Alright, who's up for a long chapter? Because this one's long! I hope you enjoy the chapter and don't worry, things will get more action-packed soon. Being an author, I just have to make the story leading up to the action as suspenseful and painstaking as possible. :)

Happy reading!

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Buoyed by Camryn's encouragement, I stroll confidently into the work facility the next day on my way to my meeting with Ximon. I am going to tell him. He will join us or he will leave us alone. I tell myself this over and over again to convince myself completely. I walk down the office hallway of the facility and turn into Ximon's office. He isn't inside it yet, as I expected, and I sit down in a chair across from his desk. He hasn't put nearly as much effort into his office in this facility as he has in his office inside the dome. There really isn't much decoration at all on the walls except for another copy of the picture of him and his big group of friends. It is the picture with my mom in it. I wonder if Ximon wishes he was still with these people. I wonder if he thought he'd end up in the exploration department. I wonder if he ever dreamed he'd mentor someone, especially someone like me. As I stare at the picture, I realize that I don't really know anything about him in a personal sense. Maybe I should ask him some questions about his family today before I drop a bomb and tell him that my mom is actually alive. Before I can ponder it further, Ximon swishes through the door in his long white lab coat.

"Good morning, Kaze," he says briskly. I give him a nod in reply. Ximon strolls behind his desk and collapses heavily into his chair.

"Just finished dealing with some newbie knuckleheads in the Dome Sector," he says while rubbing his temples with his fingers. "They want to give the dome legs 'So it can, like, walk across the dunes or something!'" He finishes his sentence in an imitation of the newbie's voice. I smile and try not to laugh.

"To be fair, I wanted to bring all my friends here and race drones when I was new," I say. Ximon barks out a laugh.

"You would," he says. "Now let's get down to business. I originally wanted to speak to you to congratulate you. You've been doing really well with this whole drone thing and you're actually set to finish the beta program in only a month or two. When you finish, Ashly and I were discussing taking on a few more people to teach them about the drones. Since you have aced all of the drone lessons so far, you would mentor someone. That is, if you're okay with it." I sit there in Ximon's chair for a solid twenty seconds, unable to comprehend what Ximon has just said to me.

"You mean, I would be like you?" I ask. Ximon grimaces slightly.

"That makes me feel pretty old, but in essence, yes. You'd be like me," says Ximon.

"I'll do it, but with one condition: The person I mentor can't be too close to my age, otherwise there's no way they'll learn anything from me," I say.

"Done," says Ximon. "In fact, there's a fifteen-year-old kid that just applied yesterday. From what I've heard, he sounds like a good match for you. He's smart, eager, and he's definitely heard rumors about the drones."

"Cool," I say, genuinely excited to begin mentoring this kid in a few short months. I can't wait to share all my wisdom with him.

"Now," says Ximon. "We have a few other things to discuss." My excitement drains away slightly and I regain my composure to begin talking with Ximon more seriously.

"Also, while we're talking, I need you to be completely honest with me. I'm not going to go and report you to anyone and I'm not planning on gossiping about what you say. Plus, I programmed the security cameras in this area to go dead right about... now. So, I will be the only one to hear what you say," Ximon says with a smug look on his face. He leans back in his chair and folds his arms across his chest.

"Alright. I need you to tell me: What exactly happened in your time outside the dome? And don't leave out any convenient details please," says Ximon. My mouth goes completely dry and I cough into my arm, my mind buzzing rapidly. I try to quickly calm myself down. This is what I want isn't it? I wanted a chance to talk to Ximon freely and now I've got it. He's even disabled the cameras for me! Come on, Kaze! Just tell him!

"Okay," I say, my voice raspy. I clear my throat again and launch into my story.

"While I was outside the dome, I didn't just hide for the whole night like I told everyone I did," I begin. Ximon rolls his eyes in an "I already knew that" sort of way. I continue.

