“Terra,” Faye whispered again, taking another step back.  She almost tripped on her own feet, all sense of balance lost.  She couldn’t think of anything—anything—but the girl in the cell.  “Terra.  Is it—is it really you?”

Faye watched as the girl’s eyes widened and she wrapped her hands around the bars.  “Faye,” she whispered, so lowly that Faye almost couldn’t hear her.  If it weren’t for her total concentration, the screams would have covered her words.  “Oh my—Faye.”

Faye fell forward, her hands curling on the bars.  She couldn’t believe it.  She just couldn’t believe it.  Terra was standing right in front of her.  Terra, who for the past seven years Faye thought to be dead. 

Nothing made sense anymore.

“This can’t be happening,” Faye said, feeling dread curl within her stomach.  “I saw your body—I saw it.”

Terra shook her head.  “No, Faye.  You didn’t.  I’ll explain everything later.  For now, I need you to get the key from Miranda.  Once I’m out we can get out of here, okay?”

She sounded exactly as she had seven years ago, Faye couldn’t help but think . She looked and sounded exactly the same.  It was like she hadn’t aged at all.  At all.  It didn’t make any sense, Faye’s mind kept saying.  No sense.  No sense.  No sense.

But it was happening.

Faye found herself nodding, and she was moving away from the cell when she heard a huge bang.  She spun around, her eyes wide as Miranda came storming in, her arms flailing as she ran.  Something had happened.  Something had happened to her.

“Miss!” she hollered as she came barreling closer.  She came to a stop in front of Faye, her eyes narrowing.  “Olyv, what are you doing here?  What are you doing here?”

Faye bit down the question as to why Miranda asked the question twice before trying to muster up a reply.  “I’m—”

“Miranda, we’ve been over this,” Terra said tiredly, dragging a hand down her face.  “This is not Olyv.  This is my sister, Faye.”

Miranda froze.  “You—you have a sister?”

“Yes.”  Terra paused.  “Miranda, I need you to unlock my cell.  Can you do that for me?”

Faye watched with surprise as Miranda nodded, pulling out the keys she’d taken from Courtnie’s office.  Was this the sole purpose of the keys?  Visiting Terra inside her cell?  How often had Miranda done this?  How often over the past seven years had Miranda come to visit Terra while she was stuck at home mourning the loss of the sister who hadn’t died.  How often? 

Miranda selected a key from the ring and moved forward, swiftly unlocking the cell.  Faye stared as her sister strutted out of the cell, still as confident as she had been before Faye was tricked into thinking she committed suicide.  “Faye,” she said softly.  “Oh my God, Faye.”

Faye rushed into her sister’s arms, squeezing her tightly as she was pulled closer.  Terra held her just as tightly, her chin resting on Faye’s head.  Faye felt tears burn in her eyes as she hugged her sister.  She knew thought she’d be able to do this ever again.  And it killed her.  But now?  Now she felt like anything was possible.  “I’ve missed you so much,” she wept into Terra’s shoulder.

“I’ve missed you too, hon.  More than you know.”

The girls pulled away and Terra held her out at arm’s length.  “You’ve grown up on me!” Terra said, smiling.  “What happened to the little girl who was scared of the beast on the other side of the Gate?”

“I have different fears now.”  Faye’s lips pricked into a smile.

Terra sighed, flashing another smile before letting her hands fall.  “As amazing as it is to see you, we need to get out of here.  Courtnie checks on me all the time, and if she catches us just standing here and chatting. . . .”

Faye nodded.  “Okay,” she said softly.  “Let’s go.”

The | Gate

Faye followed Terra through the Government building with a feeling that a huge weight had been thrown from her shoulders.  For the first time in a long time she could breathe again.  The ice shards that seemed to be permanently inserted into her skin had melted away, and everything seemed right again.  In that moment, nothing could go wrong.

Well, unless they got caught by a Government official.

“I need to make a stop in Courtnie’s office,” Terra said softly, glancing at Faye from the corner of her eye.  “Is that okay?”

Faye nodded.  Everything was okay with her.  Terra could have wanted to stand there and do nothing and Faye would have been all right with that.  Just her being there—that was good enough for her.  “Yeah,” she said softly.  “That’s fine.”

Terra smiled.  “You’ve grown up strong, Faye,” she said, tossing a proud look in her direction.  “I am so proud of you, you know that?”

