Isolating the cables took me more time than expected. Cutting the protective suit wasn't easy, and every time I came near the fire, smoke seeped my lungs like poison. I was weaker every minute. I had to be quick.

I surrounded the torched reactor with furniture to contain the fire, moved all the other electrical devices far away, and then wrapped the City's repeater in torn pieces of the acid rain suit, securing it all with electrical tape.

After several minutes of isolation, I touched the wires, and they were less warm. My plan seemed to be working. It was time for me to leave. I looked outside and realized the storm had almost ended. Still, some drops were falling here and there, and the sky was not clear yet, but I could not wait any longer. I needed clean air.

I clutched the ladder, took a deep breath, and started descending. The void below was more visible now, and far scarier. Still, going down felt easier than climbing up. Maybe it was because I knew Heather was safe, perhaps because I'd managed to isolate the City's repeater, or because now I was pretty sure Kate wouldn't kill me. Well, not completely at least.

Once my foot touched the ground, I realized how exhausted I was. My legs felt like lead, and my arms hung like weak threads I could barely move. Running was out of the question, so I walked to the Narval House.

Suddenly, a sharp sting, almost like a bee's bite, followed by a searing sensation hit my shoulder. My gaze snapped to the spot. It was a drop from the storm. I wiped it away. Acid rain...The name didn't do justice to the effect. Toxic knives rain would suit it better.

I kept walking and again, another sting and the searing sensation, now on my head. I looked up. The storm had ended, but there was still a dark cloud that was moving quite fast due to the wind. I tried to rush, but the mere attempt to force my body choked me.

Another drop hit my ear, and another my hand. The cloud was closer. I needed to find a refuge soon. I looked around searching for possible options. The area was desolate, except for a weak tree that was about five hundred meters from me. It was the only place, so I focused all my strength on reaching it. The rain multiplied in a matter of seconds, and before I could get there, I was already feeling my body drilled with thousands of needles. The pain came in waves like in an agitated ocean, first getting stronger, then easing up, only to come back even harder.

I forced my body one last time and sped up, even though my lungs felt dry. Just as the tree was a few meters in front of me, a coughing fit took over. Damn it. My legs gave out, they couldn't hold me anymore and I crashed to the ground. Okay, no responding legs. Now I felt sleepy. No. I couldn't pass right in front of the tree. No way. I crawled. I crawled with the last strength my arms had. Feeling the skin of my arms inflame with every stroke I made on the ground. I reached the tree and turned over facing the sky. That fucking dark cloud was over me. The rain intensified.

Suddenly, a crack tore through the air, and a massive branch plummeted close to me. Shit. The tree was dead, and the acid rain was finishing with it. More branches rained down.

I couldn't stay there but at this point, where would I go? My legs weren't responding, and even if they did, running under acid rain was a suicidal mission. Yet, staying would mean being hit by a branch.

A loud cracking sound erupted from the trunk, and a deep gash spread from the base of the tree to its crown. It was over. The tree split in two, each half crashing toward opposite sides. I closed my eyes, ready to bid farewell to this cruel world. Who would miss me? Michael didn't know where I was. Erik didn't either. And the rest? To them, I was just another outsider. A crazy outsider who thought it was a brilliant idea to play hero and leave the house during an acid rainstorm. Of course, no one followed me. Why would they? None of them would care if I disappeared.

I closed my eyes.

Dark.

Something grabbed me and pulled me far from the tree.

"Grace, stay awake!" Someone wrapped me in a blanket and carried me.

I recognized that voice.

"Grace! Don't you dare fall asleep, alright?!" I opened my eyes and saw her. Kate wearing a protective suit, had wrapped me in the same kind of material and carried me. A couple of meters away there was Emma parked, Heather's airship.

"Come on, tell me something Grace." She said while taking the last steps to the airship.

"Do you hate me?" I mumbled weakly.

"I do. But don't fall asleep, okay? I need you in top shape to kick your ass in the combat exam."

I smiled.

Kate left me in the copilot's seat, and as she boarded the airship, my vision blurred.

Darkness engulfed me again.

"Sissy! Sissy! Sissy!" The mocking voices of several kids echoed across the woods. An eight-year-old Michael was in tears. It was snowing. At that time, there was still snow in Oakvale.

"Look at those eyelashes! Are you sure you're a boy?" The biggest kid, Korrin, was always messing with Michael. Especially in winter, because snowflakes tended to accumulate on the beautiful, long eyelashes Michael naturally had.

"Are you listening to me?" Korrin continued.

I watched the scene, my legs swinging from a tree branch a few meters away.

Come on, Michael. Kick him.

The other kids kept yelling around him. Michael didn't answer, didn't move.

"What's that, lash princess?" He grabbed Michael's backpack and took a handmade doll from the inside.

"Give it back!" Now he reacted.

Good.

