The next morning Zain was awoken in his bed by Glimmer’s usual bells. Both him and Cameron vaguely remembered Bolton guiding them down the mountain and back into the car, but everything became hazy after that. Despite his desire to go back to bed, he felt much more confident than he had the night before. Apparently, so did Victoria, because she gulped down her breakfast like it was water and wanted to head over to the stadium immediately.

Bolton wouldn’t be allowed to see them until after the test, so all they could do was encourage each other and prepare themselves. Cameron looked especially down. It must have truly just hit him that he wouldn’t be testing.

“Good luck today,” he said once he finished eating. “I’ll try and cheer you on from the audience.”

Victoria pulled Cameron into an embrace and just as quickly let him go.

“By the end of today, we’ll be members of the Pacifem Resistance Organization.”

Cameron nodded, grabbed Zain on both sides and then aggressively said to him, “You’ll be fine. Last time was a mistake. Trust yourself.”

Zain furrowed his eyebrows and nodded. “After the test,” he said, “the first thing we’re doing is reporting Cleareye for abuse.”

Cameron parted from the group and ventured back to the dorm, where he would most likely read a book or sulk around until the test began.

“Recruits!” Cleareye yelled from the exit of the dining hall. “Come with me if you’re taking today’s test! If you’re not, feel free to do what you like.”

A large crowd of recruits followed her out of the doorway—it took a while for everyone to fit through.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly. Butterflies glided around flowers and bushes and here and there tiny lizards could be spotted basking in the sun. Over the babbling and thundering steps of the crowd, Zain, at the back of the swarm, heard his name being faintly called out. In a small courtyard looking area, a group of shadows loomed behind a thick bush, just under the trees.

“I’ll be right back, Vic,” he made sure Cleareye wasn’t watching him and then slipped away.

His family was more than thrilled to see him.

“It’s been so long!” his mother picked him up in a tight hug and kissed Zain on the head many more times than he would have liked. Afterwards, his siblings, father, and uncle each embraced him in a less squeezing manner.

“We’re proud of you, Zain,” Mr. Qureishi said warmly. “You can do this.”

“You were so cool when you jumped super high over those bad guys—even if you did fall off! I think today you can do it, Zain . . .” Sana yelled.

“Shh, quiet down, Sana,” Zain’s mother covered her daughter’s mouth for a moment. “We’re not supposed to talk to Zain.”

“Thank you, Sana.”

Zain grinned at her.

“I know a million people have probably told you this, but don’t get nervous. You have it in you,” Inaya said.

“Anyways, we know you have to get back to your friends so good luck. We’re going back to Totum with the rest of the people,” Mrs. Qureishi hugged Zain again. “So good luck, Zain. We love you.”

“Love you too.”

Zain rejoined the group after he was sure his disappearance had gone unnoticed.

“Just my parents . . .” he explained to Victoria. He felt guilty saying it, even though he knew he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

“Whether you pass or fail, today is the last day of your life as a PRO recruit,” Cleareye began, as usual. “Unfortunately, some of the equipment for the test is faulty, so we won’t be starting the test for another few hours. Please standby and be ready to begin at any time.”

“Equipment?”

Zain had almost forgotten: they were allowed to use the Dusters for this test.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

“I suppose now we should worry about why we can use Dusters on the strategy and intelligence test and not the combat one,” he said.

“Right.”

But they sat inside the banquet room for four hours unable to figure out anything when Cleareye returned. Everyone was in much more distress now, wondering what kind of equipment was being used if it took four hours to repair it.

“My apologies for the long wait. Team Leopard, please come with me. The test will be explained to you in the stadium.”

“All the spectators are probably home by now, with a wait this long,” Zain snapped.

There was nothing to do but wait. And so they did. When the first results came out, recruits all over the room gasped and gossiped to each other: it was red. Team Leopard had failed.

And so did Team Shark. And so did Team Elephant. And it went on and on until Evan’s team was the first to pass, of course. Cameron would have flipped a whole couch over if he was there—or maybe he would have just slandered Evan verbally in a more Cameron-like manner.

As more and more time passed, the room grew quieter and quieter as each squad left one by one. By the time the team before Seahorse took their test, only four teams had passed.