Faye stared at her, not responding.  Strong?  Ever since she thought Terra died, she’d felt anything but strong.  She felt terrified and alone all the time.  Like everything was in her way and there was no way to get past it.  Like she didn’t want to move on no matter how badly she needed to.

And then Kole had changed that.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Terra said, the smile not leaving her face.  “Well.  You don’t have to.  But I know better.  Because I’ve seen you on the cameras.”

Faye’s mouth dropped.  “You’ve seen me on the cameras?” she demanded, keeping her voice as low as possible.  “But—I thought they were down—”

“Yeah, for Courtnie and Fortis.”  Terra snorted, flicking a hand through her hair.  “They thought that just because they locked me up that they could stop me from bringing their government down.  But they were wrong—obviously.”

“How long have you been doing this?” Faye asked.  “How long have you known about boys?”

“You know that night when you were crying in your room because you thought the beast was going to get you and I came in and told you that there was nothing to worry about?” Terra asked.

“Which time?” Faye asked, cocking an eyebrow.  “You did that a lot.”

“The first time.”  Terra winked.  “I knew about boys since then.”

Faye blinked at her.  The first time Terra came into her room and reassured her about the beast on the other side of the gate was two years before Terra had “died.”  For that long she’d been plotting against the Government, carefully planning its demise?  She couldn’t imagine how hard it was to keep that secret from her family for that long.  And to get thrown in jail because of it. . . .  “Wow,” she said softly.  She blinked back sudden tears as she murmured, “We really missed you, you know.”

Terra sighed, and Faye could see the real despair in her eyes.  She’d missed them as much as they’d missed her, Faye realized.  And something in Faye seemed to crumble.  How had it felt being confined in a cage for seven years with only your shattered thoughts for company?  Faye didn’t think she’d be able to take it.  “I know,” Terra replied softly.  “You have no idea how bad I feel for making you two hurt the way I have.  If I could turn it all around—”

“If you turned it all around then I would never have found out about what the Government is doing,” Faye cut her sister off with a shake of the head.  “I would have stayed scared my entire life and I wouldn’t have Kat.”

Terra brought an arm over her shoulder, squeezing her tightly.  “I told you that you grew up strong, hon.”

Faye was about to say something, but at that moment they reached Courtnie’s office and Terra pushed the door open and stepped inside.  Faye followed close behind, tossing nervous glances in all directions.  Where was Courtnie, anyway?  And where was this Fortis person?  And where were all the workers?  Was this place really that unguarded?

“Courtnie is probably trying to figure out how to fix the cameras,” Terra mused, moving toward the laptop sitting on the desk.  Faye’s eyebrows creased.  What was she doing?  “That gives me plenty of time.”

“What are you doing?” Faye asked as Terra took out what looked like a flash drive and stuck it into the laptop.  “Are you sure—?”

“I’m copying all of the information from Courtnie’s computer to mine,” Terra replied.  “And I’m sure it’s safe.  She doesn’t have alarm systems on her laptop.  She’s too cocky for that.”

Terra took a step back as the information copied itself, looking around.  “Wow, is this what she does when she’s pissed at me?” she asked, her eyebrows rising.  “That’s flattering.”

Faye watched as her sister ambled around the room.  She still had that confident bounce in her step, still had that bright look in her eyes like she knew something you didn’t.  She still carried herself like she was the most powerful human in the world.  Nothing about her had changed.  Nothing. 

Faye knew she’d missed her sister, but she didn’t realize just how much until this moment.  She knew that just the thought of Terra killed her inside, but now seeing her . . . it was like her entire heart had been ripped from her chest and thrown back inside.  It was like her entire life had been redeemed.  Like she’d gained another chance.

“Oh!” Terra exclaimed suddenly, clapping her hands in delight.  “Faye, come here!”

Faye blinked and hurried over to where Terra was standing.  There was a rack of movies in front of her—movies she didn’t recognize.  Terra was flipping through them like she’d seen them all, though Faye couldn’t imagine how.  She’d been in prison after all.  “They’re movies,” Faye said blankly.

“Oh, my dear sister, I bet you have great grades in school.”  Terra winked.  “Of course they’re movies.  But look at them.”

Faye pulled one out and stared.

