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When I woke up the next morning I was alone in my bed. Light was streaming in from the windows, it must have been late morning. I frowned, this was the first time I hadn’t slept with Vox since I had arrived in Sector 3. I needed to apologize to him. He said things he shouldn’t have, as did I. I just wanted to make sure that we were okay. The last thing I needed was to be in a fight with Vox over something so silly.

I turned to the nightstand to find a silver tray. There was a plate full of eggs pancakes and bacon, along with a note and a single rose in a clear vase. I smiled. No, I full on grinned. I picked up the note.

I am sorry for everything that happened last night. I regret all the things I said. If you are willing, let me make it up to you with lunch. 12:30 at the Goldmoor restaurant.

I immediately looked at the clock to get a real sense of time. 10:20. I smelt the rose, and then started digging into my breakfast, which was now a little cold. I wondered if he had made it himself, and then decided that he probably just told the chefs to make me a plate. I liked the gesture though.

After I finished breakfast, I took a quick shower and dried my hair. I decided to put on a pair of jeans and nice shirt I found. Once I finished, there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find Addeck on the other side.

“Hey, Emmary, there is a car downstairs for you.”

I smiled, “Thanks.”

I followed Addeck down the stairs before he turned down a hallway toward a part of the house I hadn’t even been to. He paused in front of a door before fishing out a key in his pocket to unlock it with. When he shut the door behind him, it made it a locking sound. Add that to the list of sketchy things Addeck has done since I’d been here.

As soon as I stepped out, I wished I had brought a jacket with me. The wind gushed through me and sent a chill through to me bone. I hurried to the car waiting for me at the end of the drive.

Thankfully, the car was nice and toasty. It pulled away as soon as I shut the door. I gazed out the window as the huge houses turned into city buildings. This city still amazed me. I don’t think I could ever get used to my new surroundings. Before I knew it we were pulled up to the library. I stared out the window puzzled.

I turned to the driver, “I thought we were going to a restaurant.” The name of the establishment had escaped me.

He nodded, “Yes, the Goldmoor.” He pointed to a building across the street.

“Oh, thank you.” I smiled as I got out of the car and across the street to the huge building that was apparently a restaurant but didn’t have the faintest of resemblances to one.

Inside the building had a wall of signs with destinations with floor numbers. Across from that sat a woman behind a desk. She smiled at me, “Miss Emmary?” I nodded in response. “Mr. Bly told me to be on the look out for you. Just head through those double doors. A waiter will point you in the direction of your table.”

I smiled and gave her my thanks before following her directions. The glass double doors lead into a room decorated with tables and chairs with groups of people scattered about. The host standing at his podium and smiled at me, “Can I help you?”

I nodded, “Yes, I’m looking for Mr. Bly.”

He nodded and motioned me to follow him. We weaved between clothed tables and people having light conversations. He nodded to an empty table. “Mr. Bly stepped away for a second. He will be back soon.”

I took my seat and began searching for Vox. There was a large man in khakis and a polo giving his companion a hearty laugh. The table next to them was a young couple so close to each other their foreheads were almost touching. They looked as if they didn’t know there were other people on the same planet as them let a lone sitting a table away. I smiled at them. I wanted a relationship like that. I wanted it to seem like we were the only two people in existence.

I glanced around the room, until I spotted him. In the corner by one of the windows, Vox was standing in the corner of the room, looking out the window. Half his face was covered by the plant he was standing next to, but his hand motions made it clear. He was upset about something. One of his arms was flying around adding emphasis to whatever he was saying, the other was up to his head holding what I assumed was a phone. I saw him turn around and I quickly averted my eyes to my menu so it didn’t look like I had been staring the whole time.

He sat down a few seconds later, “Hey.”

I smiled, “Hi, how are you?”

He shrugged, “I’m fine, other than the fact that I feel like a complete ass for the way I treated you last night.”

I brushed it off. “It’s fine. People fight.”

“Yeah, but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you, and I’m sorry.”

“All is forgiven.”

He grinned, “Good.” Then he opened his menu, “The hamburgers here are to die for.”

