The next morning I woke up to Fearow and Dusk arguing. Like always. Ugh having twin siblings is hard. They are two years older than me. It is like yesterday never happened. But it had. The dance. The secrets. Dusk’s face when she said “being chosen.” A crash came from the hallway. “You can’t just ignore the system!” Fearow snapped. “And you can’t just obey it like a puppet!” Dusk shot back. I froze. That wasn’t just a normal argument. I got out of bed and walked toward the door. Something was wrong. Something had already started. “Xara you are awake ”Dusk said and turned around. Like nothing happened. I nodded. “Yeah” I said. Fearow looked at me and then he walked away. Like usual. “What is happening?” I asked. “Nothing” Dusk said. “Let's go eat breakfast” She took my hand. We walked past our father soldiers. They nodded at us when we walked past. When we came into the dining room we saw our father, mother, Fearow and our little brother Storm. “Good morning,” my father said. Not a question. A command. I sat down slowly, feeling the weight of the room settle over me. Something was wrong. And no one was going to say it out loud. “So Xara do you have any plans today?” My father asked. “Yes I am going to be with X-Avier, Rosey and Silver ”I said. My father’s gaze sharpened slightly. “X-Avier,” he repeated. My mother exchanged a quick glance with him. It was small—almost invisible. But I saw it. “That sounds… appropriate,” she said. I frowned slightly. “Appropriate?” “You should spend time with people who benefit your future,” my father added calmly. Benefit. I looked down at my plate, my appetite gone. From across the table, Dusk shifted in her seat. I could feel her watching me. “We’re just friends,” I said. Silence. Then my father smiled. But it didn’t reach his eyes. “Of course,” he said. What if I do not like guys. I thought. What if I want a girlfriend. I pushed away the thoughts and focused on my plate. My grip tightened around my fork. I didn’t dare look up. Not at my father. Not at my mother. People like them didn’t ask questions like that. They decided the answers. I swallowed hard and forced the thoughts away, shoving them deep down where no one could see. Where I wouldn’t have to see them. “Eat,” my father said calmly. I flinched slightly and nodded, focusing on my plate like it was the only safe thing in the room.
I waited outside the compound bulding for X-Avier, Rosey and Silver. As the daughter of the sektor leaders, I am not to be allowed this far away from my fathers head base. That is why I am dressed in cargo pants and a black tank top. On top of that a messy bun so no one would recognize me. Nothing like the perfect version of me they expected. Still… I kept my head down. Because if someone recognized me, this wouldn’t just be “breaking a rule.” It would be a problem. A serious one. A group of guards passed by the far end of the street. I turned slightly, pretending to check something on my wrist, my pulse quickening. Don’t look at me. Don’t see me. “You’re really bad at hiding, you know.” I spun around. X-Avier stood there, arms crossed, a faint smile on his face. “How did you know it was me!” I asked and stepped out from the shadow. “Your silver blonde hair” He said. “No one has that, except from you of course. Kind of hard to miss.” I groaned and pulled at the messy bun. “I tried to hide it.” “Yeah,” he said, glancing at me. “You really didn’t.” I crossed my arms. “Great. So anyone could recognize me?” He hesitated for a second. “Not anyone,” he said. “But the wrong person? Yeah.” My stomach tightened. “Relax,” he added quickly, lowering his voice. “If I found you, it’s because I was looking.” I looked at him. “That’s not as comforting as you think.” A small smile tugged at his lips. “We should move,” he said. “Before someone else starts looking too.” We started to walk. Until I heard someone shout my code name. We all have code names. So no one would know it is us. “Tilly, Maximus” Both me and X-Avier turned around. “Someone needs to change your code name” I said to X-Avier. “Hey!” he said. “I love the name Maximus!” “It sounds like you’re trying too hard.” “It sounds powerful,” he shot back. The two figures reached us. “You’re late,” Rosey said, slightly out of breath, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. Her eyes flicked quickly around the street—alert, always watching. “We had to make sure we weren’t followed,” Silver added calmly. He stood a bit behind her, quieter, but his gaze missed nothing. I crossed my arms. “You’re the ones shouting our code names in public.” Rosey grinned. “Relax, Tilly. No one here cares.” Silver didn’t smile. “That’s exactly the problem,” he said quietly. “If my father sees or hear about this” I said as we climbed on the roof. “We all are doomed, my father knows everyone!” The metal edge scraped under my hands as I pulled myself up. For a second, I just stayed there, catching my breath. The city stretched out beneath us. Endless buildings. Patrol lights moving in the distance. Too open. Too exposed. “Relax,” Rosey said, already walking closer to the edge like it was nothing. “He doesn’t know everyone.” “He knows enough,” I shot back quickly. Silver stayed a step behind, scanning the streets below. “She’s not wrong,” he said quietly. X-Avier sat down on the edge, like this was just another normal day. “If your father wanted us caught,” he said, “we’d already be caught.” I didn’t like how sure he sounded. A cold breeze brushed past us, making my hair slip loose from the bun. I stepped closer to them anyway. Because somehow…This felt more real than anything inside the compound.
