I started on my way towards B-6 with Blain only to be distracted by the changing colour on my Meter from green to orange. I stopped in my tracks and looked at my Meter in disdain.

All a lie, I thought, and I'll have to keep pretending it's true.

I looked to the Pied Piper officers which had kept pace a few steps behind the moving mass of teenagers, of which Blain and I were at the back.

"My Meter?" I said, holding my wrist up.

The officer nodded.

"Go on," he said.

I gave Blain a nod and he slowly nodded back, and then I went back towards the exercise area. For a moment I thought I was the only person in the exercise area. The huge empty space made me feel strangely grateful I wasn't all alone on the third floor. It was creepy with how bland and desolate it felt without people to fill it with warmth.

I spotted a familiar girl with blonde hair and a ponytail jogging on the far side of the exercise area. It was Sophie, the girl who I had seen over two weeks ago flirting with the Pied Piper officer and, later, who caused me to spill my hot cup of tea over myself. She had apologized profusely but neither of us had engaged in any genuine conversation.

Why not talk to her? I thought, you'll be jogging here for hours anyway.

I started jogging anti-clockwise keeping close to the walls, moving in the same direction as Sophie. If we both kept the same pace up neither of us would have the chance to speak to the other. It occurred to me she might prefer it to be that way so I for a while I maintained my casual jogging pace.

Interestingly I noticed my casual jogging to be far better than what it used to be. My general fitness had seen a marked improvement compared to when I had faced the dreadful treadmills back at Lintern's Gym. I wondered if it was an overall increase in my physical capacity, as if softly coiling without actually coiling, or if I just happened to be in better shape because if normal, no-powered me had exercised as much as I had over the last three weeks (even including the days where I did nothing but sit around and stare at the wall), then there had been ample time for me to improve my overall fitness.

Thwap, Thwap, Thwap.

It send a shiver down my spine to hear the sound of my footfalls on the exercise room floor beneath me. More than once I had nightmares about running endlessly in Lintern's Gym, and each clap of my plimsolls on the ground came as a soft reminder of what I had endured. Back then I really thought I was going to die; in fact, I still thought I was going to die these days for all manner of different reasons: death by Pied Piper officer, death by panic attack, death by exploding (which was newly crossed off the list of possible death options, thankfully), and death by being torn apart by some nightmarish creature which used to be another teenager at the facility.

The urge to enter into the coiled state returned with all the familiarity of an old friend.

No sir, I thought, not falling for that old chestnut; dire situations only, mate.

Jogging without being in the coiled state was far more of a chore. I did however pace myself easier and did let myself take walking breaks because, hey, I didn't have to worry about blowing up anymore, did I?

Because I took regular walking intervals it wasn't too long before Sophie caught up with me. This was part of my plan. She reached me slowed down. She made a show of trying to catch her breath, leaning forward. She was rotund when I first saw her at the facility but I could see now she had definitely lost some weight. Still somewhat chubby but much less so than before.

"Hey," I said, raising a hand.

"Hey," she said.

She stood upright and walked over to the wall. Then, oddly, she tapped the wall with her knuckles.

"What are you doing?" I said.

Sophie reached down to her left plimsoll and tugged at the back as if it was causing her both but I could see it obviously wasn't. She was doing it for show. She shot me a look and, thankfully, I understood she didn't want me to pry anymore into what she had just done. She set off again and I set off too, matching her pace.

I wanted to get a conversation started with her but, with the Meters picking up on everything we said, I had no idea how. This in turn meant I was matching her jogging pace but was also not saying a word. If it wasn't awkward for her it sure as heck was awkward for me.

"You know Tiff and Mikayla, right?" she said.

"Huh?" I said, then after a moment added, "Yeah, pretty well, I guess. Why, do you?"

Sophie nodded and smiled a little. She had started to sweat from the jogging with a line of sweat running down her temple.

"I met them for the first time the other day," she said, "Do you know Holly?"

Ah, I thought, have to try and be diplomatic.

"No," I said, "But I've heard of her. Do you know her?"

"Yeah," said Sophie, she picked up her pace and I matched it, and then she let herself slow to a walk and I matched it too.

"She does these cool mindfulness sessions," said Sophie, "She's trying to help us connect better with ourselves and others."

"Do you really believe in that crap?" I said, unable to help myself.

Sophie let out a genuine giggle.

