Lumi woke with a sore body but a beaming face.

She noticed three things upon waking up. One was she was outside. Two was she was freezing, as noticed by her violent shaking.

Three was Tem was hardly three steps away from her.

Seeing him sleeping was almost as good as seeing him awake. When he was asleep, his face wasn't in the mask he hid behind. His mussels were relaxed, his lips in a slightly open smile. He winced as the sun hit him, and opened an eye, noticing Lumi staring at him. Panic hid behind his eyes, as he sat up and stared around. Then he relaxed, and looked at Lumi.

"Your still here? I guessed you'd go." He observed. Lumi shrugged.

"I just woke up. I'm tired, cold, hungry, I need to pee and I have no idea how to get home." She told him. He stretched, and nodded.

"Okay. You take the cloak, go behind a Bush and I'll find some food."  He said, walking towards a small forest near them. Lumi hadn't noticed it yesterday. It had been too dark.

She nodded to his back, scooped up the cloak and squatted behind the Bush he had pointed too.

She finished doing her business, pulled her trousers back up and sat on the cloak, brushing her hands up and down it. Her fingers found a small lump. She frowned.

What was that?

She patted it. Whatever it was clicked against something. Curious, she took it put. Her fingers grabbed gloves that were also in the pocket. She put one on, just in case, and drew her hand back inside the pocket. Her fingers found somwthing smooth and round. She drew it out.

A white stone sat in her palm.

When she first drew it out, it was bright and blinding. As it sat in her gloved hand, however, it became duller and duller, until it was basically just a chalk-white stone.

She stared at it, and put it back in the pocket with guilt in her heart.

Tem returned a moment later, carrying berries, wood, a (dead) rabbit and a leaf. He put the leaf down first, which turned out to be filled with water. She drank from it, not realizing how thirsty she had been.

He smiled, placed the berries down in the water, and scraped two stones together until they lit a spark onto the wood. Lumi stared at him. He caught her stare.

"What?" He asked.

"How do you know how to do all this stuff?" She asked, shocked. He shrugged.

"I've run away before. I learnt as I went along." He said with another shrug. He skinned the rabbit and put them meat onto cook. The rabbit didn't look as cute as it did when hopping over the fields in front of her house.

But soon the smell of cooking meat chased the fluffy bunnies out of her head. The meat cooked. Before Lumi could grab it, though, Tem loaded the berries into it. Then, with nothing but a smile exchanged between them, the two ate.

The meat was succulent, with the berries popping on her tongue, exploding flavour. The food was soon gone, with the children living grease off their fingers. Then Lumi stood up with a sigh.

"I need you to take me back now. Please." She said regretfully. She didn't want to leave this dark eyed boy, but her family would be worried. Well, her mother would be. Her sister still wasn't home for another month.

Tem nodded sadly and stood up, sweeping down his cloak and putting it on. He smiled at Lumi and walked ahead, up the hill.

She followed without question.

They soon arrived at the border line between the neutral zone and Sevlata. Tem smiled again.

"See you." He said, and walked back the way they had came. Lumi started to walk to her house when she noticed something on the floor.

The white stone.

She picked it up again. The surface glowed, going back to its bright self.

What was up with this stone?

She shrugged again, and placed it in her pocket and walked to her house.

Upon opening the door, she noticed her mother still wasn't home. Long meeting. She walked to her room and placed the stone on a table, jumped into bed and slept.

                    *        *        *        *        *        *        *                            

She woke to the door slamming shut downstairs. Groaning, Lumi walked towards the noise, to find her tired mother holding parchment on the meeting. Upon seeing Lumi, she smiled tiredly.

"Hey." She said. Her voice was croaky, like a frog. Lumi could tell she was tired, but didn't want to admit it.

"Hi mum. Uh, I might go out, like, now..?" She suggested. Her mother smiled and nodded.

"Sure. Be safe..." And with that, she walked slowly up the stairs into her room. Lumi had her shoes on by that time.

She walked down the path to where she and her friends me a lot. Soon the others arrived. After last year, there numbers had halved to make only seven of them, plus Sally. There was Ciela, Groose, Tyler, Beck, Alen, herself and that awkward boy who was always around anyway. Nobody knew his name, as he was a orphan. People just called him 'Scout' because whenever they were planning a trick, he would scout around to check everything was good to go.

She smiled at them all. They waved back. The feeling of De-Ja-Vu was unmissable. But they weren't on the field.

"Hey guys." She said tiredly. Ciela and Tyler nodded, Groose smiled, Beck waved and Scout stayed silent. "What's up?"

Again mixed responses. She nodded, then noticed the sad looks on everyone's faces. "What's up, guys?" She asked again. Groose sighed.

"It's Sally."

Again, the feeling of De-Ja-Vu was unmissable. Her heart did a back flip.

"Take me."

After a moment of walking, Lumi and Scout arrived at Lepo's hut. Scout pushed her in and sprinted away - something he was very good at. She took a deep breath and walked in.

Lepo greeted her with a tight smile, knowing why she was here. Without a word, they walked down to the cellar again.

The dark corridors seemed to close in around her, giving her a feel of being trapped. She arrived at Sally's bed - and instantly wished she hadn't.

Her old friends was now just a hollow shell, a shadow of what she had once been. Her face seemed to shrink in, her wide eyes stormy grey completely now.

And the day had started so well...

Just saying it's my favourite chapter so far next. I really like it. Just saying...