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Chapter 1

"A controlled society is a safe society."

~Isabel Kabra, from her Speech of Nations

The hallway was dark with a sliver of faint light filtering in from the window, casting an eerie glow on the tile floor. The only sound heard was that of the quiet beat of her blue slippers padding to the door. She bit her lip, quickening her pace. When she stepped in front of the foreboding oak doors, the security system recognized her iris print immediately and silently slid open.

The room was very small, just large enough to fit in a small round table with two wooden chairs on each side. One of the servants must have cleared out a storage closet and put these in here, she realized. Above the table bobbed a light orb.

And in one of the chairs sat Isabel Kabra.

"M-Mum?" she stuttered. "It's—it's you. It's really, truly you!"

Isabel didn't smile. But her face slightly glowed, as if to express subtle joy, and that was enough for her. "Lacie—of course I'm back. How have you been? Was the makeshift staff all right?"

Lacie almost wrinkled her nose, but then remembered that it caused wrinkles. Then she remembered she didn't have any wrinkles. She would never have wrinkles.

She was immortal.

"They were disgustingly horrible," she scoffed, fiddling with one of her golden bracelets on her wrist. "The chef slightly overdid the crème brûlée. And the caviar was a bit iffy, too."

Her mother rolled her amber eyes. "You must remind me to hire new staff. That is the last time I hire someone with so little Lucian blood in their veins."

Isabel rose, and motioned for Lacie to sit on the other chair. She complied, primly crossing her legs and folding her hands.

"So, what have you been doing?" she asked excitedly. She hadn't talked to her mother in such a long time, and a feeling of glee washed over her. "Any news? Have you discovered any threats, victories, infiltera—"

"Darling, you must learn when to be quiet," Isabel snapped condescendingly, looking at her daughter with an expression of disdain.

Lacie's cheeks stained red. "I'm sorry, mother," she muttered. Inwardly, she cursed herself for acting so foolish and vulnerable in front of her mother. She always strived to act perfect for her mum, and she had failed. Again. Coughing slightly, she straightened her spine, trying to act sophisticated.

Isabel stared at her for a long while, and then began to speak again. "The reason I was gone for such a long while was because . . . we have detected a resistance. They are very covert as of the moment, and my team has absolutely no information besides the fact that the organization simply exists."

"Then how do you know that there is a resistance?" Lacie blurted out, realizing her mistake too late.

Her mother gave her an icy look, and then continued. "The group has been leaving signs of their existence all over the globe, leading the IFS—the International Federation of Security, of course—to believe that the resistance is spread worldwide, marking the largest rebellion since the beginning of my reign in 2008. They have graphitized proclamations and destroyed community buildings glorifying myself. Also, there are bases set up all around the world." She gave Lacie a sickeningly sweet smile. "And that, darling, is where you come in."

Lacie shifted uneasily in her seat. "What do you mean?"

Her mum said nothing at first, which brought a pang to Lacie's stomach. Had she said something wrong again? However, Isabel's mouth soon opened. "I have a proposition for you, Lacie, dear. Would you like to do something . . ." Isabel began, choosing her words carefully, tapping her long, blood-red nails on the table one by one. ". . . That would make your mum very, very proud?"

"Of course, Mum," she replied enthusiastically, regaining confidence. Finally—this was her chance to show her mum what she was capable of. She was strong enough to go on reconnaissance missions with her, she was smart enough to handle Isabel's busy schedules packed with meetings, and she was capable of becoming the leader of the world, after her mother passed down the power to her. "What will I do? Help you on a mission?"

". . . In a way."

"Oh, that sounds good. Am I going to travel with you in one of your secret airplanes? Will I get to be a secret agent? Will I—"

Isabel let out a loud sigh, cutting Lacie off and making her feel inferior again. "Darling, I mean that I'm sending you as a spy to infiltrate one of the resistance camps."

-o-

Immediately, Lacie knew that she was ready. She was born for the role, and her success would only please her mother more. "I'll do it," she said firmly.

Isabel nodded in approval. "Good. But I'll need to give you one item before you depart."

She pressed something cold and hard into her palm. It was a ring, silver with a red jewel embedded in the middle. Rings were a sign of status, as were necklaces, earrings, and any other kind of jewelry. They showed everyone else that you were rich, and that your bloodline was clean enough to be granted access to such luxuries. The red signified that you were a perfect Lucian—no dirty blood running in your veins.