“As long as we pass, we’re in the PRO,” Victoria said. It was just her and Zain in the large, empty room now. “We don’t need to worry about speed.

“Team Seahorse,” Cleareye yelled—there really was no reason to yell. She was one of twenty people present.

“We’ve got this.”

“We do.”

“If you pass this,” Cleareye spoke as they marched towards the entrance to the stadium, “you will most likely be the fifth team in the PRO.”

She seemed rather unhappy about it.

“Good luck. You’ll need lots of it for your team to even make a mark.”

All of a sudden, the blaring clang of a bell shook the ground and the buildings alike. In the distance, a large crowd could be heard moving about and panicking.

“This must be part of the test,” Victoria whispered instantly to Zain. “Maybe they’re trying to trick us into thinking it’s a real life situation.”

“Get to the train,” Cleareye whipped around and stared the two of them down. “As fast as you can.”

“No. We’ll stay back—“

“This is not part of the test,” Cleareye was looking around for other mentors. “That’s the evacuation sound. Go.”

Victoria and Zain exchanged hesitant glances. The train had to be at least a minute or two away by running, and it was deep enough in the forest where you couldn’t see it on the outside. When they finally made it to the brink of the forest, all the recruits and mentors and other workers of Glimmer were there. It was a different train than the one they came in. Only about seven or eight cars, five of them allotted to recruits, two to mentors, and one to others.

All about, children and mentors were buzzing alike as they crowded into the train and worried about what could have happened.

“It seems no one was harmed . . .” Zain heard one mentor saying. “And there was no threat on the grounds of Glimmer. Maybe it’s a drill?”

From the center building, Cleareye could be seen catching up with them, carrying mountains of equipment in her arms. A couple of mentors ran over to help her out.

“I’ve taken out everything from the main building that might lead to the location of Totum,” she explained. “If this isn’t a drill and something is seriously wrong, we have to leave now.”

“This can’t be happening,” Victoria ran her hand over her face. “What on Earth is going on?”

“There’s no Pacifem,” a dull, tired voice said behind them: Cameron. “There’s no Pacifem here. Someone would have seen it. They’re evacuating us for another reason.”

“Where’s Bolton?” Zain said as he stepped into the train car. The room was almost completely filled, only one compartment was left.

“I saw him get into the mentor car. He made sure that we were in the crowd before he went, but I saw him.”

Zain slid open the door and let the other two in.

Up above, a conductor’s voice could be heard from overhead speakers.

“Everyone is on the train. Leaving for Totum now.”

Zain slid the door closed. Now all they could hear were each other. With a jolt, the train kicked off, and they were speeding through the forest. Within minutes, Glimmer was a mere dot in the distance, shining as the sunlight reflected off of the stadium.

“What’s going on?” Zain asked. “We were just about to take our test and see if we make it in.”

“If there’s no one over there, then why are we evacuating?” Victoria was twiddling her thumbs.

The other groups were now loud enough to be heard through the compartment walls, and in the hallway kids could be spotted roving about.

“We should open the door,” Cameron said. “To hear what they’re saying. Just in case any of them has some useful information.”

Of course, the only thing opening the door did was let the laughing and wailing of the other recruits in. They left it open nonetheless. Victoria threw her cloak off and onto the empty seat next to her.

“They have to be evacuating us for a reason.”

“But there’s not a single threat in Glimmer,” Cameron crossed his legs and thought. “What if they’re not evacuating us? The bells don’t necessarily say we’re running from danger. It just tells everyone to get on the train and leave.”

Zain shook his head and noted, “But they wouldn’t send us back if there was no threat in Glimmer. There had to be something.”

“What if they just want us to go back? What if we’re heading towards the danger? We’re the only ones who can fight.”

Victoria was about to rebut this, but the speakers overhead cracked for a second and then steadied to a constant low buzz.

“Attention, all recruits and mentors. We will have our train attendants give all of you a set of Dusters for your arms only, as you have no experience with leg Dusters.”

“Dusters?” Victoria said preposterously. “Why would we need Dusters?”

“Because I was right,” Cameron uncrossed his legs. His eyes were colder than Zain had ever seen them. “Listen.”

“Please prepare to use the Dusters soon,” the conductor continued. “Totum has been found by Pacifems. We are under attack.”

The train car went silent.