We follow instructions to my destination, a chamber for my preparation.

Cleaning me up is just a preliminary step to determining my new look. With my acid-damaged hair, sunburned skin, and ugly scars, the prep team has to make me pretty and then damage, burn, and scare me in a more attractive way.

The most exciting thing either of us does is nap.

My guess is that fearful events are the hardest to root out. They're the ones we naturally remember the best, after all.

What was that you were saying just before the food arrived? Something about me... no competition... best thing that ever happened to you.

The air's warm with hopeful hints of spring in it. Spring would be a good time for an uprising, I think. Everyone feels less vulnerable once winter passes.

There's no point in comforting words, in telling her she'll be all right. She's no fool. Her hand reaches out and I clutch it like a lifeline. As if it's me who's dying instead of Rue.