27 Dresses it read.  Faye flipped it over and stared even more.  There were both boys and girls there—together.  And it seemed so right.  So, so right.  “They’re together,” she whispered.  Her eyes locked with Terra’s before she turned back to the movie.  “Boys and girls.  They’re together.”

Terra nodded.  “They used to live together side by side.”  She sighed dreamily.  “Romance, ah, I love it.”  She took the movie from Faye’s hands and grinned.  “We’re watching this tonight.  The guys might hate it, but you’ll love it, I promise.”

“Why would the guys hate it?” Faye asked, not understanding.  If it were a movie with both boys and girls it would obviously be interesting, right?

“Because this is a chick flick,” Terra said as though that made it obvious.  Faye continued to stare.  A chick flick?  What the heck was a chick flick?  Faye just didn’t understand.  “Boys hate chick flicks because they think they’re girly.  It’s a thing that makes men stupid.”

“What makes them girly?” Faye inquired.  Girly?  She’d never really imagined stuff not girl except for the boys themselves. 

“The romance.”

“What’s romance?”  Faye’s eyes were wide.  How did Terra know all this?  It was one thing to know about boys, but all of this other information?  Where did she get it? 

Terra moved back to the desk, setting down the DVD and tapping her fingers on the desk’s surface.  “It’s almost done,” she announced, her eyes locked on the laptop.  Her eyes flicked up at me and she smiled.  “And romance is something that happens between boys and girls.  It’s love in a different way.”

Love in a different way?  What was that supposed to mean?

“You should probably call Errika and that boy,” said Terra as she came to stand in front of her.  “Courtnie and Fortis are sure to notice something is up soon.  They visit my cell like all the time.”

Faye nodded, pulling her phone out of her pocket and dialing Kole’s number before bringing it to her ear.  She knew she should call Errika first, but Kole had more people to call afterwards.  Errika just needed to hurry over.  This was the most efficient way.

“Faye?” Kole whispered.  “Is everything okay?”

“We need to get out of here,” Faye replied.  “Everything is fine.  Just call Alex and everyone else and hurry to our meeting spot.”

“Okay.”

Faye hung up the phone and quickly dialed up Errika’s number.  Errika picked up on the third ring.  “Faye, you didn’t call and I got worried.”

“Sorry,” Faye said softly, her eyes flicking to Terra as she pulled the flash drive out of the computer.  “I got . . . distracted.”

“By what?” Errika demanded.  “Something happened.  What is it?”

“You’ll see when we meet.  I can’t risk you getting loud right now.  Get out of the building and go to the meeting spot.  I’ll see you soon.”

“All right—are you sure everything is okay?”

“Everything is fine,” Faye assured her, smiling brightly.  “It’s more than fine.  I promise.”

That was all Errika needed because she hung up.  Faye pocketed her phone and sighed.  “Are we ready to go?” she asked, her attention turning back to Terra as she slipped the flash drive into her pocket.  “Do you have everything?”

Terra made a small noise and hurried back to the desk, grabbing 27 Dresses and waving it in the air.  “Can’t forget my all-time favorite movie, now can I?”  She laughed.  “Now I’m ready.  Come on, let’s get out of here.”

The | Gate

“How’s Mom doing?” Terra murmured as she and Faye made their way down the desolate hall. 

Faye’s eyes widened as they flicked to her sister.  Terra was staring straight ahead, expressionless.  It was like she couldn’t bring herself to feel the pain of how their mother reacted to her “death” and how she turned out.  It was like she was shielding herself from Faye’s reply.  “Mom is fine,” she assured her sister with a smile.  “She adopted my sister Kat, and she’s just as cheerful as she used to be.”

Terra smiled, relief clear in her eyes.  “That’s good,” she said softly.  “That’s good.” 

“It is good.”  Faye smiled.  “She’s the best mom anyone could ask for.”

Terra blew air out through her teeth.  “How did you two handle what happened?” she asked.

Faye paused before answering.  Did she really want Terra to know the amount of heartbreak that she and her mother had been through since that day seven years ago?  Did she really want Terra to know how close she came to hating her sister for leaving them the way she had?  Did she really want Terra to know anything about the conflicted feelings she had inside?  “It’s been hard,” she admitted.  “Really hard.  After a while we stopped crying and just hid the subject away.  We didn’t talk about it, but it was still there.  All of your stuff is still in the attic.  We couldn’t get rid of it.  Even though we never talked about you anymore, you were on our minds every single day.”  Faye sighed, feeling tears burn in her eyes.  “Well, you were on mine at least.”

