After a long night...extremely long in this case, you are finally allowed back to your common rooms. Nothing sounds better than a good night's sleep to put it all behind you. However, it doesn't appear anyone will be getting much sleep tonight.

A trip up or down to the dorms will reveal the rooms all ransacked. There isn't a single trunk that hasn't been run right through. Curiously, any and all mirrors have been taken. The fireplace has also been sealed away.

Whoever did this has gone through the entire common room and removed any means of communication with the outside world.

At least the roast was delicious at dinner.

Tired. Hungry. Miserable.

Was this how a homesick first year felt??????!

Noah was glad when he figured out the Common Rooms were finally available for them to return. After the events at the feast, he trudged his way into the Common Room ready to flop on the couch and enjoy the fireplace with his fellow lions.

What he found was a ransacked Common Room. It didn't feel very homey anymore. The room was a mess. Trunks gone, things flown, and the worst of all..... the fireplace closed off. Welp. He just stood there in silence for a moment, not knowing what to do, before bending over to pick some things off of the floor. May as well start cleaning to help make it feel a little more homey?

Seventh year was going to be great in the Dark Ages....

Even though she was upset, she was also very full and currently more than a little bit sleepy. Bernie trudged into the common room, a place that would ALWAYS feel like home even IF their current head of house was a big ugly imposter, and collapsed herself into a chair.

It was only then that she realized half the chair's stuffing was on the ground, other pillows and cushions were tossed every which way, the curtains had been yanked down, and the contents of SOMEONE's (or was it EVERYONE'S) trunk had been strewn EVERYWHERE in the common room.

"What the heck?!!" Bernie squeaked, suddenly feeling on the verge of tears. "Why would they DO THIS TO US?!"

WASN'T IT ENOUGH THAT THEY HAD TAKEN THEIR GOOD HEADMASTER PROFESSOR HEAD OF HOUSE SCHOOL DAD?!?! She buried her head in her arms on the armrest of her chair, a muffled sniffling sound following her dramatic outburst.

He had barely started to clean up when he heard a heart-wrenching squeak. His heart dropped and his thoughts immediately went to his two younger sisters. Merlin. It was Maya's first year here at Hogwarts and Evan's second. Merlin's...... He needed to find them and make sure they were alright.... He was happy that Aboli and Evan were in the same house... Aboli could watch out for him. But Maya.... He'd try to see her tomorrow morning. Right now there was someone else here.

He stood up with pillow in hand now, curious to see who had joined him. He wished that it wasn't a first year. Merlin. He didn't know what energy he had left in him to go cheer one up. The seventeen year old turned his gaze in direction of Bernie and he was almost transported back to a very different scene from several moons ago when the Gryffindors had learned that Trent was to be their new House Lord Head of House. That had been a very different time indeed. There had been more smiles and no squeaks of sadness. Noah fought a lump in his throat and swallowed before opening his mouth to offer anything. However, he could find no words at first. This was horrid.

He froze, not knowing what to do. He couldn't offer any solace or comfort at this moment by telling her that it was all going to be okay. Noah didn't know if it was going to be okay. He looked away for a moment before looking for something to cheer her up. What did younger girls like? His younger sisters always liked stuff animals or delicious candy... but ... he didn't have either. Besides he wasn't exactly sure if Bernie would like that. She was only two years younger than him and older than both his sisters.

Eying the cushion in his hands, he squeezed it a little, noticing how it had been ripped. He shook his head. It would probably take hours to put the Common Room back together. "I don't know..." he spoke softly. Noah slowly approached the sniffling girl in the armchair slowly. "But I think.... I think we can get this back together and maybe it'll start feeling more like home? Maybe we can make it a little magical before a first year comes?"

Oh shoot, Aboli's crush someone had heard her. Bernie hurriedly wiped her tears and snot on a combination of the chair armrest and her robes, then pulled her head up out of her arms.

"Yeah?" she replied to Noah, noticing that he'd already started tidying up when she was just wallowing. No, he was right. They ought to be the leaders her since they were older AND Gryffindor house didn't have any leaders at all anymore. "I'll help you," she mumbled, sliding out of the chair, yanking her wand from her boot, and going to pick up a few pillows on her own.

Hmm, what would be the best spell to fix these ripped things? "Reparo," Bernie cast quietly, feeling better as she saw the pillow stitch itself back together, even if it still looked understaffed. "This is a good idea," she mumbled again, glancing back at Noah. "I see why Bartoli likes you."

