were cracked. A large wooden dresser was tipped over and a large cobweb hung from the wall to the back of it. Shai walked across the stained carpet, which she assumed was blood, and walked over to the closet. She opened it up to see a rack full of clothes. Shai bundled them all up in her arms and threw it down the stairs.

"You should go see if there's any clothes for you in the other room," she told Jasper. "Throw everything useful down the stairs."

"Let's throw this down too," he said walking back into the room. He went to the bed and slid the mattress off. He grabbed the corner of it and pulled it out of the room and pushed it down the stairs. "It's a lot more comfortable than the floor."

"I won't argue with that."

They stripped the two other rooms upstairs of anything useful and threw it down the staircase. After that, they both made their way carefully down the staircase and never went up again.

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