Page 58 of Rite of Unity

Had Elias grown up playing with Sera and Lydia in this very park?

A girl fell, rolling across the grass.

I pressed my nose to the glass.

A boy rushed to her side, helping her to her feet.

I scratched the still-healing puncture wound in my arm absently.

She stood, dusting off her knees and handed him a dainty yellow flower.

“Flowers,” I mouthed as the tiny specks swarming the next hill stole my focus.

The car rolled to a stop in front of a row of buildings along the street.I glanced at my chaperone, but she stared straight ahead.

“Maryn Veil, daughter of Joel Veil.Exit.”

The door clicked open.

Outside, I turned back.“Are you not coming?”

The door closed before I’d finished my sentence, the car pulling away.

I stood outside the building we’d stopped in front of and stared up at half a dozen steps leading to a massive wooden door.It must have been reclaimed after the war.I’d heard of scrappers brave enough to go outside in search of items that had survived.

I couldn’t imagine what it must have cost the owner of this house.

But why had I stopped here?What was this place?

The last message I’d received on my tablet informed me I had passed my blood test and to pack my bag with everything I would need to complete the next phase of trials in the center.That was it.

The door swung open and Paul darted down the steps.

“Twelve!”

I hugged my bag tighter.

“I was second last time.You couldn’t call me Two?”

“Oh, she gets a little clearance and suddenly she’s sassy.”

Vera was tight on Paul’s heels staring me up and down.

Paul glanced over his shoulder.“You are so right, Vera,” he said in response to the thoughts written plainly on her face.“We’re losing daylight and she came dressed in a sack.

I glanced down at the gown I’d worn to the first social ball this year.“This is my nicest dress.”

Vera frowned.“I left four dresses at your house.Four.”

“I—”

“Let’s go.”Paul pointed up the steps.“We have fifteen minutes of light if we’re lucky.You’re the last one here.I want you changed and back outside in ten.Hustle!”

I raced up the steps, Vera leading the way to a winding staircase.We marched up; I was gasping by the time we reached the second floor.

“All the way to the end,” she called over her shoulder.

I huffed as I chased her to the last door and threw myself inside.