It was the darkest hour before the sunrise, and it was about to happen.

The Pairing Ceremony.

Margot had shaken Glass awake a few minutes ago, and instructed her to go get the other female recruits. To lead them to their fates. Glass’s knees trembled as she got out of her bed and pulled on her white dress, braiding her hair back.

This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Wells was supposed to have figured out an escape plan by now. Was it possible that Octavia hadn’t been able to find him? Or maybe her friends left without her. Her stomach felt leaden, filled with dread.

Half in a daze, Glass moved throughout the dark corridors of the Stone, Margot trailing behind her. When they reached the women’s den, Margot unlocked the door. Glass stepped in, hands shaking.

All the girls were awake already, sitting on their mats, tidily made up for the Ceremony. Glass caught Octavia’s eye, but Octavia kept her face schooled, giving away nothing.

“It’s time,” Glass told them. The girls filed past her and out the door, Octavia quickly squeezing her hand.

Margot led the front of the line, Glass following in the back. She kept her step steady, but her eyes darted everywhere—the crumbling alley to the left, the jagged path past a heap of rubble to the right, searching frantically for a way out of here, away from this.

It wasn’t too late. Instead of continuing to walk to the Heart of the Stone, she could grab her friends and lead them in the opposite direction. She could keep them going until they reached the outer gates. But then what?

Could they possibly fight their way past the Protectors posted at every exit? And even if they did make it out, was she strong enough to make sure they could all escape and survive out there, with winter looming and god knew what other dangers lying in wait?

Glass stopped walking, closing her eyes. She drew a determined breath, ready to warn the white-clad young women about what lay ahead. But before she could speak a single word, Octavia darted back to her and gripped her arm, her eyes flashing a warning. Far ahead at the front of the line, Margot was oblivious.

“Not yet,” Octavia hissed into Glass’s ear. “Wells has a plan. It’s happening soon. We just need to be ready to run.”

Octavia slunk forward to take her place in the tidy line. Stunned, Glass scanned the rest of them and saw a grim line to their mouths, a fearful but steely glint in their eyes. They all knew.

Glass blinked at Octavia. Octavia nodded once, then lifted her chin and stared blankly ahead.

Onward, then.

Glass kept them moving, her own heart flailing in her chest, all the way to the Heart of the Stone.

It wasn’t until they walked in that her step faltered. This couldn’t be it. She must have made a wrong turn. Glass knew every inch of this place by now, mapped in her mind as if etched there permanently, so she was sure she’d taken them to the right place. But no… this was impossible.

In the center of the orchard was a grotesque construction: a carefully erected gazebo made of bones—human bones. And on it stood the High Protector, looking beatific, like a priestess waiting to bless her flock.

Peering down at the line of girls, Soren’s eyes landed on Glass and she gave her that loving smile, the one that had previously made Glass feel warm, like she belonged, like she was special. But now Glass saw the truth behind that smile: Her sweet, maternal nature hid the fact that she was brainwashing all her people. Convincing them with her gentleness that something as awful as this Pairing Ceremony was good and natural.

Glass turned, searching desperately for Wells, as Soren began to speak. So far, only the female recruits had been brought into the Heart of the Stone.

“My children. Welcome. Today, I stand upon bones that were once buried in the Earth, bones of the selfish takers whose greed brought on the Cataclysm. As Protectors, it is our duty to take pollutants like this out of our beloved Earth. The Pairing Ceremony is our promise to Earth, so we perform it standing on these bones as a reminder that we have formed a better, more thoughtful society. As Earth has brought you to us, now we must give back to Earth, planting seeds that will…”

Glass could hardly hear her through the pounding of her own heart. She glanced right to see Octavia perched on the balls of her feet, ready to run.

Glass closed her eyes, picturing the best way out of here. West and then south and then straight through the narrow, jagged alley and out to the fields… she just needed to wait for the—

A great, shattering boom drowned out Glass’s thoughts and Soren’s speech.