Terra brought a hand through her hair.  Whether that was what she wanted or expected to hear, I wasn’t sure.  But she didn’t look shocked.  “I’m sorry for what happened,” she murmured.  “And for the pain I’ve caused you two.  You must have been so confused.”

“They told us you killed yourself,” Faye whispered, her eyes desperately trying to reach through Terra’s, to find the answers.  “The police women came to our house.  Mom was crying.  She told me to stay at the house with Errika, but I couldn’t.  I knew something was wrong, and I couldn’t understand why you weren’t there because you always were.  So I followed them.  And I—” Faye sucked in a shaky breath, wiping away a tear that was threatening to shed.  “I saw your body.  Well. I guess I didn’t see your body.  It must have been a dummy.  A way to trick us into thinking you were dead—”

“It wasn’t a dummy.”  Terra shared a sad glance with me.  “She was a real girl.  But she wasn’t me.”

“What do you—?”

Terra cut her off, slapping a hand over her mouth and pushing her against the wall.  Faye watched with wide eyes as a group of people shuffled by in the hall ahead of them, their heads bent toward the ground.  What they’d just endured, Faye wasn’t sure.  But it possibly couldn’t be anything good.  “They’ve just taken the health class,” Terra whispered into her ear.  “They’re going to stay straight, back toward their cells.  Which means that the guards are going to check cells soon—Courtnie’s orders.  Which means that they’ll notice mine is empty.”

Faye felt dread drip down her throat, into her stomach and spreading its way through her.  What would happen when they found Terra’s cell empty?  What lengths would they go through to get her back? What would they—?

Faye’s thoughts reached a stop as she spotted a person at the end of the line.  He was snapping pictures and talking to the guard in charge of the group. 

Kole.

“Isn’t that the boy?” Terra asked, her hand still on top of Faye’s mouth.  It was like she was afraid Faye would scream.  Faye couldn’t blame her.  The last time they’d seen each other, Faye had screamed at everything.  Everything.

Faye nodded.  Somehow he’d found a way to get passed the guards and even inside with them.  How the hell had he managed that?  She’d have to ask him later.

“Well, he must be on his way out,” Terra spoke to herself.  “He must be smart if he managed not to get caught by Victor.”

Victor?  Faye’s eyes reached the Government worker, noticing his build and how intimidating he was.  And apparently he wasn’t stupid.  How Kole managed not to get caught was beyond her, but that didn’t matter.  What mattered was that Kole was okay.  Hopefully everyone else was, too.

The | Gate

“Oh my—oh my—oh my—”

Faye smiled as she stood next to Terra, watching Errika’s reaction.  They were the only three out here, but they wouldn’t be for long.  Soon Kole would be back, along with Terence, Seth, and Alex.  But, for now, the two girls had their own time with Terra.  And that was good.  Because they were in need of it.

“Hey, Errika,” Terra said, her teeth gleaming as she smiled.  “You went and grew up on me, too.”  She looked between Faye and Errika, making a noise of disapproval through her teeth.  “You weren’t supposed to do that, girls.  You were supposed to stay my little seven-year-olds forever.”

“You’re—you’re alive,” Errika exclaimed as quietly as she could, throwing her arms in the air.  “How is this—possible?”

“The Government likes to make things seem different than they are,” Terra replied, her smile turning cool.  “But I’ll explain everything once we get out of here.”  She held open her arms.  “Come here.”

Errika threw her arms around Terra, squeezing her so tightly that Faye feared that Terra was going to burst.  She wondered if she hugged her sister that hard, if not harder.  Maybe she had.  Either way Terra didn’t seem to mind.  In fact, she hugged back just as tightly.

“Who is this?”

Faye spun around, her face breaking into a bright smile as she spotted Kole.  He was staring at Terra with guarded eyes, like he thought she was going to turn them in at any moment.  Little did he know that that was the last thing she’d do.  “Kole!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him.  “You’re okay.  I saw you with that official dude, and I was worried you’d get caught.”

“He thought I was a reporter on the class,” Kole said softly, hugging her back for a moment before pulling away.  He gestured with his head in Terra’s direction.  Terra and Errika were done hugging now and were watching Kole and Faye with lit up expressions on their faces.  “Now who is this?”