"Nope!" she said, still smiling and using a hand to cover her mouth a little, "Sorry," she said, "I didn't think you'd be blunt like that."

"Yeah, my bad," I said, "Still, that mysticism stuff just seems very odd to me."

Sophie nodded again and then set off into another jog. Again I matched her pace. The urge to coil struck me yet again and to make it go away I jerked my head roughly like an etch-e-sketch to clear my head: it worked.

"Why'd you do it then?" I said.

"Something to do," said Sophie, "And she said, Holly figured out this really cool trick we can do with our powers."

I gave Sophie a questioning look. Several more teenagers also entered the exercise area to start jogging too. I had looked away for just a moment only to find Sophie had jogged off to the wall again and was tapping it with her knuckles at intervals. What was she trying to achieve?

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She made her way back to me before I could bother with nearing her. She seemed to be entertaining my company enough to make me feel like I wasn't being a creep keeping pace with her.

"So the trick," said Sophie, ignoring any explanation of what she had just done by the wall, "Is about increasing our hearing capacity. She likes to get us to do it at the start of each mindfulness session. Want me to show you?"

I had a feeling like there was more to what Sophie was saying to me than was obvious. She didn't want to just show me a cool trick, at least, I didn't think that was all she was trying to do. I felt like I was being edged towards the answer to a tough exam question by a teacher who knew the answer but wanted me to work it out myself. I didn't mind playing along.

"Sure," I said.

Sophie's face scrunched (cutely) in concentration and in a few moments her ears extended into points as if she were an elf. I erupted into laughter at the sight of her new elf ears. It was ridiculous, utterly ridiculous, but harmless enough too.

"Oo," said Sophie, wincing.

"Quieter please," she whispered.

"Ah," I said in a whisper, "Sorry."

Sophie gave me a thumbs up and we continued to jog, but it seemed we both started to make an effort to jog slower and quieter than before.

"Now you try," she whispered.

Did I want to? I considered the possible ramifications of using my power to extend my hearing. Given the situation I decided it was worth trying at least once. I concentrated and focused on increasing my hearing capacity, willing it to be greater. A few seconds after trying I felt the unlocking sensation and then, like surfacing after being underwater, a whole new range of sound opened up all around me. I couldn't keep the wonder from my face. I reached to my ears and could feel them having grown into pointy elf-ears too.

"Wow!" I said, and regretted it.

Both Sophie and I winced. Even talking a bit louder than normal was like something yelling into a microphone.

"Ah," I whispered, "They're sensitive."

Sophie nodded. The sound of both of our breathing was loud too, almost like being sat in a car with the heater on blast (if said heater only worked at intervals).

THWAP! THWAP! THWAP!

The sound of our jogging was on the cusp of being too loud. I could see however that Sophie was enduring it and there was still some purpose to what she was doing.

"Can you hear me?" she said.

"Yes," I whispered.

I looked to her and she said again.

"Can you hear me?" but this time her mouth moved and I knew for certain that if my ears were normal I wouldn't have heard what she was saying at all.

"Yes," I whispered again.

Her words sounded a little strange, given how quietly she was talking, because I wasn't meant to be able to hear her under normal circumstances.

"You can try and talk like this too. Imagine you're vocal chords are like a dog whistle," she said.

"I'll try," I said, and the way I spoke matched the way she spoke. It was as if we were simultaneously yelling and whispering at the same time.

We both smiled over my quick getting to grips with this new and very strange form of communication.

"Now these annoying Meters can't hear us," said Sophie, "It was worth enduring Holly's sessions just for this trick."

"This--is--genius!" I said.

"She might be onto something," said Sophie, "She's very good at---" Sophie huffed a bit as the jogging was taking its toll, "--at controlling her powers."

I felt a twinge of jealousy at hearing this. I thought I was doing pretty good at controlling my powers, too. Where was my compliment? It was a crappy thought but it did occur to me. I kind of wanted to show off my coiling state or my bulbing power just to show I could be inventive with my powers too. But there were much more important things to worry about than trying to impress a cute girl.

"So," I said, "Is there a reason we're whispering?"

Sophie nodded and sucked in a big breath before speaking.

"I heard about what happened with George," she said, "And what you did to try and stop it."

I felt like someone had swung a sledgehammer in my gut all of a sudden. I staggered for a few paces and then stopped, clutching my stomach.

"I'm sorry, are you okay?" said Sophie.

