The creatures all looked puzzled.

  “The children don’t want to do it,” Clem added.

  … children …

  … the smallest ones of all …

  … children don’t want to dig at the foot of the mountain?

  “No. We aren’t miners. We’re children. We don’t want to dig into the mountain caves for the blue rock.”

  … why do they do that to children?

  … yes, why?

  … why?

  … tell us, Clem Usher, why …?

  The four voices all came at once.

  Clem shook her head sadly. “I don’t know. I can’t answer that.” She couldn’t. She really didn’t know. Not now; not when she had first arrived at the Work Centre as a younger child determined to make money for her family.

  “It’s just the way things are.” Clem shrugged. “They say we can leave, but most have nowhere to go or can’t afford to leave on the wages they pay. They also say we can become NewBlues, but I’m not even sure what that means, exactly. They’re new, like the name. It could just be more lies.”

  The Snow Creatures flickered their blue-fire tongues together for a few moments. Then Snowlight gently picked Clem up and put her on her shoulder. It seemed something was decided.

  “But … but please, I want to go back.” Even as she said it, Clem knew that she was not going back to the green valley.

  Snowlight slowly shook her head.

  You asked, and the Quiet, Quiet has answered. Now we know what must be done. The children call, and we must go.

  Clem sat on Snowlight’s shoulder as the Snow Creatures bounded across the ice, under the bright sun and sparkling glaciers. She watched sadly as the green valley disappeared behind them.

  But … she had asked the Quiet, Quiet a question, and it had answered. If other children could walk in the green valley, too, what could be better than that?

  When the moon crept over the ice, the mountains at the edge of the icefield were closer. Snowlight’s dark-blue mountain was closest of all.

  And below it, the children waited.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  UNMASKED

  Quinn peeked around a corner.

  All clear.

  He had crept through the Work Centre for hours. The Officer had said to find the NewBlues, to help them. But where were they? What were they?

  And how could he help them?

  Quinn hid whenever Officers and Work Bots came near. They came close again and again, but they didn’t see him. Not once. Wherever he was hiding, the Officers walked right past. They should have seen Quinn, but they didn’t.

  Which was weird.

  But even weirder, a few times Quinn saw a strange blue shimmer in the air around him as he hid. Or maybe he imagined it? However he did it, somehow Quinn made it all the way from his cell up to the Package Room.

  He peeked into the room. The Blue Brick™ zipped up the ramp. Citizen Child workers ran back and forth from ramp to packing table, each clutching a brick.

  Nearby, a group of Officers whispered in low tones. Quinn caught a few words.

  “… on the glacier …”

  “… moved like the ice itself …”

  “… bright blue, I heard, from head to toe …”

  “… and then that Packager dropped the Blue Brick™ …”

  “… could be just the start …”

  Whatever was happening, the Officers seemed very worried.

  Quinn scanned the room for the boy with the long face — maybe he knew how to find the NewBlues. There! The boy was about to put a Blue Brick™ into a box.

  How do I get him to see me? What can I do? Think!

  Quinn had an idea. He melted into a group at the ramp. He grabbed a Blue Brick™, then slipped along, closer and closer to the boy …

  … then Quinn tossed the Blue Brick™ up into the air!

  It sailed over the children’s heads …

  CRACK!

  The Blue Brick™ smashed into pieces on the floor.

  The room went silent. For a second, the Citizen Child workers and the Officers stared at the broken Blue Brick™ shattered on the floor.

  BLEET! BLEET!

  The Officers blew their whistles, and the room burst into a roar. Citizen Child workers ran around, Officers shouted. Then … CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

  Suddenly, all over the Package Room, Blue Brick™ sailed through the air and broke into pieces on the floor! Again and again, the bricks slipped to the floor from many blue-tinged hands.

  “WHO DROPPED THE BLUE BRICK™?”

  “All workers will STOP throwing Blue Brick™ on the floor!”

  “CITIZEN CHILD WORKERS LINE UP!”

  BLEET! BLEET!

  Officers yelled, whistles blew, children darted here and there, bricks smashed, and Quinn saw his chance.

  “HEY!” he yelled, but the boy with the long face didn’t hear. Quinn was about to run over to the boy when a hand landed on his shoulder.

  CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.

  The smallish Officer held Quinn, and the Work Bot with blue eyes stood beside him.

  Dix!

  “QF12P, you’re coming with us!” the smallish Officer said. “Hurry up!”

  Officers blew whistles and tried to bring BunkHouse-47A under control. Children ran around; more Blue Brick™ hit the floor and broke. In all the confusion, Quinn, the small Officer and Dix slipped out the door.

  “Shhhhh, follow us,” the Officer said quietly. The three marched down the hall.

  “Over here.” The Officer led them to a storage room and pulled a pair of orange overalls from a shelf. “Put these on,” he whispered. The overalls were much too big for Quinn, who rolled up the sleeves and legs.

  “Where are we going?” Quinn wasn’t at all sure what was happening. Was he in trouble? Was the Officer taking him back down to the cells? Maybe it was a mistake that they had left the cell door open earlier, and now they were just recapturing him?

