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I never could figure out why Ky didn’t join the Rising right away, back when they first asked us The Rising could have helped him But he didn’t, and he wouldn’t tell me why

Even before Cassia went out into the Outer Provinces to find Ky, you could tell that sheLike that day at the pool when she finally decided she was ready to ju back So I shouldn’t have been surprised at the way she fell in love with Ky because it’s the way I wanted her to fall in love with me: coet out of the Rising hen Cassia and I were Matched For a fewwhat the Rising wanted and acting Society at the same time so that I could stay Matched to Cassia But it didn’t taketo realize--I wanted Cassia to choose ainst me Hoas she supposed to love me when the Society said she should?

After Cassia toldfor Ky, I realized that if he left, she’d go too She’d junize that the Society wouldn’t let Ky live in Mapletree Borough forever, and anywhere he wentwith her: so that could help her and that would remind her of me

So I printed out the picture froet the newrose petals But those were both things to reh I wanted to give her so that could help her in the future and that would make her think of me

It was kind of ironic that Ky was the one who’d told ht not have kno to trade

All I had to give the Archivists was the silver box froave me a piece of paper printed from one of their ports--all the infor es and additions of my own

Favorite color: red

Has a secret to tell his Match when he sees her again

That was the easy part Getting the tablets was harder I didn’t fully understand what the Archivists were asking of reed to the trade

But it was all worth it The blue tablets kept Cassia safe She even toldabout the blue

I roll over onto ht of the Banquet, when I waited at the air-train stop with my parents and my brother, I hoped Cassia and I would be on the saether before everything changed And she careen dress I saw the top of her head first, then her shoulders and the green of the silk against her skin, and finally she looked up and I saw her eyes

I knew her then and I know her now I’m almost sure of it

CHAPTER 10

CASSIA

I hurry along the edge of the white barricade, which runs near the Museu boarded up the Museulass People tried to break in the night we first heard the Pilot’s voice I don’t knohat they hoped to steal Most of us realized long ago that the Museu of value Except for the Archivists, of course, but they always knohen it’s ti came to poe have more, and we have less, than we did before

I ao to trade after work Though a Rising officer , he or she won’t issue , so I have a little ue and the Rising now The Rising explained that they ue and the red tablet from birth Which explains Ky’s and Xander’s ability to re taken the red tablet It alsodid not choose me

And we have less certainty What will happen next?

The Pilot says the Rising will save us all, but we have to help it happen No traveling--weand focus resources on curing those who are ill That, the Pilot says, is the ue so that we can truly begin again I’ve been i, and soon, one way or the other, we’ll all be safe Then, the Pilot pros

When the Pilot speaks to us, his voice is as perfect as it was the first day we heard it on the ports, and now that we can see him too, it’s hard to look away fro," he says, "is for everyone," and I can tell that he ht I’ve talked with theue at the beginning, but he has recovered, just as the Rising promised, and my parents were quarantined and immunized But I can’t talk to Brauardedly; we smile and don’t say much more than we did when the Society was in power We aren’t quite sure who can hear us now

I want to talk without anyone listening

The Rising has only facilitated co to the Rising, the Matches of those too young to have celebrated their Contracts no longer exist, and the Rising doesn’t have time to track down individual friends for every person "Would you rather," the Pilot asks us, "spend ti up co people?"

So I haven’t been able to ask Xander what his secret is, the one heSouessed the secret, that it’s as si Other tiine how people must feel when Xander comes to help them He bends down to listen to theentle tone he used in my dream back in the canyons when he told me I had to openhie to Ky and Xander after the Plague broke to let theht That trade cost more than I could afford after the theft at the lake, but I had to do it I didn’t want the back Not a ritten on a paper or printed on a scrap And my trades for the I did not reach Thee poeh It’s been so long

Sometimes, I think the one still in a remote place; that it is lost forever Because Bram would have sent it toin Tana Province, before I ran away to the Carving, Brae about the e, Bram described soain:

At the very end is a list of Grandfather’s favorite memories He had one for each of us His favorite of me hen I said my first word and it was "arden day"