Oops, had she said that aloud? Bernie smiled a little bit too herself.

Wait. She was going to HELP him? Wow. Bernie. She... She was... He nodded, glad that she was offering to give him a hand with fixing up the common room. He watched her head over to some pillows before turning his attention to one of the sofas that had a deep rip in its side. "Reparo," he spoke softly, watching an initial layer of stitches be laid then another level followed by another. He smiled when he heard her comment about it being a good idea. See? This would make it better! If they just were upset, then the self-proclaimed inquisition would have won and they couldn't win. Not yet. He then moved on to work on the curtains.

He turned his head in her direction once more as his mind thought of fun things that they could do here. Maybe they could have the annual Gryffindor event - sure they didn't have paint but maybe they could build a fort? It took him a moment to realise that SHE had SAID something and then he processed it. She hadn't been talking about pillow forts. His eyes widened. Wait. Wait. Wait. Who was Bartoli? "Bartoli?" he repeated, wondering this person or thing was.... Bartoli to him sounded like a pasta or perhaps even the name of a fickle cat. But it couldn't be a cat, right? Cause it sounded like Bartoli LIKED him. Well cats could like people and things but the way in which she had phrased it made him reconsider Bartoli being a cat. "Who's Bartoli....?" What name sounded like Bartoli? Aioli? Naoli? No. That wasn't a name. Ha. Ha.....

Oh. OH! His thoughts then went to his best friend in Slytherin and he bit his lip. Did she mean Aboli? But... what if IT wasn't Aboli and it was some OTHER girl. Oh dear Merlin. He did not need more romance drama this year... Seventh year was already supposed to be horrible enough with NEWTS. A smirk appeared on his lips as a thought crossed his mind. ... if it was Aboli- he was NEVER letting her live down that nickname or the twenty more that just crossed his mind. ....

"Say Bernie... what has Bartoli said about me?"

Still in shock, extremely confused, and for once at a loss of words, Delilah Ellerby followed the rest of the Gryffindors to their common room. It was on the way up that she realized how truly exhausted she was. If she could manage any sleep tonight, she'd try to do so with one eye kept open. She also wasn't sure what she was expecting their common room to look like, but it definitely wasn't...this.

A glance toward some of the older kids told her that they seemed just as confused as she was. A feeling deep down inside of her emerged, and she recognized it as the same way she felt her very first night at the orphanage. She was miserable, she didn't want to be here anymore, and there was literally nothing she could do about it.

The two older kids were busy talking to one another, but Delilah noted that they were trying to clean up. She picked up a pillow and put it on a nearby couch. "Sorry," she said aloud. "I'd help with spellwork if I knew how." A now she wasn't even sure she'd ever learn. Again, she just wanted to go back to the orphanage--really, really badly.

Shaking, moist in the trousers, and smelling a bit like a rodent, Atlas and his brother had been following the crowd of Gryffindors to the common room when suddenly they weren't. Separated by two of these Neo-Alliance people, Atlas has had his back against the wall while a man with rotted teeth spat instructions at him...and told him about dad. He hadn't seen where Aries had been pulled away to and his stomach was twisting in such terrible knots that it was hard to breathe. The words, the malice, the stench of rot...it all hung around the blonde's head like thick pea soup.

...remember what Rosier said, we won't lose any sleep over you lot, and the same goes for him. We can snuff his life out in a heartbeat. Would it really be worth putting that father of yours in danger just because you didn't fall into line...

While sinister and terrifying, Atlas had two vital pieces of information: 1) his dad was alive and 2) he knew how to keep him that way.

Now stepping into the common room, he just wanted to hug his brother. Heck, he just wanted to SEE his brother and when he entered to find it Aries-less...he wanted to cry. Again. But he somehow kept it all in, the tears, and instead his entire body quivered in response. This was not how his first steps into the Gryffindor common room were supposed to go. This was supposed to feel like an accomplishment, a rite of passage, and instead he felt like he was stepping into a cell in Azkaban.

His faded blue eyes drifted from face to face in the common room, two older students performing magic that he didn't know how to perform himself but knew by name and spell color nonetheless. And then there was another girl, the same girl he recognized from their Sorting since he had been standing basically right next to her. He needed to change, needed to take a shower, but instead all that Atlas did was stand there like a lost cruppy with fleeting glances between all of them. It was then that he noticed Toby, his Pluto plushie, tossed heartlessly across the room and leaning against the gated and sealed off fireplace. Gasping a bit, the 11-year-old scurried over to collect him and then clutched him against his chest.