"Oh. So she can talk!" The kid's laugh echoed through the trees. "Come on, lash princess, take your pitiful doll." Michael lunged for it, but at the last moment, Korrin threw it to another kid standing nearby. More laughs.

Come on Michael. Kick them all.

Michael ran from one kid to another, desperately trying to get his doll. But they were faster. When Korrin got the doll back, Michael leaped at him, but Korrin pushed him back with a kick to his stomach which sent him crashing to the snowy ground.

Shit. Stand up.

Michael didn't stand up. He grabbed his stomach, his eyes closed in pain. Korrin walked over.

"I can turn you into a boy." Korrin sneered, sitting on him. "Hold him." He said to the other kids, who, without hesitation, came over and grabbed Michael's hands and legs.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Michael move!

"Say goodbye to these princess lashes!" Korrin lunged at Michael, prying his eyes open and trying to grab his eyelashes.

I leaped from the tree and rushed over. "Leave my brother alone!"

Korrin turned to me with a smile. "Oh, look, her tomboy sister has come to the rescue."

I rushed at him and sent a strong punch to his pathetic face. He fell to his back. His lower lip bleeding. The other kids left Michael and moved away from the fight.

Korrin stood up. "When I get The Call I'll send a drone to kill you both."

"I don't need a drone to kill you." I grabbed a stone from the ground. Michael still catching his breath, run to my back.

"Grace, leave him alone." He mumbled to me. I didn't listen.

Korring showed me Michael's doll, grabbing it from the neck.

"What's this?" He said putting a finger through a small ripped hole.

"Give me the doll back." I ordered him.

Korring kept pushing his fingers through the hole making it bigger until the doll started to tear apart.

"No!" Michael yelled.

I rushed to Korrin, jumped on him, and landed my stone on his head. Blood splattered.

"Have you lost your mind?" Robert, one of our keepers, came to me and pushed me away.

Korrin cried like a baby as he covered the bleeding wound with his hands.

"Grace Haynes. I'm going to talk to your parents!"

Three hours later, Mom and Dad arrived from the food recollection and found us waiting next to Naomi, the Kids Keeper coordinator in Oakvale.

"Well, as you can understand, we cannot tolerate such behavior. Grace will be suspended for three days." She said.

Mom and Dad gazed at each other. As they always did when they were reading each other's minds. "Of course, we understand, but were where the adults when the kids were bullying Michael?" My mom asked trying to sound polite.

"Well, I don't know..." Naomi hesitated.

Dad sat up a little tighter before interjecting. "You don't know? So you can't tolerate a child defending another from bullies, but you can tolerate kids discriminating against another."

"We will address that issue with them as well, and they will receive an appropriate punishment." Naomi said.

"But our daughter will be the one suspended. I wonder how Michael will do with thoes kids around while his sister is gone, since apparently no adults are watching." My mom said ironically.

Michael and I were sitting on that familiar bench where we had sat so many times before. It even had our initials carved into it, and we added a line every time we returned.

"Grace..." Michael whispered to me. "I'm sorry."

"You have to learn to defend yourself." I said.

"I know."

"I won't be always there, you know?"

Michael gazed at me, panic written all over his face. "Why?"

The innocence of the question melted my heart. "I'm kidding. I'll always be there."

"You're the best sis." Michael said and leaned on his head to my shoulder, his broken doll in his hands.

Dad turned around and shushed us as Naomi continued talking.

"Look, we're doing it the best we can. This is not only about us. It's also about Grace. If we don't correct this behavior, Grace might never get The Call. We know violent people tend to have fewer possibilities."

"We don't care about that, we won't transfer. Grace and Michael won't either. I thought we had left that clear." Mom said.

Naomi paused and an uncomfortable silence sattled. "Still...I think they should have the opportunity to decide, in case you change your mind. Let her have the chance, at least."

"I don't see why we have to discuss this with you." Mom stood up repressing more than one word. "Okay, let's go, kids." She said gazing at us.

Dad stood up too. "Neither of you are coming back here."

The memory faded slowly as I regained consciousness. I opened my eyes. What had happened? White and gray walls. The soft hum of medical equipment. That sharp, sterile smell hanging in the air... A hospital. Something pressed against my face. I reached up and realized it was an oxygen mask, which I immediately took off.

As my body fully woke up, the pain followed. My skin was burning. I glanced at my arm, red dots all over it, like I'd been stabbed by a hundred tiny needles. I tried to sit up, but my entire body felt dead.

"Take it easy." A soft, familiar voice murmured from nearby. I turned my head and there, lying in the bed next to mine, was Heather. Her leg was wrapped in careful bandages, and under the faint glow of the room, I could see cuts on her forehead and a nasty burn creeping up her neck.

"Are you okay?! How are you?! What happened?!" I asked impatiently.

"Slow down, Grace." She said calm. "Everything's fine. We're fine."