“A month is a long time,” David said, looking disheartened.

“Just don’t give up hope. Even if you never hear from us again, don’t give up,” I said.

“We better go,” Jack said, nudging me toward the door.

“Take care of yourselves,” Bron said, looking a little misty eyed. “Your mom would be proud of you, Sunny.”

I gave them both a hug before we slipped out of the apartment and back into the hall. The same guards were on duty, and they nodded in our direction as we passed. Then we began the climb up the stairs that would lead us to the Dome. I tried not to think about the fact that I might never come back there again. It was the only home I had ever known.

“Hey, are you two on your way to the Dome?” a Domer called out to us as we passed the third level.

A pile of six or seven dead bodies was on the landing beside the stairs. I averted my eyes, sickened by the consequences of this battle.

“Yes, we are,” Jack said.

“Can you ask them to send down more help? These guys have been dragging bodies for about two hours now. If there wasn’t a lockdown, I’d make the urchins clean up their own damn mess!”

“I’m on it,” Jack said, and we continued on our way.

We reached the main level without any further incident. I wasn’t sure where we were going, so I blindly followed Jack. A guard waved us toward the scanner as we approached the doors into the Dome. Jack waved his hand across the scanner, and it beeped green. Without much choice, I followed his lead, and my scan worked, too. Leisel must not have flagged my Autumn Jones chip. We went through the doors and back into the Dome.

He went up to the second level, back to the storage room where we had changed our chips before. He gave a sharp knock at the door. No one answered. We went in.

“Maybe this will give us a little more time again,” he said, taking the box of chips off the shelf.

“We should have done this before we went down into the Pit. I thought we were going to get caught when we had to scan in.”

“I didn’t think Leisel would cancel our chips because she’s trying to catch us. She’ll be waiting for us to scan in somewhere. Now she’ll know the last place we scanned in was coming into the Dome. She won’t have to do a search in the Pit.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.”

Jack extracted the chip from my hand. I took the Spritze device from him and took his chip out. He picked up a new chip, popped it into his computer, and started tapping away.

“What would you like your name to be?” he asked.

“Crystal.” I wanted to be named after a hero.

He took the chip out of his computer and implanted it in my hand. Then he put another chip in. “Who should I be? How about Ted, after my brother.” He typed on his computer again, and then it was his turn to get a new chip.

“Crystal Malloy and Ted Anderson. I gave myself a pretty high-ranking last name in case I need to use the power.”

“We’re not married this time?” I asked, disappointed.

“No, we’re Domers this time. Now I just need to get the message out to the Alliance that we’re headed outside and Bron and David are in charge.”

I waited for Jack to finish sending the message. I was trying not to think about the fact that we were going outside. My stomach was starting to tie itself into little knots.

“Done,” Jack said. “Before we go, there’s someplace I’d like to take you. I have it all set up if you say yes.” He held up his computer.

“But shouldn’t we go before we’re caught?”

“It’s important to me.”

I smiled. “Then how can I say no?”

Chapter Thirty-Two

He opened the door and we strode out of the storage room, easily blending in to the light traffic in the hallway. I wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was getting late. It would soon be lights out in the Pit.

Jack led me through a maze of hallways until we came to another set of doors with two Domers guarding the entrance. He gave them a nod, and we strolled through. This section was different. Most of the doors we passed had windows in them, and I could see what looked like laboratories. A few of the rooms even had caged animals.

“What is this?” I whispered.

“It’s the ‘bio’ part of the Dome.”

I only saw a few people in the labs, and they were too engrossed in their work to notice a couple of Domers walking by. At the end of the hall was another set of doors that were also under guard. Jack walked toward the two Domers and waved his hand over the scanner. I did the same.

“Enjoy your evening,” one of the Domers said.

Jack pushed open the doors, and we entered a small chamber. We had to scan in one more time, and then the main doors opened.

My breath caught in my throat as we entered. I had never seen anything like it. Hundreds of huge trees loomed up before us, and the ground was covered in thick foliage. I could hear animals and birds everywhere. I took off my helmet to get a better view. The light was a lot brighter than I was used to and I almost put my visor back on, but I wanted to feel the warm, moist air against my skin. My nose was assaulted by scents I had never smelled before. Sweet scents mixed with earthier notes.

“What is it?” I asked in wonder.

“A rainforest,” Jack said. He took off his helmet, his eyes never leaving my face.

“Thank you.” I never thought I would get to see anything like this in my lifetime.

He smiled. “I thought you might like it. I remember the stack of my nature magazines you went through.”

“I knew you were mad about that.” I shouldn’t have touched them.

“Well, not mad. Annoyed maybe…” He smirked. “Come on. I’ll show you around.”

“Are all the bourge allowed to come here whenever they want?” He seemed to know his way around, and yet I had never even heard of the place.

“No!” He laughed. “No one other than the scientists and guards are permitted in here. It’s too important to the ecosystem of the Dome to allow it to be damaged in any way.”

“Why? What is it for?”

“A lot of thought went into building this Dome long before the bombs were ever launched. Because the inside of the Dome is sealed off from the outside world, it needs to make its own atmosphere, which isn’t easy. So the scientists who designed it had to think about the earth’s own processes and try to duplicate them, right down to the water and carbon cycles in order to create an atmosphere in here. The only way they could do that was to grow nature inside. So they built a rainforest, an ocean, and a boreal forest. There’s also a prairie with a freshwater lake that’s used to farm meat and grow vegetables. The rainforest produces fruits and vegetables, and the ocean provides fish. There are a lot of animals in here too as a way to restock the earth once we can leave the Dome.”

I was amazed. “An ocean, too?” He nodded. “If only Domers and scientists are allowed in here, how did you come to know it so well?”

He patted the computer in his pocket. “Because I know how to get in and out without being caught. Ted and I used to come here all the time and hide in the foliage whenever the guards walked by. We loved this place. I used to fantasize about bringing the girl of my dreams here.” He blushed.

“So I take it you never brought Leisel here.”

“No! That would have ruined this place for me.”

We were strolling along a footpath, but he stopped for a moment and pointed to something in a tree. I looked and saw some type of monkey. It was small and reddish in color.

“I think it’s called a tamarind,” Jack said. “There are a few monkeys in here that like to throw their poop at you, so stay away from them.”

I looked around nervously. “How will I know which ones they are?”

He gave me a confused look. “They’ll be the ones throwing poop at you!” I laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you if we come across any.”