"So...all this...is...everyone's stuff?" he asked the room at large. "Why...what were they looking for?"

And they couldn't even roast marshmallows in the fireplace.

Sniffling, drained, hungry. She wiped her snot away on the sleeve of her robes and followed the rest of the Gryffindors into the common room. All she wanted was to get in bed and snuggle with her cat and write papa a letter. Was this happening at Beauxbatons too? Maybe she could send an owl to Miguel tomorrow asking if he was okay. She stepped through the portrait hole and took in the state of the common room. It...it wasn't supposed to look like this, right? The neon-alliance losers or whatever they were called were ruining her first year. And where was Pandora? If those people even touched a single hair on her kitty's head...

Her eyes followed some of the older students repairing the sofas and pillows, until they landed on a boy her age standing near the fireplace. He looked even more miserable than she felt. She'd seen him at Ollivander's over the summer. What was his name? Atticus? Atlantis? She looked back at the mess of pillows and sofa fuzz at his question. "I don't know what they're looking for, but they suck." She huffed, picking a pillow off of the floor and tossing it onto one of the damaged sofas.

She was getting hangry.

....

......

.........

"Aaarrrggghhhh!!!" Emmerson had barely made her way into the Common Room when she saw the chaos that it had become. There were already others here, some trying to make things better, but in that moment, the little girl broke. In true, overly tired two-year-old sent to bed without supper fashion, the 12-year-old was ready to pitch a right awful fit. They TOOK their school, made them do paperwork, attacked her friends and now they TRASHED THE COMMON ROOM.

WHO THE HELL WAS MEANT TO KILL THIS ALL UP??? She was tired and NOT a freakin' house elf!!! How many times had she said that last term--

Was...was that her trunk????

Forgetting all her words, Emmerson screamed again, a loud and aggravated....rather high pitched...screech. "So stupid!" She kicked at a fallen cushion, it's stuffing flying into the air. "Stupid stupid stupid! They wanna have an alliance, that's why. Why do we have to stay??"

Kinsay James had no energy left in her little (but still growing!!!) body. The train ride had drained her personal battery down to 45%, but the feast... the feast had it in the negatives. So when she entered the common room, following the crowd, she nearly collapsed.

She didn't collapse though, not yet. Instead she had the decency to make it to the corner of the room (walking past a fearful looking first year--one of the twins), where she then sat on the floor by herself. Clutching her knees to her chest, Kizzy watched as Emmerson screamed and kicked pillows. Usually she'd be right there joining her friend, but for now she sat by herself.

She found herself silently agreeing with Bethani as she lowered her head. Those people did suck. "I want to go home."

"Bartoli, Bologni, Ravioli, Aioli..." Bernie rattled off a few of Aboli's other nicknames that she recalled giving her a few years ago. "Aboli has so much rhyming potential, you know?" She was cheering herself up with the routine work of cleaning up the common room and also talking to Noah. He was calm and older and seemed good and responsible. He wasn't her big brother Josh, but at least he was HERE.

Now what? Huh? "Nothing!" Bernie chimed loudly, spinning around with a repaired chair cushion in hand and tossing it to where it belongs. "She just said---"

Well, never mind what she said. (Or didn't say.) There were 57 other kids flowing in through the Fat Lady's portrait hole now, and not a single one of them looked like a strong, determined Gryffindor. As the second-eldest present in the room at this very moment, Bernie felt it was her (and Noah's) duty to rally the troops.

"LOOK, GUYS," she bellowed, standing up on one of the half-stuffed couches, "We're Gryffindors, are we not? We aren't going to let some STUPID little cult of WEIRDOS get us down." She bounced up and down on the couch gently. "First we're gonna clean up this common room, then we're ALL going to get a good night's sleep, and THEN, first thing TOMORROW, we're going to start THE RESISTANCE."

Bernie looked around, suddenly realizing that no one really had a reason to listen to her. She wasn't a prefect. She wasn't in charge here. And... did that one baby-faced first-year smell like pee, or...? But those who DID know her knew she wasn't one who really listened to authority figures. SO. Who better to lead a band of rebels?!

"Who's with me?" Bernie, at least, was going to go down swinging.

