Sleep was not something that came easily to Zoe, so she was startled awake as soon as she heard the rustle of paper under her door. Turning on the little lamp beside her bed, she walked over to pick up the folded note.

  As soon as she saw that it was signed by Micah, she knew that it was important. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, she began to read. She was a little jealous to learn that Micah was working with Olivia on unraveling the mystery when she was the one who had discovered the message on the washing machine, but the two of them seemed to have quite a bit in common so she supposed she wasn’t surprised.

  She couldn’t help the flutter of anxiety in her chest when she read about his plan for escaping the Nest. The thought of trying to break free gave her a burst of determination that surprised her. In spite of her anxiety, the thought of staying trapped was far less preferable to trying to do something about their situation. She was supposed to ask for green tea in the morning instead of coffee if she wanted to help. Smiling faintly, she realized Micah had remembered her talking about how she could never decide which drink she preferred most.

  Folding the note again and crawling back into bed, she turned off the lamp and stared up at the ceiling in darkness. She was going to sleep even less than usual tonight.

  ///

  Rolling out of bed as soon as he sensed the lights brightening in the hallway outside, Sloane began moving through his morning stretches, focusing on each muscle group in turn. The routine had come naturally to him even without his memories and he’d found himself running through it on the second day before he’d even realized what he was doing.

  The memory loss was like that. Sometimes snatches of experience or facts about his preferences would pop into his mind without specific people, places or times attached. It was a strange feeling to have thoughts pop into your mind in unfocused, blurry bubbles with no context to ground them in your mind. If he let his intuition guide him or stopped thinking directly about a problem, the answer would come to him sideways like a little gift from his subconscious.

  When he was finished with his morning exercises, he sighed in satisfaction and pulled a fresh shirt over his head before turning toward the door. That’s when he noticed the folded slip of paper on the ground. Frozen in place, he regarded it with dread, unable to think of anything but the contract he had found on his bedside table the first time he had woken up in this room.

  Telling himself he was being paranoid, he bent down to retrieve the note and was immediately relieved to find that it was handwritten rather than typed. It was also signed with Olivia’s name.

  Sloane,

  Don’t react visibly to this note. The cameras are always watching. And I no longer believe that the people on the other side of that security feed have our best interests in mind.

  Micah and I found a secret message hidden in the newspaper article from Jade’s room. And Zoe found another message in the utility room. Both of them shared the same warning: New Life Institute is lying to us. A deeper study of the photograph in the clipping revealed that it was a fake.

  Why does NLI want us to think that the world outside has been destroyed? Because they want to keep us docile? They refused to answer our questions, claiming we could vote to hear the responses after the mandatory transition period, but according to the time cycle of the lights, we’ve been here nearly a week now. The orientation video said it usually took three days. Yesterday Zoe asked them when the transition period would end and they never responded.

  Micah has come up with a plan for trying to break out of the Nest. I have decided to help him. It’s possible that our watchers will see this act as a violation of their rules and they will intervene. That’s why we have to move quickly before they realize what we’re doing. But it’s up to you if you want to join us or not. It’s possible we’re wrong. Or there’s something even worse waiting for us outside. But we won’t find out the truth by waiting around in here.

  I’ve devised a code for everyone to tell us if they have decided to help with our plan. When I ask you what you want for breakfast, the way you answer will tell me what you have decided.

  Yes: I’m in the mood for something different today.

  No: Pancakes, of course!

  Whatever happens, I wish you the best. I’ve enjoyed our time together in this place in spite of the bizarre circumstances. I don’t know if we were friends before arriving here or strangers, but I am glad that I had the chance to meet you.

  Good luck!

  Olivia

  Sloane crushed the letter in a fist when he was finished reading. His mind was churning over the words, but he couldn’t help his gut reaction. Micah was the sort of guy who loved puzzles. He would find conspiracy theories buried in the most benign of subjects, and while their situation was mysterious enough to warrant some suspicion, he could see the paranoia in every word of Olivia’s letter. There were a lot of explanations for the supposed evidence they found. It was tenuous at best. But Micah found what he was looking for, and he managed to convince Olivia with his convoluted web of logic. They’d all seen Micah sneaking around the nest the last few days with his little notebook. Now he knew what he’d been up to.

  But Sloane didn’t believe any of it. And even if it was true, he wasn’t about to make an escape attempt without more information about what they would be getting themselves into on the other side of that door.