I nodded at his suggestion, but decided that I was more in the mood for grilled chicken. I placed my order when the waiter came by again. There was a silence between us. Not an awkward silence, but not a comfortable one either. It was like we just didn’t really have anything else to say.

“How is work?”

Vox frowned, “It hasn’t been easy. We found someone who wasn’t of matched birth. Reworking that network of matches was tough. Other than that nothing that exciting.”

I took a sip of my water. “Who were you talking on the phone with?”

“A few minutes ago?” I nodded. “Addeck.”

“That seemed like a, um, lively conversation.”

He rolled his golden eyes, “Yeah, Addeck was being melodramatic about something. He’s been having a rough time lately. I’ve been trying to help him, but sometimes he shuts be out and does something impulsively crazy.”

“Like what?”

Vox shrugged, “How was your morning?”

I guess the topic of Addeck was off limits for a while. I didn’t understand why he wanted to keep those things from me. He’s the one who brought up the fact that Addeck acted impulsively. And from the way it sounded, not a good way. “It was fine. I liked your note.”

That seemed to bring a smile to his face. “Good. I hope the food wasn’t too cold.”

I shook my head, “Not really.”

“Good.”

Our conversation lulled into another silence. That’s when our waiter had impeccable timing and brought our food.

We made a few exchanges on how the food was delicious. We traded bites and debated who’s food was better. After most of the food was gone, Vox paid the bill and led me out of the restraint and into the street.

I frowned, “Does this mean you have to go back to work?”

A small smile played on his lips, “Why, what did you have in mind?”

I shrugged, “I don’t know. I just like getting to spend time with you.”

“Okay, well. Since, you begged me.” I rolled my eyes at him. “I did make plans for us after lunch.”

“Really?”

“It’s nothing romantic though, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“What is it?”

Instead of answering me, he took my hand in his, intertwining our fingers. He started walking at a brisk pace across the street while there were no cars passing by. “I didn’t pick that restaurant just because of the excellent burgers. It’s all about location, location, location.”

I didn’t understand what he meant until we rounded the corner and saw the police station. "What, do you plan on turning me in for aiding a murderer?"

He shook his head, a smile clearly etched across his face. “No, but we are going to have to use the elevator. I hope that’s okay.” He pushed the downward arrow to call the elevator.

“Where are we going?”

Vox nodded, his eyes twinkling with excitement. He didn’t give me any clue as to what we were doing. He just responded with a “You’ll see.”

When the elevator doors opened a soldier stood in the corner by the control panel. Vox tugged me along into the tiny space as the doors closed behind us. I was not enthused about having to relive this 6 minute ride of hell. The guard turned the key. I squeezed his hand tighter as the elevator lurched forward.

Having him there beside me made the elevator seem less scary. I still felt cramped and couldn’t breath, but at least I wasn’t as scared as usual. Maybe it also had something to do with his sudden change in attitude rubbing off on me.

After the too long ride, the elevator doors opened to that same concrete hallway. Last time I had come here I had to make my statement. Hopefully Vox’s surprise had nothing to do with being interrogated. I followed Vox as he walked up to the front desk. This time, a woman was sitting behind it.

“Hi, how can I help you?”

“Emmary Eaton has an appointment.”

She nodded, “If you’ll just have a seat, I will get everything set up for you.”

Vox smiled and sat down in one of the metal chairs that lined the walls. I followed suit. He grabbed my hand, entwining our fingers. His thumb made small circles on my thumb. I met his gaze, “What are we doing?” Because the only sound I could hear was the typing of the woman behind the desk, I felt like I had to whisper.

Vox smiled, “We’re holding hands while we wait.”

“You know what I mean.”

Vox simply shrugged. “Just hold your horses for a few more minutes.”

I rolled my eyes as he gave my hand a gentle squeeze. I sighed a few impatient sighs before the lady at the front desk called for our attention. “Okay, this guard will show you to the cell.”

“Cell?” Vox made no move to get up. “Was she talking to us?”

He shook his head, “No, she was talking to you.” He pointed down the hall. “You better get going. He’s going to leave you.”

“You’re not coming?”

He shook his head once again, “No, now go. He’s already halfway there.”