"As soon as I knew I was stuck outside the dome, I ditched my old buzzbike at the gate and went off to the petrified forest. I wanted to try to find wood for a fire so I wouldn't be completely in the dark. Once I got to the forest, the sun had already gone down and it was starting to get colder. I couldn't see much, but I happened to stumble on a pile of logs. While I was picking them up, I noticed a sort of path and a fire pit. I thought they might belong to some sort of monster, which they did, so I ran out of there as fast as I could. Since it was so dark, I tripped and cut up my arm pretty badly," I say. I grimace, remembering the pain. I shake the feeling away and go on.

"The monster who owned the fire pit and path offered to help me. When I looked into his eyes, I immediately complied. I remember feeling so at ease with him, even though every cell in my body should have been telling me to run away," I say.

"His eyes must have been hypnotic," Ximon interrupts. "There are some monsters I know of that have that ability." Questions about how Ximon knows this zip through my head at an alarming rate, but I shove them all down. There will be time to ask later.

"The monster took me back to his home and pretended to be friendly to me. I went to sleep for a bit and when I woke up, he was standing over me with a knife. I managed to escape him, but he sent his pack of giant mutant rabbits after me. They were on the verge of catching me when a woman jumped in front of me and saved me. She carried me back to her tree house even after I sustained another large gash in my leg," I say. I take a moment to swallow and push back all the memories. Ximon is now on the edge of his seat with his elbows resting on his desk. His hands and fingers are up in an A shape in front of his face as he waits intently for the rest of my story.

"Eventually," I hesitate. "I found out that the woman was... my mother." Ximon's eyebrows shoot up into the stratosphere. He stays quiet, though, and lets me continue.

"She bandaged all my cuts with leaves and talked to me all night. She told me about her job with the One. She had to torture people, Ximon. The One would make her experiment on people and laugh while she did it. So, she joined a rebellion and was a double-agent for them. She gave so much information to the rebellion but she couldn't do it for long. The One found out. My mom was thrown out of the dome. And she can't even go back because the One will just kill her," I say, suddenly feeling as if I might cry. I glance up at Ximon and am shocked to see a single, silent tear roll down his cheek. His lips form the word "Renaya" over and over again.

"I spent the rest of the night with her," I go on shakily. "And then I went back to the dome in the morning. Before I left, she made me swear to not tell anyone about her existence in the forest. So I just went back to life." I stop to gather my emotions. I can tell that Ximon appreciates my pause as well. He takes a deep breath and swipes the tear away. I'm pretty sure that Ximon thinks my story ends here, but I keep talking.

"Lately," I say. "I've been wanting to talk to my mother again. So, I did exactly what my mom told me not to. I told my brother, my girlfriend, and a small group of friends that she was still alive. We formulated a plan to go and try to talk to her again. I don't really want to spend another night outside the dome, though, so I want to infiltrate this facility and use the drones. That's why I was adding a camera to my drone when you came to talk to me. One of my friends is hacking into the system to erase me from the dome gate databases on the day we break in, but I don't have anyone that knows how to disable security inside the facility," I say, hinting at what I want Ximon to do. Ximon is now regarding me in a curious, interested manner.

"I've wanted to tell you all this earlier," I confess, "But I didn't know how you would take it. I want you on my team to shut off all the cameras in the facility when we're talking with my mom. Naturally, because you need to get into the facility to get to the security room, you'll be able to talk to my mom as well. So... what do you think?" I hold my breath, expecting the worst. At least I know that he isn't going to tell the One. Either way, I want him to be on my team. We need him whether we'll admit it or not.

"The One is a bastard," says Ximon, his voice shaking. I can't tell if it is from sadness or rage.

"I'll gladly be on your team," he says. "Let's talk to your mom. And we can spit in the One's face on the way there." Yeah, his voice is shaking with rage.

"Thank you," I say, truly grateful to him. He has no idea how much he's just helped us. I remember that Ximon has disabled the cameras for a certain amount of time.

"Ximon," I ask, "How much longer are those cameras out?"

"We've got ten minutes till they're back on," he says.

"Perfect," I say. "Now, let me introduce you to the rest of my team."