Phoebe had collected a full napkin of ginger biscuits at dinner, and she intended to huddle down in a chair by the fire and gorge herself out of self pity. New rules, big burly men with ugly faces, a missing Headmaster, a miserable little sister (and friends)... she had to eat ALL the cookies before coming up with a plan of action.

Only, the common room was a mess and everyone was milling around like gnomes in an overgrown hedge. She took it all in before stepping gingerly over detritus on the floor and climbing up on her favorite squashy chair by the fire. Balancing precariously on the cushion, she offered a biscuit to her sister, and then one to the little wide-eyed blond kid from the feast (Atlas). No biscuit for Emmerson, because she was being an amazing toddler.

"Why should we wait until tomorrow for a resistance? I'm ready for one now. Shall I give a rousing speech while I'm up here?" And here was a biscuit for you, Bernie-babe.

So no one was going to say anything? Were the other Gryffindors too tired or too scared or too new to join her? Bernie bounced a little on her couch spot, still standing on it because no one had told her get down and also because no one could MAKE her get down. Not unless a professor came in here, and that wasn't very likely. They had all but abandoned them at the feast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"Why should we wait until tomorrow for a resistance? I'm ready for one now. Shall I give a rousing speech while I'm up here?" And here was a biscuit for you, Bernie-babe.

But wait, there was a Phoebe! A sarcastic, biscuit-eating Phoebe, but her friend was here nonetheless!

"A SPEECH, a speech!" Bernie cheered, clapping and blowing a kiss to Phoebe. Naw, she could give Emmerson that biscuit. Berns was blissfully unaware of what was to come her way on the morrow, and thus had filled up on real food at the feast.

You never knew when you were eating your last supper, did you?

Kinsay’s stomach was doing that unhappy thing it did when she wasn’t feeling well. But she still took the biscuit from her sister and gave her and appreciative look. ”Thanks,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.

Still sat in a fetal position, Kiz held onto the biscuit and looked up at mean and terrible Bernadette who had taken it upon herself to stand on one of the sofas. The least she could do was take off her shoes! Those were dirty. And as much as Kinsay wanted to continue hating the older girl… She had to admit that the Bernie's words were a little bit comforting. A liiiiiiittle bit. So Kiz listened attentively, even though she didn’t jump up right away. She had to look at Emmerson first. Kizzy would only be with Bernie if Emm was with Bernie. That’s how it goes.

Until Phoebe happened. Because once Phoebe happened, Kizzy located the last bit of energy she had left in her and began clapping along with Bernadette (who would have thought). ”Speech! Speech! Speech!” She chanted quietly from her spot on the ground. ”Speech!”

Atlas was with Aries .... until he was not.

And let him tell you, it was the loneliest he had ever felt in his life.

He felt lost and scared and just wished this nightmare would end - he had haphazardly looked around for him too ..... until he met a man that made this nightmare of a night at Hogwarts .... worse.

Suffice to say, he was pale by the time he entered the common room and found himself behind the crowd. He had pretty much zoned out too, thinking of home, until he thought he heard Atlas - which made almost blindly move through the crowd to be by his side again.

And suddenly he wasn't all that lonely anymore.

Quietly standing by him, he watched and listened as the grown ups talked about resistance. It was all so COOL honestly - but he still wished he would wake up from this dream. He wasn't ready at all for his hero quest. He needed to learn some spells first.

But maybe the speech his girlfriend's older sister wanted to make would make him feel less unsure and more brave.

Val was sitting on the floor by the window, feeling completely helpless and frustrated as a million questions ran through her mind. What did those people want?? Did this mean she couldn’t write to her parents anymore?? Wait - will she even be able to see her family?? Her thoughts were getting more and more dramatic by the second so she tried to pay a little more attention to her surroundings.

— some of the older girls were talking about speech and resistance ( which she didn’t quite understand because what could they even DO?? they were just students after all ) but she started to clap too!!

“Speech! Speech!”

"NOOOOooooooooooooooooo!"

Emmerson moved over to Bernie, doing her best to nudge her down into the couch nearby. Then she turned to Phoebe and tried tugging her away from the centre of this growing crowd. "No speech. No. You guys are going to get us in TROUBLE. Adam threw a piece of napkin and the guy wasted him without even drawing his wand. I can't hurt anyone without my wand. Kizzy can't either. We know like ten spells between us proper."

