Cass leads me out of the tent, and the scene seems even worse than I left it. People are running and screaming, and flames fly everywhere. Some people are now wounded, whether by the crowd or government I don't know. A few splatters of blood stand out from the grass. A few small fights are in progress. Cass, noticing my horror, grabs my hand and begins to lead me. I try to avoid screaming people, especially those with weapons. Suddenly, Cass changes direction and we press against the wall of a tent.

"Okay Wrive, here's the plan. Our friends are stuck in cages, but the government is busy..." A lunatic with an axe runs past us, screaming something about acorns.

"...So the cages aren't heavily guarded. We free everyone, and then raid the food tent for supplies-"

"I don't think we need to," I interrupt. Cass gives me a funny look. "See, Axle is my... you know what, I think I'll explain later."

"Deal," Cass agrees. Then she leaps out from the cover of the tent and begins dashing toward the cages. I follow, not far behind. Anyone in our way is shoved by Cass, making my run easy. At least, until we find the soldiers. They've got navy blue armor covering all their skin. Luckily, we only run into a few small groups, and a few darkness blasts send them stumbling, and by the time they recover, we're gone. After a few minutes of running, the cages pop into sight. I nearly scream. Tarna is the first one I spot. She doesn't look like she's in terrible conditions, just a bit shaken up. In a cage to her left, I spot Rolly. He's sharing a cage with Shawn, who's fast asleep somehow. Or maybe he was knocked unconscious. Rolly has a few rips in his clothes, and I spot a few drops of blood on him. To his left is Person, who is freaking out completely. His eyes are huge, and I can tell he's yelling. Over the ruckus of the panic, though, I can't hear specific words. I can't see Ray anywhere, though.

"Where's Ray?" I ask Cass. She scans the cages for him.

"I'm not sure," she replies. "I don't think he was here when I first found them, either..." Although nervous due to Ray's absence, we begin discussing the plan. There's a group of five guards around the cages. My job is to distract them while Cass frees the others. How she plans to do that is beyond me. I take a deep breath and Cass nods. I run out from my cover and begin yelling.

"Hey guard guys! Over here!" The guards all turn to me, but don't move from their positions. Cass can't free the others until the guards move. I blast one with darkness to motivate them. They're motivated now.

"What, are shadows illegal?" I shout hysterically. I hope Cass is freeing the others! One of the guards takes out a piece of rope. He's getting ready to tie me up! The other guards begin moving in with their spears.

"Hey, wait a second! You're not my dad! You can't make me do anything!" I scream, hoping to distract and slow them down. The guards have had enough, and they all attack at once. I reach for Mareth and remember that I'm swordless. Crud. I duck, jump and dodge while the guards attack. Occasionally I get in a good shadow-shock, but the guards' armor and my lack of concentration make my attacks useless. I'm dealing with two guards when a small pain shoots through my back and I fall forward. The source of my pain is a guard's knee, and he removes it to replace it with a rope. I struggle weakly while the guards tie me up tight. It didn't work. Cass couldn't work fast enough. And suddenly, one of the guards learns to fly. I'm serious. He just suddenly shot off the ground and launched himself into the air.
But, of course, he didn't really learn to fly. I notice a raised bit of dirt where he just was. I turn to face the remaining guards, but they've vanished. In their places stand Cass, Tarna, Rolly, Person, and Shawn.

We all shout and ask questions, and hug and shout some more. After a few moments of happy celebration, Cass takes charge.

"Alright, guys! We're obviously not safe here, so let's move and then talk." We all begin running toward the favors tent, with Cass and me in the lead. Once we're all safely inside, Tarna approaches me.

"Nice rescue back there."

"Thanks. You helped too, of course," I reply, remembering the flying guard. Tarna smiles.

"You noticed. Anyway, we probably need to catch up, don't we?" Everyone stands in a circle in the tent, and Cass and I explain our parts of the story. I explain the talk with Allen and Axle, the Qualifier battle, and life in Odds And Ends. Cass explains her rejection by Axle and criminal life. Then the rest of the gang tells their story.

"By now, we all know Axle caught us blindsided," Tarna begins. "Well, we were all examined like you two. They didn't like Rolly due to his... Bestowing, and we all tried to defend him."

"What about Ray?" I ask, voicing a question that's been bothering me. Tarna shakes her head.

"We never saw him. Maybe he escaped Axle's surprise attack." Then she continues her story.

"Anyway, we were all caught- again- and caged. They hardly fed us, and we had to participate in quite a few of those Qualifying fights. We survived, though, and then the soldiers raided Odds And Ends." Now we're all up to date- well, almost.

"You're probably all wondering about the button over there," I begin nervously. "Well, I was talking to Axle in here, and it turns out... she's my... my... aunt." The group gasps in surprise and horror. "She was my mom's sister. Anyway, she owed my mom a favor, and since she can't do anything for my mom anymore, sher owes me. For my favor, she showed me this button. She said to press it and not let go."

"Are you sure we can trust her?" Person asks nervously.

"If you found a family member, would you trust them?" I ask in reply. Person hesitates, but nods.

"So I guess we press the button," Cass says. No one steps forward, so I head over to it. I gently wipe the dust off, and then I press. The tent shakes. A loud humming noise fills the air, masking my friends' shouts. I struggle to keep the button down as the tent shakes. It's total confusion. And then it gets worse. One of the walls tears, and I see smoke. But no tents or grass.

"We're flying?!?" Person screams. Wind pours in, throwing dust and hair around wildly. We all scream. But I make sure not to release the button.

***

A crazed person runs, yelling. But then he stops. Many people stop. One of the tents is floating in midair. Then it shoots upward, moving quicker than any human could move. Yelling and running and flames resume around him, but the person just stares.

***

We all continue screaming as the tent flies. Flies somewhere. There's no steering wheel, so I'm not sure where we're headed.

"Take your hand off the button!" Rolly screams.

"Are you crazy?" I yell back. "We'll fall and die!" Then, the tent stops. The sudden halt throws us around, and my hand comes off the button. Luckily, my other hand shoves it back down just in time. After a moment of being still, the flying tent blasts into motion again. This time, we're headed sideways, and instead of being pressed against the floor, we're thrown to one side of the tent. I grab the button and don't let go.

"We're all going to die!!!" screams Rolly. This doesn't seem too unlikely, unfortunately. We are stuck in a flying tent, hurtling to who-knows-where. I try to hide my terror for a moment. I have to think logically. There's only one thing I can do. And that thing is scream even louder.