Lacie was taken by surprise. "Why are you giving me this?" she asked hesitantly.

Her mother sighed, and she slid the ring onto the ring finger of Lacie's right hand. "It's our way of communication, darling. When you absolutely cannot extract any more information from the resistance, press the button hidden inside of the ring. The ring will only respond to your fingerprint." She gestured to the jewel. "Press it."

Uncertainly, Lacie did as she was told. The gem flipped over on its small silver pedestal, revealing a miniscule red button.

"Click the button, and the ring's coordinates will immediately be transmitted to the control center in the main tower. My forces will arrive at the scene, taking everyone hostage and torturing them for information. If they refuse to say anything, we kill them." Isabel looked like she was relishing the idea.

Lacie was used to these homicidal urges. "So do I need to dress up as a non-Lucian or something?"

"Of course," Isabel snapped. "I'll be able to have our stylists sew some potato sacks together for you." She glanced at Lacie's dark brown tresses, cut and styled to perfection. "We'll have to cut that hair of yours, too."

Immediately, Lacie's hands went up to her head. "My hair?" Instantly, Isabel shot her a dark look, and she let her hands fall to her lap again. "O-Okay." She paused. "Can you cut my hair, please?"

Isabel considered. "Fine." She lifted her right hand and pressed the green jewel embedded on the ring on her fourth finger. An interface screen projected in front of her, and she calmly pressed one of the screen buttons. "A pair of scissors."

Quickly, a maidservant came through the doors, holding up a silver pair of scissors on a platter. Isabel picked them up, and the maidservant scampered away.

"I'm so proud of you, Lacie," Isabel murmured, then swiftly ran the blades through her hair.

-o-

"You have three seconds."

It had been an hour since Isabel had chopped off Lacie's hair, which now only went down to her shoulders in choppy waves and had been dyed a light dirt-brown. Lacie's purple silk dress was replaced with commoner clothing: a simple brown tee shirt and slacks, fitted with a leather belt. Her heels had been yanked from her feet, and she now had simple flats. Worst of all, she had been stripped of all her bracelets, pendants, ribbons, bows, and necklaces, save for the red ring that her mum had given her.

Lacie cast a desperate look over her shoulder. "Just three seconds, Mum?"

Isabel stared at her patronizingly. "If we shut this Divide down any longer, Lacie dear, our region will be exposed to all the dangers in the Wilderness, don't you think? And we wouldn't want our poor civilians to be put at risk with all the wild animals running amok and disease-filled plants that are out there, right?"

Lacie grinned. That was her mother, always looking out for civilians. "But . . . if I go out there, wouldn't I be exposed to all the dangerous things as well?"

"The enemies were very tricky, Lacie. They eliminated all the wild animals in the area so that they could survive across the Divide."

"Wait." Lacie paused, dumbfounded. "Did they use . . . guns?"

Isabel nodded gravely. "These people are not to be messed with. However, Lacie, they will trust you. You are just another young girl that is looking for them, correct? They will not suspect you."

"Okay," Lacie responded, saying it more to convince herself than to answer her mother. "I'm ready."

"Good." Isabel raised the small panel in her hand, equipped with dozens of flickering red buttons. "Get your hoverbike ready."

Lacie powered on her hoverbike and jumped on. The vehicle lifted a few feet off the ground, and metal clips rose out of the sides to chain her feet and hands onto it. "All set."

"Three."

Her engine revved.

"Two."

The headlights blinked.

"One."

-o-

As soon as that last word escaped Isabel's mouth, the sizzling electric field shut down. Lacie could hear the Divide shutting down with a small shoom. Instantaneously, she pressed her foot down on the pedal, and she was jolted back as the vehicle zoomed forward.

When she looked back, the Divide was fizzling again, like nothing had happened.

She continued forward, more slowly now. The scenery had abruptly changed from the silver sleekness of the city to rural grassland and foliage. The Divide made it impossible for anyone to see things on the other side. If you were in the city, you couldn't see the Wilderness. If you were in the Wilderness, you couldn't see the city.

It occurred to her that she had never seen a real tree before.

All the trees in the city, like most other things there, were manufactured. Their shiny verdant leaves were built in factories, and their scent was sprayed on, selling in cans for a small price in most drug stores.

But these—these were real, authentic trees. Lacie hesitantly turned her bike off, which slowly lowered down to the ground, and jumped off to touch one of the leaves of a stately oak. The texture was smooth, with veins running down the middle. They looked and felt almost exactly like the fake trees in the City, but there was a certain authenticity, a realness that Lacie marveled at.