  The small Officer whispered, “You’ve done well to get this far, Quinn, but —”

  Suddenly, another Officer joined them. He eyed them suspiciously.

  “This Caver is off to the mines,” the smallish Officer said.

  The new Officer looked at Quinn. “Little short, isn’t he? Anyway, did you hear? More dropped Blue Brick™” — the new Officer dropped his voice — “and more of the blue problem.” He said this last part very quietly, so Quinn wasn’t sure he had heard him right.

  Blue problem?

  The smallish Officer nodded. “I’ve heard. I have to take this Caver now. Commander’s orders.” Then he led Quinn away, and Dix followed.

  CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.

  They hurried away from the Package Room, which was still in an uproar. They marched up the stairs, along hallways. Up, up, up.

  Quinn finally spoke. “We’re going up, not down. We’re not going to the mines, are we?”

  “No. Shhhh.”

  As they walked, worried Officers hurried past, talking loudly among themselves. But they were too busy to stop and question them.

  “Why are they so worried?” Quinn whispered.

  “Things are changing quickly. And a Caver has run away,” the Officer answered quietly.

  Quinn’s heart beat faster.

  Clem Usher!

  Up hallways and along silent corridors they went, until finally the hallways levelled off. There were no more stairs. The smallish Officer stopped them at a door at the end of an empty hallway.

  The door had a sign on it: NEWBLUES.

  “We’re at the top floor of the Work Centre, Quinn,” the Officer whispered. “I can’t come any farther. You must go on alone. Find the NewBlues. Help them.”

  “But … why can’t you come?”

  “I don’t have clearance. I’d set off alarms. Dix would, too. But you can get in. No one knows you yet. The other Officers aren’t even sure if you’re still in a cell in the lowest level or back at work in the Package Room, and they’re too busy to check. You can help.”

  “Help? But how? I don’t even know who — or what — the NewBlues are! And who are you, anyway? I don’t know your name.”

  “I’m a friend — do you need to know more than that?” Quinn looked so frightened that the Officer stopped. He looked down the hall — empty, but another Officer could come along any moment — and whispered, “I was a Packager once, too, Quinn. Then a Caver. When I became a man, the Commander asked if I wanted to be an Officer, and I knew it was the only way I could help change anything.”

  “Were you … were you a NewBlue?” Quinn asked. His heart raced. He didn’t want to say goodbye. He didn’t want to go on alone.

  The Officer shook his head. “No. They’re new, like their name. Everything is changing here, and the Officers and Commander don’t understand it. But I’ve been here a long time, and I can feel it coming. You’ll see. Eat the rest of the blue biscuits I gave you — they’ll help.”

  “But you can’t just leave me here!” The weird few days were finally taking their toll on Quinn. Clem Usher running away, the whispering about the blue problem … the blue spark … and now the NewBlues.

  What was really happening?

  Quinn knew he didn’t want to keep boxing the pointless Blue Brick™.

  He wanted food and safety and friendship. He knew that he didn’t want to be at the Work Centre. It was a mistake to have come here, but he didn’t know if he could help anyone, either.

  He was losing what little courage he had.

  It was only his fourth day!

  The Officer put his hand on Quinn’s shoulder. “You can do it, Quinn. You’re the only one who can. Dix and I have our own job to do. And we have to get back before anyone notices we’re gone.”

  The Officer hesitated for a moment and looked down the hallway. No one was around.

  Then … he lifted his mask.

  It was the first time Quinn had seen an Officer’s face. The smallish Officer was just a young man, not really much older than a Caver. His face was kind, a real person. He smiled.

  “Good luck, Quinn Fleet,” he said, then pulled his mask back down.

  “Good luck,” Dix echoed in a strange mechanical voice.

  Then they turned and disappeared down the empty hallway.

  CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.

  Quinn watched them hurry away. Whatever was going on, they had taken a great risk to get him there.

  Quinn looked down at his hands. He snapped his fingers. A blue spark flared for a second and then went out.

  He looked up at the sign.

  NEWBLUES.

  Then he took a deep breath and opened the door.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  THE NEWBLUES

  Quinn stood at the end of a red-carpeted hallway.

  The hallway was empty.

  Where were the NewBlues?

  Silk posters of Citizen Child lined the walls. A clear, high window shone a patch of dim, wintry light onto the carpeted floor. But there was no one around.

  Quinn’s stomach grumbled.

  I might as well eat while I figure out what to do.

  He took the last of the Officer’s blue biscuits out of his pocket and popped them into his mouth. They really were delicious. As he chewed, he began to feel a little strange. His skin was itchy, tingly, a little like when he held the Blue Brick™, but stronger.

  He remembered how blue everyone had looked when he stood on stage in front of the workers in the Grand Hall. The blue hands of the boy on the stretcher the day before. The blue spark and the blue shimmer he sometimes saw, and the Officers whispering about the “blue problem.” The smallish Officer had talked about everything changing.