“XARA!” I froze. Someone is shouting my name. I peeked down. Dusk and my mother! “Xara Mellody Medows!” my mother shouted. “You come out right now!” I looked at my friends. They looked scared. Super scared. My full name. She never used my full name unless it was serious. Really serious. I stepped back from the edge. My hands were shaking. I turned to my friends. Rosey wasn’t smiling anymore. Silver had gone completely still. X-Avier’s jaw was tense. They all looked scared. Really scared. “You need to go,” I whispered. “No—” X-Avier started. “GO,” I said, sharper this time. Because whatever was about to happen…It was meant for me. Footsteps echoed on the metal ladder. Slow. Controlled. No rush. That made it worse. I barely had time to breathe before my mother stepped onto the roof. Her gaze locked onto me first. Then… it shifted. To X-Avier. To Rosey. To Silver. She took everything in within seconds. “I see,” she said quietly. Silence fell over the rooftop. Even the wind felt like it had stopped. “So this is how you spend your time,” she continued, her voice calm—too calm. No one answered. I stepped forward slightly. “It’s my fault.” X-Avier moved at the same time. “No, it was—” “Silence.” The word cut through us instantly. My mother’s eyes returned to me. “You,” she said. “Inside. Now.” I didn’t move. “They didn’t do anything wrong,” I said, my voice quieter now—but steady. For a brief second, something flickered in her expression. Not anger. Calculation. “Everyone did something wrong,” she replied. Behind her, more footsteps approached. Guards. My heart started pounding again. This just got worse.
The room felt smaller than usual. I sat down slowly across from my parents. My mother folded her hands neatly in her lap. My father leaned back in his chair, studying me like I was a problem to solve. No one spoke at first. The silence stretched. “Do you understand what you did?” my father finally asked. I swallowed. “I went outside the compound.” “No,” my mother said calmly. “You broke trust.” That felt worse. I looked down at my hands. “It wasn’t a big deal.” “It is always a big deal,” my father replied. I forced myself to look up. “They didn’t do anything wrong. It was my idea.” My mother’s gaze sharpened slightly. “You are not responsible for protecting them,” she said. I hesitated. “Maybe I am,” I said quietly. That was the wrong thing to say. I could see it immediately. My father leaned forward now. “You are responsible for something far more important,” he said. My stomach tightened. “Your future,” my mother added. A pause. Then— “You will see X-Avier again,” my father said. “Under supervision.” My chest went cold. “And this time,” my mother continued, “you will behave appropriately.” “But we are just friends!” I said and looked up. My mother smiled. Not a warm smile. The kind that meant she already knew how this would end. “Of course you are,” she said gently. My chest tightened. “Friendship is a good foundation,” my father added. I shook my head. “That’s not what I mean.” “It doesn’t matter what you mean,” my mother replied softly. Silence filled the room again. I stared at her. “You can’t just decide that for me.” For a second—just a second—her expression changed. Then it was gone. “We already have,” she said. The words hit harder than I expected. My hands clenched in my lap. “You will spend time with him,” my father continued. “You will be seen together.” “And you will not embarrass this family again,” my mother added. I looked between them. There was no space left to argue. No space left to breathe.