  “Sorry, Liv,” he whispered, shoving the crumpled note into his pocket and walking out into the living room.

  ///

  Olivia stood in the kitchen with a mug of coffee balanced in her hands. She needed the warmth to heat her hands since her nerves had dropped her body temperature a few degrees. Micah had already been in the kitchen when she arrived, and he gave her a page out of his notebook under the table. Leaning forward with her elbow on the table, she looked down at the note and realized it was a list of appliances in the utility room along with settings for each.

  “I think I’m going to go work out today,” he said.

  “Really? I didn’t think that was your thing.”

  “It isn’t, but I should probably make more of an effort since I’m moving around a lot less than usual here. I figure I’ll head over around nine o’clock.” The meaningful look in his eyes told her that he was giving her a signal. That was the time to activate everything.

  “Maybe I’ll join you,” she said as she sipped her coffee. Even though the liquid was scalding, it still made her feel cold.

  Zoe walked in and headed straight for the coffeemaker.

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  Olivia held her breath, but when Zoe paused thoughtfully and filled a cup with water instead, she released it in relief. She smiled when she heard Micah do the same.

  “I’m in the mood for green tea today,” she said, pulling a tea bag from the box on the counter and dropping it in the mug. Placing it in the microwave, she nodded at both of them a little two significantly before starting in on some small talk. “How did you sleep last night?” Zoe looked like she hadn’t slept at all, but Olivia couldn’t say she’d slept much better.

  “Fine. Another short night,” Micah said lightly.

  “Yeah.” Zoe took the seat beside him and Micah handed her a napkin. Under the napkin, Olivia saw the corner of notebook paper peeking out. He’d given her instructions just like the ones he’d handed to Olivia under the table. Pulling it to the edge of the table, Zoe deftly separated the layers and tucked the paper away while she sipped at her tea.

  Olivia was starting to feel more hopeful. They had at least another person on their side. The more people they had on board to help the more likely they could overload the system before their activities were noticed. If they each had to cover more area it was more likely that their behavior would look suspicious. They had no way of knowing how closely they were being monitored, if someone was watching the feeds directly or reviewing the video after the fact.

  When Sloane entered the room, Olivia’s anxiety started up all over again. “I am starving today,” he said, and she knew before he continued what he was going to say. “Better get the griddle ready for those pancakes! I think I could eat a dozen of them today.”

  Trying not to react, Olivia looked down at the coffee mug, surprised when she felt Micah’s knee bump into hers under the table. He was frowning sympathetically at her when she looked up. She nodded. They had both expected that some of the others would be reluctant to take this risk, but she had secretly been hoping that Sloane would agree.

  Jade arrived in the kitchen late as usual, but her demeanor was a bit more subdued than usual. Greeting her as casually as she could in the circumstances, Olivia could read the answer in her eyes before she said a word. She’d really expected Jade to side with them on this. She struck Olivia as a woman of action, the sort who leaped before she looked and never looked back. But she had been the one to discover the supposed truth and she had accepted it more easily than the rest, almost as if she had been expecting it. Maybe she didn’t want to admit she was wrong. Their doubts were just that. Doubts. They didn’t have any evidence that would hold up in a court of law. All they had was supposition and instinct. And Jade’s instincts were clearly telling her something different.

  Patting Olivia’s shoulder as she passed her on her way to the refrigerator to get the milk for her cereal, her usual frosted wheat squares rather than the honey nut clusters they had told her to choose if she was willing to participate. Micah caught Olivia’s eye and gave her an encouraging smile.

  They waited for the last member of their group to arrive, but still Ethan didn’t show. Eventually Jade and Sloane wandered off to do their own thing, leaving Zoe, Olivia and Micah to wait in silence, making small talk that none of them were really paying attention to. Zoe seemed especially anxious for Ethan to arrive. The two of them had gotten close in their brief time together and Olivia worried if she would change her vote if he wasn’t on board.

  “It’s strange for Ethan to be so late for breakfast, Zoe said, leaning back in her chair to look through the doorway. If she leaned far enough she could get a glimpse of his door from the kitchen. “Looks like his door is still closed. I hope he’s okay.”

  “It is weird,” Olivia agreed.