Suddenly, Lacie remembered why she was here in the first place, and she stepped back like she'd been stung. I have to find the resistance, she reminded herself. I have to make my mum proud. But before she realized it, she ran back to the oak and picked up a twig from the ground. Slowly, she carved a scraggly L onto the surface of the tree, then a long H. Lacie Hollingsworth. LH.

I need to go.

After one more furtive look at the tree, she ran back to her bike and took off.

-o-

After a few hours of traveling, Lacie had not seen anything except desolate greenery. She sighed and glanced at her bike monitor. It stated the temperature, weather forecast, date, and time, which was currently 5:48 PM. Actually, 5:49.

Her stomach growled. Self-consciously pressing her hand to her stomach, Lacie pressed one of the buttons on the bike screen. This opened up a storage compartment in the back of the bike. She peered into it, searching for any food that her mother may have supplied her. All that she could find were three freeze-dried silver bags, each containing a small portion of food.

Since she could see the outline of the food inside the bags, because the bags were wrapped tightly around them, she picked up the one that looked a little like noodles. She took off the seal and carefully opened the bag, first taking out the tray inside and unfolding it. Gingerly, she shook the bag over the tray. Slowly, like gelatin, a clump of noodles fell out of the bag and stuck to the tray in one large mass. She jiggled the bag more, and some chunky red sauce slid out onto the tray as well.

There were no utensils.

Disgustedly, she poked at the fossilized mass in front of her and hesitantly picked up a noodle with her fingers and ate it. It wasn't properly seasoned, and the noodle was too dry. She shook her head in disgust.

She didn't have anything else to eat, though.

Lacie began eating two at a time, then scooping up noodles with her cupped hands. In a span of twenty minutes, she had cleared her tray. Her hands were coated with leftover red sauce. Without thinking about it, she let out a long burp.

She felt like a plebeian.

Sighing, Lacie stood up again, wiping her hands on the forest floor. Pieces of dirt clung to her sticky hands. She had work to do, no matter how difficult it was. It had to be done, especially if she wanted to impress her mum.

She jumped on her hoverbike again, and once airborne, flew away.

-o-

"Has your daughter embarked on her mission, yet, Ms. Kabra?" Chrissy asked, handing Isabel some papers that marked potential rebellion centers.

Isabel, who was sitting in her office, sifted through the papers, pausing at the last one. It showed North America, with blue lines separating the boundaries of their province and the Wilderness. "She took off right here," Isabel replied, picking up a red marker to draw an arrow from one edge of the blue line. "She should be heading off towards here." She drew a red circle near the eastern coast of America.

Chrissy took one of the papers and examined it carefully. "That's perfect. It's about two miles off of one of the resistance hotspots. If Lacie looks thoroughly, she should arrive anywhere from a day to two days."

Isabel snorted. "Lacie has the brain capacity of a weasel."

"Still," Chrissy continued, ignoring the comment, "I hope you have provided her with sufficient food in her hoverbike."

"A half a day's worth," Isabel replied dismissively, standing up to leave her office. "If Lacie has any intelligence, she'll be wise and ration her food."

Chrissy widened her eyes, "But—Mrs. Kabra, a half a day's worth of food is hardly enough for a growing girl." When Isabel rolled her eyes, Chrissy hastily added, "We'll just have to pray that Lacie can find the resistance soon enough and not run out of food."

"Fingers crossed," Isabel deadpanned, and she left the room.

-o-

Lacie was steadily growing more tired. The sun had set a few hours ago, and even with the headlights of her hoverbike, she had limited vision. She checked the time: 11:25 PM.

She decided to take up shelter, which seemed like the best course of action, and landed her hoverbike. As best as she could, she fumbled for the switch and opened her compartment. Lacie rummaged through the items and found a flimsy sleeping bag. She shuddered. Every day of her life she had slumbered peacefully in her own king size bed with full mattresses, dozens of pillows, and a silk four-poster canopy.

Now she had been reduced to some filthy bag.

Lacie slowly opened up her sleeping bag, which was hardly fit for sleep, and jumped off the bike. She laid it on the mossy ground and spread it out.

There wasn't even a pillow.

Lacie groaned. So this was how it felt like to be a commoner.

The wind rustled, and she shuddered. Her tee shirt and slacks weren't doing much to warm her. Lacie slipped into her sleeping bag and was surprised to see how warm it was.