You may think she was being the voice of reason, but it was honestly the recessive Slytherin genes typically more dominant in other Cambridges that were speaking now. She wanted to LIVE to see her winter recital, thanks.

"What happens when you make them angry then they come after us??? What if you...you go to the bathroom without us and they corner us somewhere without you then remember we're part of the resistance?? HOW are we even resisting?? They trashed our stuff! They can go anywhere. What if they never left and are listening now and are gonna go tell Headmaster Rosier--we're already in trouble. Oh gaaawwwwdddd, we're gonna die. We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die." The little girl began pacing the floor frantically, suddenly finding it harder to breathe.

"We need to leave. We should just leave. How do we leave?"

Atlas' head swiveled around when someone answered his question, or at least did to the best of their ability...which was about what he expected. Rosier himself had said that they would learn more of the agenda moving forward. Why would they know what they had been looking for in their bags? At least he had Toby still and he gave the Pluto plushie another tight squeeze though he wished he was squeezing his brother. He recognized the girl from the boats, but he must have missed her Sorting. Likely a name that was after him.

"...yeah..." That was really all he could say in response, but he felt it would have been rude to leave silence as a response.

Nearly jumping out of his skin when more students filtered in, screeching, Atlas listened all wide eyed as they spoke...and spoke about forming a rebellion and calling these people some silly little cult. It...it didn't feel silly or little to him. Feeling 50 shades of alone, Atlas tried to find his voice to speak up...but his voice seemed lost. Lost until he saw Aries come walking through the portal.

"ARIES!" He took off like a bolt of lightening across the common room and propelled himself at his brother. He had been so scared when they had been separated and the relief he felt having him here now was unreal. Tightening his arms until his Pluto plushie was a flat pancake between their chests, Atlas had almost forgotten that he was still wearing his soiled trousers. Almost. "...I peed myself..."

Conversation continued on and Atlas was only half listening, but somewhere around the 10th or whatever chanting for a speech, he lost it a little and was chiming in with a squeaky and shaky voice after Emmerson had finished proclaiming that they were all going to die. Their days at Ministry daycare together were SUCH simpler times.

"THEY HAVE OUR DAD!" he shouted, his arms still around his brother and looking like a pair of abandoned kittens in a cardboard box tossed into an alley somewhere. "They have our dad...and they'll...they'll kill him...if we step out of line...i-i-it isn't just about US. You saw the form. They asked about the Ministry! What...what we do here...it could put others parents at risk too...this isn't just about us...we can't...we can't ... it ... this is bigger than us ..."

Though, the cogs in his head were already turning a bit.

Tired. Exhausted. Alone.

This wasn't how Apollo was supposed to spending his first night at Hogwarts. He was supposed to be going back to the same common room as Isabella and yet the stupid hat had decided to split them apart. It wasn't fair. And to top that all off, there was talk of blood purity and the eleven year old was terrified for not only himself but his peers.

Resistance? He frowned at the older girls shouting for a rousing speech. Of course he wanted to resist this, but he also felt completely helpless. He didn't know any spells yet. But one of the newly sorted gryffindor twins was talking about his dad??? Was being held hostage?? So his dad worked at the ministry like his own parents? He stared in confusion, feeling nauseous now because had he disclosed too much information? What if they interrogated his mother? His father? What if he stepped out of line and these people took it out in his parents. It would be easy to spot them. Was resistance such a good idea? He swallowed anxiously taking a step towards the twin boys. "What ... what do you mean... are ... ministry workers in jeopardy?" He asked of Atlas, nervously.

Oh, the speech was NOW? Merlin, that required a little planning, and here they were asking for a speech now. Phoebe dropped the rest of her biscuits into a pile on the table, an offering to the room at large, and she climbed from the cushions up onto the back of the chair. The fire backlit her, giving her a blond halo and casting her face into shadow. Mysteriouuuus.

"Okay, here's my speech. Listen up, and no panicking until I'm done. In fact, if you could just not panic at all, that would be super. Kizzy, put a pillow in Emm's mouth for now. Look, I know you're all scared and what we saw tonight... These guys mean business. They hurt our friends, they took our Headmaster. They went through our stuff and shut us off from the outside world. It's okay to be scared. It's okay to do whatever you have to do to stay safe. I'm not gonna ask you to cause trouble or do anything to get anyone hurt. They're not going to separate us and make us tattle on each other, because we're not trying to take over the castle. I just want you to do two things, and they're easy things. I want you to figure out how much you value your freedom, and I want you to do something every day to prove that, no matter what, you're still free. Okay? Eat dessert first, if that's what you need. Sneak an extra book from the library. Do something every day that reminds you that those jerks can't keep us captive because they don't know who we are."

