The area surrounding the door was lined with a collection of odd and unusual objects that had been placed carefully in little organized rows leading to the door. The items ranged from clothing—shoes and crisply folded tunics—to toys and games, such as an animated rattle and a giggling ball. All had one thing in common: They were items that belonged to Eva that she was not yet ready to discard. She sat down facing a group of dingy stuffed animals at the head of this arrangement and opened her satchel.

“Hi, everybody!” Eva addressed the toys and objects huddled at the shadowy door. “Sorry it’s been a while. I’ve been so busy with my exercises and stuff. How are you?”

The toys did not reply.

“Good. Good,” Eva replied. “Oh, me? I’m all right . . . I suppose.”

She showed her bandaged thumb to the toys. “I got cut—see? Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks for asking. It happened while I was prepping dinner. No, no, don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” She rubbed her bandaged thumb against her forefinger. “But I totally flunked my fire-starting test today. I got bit by a snake and died. Can you believe it?”

The silent collection stared back at her.

Eva winced. “I know, I know. I think Muthr wanted me to fail and put it there on purpose—so I just dropped dead. I thought she was going to blow a gasket!” Eva chuckled. The hollow laugh echoed on the damp walls surrounding her.

She sighed, slumping into the shadow outside of the Omnipod’s glow. Her eyes downcast, Eva spoke in a melancholy tone, “What am I going to do, guys? It’s not that I want to fail these exercises. I want to pass them. I mean, the sooner I pass them, the sooner I can get out of here. . . . I’m sorry. You’re right—the sooner we can get out of here.” Eva stared at the glowing faces of her old toys, illuminated by the Omnipod. “I just . . . I just want to have friends. Not that you guys aren’t great friends and all. But, you know.” Eva picked at a loose string of climatefiber hanging from her sock. “I want to meet people . . . like me.”

A muffled banging sound reverberated down the hall from the direction of the Sanctuary. She stopped talking and listened . . . but now all was silent.