This actually isn't too bad, Lacie thought to herself, and she drifted.

-o-

When she woke up, it was already afternoon. Lacie stood up and stuffed her sleeping bag in her hoverbike's compartment, and then checked the time on her hoverbike. 1:15 PM, it read. She frowned. Had she really slept that long?

Yawning, she rummaged through her compartment and dug out another freeze-dried bag. Lacie set up her tray for the food, and she shook the bag. Out came two pink sausages. She wrinkled her nose, but what choice did she have? Her stomach growled. She had to eat anything she could get her hands on.

Hungrily, she scarfed down the two sausages in a matter of minutes, and she blushed. Her manners had gone out the window since she'd been sent to the Wilderness.

All of a sudden, she heard a rustle in the trees. Lacie whipped her head back to look, but there was nothing.

There it was again, in the other bush! Fearfully, Lacie jumped onto her bike again. This way, if she had to leave, she could do so in a simple click of an ON button.

All at the same time, dozens of heads rose up from the bushes, guns poking out next to them. The resistance. They're as bad as Mum told me they were, Lacie realized with wide eyes, and revved her hoverbike engine.

She propelled herself as far away as she could from those evil people. She never got a good look at their faces, but she knew they had guns and were ready to shoot.

At her.

Soon, she heard the whirring of another hoverbike engine near her, at a much faster speed than hers. Eventually it caught up to her and came right next to her. Oh no oh no oh no oh no.

She weaved in and out of trees, barely missing a large branch that swooped over her head. Lacie could vaguely hear the hoverbike following her. She suddenly went low, her feet almost grazing the tall grass as she flew, then took a sharp turn left, deeper into the forest. Blurs of trees brushed past her.

The hoverbike was getting closer; she could hear its sound getting louder. She noticed humans sticking out of the grass as she was flying. This is the resistance. I've flown right into their territory.

Lacie went to the right, almost getting hit by a tree again. She had only flown on a hoverbike a few times, to know simple commands and how to steer, but never in such a dangerous terrain. Other than the basics, Lacie had no other experience. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the enemy hoverbike gaining on her. It flew gracefully, and it was evident that the rider had years of experience. Her mere weeks spent flying around the manor couldn't compare to the sleek finesse of the other rider.

Determined to escape, Lacie leaned forward, and the hoverbike shot through the air. Lacie maneuvered awkwardly between the large trees, trying to maintain balance. She let out a shriek as she collided with a trunk of a tree. The metal clips attached to her wrists kept her on the hoverbike, but her knuckles were scratched badly. Her forehead began to bleed profusely, and Lacie could feel the salty blood flowing down her face.

Hands shaking, Lacie only flew faster. She had never been hurt so badly before. Her mum had always dissuaded her from roughhousing and had encouraged her to engage in ladylike activities, so there was never a reason for her to get this injured.

Her mum.

Her whole mission was to get into the resistance, and Lacie had found it. And what was she doing? Running away like a coward.

Lacie weighed her options quickly. There wasn't much time to mull over a decision, considering the fact that she was engaged in a high-speed chase. She could either give herself up to the Resistance, or she could hightail it out of there. Or she could try to explain herself to the person chasing her. Maybe if she just landed and talked to the guy, he or she would understand she was here for the rebellion and she was ready to join.

It sounded reasonable in her mind.

After a few more minutes of flying, Lacie decided it was a good time. As a precaution, she flew around the forest some more, then braked at a safe-looking clearing. With a small sigh, she jumped off her hoverbike.

Now she could finally talk to—

"Mmph!"

Two arms wrapped around Lacie and squeezed her abdomen. One hand snaked up to cover her mouth. Lacie tried to yell through the gloved hand, but to no avail. The arms squeezed tighter.

"Don't move," the voice said, "or we will shoot."

Word Count: 3,497

Uh. Well. I haven't updated in a very, very long time. So, you guys can riot or something. I deserve it.

Thanks to music4evah for betaing, as always. Mona, you rock. You read this countless times, and I nagged you way too much for your own good. Also, as a note to you, I kept the scene break because I liked the dramatic pause it gave. :) Not that I disrespect your opinion, I love it! I just wanted to keep that one little thing. (;

Haha, anyway, please leave a review! I haven't updated in such a long time, so if you review, it shows me that you guys still have interest in the story and want me to continue! :) All kinds of reviews, praise, constructive criticism, and flames, are welcome.

Thanks for reading!

~Cascading Rainbows