The morning the supply ship was due to come, we’d gone into the forest to hide near where it would land. It was slow going—we had trouble walking and had to use canes, stopping to rest every few steps. We left before most of the Hearth was awake and kept under cover of the trees, hoping that nobody would see us. We didn’t bring anything with us except a bit of food—no clothes, no trinkets, no journals. I think that hurt Taema more than me. She wanted to bring at least one book. I decided then and there that if we survived and got jobs in San Francisco, I’d buy her all the books I could with my first pay-check.

We waited there in the shade all morning, eating the snacks Mom and Dad had packed us. We wouldn’t have long once Dad gave the signal.

“Are Mom and Dad going to get into trouble if Mana-ma realizes they helped us?” Taema asked. She hadn’t asked the question before, though it must have been on her mind as much as mine.

“Probably, but it shouldn’t be too bad. Mana-ma loves them, and maybe she won’t find out. Maybe they’ll think we went off to die in the woods and then animals ate us.”

“That’s gross, Tila.”

“What? I’d rather be eaten by a fox or a bear then buried in the ground and then eaten by worms. You’re going to be eaten either way.”

I was trying to distract her, though I wasn’t doing a very good job. I thought Mom and Dad would get in big trouble if Mana-ma found out they helped us escape. I didn’t think their lives would be in danger or anything, though. I didn’t know the full story of Mia and her lost lover back then. If I had, I might have been too scared to risk Mom and Dad by running away.

Even to save our lives.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” Taema says. “I … can’t help feeling it’s wrong. That out there we’ll lose ourselves.”

I pressed my cheek against hers, then reached around and stroked her hair. “If we stay, we die. I don’t want you to die.”

Her breath hitched. “I don’t want you to die, either. Maybe it’s better to be damned by Impure things than be dead.”

I shook my head, pushing down my anger that, despite everything, she could still believe in the tenets of the Hearth.

The ship came down, all silver and chrome and the blue fire of its engines. It was so different from anything in the Hearth. So smooth and sleek and futuristic. I remember thinking how strange it would be to be surrounded by a world where everything looked so flawless like that.