So was that sufficiently motivational? It wasn't going to make Bernie happy, since it wasn't proper rebellion, but it was a baby rebellion. "Uh, and if anyone wants to figure out how to get messages out without a fireplace or owls, that would be super helpful."

He chuckled, flashing Bernie a wide grin. "It really does HAVE much potential.." Noah was LOVING the nicknames. Aboli Stromboli.... Boli Boli. Heh. "Oh please keep them coming. I'll have to share with you some of my favorite nicknames for her too!" he winked. The seventh year didn't have his notebook with him but oh boy was he taking lots of mental notes. Next time he saw Aboli, he would be sure to bring up a couple of these for fun. How he enjoyed to tease her at times. He smirked, trying to think through the Slytherin's reaction to it all.

And then the moment he had been waiting for... the inside scoop from the younger Lion. His heart rate picked up and his palms started to feel sweaty. Why did he feel this way? He practically knew how the girl felt about him; however, hearing this from someone else - hearing this sort of confession made his stomach do sommersaults. He just felt so incredibly UNEASY and NERVOUS. Brief internal panic set in before it was dashed by more people joining.

First Years? It took Noah a good moment to realise that the first years had indeed arrived. His heart sank. Oh no! They hadn't cleaned everything up yet!!! He glanced up and was about to speak to the boy who had asked if everyone's stuff had been dragged out when a gaggle of younger Lions and Lionesses stormed the Common Room. And then Bernie laid down the plan with conviction. He nodded, impressed by the girl's boldness. Merlin's. "I'm with you, Bernie. We have to stick together. First clean up the Common Room and make it feel more like home," he said picking up another pillow. Home or their secret base of operations.

Rebellion? Sign him up. If they didn't stand up, who would? Besides several of his friends (including himself) were muggleborn and he wasn't planning on living in fear during his last year. Nope. Not at all. He refrained from adding further comments as he listened to the Lions call for a speech. He paused his cleaning when Phoebe spoke about doing something little every day to protect their freedom and he found himself smiling softly. He liked the suggestion about eating dessert every day. That was something he could get behind.

"I agree with you, Phoebe. I think whatever happens... We need to stick together." He placed the pillow that he had been holding back on the couch near him. "I think starting a rebellion with just this group may not be as successful as we want it to be. These adults... They're dangerous... Really dangerous... and as much as I'd like to go try to challenge them to a duel or something... I don't think that's going to end well for us. I don't think we should underestimate them..." Perhaps they should gather intel and try to figure out how to combat them before charging at them with force. "And if we want to take a stance, I think we'll need allies in other houses and Professors.... The Professors that we can trust."

So no rebellion then, just dessert before dinner. Beth rubbed at her teary eyes and moved her tiny form toward the unfamiliar group of older students. The older boy was right, they had to stick together - a bunch of brains are better than just one, right? Even if HER brain didn't know any spells.

But the fact that she couldn't talk to her parents at all was freaking her out. SURELY they'd notice if she didn't send them a single letter the entire term?

"What are those things muggles use to talk to each other with?" She asked. "Cellyphanes?" Was that the word? Maybe there were cellyphanes at Hogwarts.

Kiz immediately stopped with the cheering and chanting when Emmerson started protesting. She didn't like it when her people disagreed. It made it really hard to know which one to follow blindly. So Kinsay decided she'd just wait it out. Usually these things resolved themselves. Besides, it was true. She only knew maybe three spells on her own so she couldn't help but nod her head along with Emmerson's words.

Though she wasn't entirely convinced that a rebellion was the right move anymore, she opted not to stuff a pillow in Emm's mouth even though Phoebe asked her to. Instead she exchanged a worried look with her best friend before turning her attention back to her sister.

Her sister who knew how to make everything feel better. Kinsay loved her more than the entire world, especially in this moment. So she nodded quietly, still sat on the floor. Figure out how much she valued her freedom and do something little every day to prove that. She'd remember that and think about it every single day until they figured out how to get out of here.

But most importantly, no one was getting hurt. They had to protect each other.