“Kole,” Faye murmured, taking a step back and taking ahold of Terra’s hand.  Terra held it tightly, shooting a smile in her direction.  “This is Terra.” 

Kole blinked once, twice, three times.  Something in his head didn’t seem to be clicking, and Faye couldn’t say that she blamed him.  One minute she was saying that the Government murdered her sister because she knew too much and the next she was holding her hand and introducing them.  He must have been so confused.  “Terra?” he asked blankly.

Faye nodded.  “You know how we thought the Government murdered her to shut her up?  Well, we were wrong.”

 Kole blinked again.  “But you saw her body—”

“It wasn’t mine,” Terra said, finality in her voice.  “Their use of her body obviously did its purpose if it convinced all of you that it was me.  But it wasn’t.  I’ve been locked away in the prison wards for the past seven years.”

Kole opened his mouth to say something, but in that moment Alex, Terence, and Seth appeared, gawks on their faces.  All at once they began demanding who Terra was and why she was with them when she could expose them to the Government.  At that Terra laughed, pointing at them and shaking her finger between her giggles.  Faye had to laugh, too.  Terra, exposing them to the Government?  Even if she didn’t know about boys she wouldn’t have done that.  Not to Faye.  Not to anyone.

“This is Terra,” Kole explained to his friends and brother, holding up his hands.  “Faye’s sister.”

“But—you told us she was dead, Faye—”

Kole’s glare cut off Seth before he could start shooting accusations her way.  Faye didn’t doubt that he would turn it into a case where she was plotting against them, waiting for them to make the wrong move before turning them in to Courtnie without looking back.  He didn’t like her much.  “Obviously,” Kole drawled, gesturing from Faye to Terra, “there has been a misunderstanding that Terra will clear up later.  For now I think it’s best if we get out of here.”

Terra nodded, agreeing with him.  “They’ll notice I’m gone soon.  Really, really soon.”

“Then we should probably get going.”

It was Alex.  He moved ahead of the group, gesturing toward the forest.  And just like that they were all leaving, careful not to make too much noise to disrupt the utter silence around the Government building. 

And once they were far enough, they were running.  Running carelessly through the underbrush, not caring how loud they were.  It didn’t matter.  According to Terra the Government relied completely on the cameras to guard the forest from the people of Cesve, and without them they were almost completely powerless.  The boys demanded to know how she knew that, and her answer was simple: She’d been in the Government building for almost ten years.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, they reached the Gate.  Seth, Terence, Alex, and Errika immediately started climbing, hastily trying to get as far away from the Government building as they possibly could.  Faye and Kole paused though, watching as Terra looked the Gate up and down. 

“Are you going to stay on this side?” Faye asked, breathless from the amount of running they’d done.

Terra nodded.  “It would be the smartest way.  Courtnie thinks she knows me.  She’d assume that I’d come on the boys side because she’d look on the girl’s side.  And she thinks that since I know she’d look on the boy’s side that I’ll just stay on the girl’s side.  So she won’t look as hard for me over there.”

Faye blinked, not sure if she understood what Terra meant or not.  Terra grinned, shaking her head and wrapping her hands around the metal of the Gate.  “Come on, Faye.”

Faye gestured for Kole to follow before beginning her way up the Gate.  For once the sense of fear that she would fall didn’t come.  It was like all of her fears fell away now that Terra was here.  It was like she somehow knew that everything would be okay now that she knew Terra’s body didn’t end up deformed beyond repair.  She wouldn’t fall and end up like her.  Because she was fine.  She was strong, fiery, and alive.

She was alive.

And that was all that mattered.  No matter what happened to her now, her sister was alive.  She didn’t leave her and her mom alone because she couldn’t handle life anymore.  No, she’d been trapped, wanting to come home to her.  Missing her.  This entire time Faye feared her sister didn’t love her as much as she thought.  But it was just the opposite.

“So where are we going?” Terra asked once everyone’s feet were on the ground of the boy’s side.

“My house,” said Alex immediately, taking the authority role yet again.  He glanced at Seth and said, “Seth, call Zander.  Tell him this is an emergency.  He can bring Zach if he wants.  But we need him there.  He has to hear what has to be said.”

His eyes turned to Terra.  “We want to hear Terra’s story.  All of it.”

And then he turned, heading back toward civilization.

With one glance around the group, Faye and the others followed, silent as they continued toward the city beyond.