We had been driving for almost twelve hours. Mandy had fallen asleep and woken up again several times, and the two policemen had switched places twice. The landscape around us was hardly changing, and even though I was completely bored, tired, and I finally felt like I was safe, I couldn't sleep. I closed my eyes a couple of times so that the policemen wouldn't become suspicious, but I was wide awake while we drove from North Dakota through Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. I was edgy and a little hyper, but I was hoping it was just because I was excited.

Eventually, I drowned out everything around me and sunk into a bit of a trance, glancing at the endless fields around us. I was thinking about what had happened since Mandy arrived when the car stopped again. I was surprised, because there hadn't been a traffic light in a long while. Then I realized that it wasn't a traffic light. We had pulled over.

I gently shook Mandy, who immediately opened her eyes. "We're here," she said, and I nodded. She carefully opened the door, unsure of what she should expect. I tried to peer out the window into the black limo that had stopped close to us to see who had come – Mandy and me had made it into a riddle. Would it be my mother? Solomon? Somebody we didn't even dare think of?

As soon as Mandy stepped out of the door, the passenger-side door of the black car opened too. The Bubblegum guard stepped out (yes, I never really bothered to learn his name. Another thing on My Long List of Things I am Ashamed of.) The policemen left the car too. One of them went to shake the guard's hand, the other one got the few pieces of luggage we had.

The policeman came to us. "Is this okay?" he asked.

"Of course, sir," I replied quickly, sending sideways glances towards the guard and the other policeman.

"Sure?" he checked.

"Yes," Mandy smiled. "Thank you so much."

"No problem at all miss. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, sir," we chorused, and then shook the other policeman's hand before the Bubblegum Guard shooed us into the car.

"Hello girls. No, don't tell me what happened. You'll cover that with Mrs. Morgan. Now get in the car, I don't know if the FBI is completely trustworthy."

"Well, they got us here," Mandy countered.

"Yes, and I'm just hoping that they got you here safely; because I'm not convinced of that. I'm not convinced of that at all."

"Well I'm sure we'll be safe now, right? I mean, at the Academy they must've added security, and this car is probably safe, and…"

"Just get in the car," he put a hand on her back and guided her into the seat next to me. "These windows are missile-proof, so there's no opening them."

"Are you serious?" Mandy started asking, but I cut her off with a simple, "Of course, sir." I tried to find a way to make Mandy understand that even though he was there for our protection, I'd rather not anger him. "Go back to sleep Mandy."

"Oh, I guess you don't want me to be rude."

"Just sleep," I smiled mischievously, and she giggled, but closed her eyes and – thankfully – her mouth.

"Cammie, I don't want details, even though I'm practically sure this car is safe and that I'll know them sooner or later, but I want you to tell them on average how much danger you're in; zero being you could run into our enemies and they'll give you a hug and put you back in our car, and ten being they're about to smash into this car with a full army."

"Um… maybe eight point five?" I didn't want to exaggerate, but I knew that it was serious.

"Good to know." He stepped on the gas, and the trees outside became a blur. "You'll be fine Cammie," he calmed me down when he saw my worried glance outside. "And yes, the car will survive my driving," he added when he saw my worried glance onto his dashboard. I nodded. "You should just go to sleep." I nodded again. "Cammie, you can consider this an order." I nodded for the third time, and closed my eyes. He put on some music, and even though it was quiet, I recognized it as Nine Million Bicycles by Katie Melua. I smiled. This song always calmed me down – it was the sweetest thing ever. My conscience left me as a beautiful image of There are six billion people in the world / More or less, and it makes me feel quite small / But you're the one I love the most of all as a forbidden face popped up in front of my mental eye. But alone the imagination of this face made me feel safe. And then it merged with another face I was hoping to forget – Tom.

I woke up to Mandy humming along to Selena Gomez's Live Like There's No Tomorrow. There were no more trees outside, just more cars. We had slowed down – I wasn't sure if it was so that we wouldn't attract attention or because we were safe now – but we were still going way above the speed limit. "Slept well?" Mandy asked. Now that our lives didn't depend on each other anymore, she had gone back to the person she had been when she sat next to us at dinner – a little superior, a little sarcastic, a little confusing, a little regretful, more than a little secretive. I didn't say anything. Of course I was glad that it was over – the fear, the constant threat, not knowing what the next day was going to bring – but I had thought that Mandy was changed forever – kind of like Macey had been after some time with us.

"We'll stop in a short while, get something to eat," the Bubblegum Guard informed us.

It was six minutes and four seconds later that we stopped in front of one of those small road cafés. Mandy and I reached for the doors, but he stopped us. "You stick to me, ladies. I still don't trust that we're safe. I never do."

"Of course," I assured him at the same time Mandy said, "Whatever."

We briskly walked towards the café, and Mandy and I each got a Coke and a donut. He got a coffee and a croissant. We didn't talk a lot while we were eating – Mandy tried to, but she almost slipped up a couple of times, so every time she opened her mouth after that, he just shot her evil glares and she kept her mouth shut. We had barely finished when he told us that it was time to leave, and only reluctantly let us go to the bathroom.

We were just coming out when I bumped into someone. "Sorry," I said, but when nobody replied I looked up. "Tom?"

"Hey Cam – Julie," he corrected himself.

"Cam?"

"I got you confused with somebody else."

"I don't believe you."

"Whatever."

"Tom, what are you doing here?"
"You told me not to go back. I helped you Julie, okay? I let you use me, but you told me to leave, hide, and disappear of the face of the earth. May I assume that you didn't even bother thinking about if I had parents? Or the fact that I'm not trained? I'm guessing you are, because the Circle wants you." I hushed him, and he lowered his voice. "You told me to hide, and since you're great at hiding, I followed you."

"But…"

"But what? There's always a but with you!"

"You need to stop following us."

"I can't. I'll die."

"You won't."

"You can't know that."

"You do realize that there's a really big security guard with us that can smash you to pulp?"

"You realize that I've already done my job?" he laughed and ran. I was too shocked to move until I saw the van stop. A van that he was running towards at top speed. I ran after him, but then I saw four large men in the van, their stun guns pointed at me. They all shot. There was only one thought in my head: they couldn't capture me again. It wasn't going to happen. I was desperate, panicking as I ran back into the café, where the guard had already paid so that we could leave.

That's when I realized that she was gone. I was only half the prey.