I shook my head in a 'no' gesture. It took me about a minute to breathe steady. Not too far away I spotted two Pied Piper officers, machine guns in hand, taking notice of Sophie and I.

"Think they're up to something?" said one officer. I could hear him as if he were right next to me, but he was so far away I doubted if I threw a pebble (in my normal uncoiled state that is) that it would be able to reach him.

"I'll check their Meters, see what they're saying," said the other officer.

"We're going to have to make small talk," said Sophie in her dog-whistle voice.

"Okay," I said back in mine.

"So," I said, speaking in a loud-ish whisper as we set off again, "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" said Sophie, talking in a loud-ish whisper back that was still quite loud to my elf-ears, "Just a girl from Hackney."

I did a mock double-take at her.

"Hackney?" I said, "I've heard its dodgy round there."

Sophie shrugged and picked up her jogging pace.

"Ears back to normal whilst we pass them," said Sophie in her dog-whistle voice.

Her ears went back to normal and I did the same with mine. The world seemed far less interesting to listen to. We passed the Pied Piper officers by. If I hadn't have heard them talking about us I would have thought they weren't really paying us much attention anyway. But of course they were. It was eerie how they managed to pay attention to us without being so obvious about it.

I waited for Sophie to bring back her elf-ears before bring mine back too. They weren't so pointed I would have worried about the officers noticing right away, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Why are you tapping the walls?" I said in my dog-whistle voice.

"Pass," said Sophie in her dog-whistle voice, "I'll tell you just not yet."

"Why?" I said.

"Just trust me," she said.

Trust? I thought, that had become a dirty word in my mind. I had trusted Tiffany to look out for me at the facility like I intended to look out for her, yet where was she now? A different group, new friends, with strange witchy beliefs. I shook my head like an etch-e-sketch again to stop myself from going down that melancholic mode of thinking. Now was my chance to talk to Sophie about what she was up to and I wasn't going to waste it moping about Tiffany and everything else that was going on at the facility.

"I saw you talking to that officer," I said in my dog-whistle voice, "The day I arrived."

Sophie didn't look shocked.

"I know," she said in her dog-whistle voice, "I saw you sitting in the corner."

I felt a bit caught out.

"Did you tell anyone?" she said.

"No," I said, "Nobody."

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," I said.

"Anything?" said the Pied Piper officer by the exercise area entrance.

"Nothing," said the other officer.

"I can't believe--you walked into--me the other--day," I said between heavy breaths in my normal voice in a bit of a panic, wanting to make a good show for the officers.

Sophie could hear them too. She winced at the loudness of my voice.

"Yeah," she said, normally, "My bad."

"He's trying to flirt and failing pretty bad," said the officer listening in to the other.

Both officers chuckled.

I felt my face go bright red and Sophie just looked away awkwardly. We jogged in silence for about half a minute after that one.

"So about--that officer," I said in the dog-whistle voice.

"Didn't get--very far," said Sophie in the same pitch, "Maybe--if I pushed things--more. But I wasn't--going--to do that."

She had made it seem as if she was quite into him at the time. He looked about ten years older than her and clearly interested in only one thing, and she had played into that enthusiasm like a femme fatale in the making. It was interesting to hear Sophie had drawn the line at that and not taken things further.

"I learned something," said Sophie, slowing her jog down to a walking pace and catching her breath, "--about this place."

"Yeah?" I said.

"It was meant to be an underground civilization for the rich and powerful," said Sophie, maintaining her dog-whistle voice. She came to a stop and lurched over again. Sweat dripped from her face onto the floor. It droplet hit like little explosion to my ears.

"The thing is," she said, "The levels we're on are just the top layer. It goes deeper."

"How deep?" I said.

There came a sudden beep from Sophie's Meter. It was showing green. She sighed (which sounded like a shrieking wind to my elf-ears), and then she returned her ears to normal. I did the same.

"To be continued," she said, "I'll be at Holly's next session. We won't be able to talk about this but, em, just so you know I'll, em, be there, okay?"

I nodded. Sophie set off at a jogging pace across the middle of the exercise area. I watched her jog away wishing our conversation hadn't stopped where it did. What was maybe even a little more surprising was how quickly we were on the same page about the most important topic: getting out of here. We seemed to be on the same wavelength about our intent that neither of us even really had to say that was what we were going for.

I started jogging again and asked myself a question I considered with much more weight than before; How deep did this facility complex go?