☁  ☁  ☁

Jasmine.

With the mention of that name, Kate was reminded of her old friend's warmth and kindness. But moreso of her absence. She hadn't quite felt it before but now that they had found Flynn, Jasmine's absence was achingly clear. It left a hole inside the group of three, like an oil rig on a scarred landscape. 

At that very moment, Jasmine was both haziness and clarity all at once. 

Kate didn't reply to Flynn's question, deciding instead to talk to someone ahead of her, to find out exactly where the group of Purifier trainees were heading. She would try to distract herself with revenge.

Some refused straight away to talk with Kate. Others would begin a conversation but timidly stopped replying as soon as she mentioned the lakes. They weren't prohibited to talk of water, but, more often than not, it was too risky to engage in conversation about it. Fearing they would slip up and mention plants or animals, most preferred to ignore the subject all together.

It was a gloomy state of preferred ignorance for most of the people in the Lake District. And it had remained that way for years. The children were the only ones you had to watch out for. They were the ones who were most likely to possess such recklessness optimism.

"Jasmine wasn't with us. When we escaped," Tom explained to Flynn, drawing a veil over his own sadness.

"Oh crap," Flynn remarked. The way the swear word emerged from his throat confidently, and swam in the air under his oxygen mask, conveyed how he wore his age well. "Jasmine could be anywhere. She could even be-"

"Don't," Kate snapped, knowing precisely what Flynn was alluding to. She stubbornly refused to be told about the present danger Jasmine could be in. For when something was spoken it wasn't just a possibility anymore- it was much more real.

Kate turned back to the one of the only people who she had managed to convince to talk with her. She made sure to shake off any anxiety, so that she could focus on the task at hand.

*

"Pardon me," Kate tapped a rather tall looking woman on the back. "Sorry to bother you again. I was just wondering if you know whereabouts we're heading to?" Kate inquired, after shoving past a few young grumbling Purifier trainees, so that she was nearer to the edge of the group.

"I do," the woman admitted, looking Kate up and down. "and I should tell you because?" She crossed her arms, continuing to observe the girl with a scrutinized gaze, from under her lengthy black fringe. Her bangs nearly completely covered her left eye, making the glasses that clipped onto her oxygen mask look rather peculiar indeed.

"Well see, I'm new here..." Kate began, formulating a pitiful story. "And I'm awfully scared Miss," she said in a tender wavering voice. "I don't know anyone. I don't know what a Purifier is. I don't know where I am. I just don't know what to do," she squeezed her eyes closed, forcing tears of seeming desperation to trickle down her face. 

"Oh no, don't cry." Her previous judgmental disposition faded under the pressure.  

Ha, you watch me Kate thought smugly. 

Kate's forged sniffles erupted into wails and she buried her head in her hands. The guards on the outer perimeter of the group had noticed the disruption. Having noticed their approach, the lady became more desperate. "No. Please just shh," she said. "You're making a scene." 

"Cleo! What have you done now?" whispered a woman with a face as plump as an unmodified berry, who walked closely adjacent to Cleo. When Kate brought her head out of her hands she noticed that two of them were older than most of the other trainees. They must've been in their early twenties. 

"Nothing. Nothing!" Cleo argued - glancing around guiltily. 

"What's wrong sweetheart?" asked the chubbier woman, in a much friendlier way than her counterpart. 

"I just wanted to know where we were heading and what's going on," Kate innocently gazed up at the woman. 

"Lake Descent. We'll split off from there. Then each group will take the Vessel to wherever it is the government wants us to be to carry out the Purification. There's no need for sobbing."

Ah-ha

Kate noticed a guard following beside her a few feet away. He was far too close, and so she stopped crying. They waited for the guard to deem their situation legal before continuing to talk. "See. All you need is a little kindness," the woman said to the other in triumph.

"Thank you so very much," the girl said, wiping her nose on her arm. "I'm Kate," 

"Well it's a pleasure, Kate, to actually talk to someone apart from Cleo for once," said the woman, cheekily. Then she nuzzled her partner with her mask. 

"Hate to break it to you Sam, but we are married," Cleo said with a roll of her eyes. She turned to face her partner, putting their foreheads together. It was common for people to do this as a sign of affection. Kissing, was no longer possible in the constricting masks- so any form of personal contact between lovers was treasured.

"You know the type of person- like a cooked marshmallow? Hard on the outside. Warm and fluffy on the inside," Sam explained to Kate, gesturing to Cleo. Kate laughed in response. 

"Nice to meet you," Cleo shook Kate's hand, choosing not to bother sticking up for herself. 

Once Kate had waved goodbye Cleo regarded her with interest as she disappeared into the crowd. "I'm sure I've seen that lass before..."

"She was broadcast-ed," Samantha agreed in a concerned tone of voice, remembering many years ago, when Kate's freckle flecked face, along with three others had appeared on their screen for a special announcement. It wouldn't be until later that day that Sam would remember the four children had featured on the deceased list for nature treachery.

