Sammy’s face appeared on the screen, very close to the camera.

“Hey, kid, are you okay?” I asked cautiously, as he hissed something to someone off-screen.

“Pavo!” he whisper-shouted frantically. “You have to go!”

I bit back a laugh.

“Is Pavo there?” I asked, despite being pretty certain he was somewhere just off-screen.

Sammy’s wide panicked eyes snapped up to the camera and, for the first time, I caught a glimpse of the bruises that decorated his face. I wanted to ask what happened but he immediately began talking again.

“I’m so sorry! We got held up in our dorm because they started changing up the times of the checks and I was going to message to say that I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get here in time but then the tutors came around and I managed to slip past them. I needed Pav to come and help me set up all the stuff so that I’d be able to call on time but I thought we’d be able to get it done already! I’m sorry!” he cried, looking panicked.

I laughed, ignoring Aquila’s slightly concerned glance at Andy.

“Don’t worry about it! Can Pav still hear me?” I asked.

“Yeah, he’s still here!” Sammy said before turning the camera around to point at Pavo who was trying to sneak away.

“Hey, Pav! Long time no see!”

He slowly turned towards me, his face somehow more of a mess than Sammy’s.

“Hey, sorry, I was just leaving so you could talk to Sammy,” he said, awkwardly picking at his sleeve.

“That’s okay! How are you?” I asked as carefully as I could.

His face was swollen almost beyond recognition but still, he grinned up at me nervously.

“I’m okay!” he insisted. “How are you? I’m so sorry about Gem.”

I swallowed and forced a smile onto my face.

“Thank you. How have things been there?” I asked.

I wanted to ask him what happened to his face but I couldn’t. I knew that if I were to fuss over him, he’d be uncomfortable with it. He was a Draftee, I knew he wouldn’t be used to the attention.

He winced slightly and began picking at his sleeve more insistently, tugging it down to hide his missing fingers.

“It’s been… okay,” he said carefully. “The tutors have been getting more and more strict after the Councillor’s announcement the other day.”

I tried not to look at Aquila but, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her sit up straighter.

“Oh yeah?” I said, trying to gently coax more information out of him.

“Yeah, I mean… did you see the announcement he gave to everyone?” Pavo asked, glancing at Sammy behind the camera uncertainly.

“Yeah…”

“Well… after that, he gave another one. One just to bases. Did you see that one?”

Pavo’s tone was hopeful, like he wouldn’t have to be the one to tell me whatever it was.

I glanced around the room but I could tell that they hadn’t seen the announcement either. The grim look on their faces told me they expected it though.

“No,” I said finally.

Pavo’s shoulders slumped and he shot a desperate look at Sammy.

There was a silent exchange between the two of them, mostly consisting of exaggerated facial expressions before Sammy sighed heavily and turned the camera around, hooking it on the wall again so that he could wring his hands together in anxiety.

“Well… it was pretty much the same as what he was saying to everyone else… umm… he spoke about the whole dedicating the day to the children of wars and all that and then…” Sammy trailed off and looked back at Pavo.

Pavo refused to meet his gaze so eventually, Sammy looked back at me and sighed.

Fear spiked in my stomach in anticipation of what he was going to say.

“He said that we were at war and that… talking to you guys was an act of treason…”

He looked down, his shoulders slumped.

Relief started to wash through me. That was nothing new, we already knew about that.

“Tell them about the other thing,” Pavo urged.

“What other thing?” I asked, a little too sharply.

Sammy heaved out a sigh.

“He said they’re going to start selecting people to send to the advanced training camps starting immediately.”

My stomach dropped and my hands started to shake.

“Advanced training camps?” I breathed, needing to know more but also not wanting to.

The dull thump of finger against screen came from my left as Andy typed furiously but I couldn’t look away from Sammy to see what he was doing.

“Yeah… they’re for kids that are old enough to join crews and start fighting against you…” Sammy peeked up at me nervously, as if worried about how I would react.

“They’ve started sending people already?” I asked. “Who?”

Sammy hesitated, glancing at Pavo for support.

“No one from our class yet, just some of the older kids.” He hesitated, looking like he was trying to work up the courage to tell me something. “They’re only sending Draftees.”

The air left the room and I couldn’t breathe.

“What?”

He nodded, clearly not wanting to repeat himself.

“All of the Drafts over fourteen are gone but… there are rumours they are going to start sending the younger ones too.”

My chest started to burn from lack of oxygen and I couldn’t think of anything to say.

Sammy was a Volunteer, his mom was someone important to the Council, he’d be safe but Pavo wasn’t and judging by the mess that was his face, he was already causing a lot of trouble. He’d be gone soon too.

“Did they get any warning? Before they were shipped to the camps?” I heard myself ask without really thinking about it.

Sammy nodded.

“I think they got a couple of days?” he replied, glancing at Pavo for clarification.

“Yeah,” Pavo said. “I saw some people packing their stuff up a couple of days before they left.”

I nodded, my brain spinning fast.

I refused to let him be taken to one of the camps. If he went there, we wouldn’t be able to get him out and it was ridiculous that they were only sending the Draftees. I knew why there were doing it and I hated it. The Council always saw the Draftees as lesser. It was something that Andy had worked so hard to overcome but it sounded like they’d undone all of that on the base.

I needed to tell him I’d find a way to get him out of there but I wasn’t sure. It felt like it wasn’t my plan to tell but Aquila wasn’t saying anything and Andy hadn’t written anything relevant on the screen. From what I could tell, he was hacking into the base computer. I think he’d managed to get into their system and was devouring as much information as he could.

I had to say something. I could see how worried he was. I had to let him know that we wouldn’t let him be taken, we’d fight for him and get him out of there.

I pulled a screen towards myself and typed as quickly as I could.

We need to find somewhere safe to keep the kids once we’ve rescued them. The ones who don’t want to stay on Freo, I wrote before pushing it towards Andy.

He scanned the words quickly before nodding and passing the screen to Elliot, who read it with a grim expression. He looked up, catching my gaze, and nodded.

I looked back to Pavo, feeling more confident even though I was still worried for him.

“We’re working on a plan,” I said, with a glance to Aquila. “To get you out of there.”

She didn’t react in any way but I could tell from the calculating look on her face that she was leaving the situation up to me. I could tell them as much or as little as I wanted, which was concerning. It meant that I had to decide what was appropriate and what was not.

If I messed up and said too much or not enough, it was on me.

“You are?” Pavo asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

“Of course. I’m not going to let them take you to the camp, you’re too young and you don’t want to go. It’s not right.”

He looked down, his face flushing with embarrassment or maybe happiness. Sammy, however, beamed with happiness.

“See,” he said to Pavo. “I told you they wouldn’t let you go!”

My stomach tensed with guilt at his words.

He trusted me so much but I’d already forgotten about him once. I couldn’t let it happen again.

“I can’t tell you much,” I said cagily, glancing at Aquila again, “just in case someone overhears, but we do have a plan to get you and the rest of the kids on the base out. It’s not going to be immediate but it will happen. If you find out anything, even if it’s just a rumour, let me know immediately, okay? Sammy, can you teach him how to contact us? I’ll make sure we keep an eye on it and come get you if we need to.”

Sammy nodded enthusiastically and smiled at Pavo again but I couldn’t bring myself to smile back. My gaze found Aquila and I almost expected her to look angry because I’d promised that we’d get him out without consulting her but she didn’t. Instead, there was a look of thoughtful consideration on her face.

Slowly, her lips pulled up into a smile.