The Testing (The Testing 1)

“You think so?” Some of the fear fades from Malachi’s eyes. “Do you think they’ll let us look around the city?”

“Probably not until after we’re done with Testing. It sounds like they’re going to have us on a pretty tight schedule.” Tomas flashes a smile and claps Malachi on the back. “But once we’re University students we’ll have the run of the place and the girls. Right?”

Malachi smiles back. “Right.”

“Some of us don’t find University pedigrees attractive.” Zandri tosses her blond mane and gives them both a look of disgust. Malachi shrinks back into the cushions. Tomas just laughs. After a bit of encouragement, he gets Malachi to talk about pictures they’ve seen of Tosu City, where some buildings are more than ten stories high. Eventually Zandri stops sulking and discusses the sculptures she’s hoping to see.

I listen to the three of them chat, not surprised that it is Tomas who puts everyone at ease. As always, I’m very aware of being the youngest—and the least experienced. In class, I made sure to raise my hand only if I was certain of the answer so I would never look as though I didn’t belong. Now, like in class, I hold back and listen. Tall, blond, and beautiful, Zandri exudes a prickly confidence, but her defensive posture softens when she talks art with Malachi. I’m surprised at the extent of his knowledge of artists long dead.

Now that Malachi and Zandri are filling the silence, Tomas sits back and only adds the occasional comment. He too is observing—weighing their laughter and their silences. Tomas notices me watching. Quickly, I look away as my cheeks burn. Not that Tomas isn’t used to being looked at. Most girls in our class would spend the entire school day watching him instead of the blackboard. Since his assigned seat was directly behind mine, I never had the distraction. But I’d have to be blind not to notice the way laughter and the single dimple in his left cheek transform his angular face. More than once my fingers have itched to brush back the lock of hair that always falls across his forehead. Not that I’d ever have the courage to try. Which is okay. Boys and dating haven’t been on my priority list. And they certainly can’t be now.

The trio across the way laughs at something. Shrugging off feelings of being left out, I smile at the group and try to look interested in their chatter. After a while, Zandri and Malachi admit they didn’t sleep well the night before. They stretch out on the cushioned benches in the front of the passenger compartment and are out almost immediately.

“Let’s move to the back so we don’t disturb them,” Tomas whispers. My heart skips a little as I follow his lead. Tomas’s first order of business is to explore the back of the cabin. I’m happy to open cabinet doors—which contain nuts, dried fruit, cheese, and crackers—and poke into the closet, which turns out to be a bathroom.

We grab a bag of dried fruit and some water and stretch out in the back. Tomas turns an apple chip over in his strong, calloused hands and says, “It’s hard to believe they selected four of us this year.”

I notice his bracelet design—an eight-pointed star with three wavy horizontal lines. My group. My surprise and worry must show because Tomas asks what’s wrong. I explain about the identification symbols. Then, since Malachi and Zandri are both snoring, I decide to be completely honest. “You’re going to blow everyone in our group away. Me included.”

“Are you kidding?” Tomas’s clear gray eyes sweep over my face. After a minute he laughs and shakes his head. “You really aren’t joking.”

“Everyone knows you were first in our class.”

“Only because the teacher wasn’t around last year. She doesn’t know you built the wind and solar generators we use at school.”

“My brothers helped.” The achievement wasn’t mine alone. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them. “My father says the irrigation system you designed is going to help revitalize areas outside our borders. That’s huge.”

He shrugs. “My father had been working on it for years. I just helped brainstorm a few ideas and set the thing up. I’m not saying I wasn’t important, but I wasn’t the genius Ms. Jorghen made me out to be. I got the impression she thought Five Lakes students were simple-minded. You know, since no one had been chosen for The Testing in years. My report on the new irrigation system during the first week of class made an impression.”

Tomas is right about our teacher’s preconceived ideas of Five Lakes Colony. For the first few days of the new school year every word she spoke was slow and deliberate. She sounded like she was talking to a group of four-year-olds. Then she gave us a “How I spent my break” assignment and everything changed. Ms. Jorghen’s face never showed surprise, but the assignments got harder and she stopped talking in one-syllable words. Thinking about it now makes me wonder if my dad was right. If our old teacher misdirected the Commonwealth into thinking we weren’t bright enough to be leaders. And if so, why would she do such a thing? Because she hated to see families separated or because she truly believed something sinister would be lurking for us on the other end of our journey?

“What’s wrong?”

I blink. “What do you mean?” His raised eyebrow says my innocent act isn’t fooling him. So I ask, “Don’t you think it’s strange that Five Lakes didn’t have a Testing candidate for ten years?”

He pops a raisin into his mouth and considers the question. “The only thing I can figure is the Commonwealth government must have thought our population was too small to justify removing citizens. Five Lakes has grown a lot in the past ten years.”

About 350 citizens have moved into Five Lakes in the last decade. That doesn’t seem like a lot considering other colonies have tens of thousands of citizens.

“You think there’s another reason?”

I want to tell him what my father suspected—share the burden. Know that another pair of eyes will be on the watch for signs of danger. But my father’s parting words ring loud in my head. If it were just Tomas and me, I might ignore the warning, but we aren’t alone. So instead I say, “Seems like there should be. Don’t you think?”

“If you figure out what it is, please let me know so I can tell my brother. He’s feeling put out that I made it and he never did.”

“I know the feeling. Zeen is upset too.”

He smiles at me, flashing the dimple. For the next hour we talk about our friends. Our families. The things we’ll miss in Five Lakes. The things we hope to accomplish if we make it to the University. I’m surprised to hear he wants to go into land revitalization like my father. I thought he would look for something more glamorous. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Despite his good looks and outgoing personality, Tomas has always been a quiet leader. He is always happy to help a neighbor or one of the younger students, and he does it in a way that does not ask for praise or payment in return. He’s someone my father would be proud to have on his team.

We finish the bag of dried fruit and are both still hungry. Tomas grabs a box of crackers and starts to open them when Michal yells back, “We’re going to stop for lunch in a few minutes. You might want to wake up your friends.”

No need. Michal’s voice is loud enough to do it for us.

As Zandri and Malachi stretch and try to get their bearings, I wonder how Michal knew Tomas had grabbed the crackers. The timing was too perfect for it to be coincidence. Tomas doesn’t seem concerned. He just stows the box back in a cabinet and walks through the cabin to chat with the others. But his back had been toward the driver’s compartment. He probably assumed Michal had looked back and saw him take the crackers. Only, I know Michal hadn’t. His head never turned. So how did he know?

There. In the corner of the cabin is a round glint of glass. A camera lens? I scan the rest of the passenger cabin. There aren’t any others, which makes me certain I am right.

We are being watched. By Michal or does this camera broadcast farther? Has The Testing already begun? I shiver at the thought of my face being seen on some unknown television. We don’t have much use for televisions in Five Lakes. The magistrate has one. So does my father’s work and a few other select locations. Rarely are they used. Clearly they are not used so sparingly outside of my colony.