By the time Glass opened her eyes again, the ground was lurching beneath her feet. She knew only too well what this was. An explosion… the kind that destroyed everything in its path. Just like the explosions that had rocked her camp.

But this time, judging by the looks on the Protectors’ faces, they weren’t the ones dropping the bombs.

A second explosion went off; both had come from around the outer walls of the Stone. Based on the way the ground was shaking, though, the entire structural integrity of the compound was being compromised. And the ground wasn’t the only thing shaking—the gazebo started to sway, bones tumbling out of it.

“Get back!” Glass shouted, pushing the girls toward the exit of the courtyard.

Soren looked stunned for a moment; then her head whipped around to her advisors. “Find the men and get to the armory!”

Without a blink, the women in gray turned on their heels and sprinted out of the courtyard as she’d commanded.

Soren started making her way out of the gazebo, but as she came toward them, the gazebo’s bone floor shifted and one of her legs fell through it. She peered up and reached toward Glass. “Help me out… quickly!”

Glass turned to the other girls and spoke in a rush. “Run west, toward the water. Take the alleys, those walls are thicker, less likely to fall.”

“Glass!” Soren called.

“Go,” Glass said to the others, ignoring the confused question in Octavia's and Anna’s eyes… why wasn’t she coming too? Then she turned back to Soren, whose hand was extended, asking for help, just as another blast seemed to tilt the very planet off its axis.

This one was too much for the gazebo to withstand. The entire behemoth leaned forward, back, and forward again, careening downward, crushing everything in its path.

Including Soren.

A cloud of dust shot out from every direction. Glass hacked a cough, covering her eyes, as she heard the girls behind her racing away, shouting directions to one another. She staggered forward, squinting to see through the gritty air.

As the dust drifted away, Glass saw a figure still there, eyes open, hand stretched out to reach hers.

The High Protector was trapped under what was left of the gazebo, now no more than a pile of bones.

“Get me out,” Soren said, her voice no longer remotely calm. “Glass, you have to help me.”

Glass crept closer, her eyes wandering to the nearest wall. A massive metal support beam had been knocked loose in the aftershock of the last explosion. It wavered away from the wall dangerously. All it would take was a gust of wind and it would come crashing down on both of them.

“Don’t look at that, look at me,” Soren said, straining so hard for her old, sweet, soothing tone that the sound of it made Glass stagger backward, repelled. The older woman smiled, her eyes like daggers.

Glass glanced over at the huge metal beam, wavering wildly. For one split second, she pictured herself diving forward, digging Soren out, pushing her out of the way as the beam fell. Then she pictured something else. The image of Glass’s mother leaping in front of her, begging for Glass’s life to be spared. Dying to make that wish come true.

“My child, I’m begging you,” Soren said.

“I’m not your child,” Glass said, shaking her head in disgust. “None of us are.”

Soren’s mouth drew in, all warmth evaporating like a mirage in the desert sun.

Glass retreated a few feet more. “You’ve never had a mother, have you? A real one?”

Soren closed her eyes, not responding.

Another step. “Well, I had a mother once. Do you know what they do, out there in the real world? They protect their children.” Glass felt all emotion draining out of her, remembering her camp, her village, the wagon that dragged her away, room after room of this hellhole filled with grieving prisoners, and all of this repeated again and again, inflicted on generation after generation. “You do the opposite, Soren. You manipulate your people to kill anything in your way. You do the opposite of protecting your children—you offer them up in this horrible ceremony. You’re not a mother.” She shrugged. “Just a parasite.”

As another blast shook the eastern walls, the ground shook under Glass’s feet.

“I’ll die if you leave me here!” Soren called out, her voice fading to nothing.

Glass bit back a swell of tears, fighting the urge to turn back.

“Only if Earth wills it,” she said.

West through the alleys, Glass thought, starting away. Out to the fields and then keep running, keep running, keep running.

A great shrieking whine sounded from behind her. That beam was finally giving way.

Glass heard Soren screaming.

Her heart broke, despite it all. But she kept on running.