Chapter 1 (BÖÐÚLFUR’S P.O.V)

“Hurry up, before they realize that we are gone.” I manage to wheeze out. Bára picks up her pace; it’s one of the rare times that she does something that I asked her to do, ‘she must not want to get caught’. Realizing that we’re now in Grundarfjörður, I start to slow down. My lungs burn like fire is dancing inside me. Coming to a halt outside of the city’s sign, I creep around the side of the orphanage. Seeing that all the kids are outside except for Nanna and Håvard, turning to Bára and give her a nod letting her know that we have to sneak around the back.

“Next time you tell me to hurry up, I will choke you.” She snaps at me in a whisper. Rolling my eyes at her I shake my head before opening the small old wooden door to the
orphanage with heat wrapping its arms around me and the pungent smell of rotting shark, hákarl, hits me with an unrelenting strength. I hear the clatter of dishes in the kitchen. Bára and I make a mad dash to the stairs, making our way quickly through the living room with old rugged furniture and a small television. I look at Bára’s long dark brown hair swaying as she runs up the
steps as quickly as humanly possible. I follow her only to be greeted by ‘Hello Böðúlfur,’ and at that moment I knew we had been caught.

“Hello ma’am.” I pant to the caretaker, Ásfríður, trying to hide the fact that my face looks as pale as a ghost.

“Bára you go now,” She says as she turns to Bára giving her a polite smile.

“What is it that you need?” I ask her while Bára disappears up the steps to the third
floor, the girls’ rooms. She stares after Bára for a moment before saying anything, when the slam of Bára’s door is echoing throughout the house she precedes.

“Böðúlfur,” she sighs while flipping her long blonde hair streaked with gray over her
shoulder. “Why do you keep doing this? Why must we keep meeting about you and
Bára sneaking off all the time? It’s getting rather old.”

“I-” I try to say something in my defense, but she cuts me off.

“This will not happen again; Tomorrow is a big day for everyone. Need I remind you
that the P.C.M.I. will be all over this place in a moment’s notice from anyone?”

“I understand.” I spit out while grinding. my teeth.

“Good now, I will have none of this from here on out.” She states, brushing past me to go down the stairs. I am left in the hallway with only the faint suspicion that maybe I should try to lay low for a while.

Back in my room Håvard and I sit across from each other. He has a book, The History of Robit’ Pokusy, an eighth-grade standard. It’s a very old and practically falling apart. Usually we get all our information for school on a tablet for the year, but recently there have been issues with people stealing them.

“Böðúlfur, can you help me?” Håvard asks me with frustration consuming his usual calm self.

“With?” I roll my eyes at him.

“With this whole section of this book, I don’t understand it.” He whines while trying to cover his face.

“Fine.” I say reluctantly and get off of my bed and make my way across the room that is more like a hall with six beds on either side.

“What part do you need help with?” I ask taking a seat on the bed next to him.

“With the translation, I don’t understand what any of this means.” He says while
pointing to the massive section in his book.

“Okay I will try.” I say taking his book and reading . “Mental illness plagued the globe and caused destruction to many countries and continents until the Declaration of Psychological Infirmity created in 2890 by the nations of Robit’ Pokusy stated that all those with unstable minds were to be executed in an attempt to destroy mental illness. Those between the ages of 13 through 15 were to be tested by a group of people, which came to be called Peadders, to determine the stability of their minds.”

“Böðúlfur, are you ready for the tests?” He nudges me.

“Nei, but I can’t really do anything to stop them from happening.”

“Don’t worry you’ll fail like everyone who is here has and come back. Nothing bad will happen to you.”

“I know that but I just have this feeling that I can’t shake… this feeling that something is going to happen.” I say to him with a look of distress on my face.

“Well I’m sure it’s nothing.” He replies.

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Rolling over in my bed I can’t get comfortable enough to fall asleep. The moon lights the room just barely enough to see Kristján laying in the bed next to mine. He looks peaceful and calm. I hear a noise that I can’t really make out, but I soon realize that it’s crying. The cries grows louder so I throw my blankets to the side and exit my room into the long brown hallway with paintings, lamps and tables along the side of the wall. The cries become slightly louder as I cross the hallway to the window.

Bára is curled into a ball in the bay window crying. She is shaking with her hand in her hands, leaning against the window.

“Halló,” I say resting my hand on her shoulder.

“Go away.” She sobs, her voice quivering.

“Nei, I won’t go away,you don’t need to be alone.” I say taking a seat next to her.

“Stop being so nice,” I open my mouth to say something but she cuts me off. “Tomorrow we find out our fate, weather we can live or die.”

“You’re right but why be sad now, we have luxury before we die. That is if we die.”

“Just leave me alone.” She cries out. I can sense that something's off within her not just this stupid test, it goes much deeper than that. Without saying another word or continuing to question her I just wrap my arms around her holding her there for the rest of the night.