Stop, she chided herself.

Nightmares never make sense.)

She remembered how hard it had been to keep her feet moving — up, down, right, left, closer, closer…. She couldn't protest or defend herself, either. Opening her mouth, even just enough to let out a whimper, would have released hysterics.

Please don't kill me! I'm only a kid. I didn't want to break any laws. It's not my fault. Oh, and please don't take Jason….

Now, in her jail cell, Nina clenched her teeth, afraid that she might still let those words spill out. And she couldn't. Someone might be listening. Someone might hear his name. Whatever she did, she had to protect Jason. Jason and Gran and the aunties. And her parents, of course. But she could hold her tongue about all the others. It was Jason's name she wanted to wail, Jason she wanted to call out to.

Jason, do you know where I am? Did you worry when I didn't show up at our meeting place in the woods? You're so brave. Can you… can you rescue me?

She was being so silly. This was just a dream. In a few minutes the morning bells would chime, and she'd open her eyes in her swaying top bunk at Harlow School for Girls. Then she'd brush her teeth and wash her face and change her clothes and maybe, just maybe, get four raisins in her oatmeal at breakfast….

She remembered her arrest again. She remembered reaching the front of the dining hall, facing the policeman. At the last moment, right before the policeman snapped the metal cuffs on Nina's wrists, she had noticed another man standing behind him, watching Nina just as intently as all her classmates were. But all her classmates had gone glassy-eyed with fear, their gazes as vacant as dolls'. This man's dark eyes said everything.