  Micah looked down at his wrist as if he’d expected to find a watch there and then began tapping at the table with a finger. “I think I’m going to start a load of laundry soon,” he said, meeting Zoe’s eyes. “Maybe you should check if he needs anything washed.”

  Hopping out of her chair eagerly, Zoe nearly dropped her mug before she could place it in the sink. “I’ll find out,” she chirped and then fast-walked out of the room.

  ///

  Ethan woke up with a headache. The feeling was familiar enough that he was pretty sure that he was someone who suffered from migraines. Without memories to confirm it, he couldn’t be sure, but the throbbing pain and lurching nausea in his stomach matched every description he had ever heard of that sort of headache.

  Rolling over slowly, he felt the room spin around him slowly and groaned in misery. Now that he knew this was something he was likely to get again in the future, he wished that he had been able to live a little longer in the bliss of not remembering what this kind of pain was like. He dozed for a while even though he could see the light outside the door brightening to its usual daylight hue. Even that sliver of light was enough to make him squint at the brightness. Voices rumbled outside and he heard footsteps pass by a few times, but his consciousness drifted between semi-awareness and dream.

  At some point he heard knocking on the door, but at first he wasn’t sure if he had dreamed the sound or really heard it. For a moment while he was still half-asleep he imagined being home sick and hearing his mother knocking on his door to bring him a bowl of soup. He could almost smell that chicken broth now, the aroma warm and comforting like a down blanket.

  The knock sounded again and this time he shook off the fog of sleep long enough to push himself up on his elbow and say hoarsely, “Who is it?”

  “It’s Zoe. Are you alive in there?”

  Zoe. Reality came crashing back into focus and he sat up fully, groaning as the room again lurched off its axis in reaction to the movement. “Barely,” he said. “I’ve got a migraine.”

  “Oh! I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. Can I get you anything?”

  The door opened a crack and even that much light was enough to make him wince.

  “Sorry!” the light faded.

  “No, it’s okay. Come in.”

  She didn’t even make a motion toward turning on the light, closing the door slightly behind her so only a little light came inside. Leaning down to pick something up, she crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed and placed whatever it was she’d picked up into his hands. “Is there anything that helps? There are some painkillers in the bathroom, I think.”

  “I don’t know,” he said miserably, trying to make sense of the folded paper she’d put into his hands. “What’s—”

  Her hand on top of his stopped him. Leaning in close, she whispered in his ear, “Micah has figured out a way to break out of here.”

  For a moment he thought he must still be dreaming. This conversation was too surreal. “What?” he asked just as softly. “That doesn’t make any sense. The newspaper Jade found—”

  “Is a fake. They’re lying to us.” Zoe’s eyes caught the sliver of light as she turned and the blue irises glowed.

  “Zoe,” he whispered. “My head feels like it’s about to explode right now, but even I can tell that doesn’t make any sense.”

  “We’re getting out of here. If you want to join us, then we can wait for you to feel better.”

  The nausea in his stomach churned. “No. This doesn’t make any sense. I’m not going anywhere. And neither are you.”

  Standing up suddenly, she said loudly enough for the camera to hear, “I’ll go get you that medicine and a glass of water.”

  He watched her leave with icy dread quickly freezing over the queasiness in his gut. His eyes had adjusted enough to the dim light for him to make out the writing on the note. Scanning it quickly, he tried to make sense of the words despite the pounding in his temples. The letter was only a more detailed version of what she had already said, but the details were not enough to convince him to take that kind of risk. They were safe here. Why would he risk throwing that all away simply because of a few suspicious typos and poor photography? His eyes were sharp and skilled at noticing flaws in photos. He would have seen something strange about that photo if it was really photoshopped.

  When Zoe returned with the medicine, he handed the note back to her with a shake of his head. “I’m going to go back to sleep now,” he said. “I’ll see you when I wake up.”

  She bit her lower lip and took the empty glass. “Sleep well,” she said before walking away and leaving him once again in darkness.

  ///

  Micah and Olivia were waiting for Zoe in the living room, but she could tell that they knew what had happened when they saw the expression on her face. Shaking her head slowly as she crumpled the note in her fist, she announced unnecessarily, “I’m going to go work out for a while.” They already knew where she was going. The fitness room was her first stop for overloading the system.

  Standing up, Micah said quietly when he passed her on his way to the utility room, “Ten minutes.”

  Olivia smiled sadly at her before heading off in the other direction.