“I’m going to write him a letter and hopefully, he’ll answer right away. I can only stay here a few days before the officials will insist that I check into a place of reflection.”
“And if he doesn’t answer?”
Scratching my arm, I thought about it. “I don’t know. I expect him to be angry with me for leaving so suddenly. Nmen are proud. Tyton might be too upset with me to answer.”
“Then you have to tell him about the baby. I’ll bet he’d answer then.”
“Maybe.”
While Tina stayed under the blanket, I got a pen and pad to write my letter.
Dear Tyton,
I’m back early and hope you’re getting this letter.
Our book became an instant success and sold more copies than any of my other books. The good thing was that the Press spoke about the book a lot, which provided exposure, and boosted the sales. Almost three hundred thousand copies were sold and that’s unheard of for a romance. The bad thing is that the Press hated it and called it a toxic book. Today, I was told that our book has been banned and that I’m considered a danger to the innocent minds of my readers.
I want to meet with you, Tyton.
Please write me back as soon as you can.
May our souls find a way to break down the wall between us,
Devina
When Tina and I walked through the forest to the border, we arrived to see new signs warning of mortal danger and a new security camera on top of the border wall.
“This is bad.” I frowned and watched the camera to determine if it was a prop or the real thing. It didn’t move and there were no lights in it to signal it was on.
Searching the ground for bottles, I was disappointed to see that there was nothing waiting for me.
Either Tyton had been too angry to respond to my goodbye letter or whoever had set up the new signs and the camera had found the bottle before I got here.
The catapult was still hidden under the branches where I’d left it, but it was slippery from moss.
“You think they’ll record you on the camera?”
“Maybe, but what are they going to do about it?” I pulled my scarf higher over my nose to hide my face. Just as I was about to send off my letter, a small drone came flying along the border wall.
“Hide.” I pulled Tina back and saw the tiny thing continue to the right along the wall.
“You never mentioned border drones in your book,” she whispered.
“Because I’ve never seen one before today,” I whispered back.
Tina scratched her nose, which was red from the cold. “Well, the News did say that the Council has increased the security along the border.”
We waited a while before I sent off my letter. My heart was pounding. “I think we’re good.”
Tina helped cover up the catapult and just as we were about to walk away, the drone returned. This time it spotted us and a red light turned on.
“This is a restricted area and you must move away.”
We turned our backs on it and jogged to get out of the way.
When we returned an hour later, we sneaked up, running from tree to tree.
“This is so exciting.” Tina grinned. “I can use this in one of my mystery novels. I could have someone spying or avoiding being seen.” The way she made herself small behind a large tree had me smiling.