*

"I've been trying to find you guys for almost a year," Flynn aimed to tell the both of them, though only Tom was regarding him with his complete attention. Kate had become surrounded in the crowds of people ahead of them. "I even checked in with your families but got nothing. They all thought you were dead,"

Maybe it'd be better off that way, Tom found himself thinking. His brother Jack must've believed this, judging by his hostile treatment of Tom. 

"Even Jasmine's Aunt hasn't seen her, and you know how close they were- I mean are. We have to keep looking!" Flynn's determination must've come across in the loudness of his voice because someone walking behind him sighed in disapproval.

"It's not possible to find her, Flynn. Jasmine was always so honest- uncomplicated. If she's not at home she's not in the Lake District at all," Tom explained to Flynn, who shook his head.

"Well where could she be? Maybe we should search somewhere else."

"Anywhere, " Tom said, gesturing to the cloudless sky. The great expanse was a steely blue colour and affected your eyes in the same way real steel would, under the scrutiny of bight light. "Besides now that we're in the Purifiers we have to stay there. Where we're safer. Even if it's for today. The guards would suspect us if we just ran away. I'm not about to take that chance. Neither should you."

No sooner had Tom mentioned the Purifiers than they approached the largest of the Lakes in Windermere. They could see flashes of it in between limbs of the people in front. And as these people turned the corner towards the Lake markets, the view cleared. 

Tom recognised it almost immediately- Lake Descent, it was named. For if you were ever brave enough to look into the acidic depths, no bottom could be seen. Even when the water was unfathomably still. 

T'was a commonly held belief that, had you been unlucky enough to fall into that Lake, not only would your skin be ripped from your bones by the acid, but your lifeless body would sink down and down further still. Until the earth itself would be just a spec as you fell out of the end, and into the infinite abyss of darkness in silken space. 

Tom whistled in recognition of it's sheer volume and size. It stretched across the east coast of their district and was tinged with shocking green.

"You know Tom... you seem different..." Flynn stated, not taken aback by the lake that he'd seen so many times before. 

"Been through a lot," Tom mumbled, finding that Flynn's laid back attitude made him much easier to talk to than Kate. 

The girl of which, Tom thought, was probably wandering slightly ahead, wearing a calculating expression that Tom regretted knowing so well. For he was normally at the receiving end of it.

"That sucks." Flynn moved Tom's hair from out of his eyes. "Hey! They gave me these in the facility..." he took out a pot of pills lazily and held them towards Tom. "Maybe they'll help you?"

The pills rattled around in the purple pot that was half concealed by Flynn's boney fingers. Tom frowned. Those look like the pills I took. He recalled how they had nearly corrupted his mind. No wonder Flynn's abnormally relaxed with his inability to function properly, he mused.

Tom wrenched the pills from Flynn's hand's and chucked them into the lake's waters.

"Why would you do that! That's real low." Flynn wined, feeling betrayed. He watched as the pills dissolved in the dangerous water. 

"I took those in the facility. They almost turned me into a drone." Tom said in an unidentifiable emotion. He wasn't quite sure whether he preferred to be with or without the tablets. Without the tablets he saw things. Things that were getting harder to ignore- like ropes, clenched fists and the planks of a ship. 

The use of the tablets was finally making sense in Tom's head now that his head was clearer. They were to suppress the side effects of the experiment- to make it seem as if their experiment was of the normal kind. If there were less side effects, then their ability to breath could be seen more as a gift than a punishment.

"I didn't actually take them anyway!" Flynn explained to Tom "They were just for emergencies..."

"So you don't have any side-effects then?" 

"Pfft. Side-effects? You're joking aren't you?" Kate burst through the crowds and Flynn twitched in surprise. It was strange, Flynn never was the fricative type.

Kate interrupted their conversation. She looked as though she'd been running.

"I've found out where we're heading! Boy, you guys are lucky to have me," she announced vainly. "It's Lake Descent."

"Good one Kate." Flynn nodded, smiling approvingly. "Sorry I thought you already knew that's where we Purify the water." Kate crossed her arms in disappointment. She wanted to be the one who found out about the Purifiers.

"Why would you know that, Flynn?"  Tom asked, frowning whilst they walked against the edge of the lake, towards the markets. He didn't remember Flynn ever explaining the Purifiers to them when they were younger. 

Look how cool indecisive- 's book cover she made of my story!! She's makes really great covers and is writing lots at the moment- Hidden is her most recent work. Check her out!

Hopefully you loved this chapter:) It's been one of my favourite to write so far. I just love explaining life for the people in the District of Lakes for you guys. I never thought what started off as such a simple idea could turn into this massive place in my mind. Your imagination is freaking awesome omg- never lose it. 

Can we just appreciate how beautiful the voices of the Staves are? So natural and gorgeous. 

P.S Apologies for this chapter being slightly late but it had to be the best I could do before it was uploaded. Have a lovely Friday! (or other-day depending on where you're from.)- hippywitch