I turned and followed the guard down the hallway. I looked back over my shoulder to see Vox looking down at a screen, not paying any more attention to me. I continued on my way down the concrete corridor.

We passed metal door after metal door, neither one of us speaking. I began to wonder how far these tunnels spanned under the sector. How many doors were there? Were they all cells? How many people were behind each door? The thoughts horrified me. Were there really that many people out here that committed crimes that deserved a life down here?

The guard stopped so suddenly I almost ran into him. He placed his hand next to the door on a panel. A few seconds later, the door creaked open.

The guard gave me a silent nod in the direction of the open door. I hesitated before walking through. Behind the door, there was a concrete room, no windows with cell bars cutting the box in half. On the other side of the metal bars in a tan jump suit stood a person I never thought I would see again.

“Em?”

I couldn’t catch my breath, he was standing two feet from me. Every thought left my body, I couldn’t compose a single sentence. I didn’t know what to think, much less what to say. I could barely hear myself whisper his name. “Koontz.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Me?”

He nodded, “Yes, you.”

“What about you? What happened?”

He shrugged, “Well I was going to come find you and they caught me climbing the wall. And then-.”

“You were coming to find me?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you mean you were coming to find me?” Koontz looked away from me. He stared down at his slip-on shoes. I waited for his reply. I was still trying to process the fact that we were in the same room, let alone that he had gotten caught trying to find me.

“I mean that I was running.”

“From Felicity?” He nodded, “From your mother? And Elex?”

Koontz heaved a great big sigh, “But towards you.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

He looked up from his shoes and back to me. “It does when I love you.”

“But I told you,” I could feel the tears welling up, my chest constricted, “Before I left, I told you not to.”

“Your letter told a different story.”

“I didn’t write that letter.”

“What?”

“The letter. I didn’t write that. I mean, I wrote a letter, but not the one you got.”

“Now you’re not making any sense.”

I sighed, I didn’t know where to start. “Vox said I could write you a letter, so I did. And it talked about how I missed you and how Sector 3 is and the book I was reading and all this other stuff, but the letter that I wrote, it wasn’t the letter that you got. I didn’t say those things. I didn’t tell you that I loved you and that I wanted you to run away and be here. ”

“You don’t love me?”

“I mean,” I paused, trying to catch my thoughts. I didn’t know how to respond. In truth, I didn’t know how I felt. The closer I got to Vox, the farther Koontz seemed. Now, all the sudden he was right in front of me.

“You actually like him.”

I didn’t want to talk about this portion of his story anymore. He had turned everything on me. I didn’t want to talk about who I liked or didn’t like. This wasn’t how I imagined my conversation with Koontz going. None of it. I never imagined our meeting again having to involve metal bars and guards and Vox. I sighed and put the conversation back on course. “So you got caught running?”

He seemed like he was also glad for the subject change. “Yeah, next thing I know they said that Felicity was dead and that I did it.” He gestured to the room, “I’ve been here ever since.”

“So you didn’t do it.”

“Do you believe me?”

“Of course I believe you. I would believe anything you said.”

He rubbed his face, “They are talking about life in prison for this.”

“I know.”

“Or worse.”

“I know.”

The conversation grew silent. I didn’t know what to say . I didn’t know what to do. I had been spending the last few days just trying to wrap my head around all of this happening. Now I was standing here talking to Koontz. All he was trying to do was get to me. Now, he was behind bars for it. How did we end up tangled in this web of a mess? Innocent people being pulled apart and then dropped into this terrible situation. Why couldn’t we go back to the way things were in our small little bubble of a world where it was just us?

“What do we do?”

Koontz kicked the ground, “Well, there’s not a whole lot I can do.”

“What about me? Can I do anything to help you? I know I was interviewed and I think that might count as a testimony. They know I didn’t write that letter. They know that. And I’m sorry I don’t know what else to do.” I could feel the tears that I had been fighting resurfacing. They rolled down my cheeks. “It’s not fair. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ll talk to Vox, maybe he can pull some strings, I don’t know. I’m going to try to get you out of this, Koontz, I promise.”

He smiled, “I know.”

At that moment there was a buzzing sound and the door opened again. “Times up.”