"Carolina," says one of the Principles. "You can go home now. Thank you for your patience." I didn't realize I was sleeping until I woke up. I get up off of the bed and walk past the door and the Principle without saying anything. Chance Stanford is standing right outside the door when I walk out of the room which startles me to the extreme, but he doesn't care.

"Hello, Carolina," said Chance.

"Hello, sir," I say trying to sound polite.

"Don't worry," he says. "I'm not going to speak to you about what you have just learned because I have heard that Ms. Briar-Rose has told you everything you need to know."

"Yes, she has, sir," I say.

"Great," he says. "Now I'm just here to walk you out. Follow me." As he says this, he gestures his hand towards the hallway, indicating that we should start walking. We both start walking down the hallway side by side. "So, where did you get that anklet from?"

I almost completely forgot I was wearing the white-but slightly dirty-bracelet around my ankle that Rose gave me. I must have been so nervous that I forgot I was wearing it. It's funny really because Rose gave it to me to make me feel less nervous which clearly didn't work, but it was a nice thought. "Oh, um, my sister, Rose, gave it to me before my Solitudo to make me feel less nervous," I finally manage to say. "I know we aren't allowed to wear anything on our wrists so I put it around my ankle. I hope that's okay?"

"Oh yes of course it's fine," he says. "Your sister is a really good child. You know that right?"

"I know."

"She has straight A's in school, never is disruptive. I hear a lot of things from those Traditor's and they all say such good things about Rosemary Hawthorn." Rose really is a good kid. She never complains about her homework or anything like that. If she was like most ten year old girls, she would probably be discouraged because of her coward-like father and not having a mother is extremely hard when you're young. I should know.

When I step outside the glass door, I am stunned by what I see. I see that it has become night time and everything is pitch black. Since I was sleeping for about four hours, I forgot what time it would be when I returned home. I was really hoping to see Rose once I got out but it is way past her bedtime and I am assuming Perry made sure she was sleeping at the right time. I can always count on him.

"Come on," says the Principle. "Mr. Stanford had me escort you out for a reason. You know he doesn't like people wandering around at night."

"Yes, sir. I know." With this being said he grabs my arm and pushes me towards the path to my house. But while we are walking in complete silence, I hear someone whimper. A girls voice. As if someone were abusing this girl. I know that the Principle wouldn't let me investigate, but I can't help myself.

"Sir, do you hear that?" I ask.

"Yes," he replies. "It's probably just a deer."

"What? How could that possibly be coming from a deer. That's a girl. We need to help her."

"No. You were ordered by Chance Stanford to go straight to your house."

"Somethings can't be ignored." As I say this I use all of my strength left inside of me to move the Principle and myself towards the girl. When we reach the path the girl is on, I stop immediately and so does the Principle. The girl is fighting a fox. This girl was probably on her way home from her Solitudo. There is no one else around so I am assuming the Principle who was supposed to escort her home got scared and ran off. My Principle runs toward the fox and grabs on to the wild animal.

"Where is your escort?" he says to the girl.

"He was attacked by the fox first," she says. "He managed to get the fox off of him and then ran back to the Solitudo building."

"Okay." And as he says this he sprints back to the Solitudo building with the fox and leaves me with the girl.

Now that the fox is off of her I can actually see what this girl looks like. She has chest length blond hair, green eyes, and very tan skin that includes many scratches.

"Are you okay?" Is the first thing I could think of saying.

"Yea, I'm fine," she says. "So, we have the same birthday. That's pretty cool."

"Yea it is. My name is Carolina Hawthorn, but you can call me Carolyn for short. What's your name?"

"Aspyn Camella. Nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," I say. "I'm not waiting out here in the dark for that Principle to come back, so do you want to walk with me?"

"Sure."

"Where do you live? We can walk to your house first if you would like."

"Thanks but I only came to this place a couple of days ago and I haven't had to go back to my house in the dark yet so I'm not sure where it is."

"You only came here a couple of days ago?" I ask mainly to myself. "I thought everyone here was born in Silva. How did you get here?"

"I live, I mean lived, in the state of Maine in the United States of America," says Aspyn. "I remember saying goodnight to my dad, mom, and brother and then waking up the next morning on an airplane. When we landed here, I realized that my brother, Archer, and my mom were missing. So when my dad and I got off of the plane, the Head Principle, Chance Stanford, told us all about the world Silva and also told me that because I was turning fourteen today, I needed to go through the Solitudo. And now I'm here, lost and unsafe in a place I know practically nothing about."

"I'm really sorry that happened to you," I say. "I couldn't imagine losing my sister Rose. But since your lost, you can stay the night at my house if you want and then I can walk you back to your house in the morning."

"That would be very kind of you," she says. "Thank you." With this being said we only had to walk another twenty feet until we reached my house. Standing outside my house is a very sleepy and confused looking Perry and I give him an I'm safe look that makes him relax a little bit.

"Who is that?" Asks Aspyn.

"That's my best friend, Perry," I reply. "I had him make sure my sister was okay while I was gone because my dad works late so by the time he gets back, she's already sleeping." I had to lie about the whole work thing because I don't want a girl who barely knows me to think she's going to die during the night because she knows that there is an abusive man in the same house as her. It just doesn't sound comforting.

"That's so nice of him," she says. "Your lucky to have a friend like that."

"Yea, I know I am." And as I say that I give Perry a smirk that I hope he understands. He clearly does when he gives me that same smirk back. I love how we can understand each other without even having to speak. I don't know what I would do without him. 

"Perry," I say. "This is Aspyn. She was also walking back from her Solitudo when a fox started attacking her. Both of our 'escorts' ended up leaving us so she's going to stay the night here." I leave out the whole just coming here thing because it sounded personal.

"Well, I hope you are okay, Aspyn and it is very nice to meet you," says Perry.

"It's nice to meet you too," starts Aspyn. "And yes I'm fine. I'm very grateful that Carolyn helped me." As she says this I give her a big grin, and tell her to meet me inside. I want to talk to Perry for a while because it feels like forever since I last saw him.

"How was it?" he says. "Did it go well?" I can hear the worry and concern in his voice and it makes me feel so safe and secure. I really want to tell him about how it really went, but I can't. Even though I'm closer with him than I will ever be with my father.

"It went well," I say. "I didn't really notice anything special but you know the Principles probably did."

"Yea," he said. "That's how it was for mine too. I'm just so glad you're okay."

"Enough about me," I say. "How was Rose? Did everything go smoothly?"

"Yes," he laughs. "Nothing bad happened and she was in bed on time."

"Why is that so funny?" I ask. I didn't think he could laugh about such a serious matter.

"It's just funny how you always think about other people," he says while smiling. "Even when you just came out of one of the biggest events in your life." When he says this I have no words, but I just smile. And eventually he tangles his hand into mine and we just sit outside in silence for a while.