  He was beginning to think … maybe there was something important about blueness in general.

  But what?

  Someone was coming! Heavy feet tramped at the end of the carpeted hallway.

  But it was too late to hide! An Officer came around the corner and bumped right into Quinn. There were two Cavers in orange overalls behind him. They had odd, staring looks.

  The Officer grabbed Quinn. “Another one? Did they send you from downstairs? Get in line!”

  And just like that, Quinn joined them. They walked down the hall, around a corner, and into a huge room …

  … filled with Cavers!

  The Cavers stood in their orange overalls, row upon row, shoulder to shoulder.

  Each Caver held a Blue Brick™.

  And they all stared straight ahead!

  They were perfectly still and quiet, staring at nothing. It was a little creepy!

  The Officer added the two new Cavers and Quinn to the end of a row. Quinn tried to blend in and stare straight ahead like all the teenagers around him.

  A few more Officers stood around, looking bored.

  “Here are the latest two from the BunkHouse, and this one from downstairs,” the Officer said, settling them in line.

  The NewBlues are just CAVERS! Quinn thought. But why is everyone staring like that?

  “Welcome to your new home, NewBlues!” one Officer said too loudly, like Quinn and the other two new teenagers were deaf.

  “Creepy how they just stare like that,” an Officer said with a shudder. “I doubt they can even hear you.”

  Everyone around Quinn looked like they were listening to something no one else could hear. Quinn tried to look just like them and stared straight ahead.

  The Officers gave each new arrival — Quinn and the other two NewBlues — a Blue Brick™. The familiar tingle filled Quinn’s hand with warmth. But it was strong, very strong, this time.

  Quinn heard a faint buzzing in his head. A gentle, whispering hum, like voices far away.

  What is that?

  And then … a teenager raised her right hand.

  Quinn peeked over at her.

  Her hand was BRIGHT BLUE!

  In one creepy motion, all the NewBlues turned slowly to look at the girl. Quinn did, too.

  “We’ve got another one!” an Officer yelled.

  The Officers ran to the girl.

  She raised her left hand into the air.

  It was bright blue, too!

  One Officer lowered her arms.

  “It’s happening faster and faster. The Commander will want to see her! Grab that stretcher.” They loaded the girl onto a stretcher from a stack at the end of the room.

  The Officers pulled a sheet up to the girl’s chin. She didn’t blink or move.

  She just stared.

  As they pushed the stretcher past Quinn, he glanced at her.

  The girl was blue, blue, blue. It wasn’t just her hands.

  The girl on the stretcher had turned entirely bright blue from head to toe!

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  IN THE MINES (PART TWO)

  Meanwhile, a group of Cavers marched through the driving snow, past the Work Centre, and on toward the mine.

  But today was different.

  The Caver named Clem Usher hadn’t just run away — she was gone!

  She hadn’t come back. They knew that now. When her bunk was empty the first night and then the next, the news spread through the BunkHouses and the Work Centre: Clem Usher is gone!

  It was making the Officers very angry. And, if truth be told, a little jumpy.

  That morning, the Cavers were given half rations. They struggled through the bitter wind and clung to the memory of one food biscuit from breakfast.

  But today everything had changed: Clem Usher was still out there! Blue sparks flew from fingertips up and down the line of trudging Cavers.

  At the mines, they were counted, and counted again.

  “No runaways! Now get to work!” the Officers growled in their masks.

  And the Cavers worked. They picked up axes or struggled with heavy wheelbarrows. Others carried rocks to the wagons.

  Blue dust filled the air. The Officers stood in their masks. They didn’t notice the blue sparks flashing from hand to hand.

  But the Officers never noticed much.

  Then …

  … in the middle of a group of workers, a Caver stopped.

  He just stopped. He dropped his shovel.

  He stood perfectly still and looked into the distance.

  He tilted his head like he was listening to something no one else could hear.

  A Caver nudged the girl next to her. “Look.”

  “What does he see?” she asked.

  More Cavers noticed the staring boy. They stopped working too, to watch.

  “What’s going on over here?” An Officer joined the Cavers, who clearly weren’t working.

  “Him.” A girl pointed at the staring Caver.

  “BACK TO WORK!” the Officer shouted (which sounded odd and wheezy through his mask).

  But today … for some reason, no one moved. Instead, blue sparks flashed, brighter and brighter, from every corner of the dark cave.

  And now everyone had stopped working to watch.

  “BACK TO WORK, ALL OF YOU! The Commander has this situation well in hand. He knows what to do with NewBlues. You, grab his hand,” the Officer yelled. He pointed at a girl.

  “No,” the girl said. She stood beside the staring boy, who was her friend.

  “What did you say?” the Officer demanded, shocked.

  “I said no. Leave him alone.” The Caver put her hands on her hips. “Leave him alone. I don’t care what you call him: Caver, NewBlue … whatever. He’s my friend,” she said again, just for the effect it was having on the Officer.

  The other Cavers all moved a little closer.

  “Let him stare if he wants. What harm is he doing?” a boy said.

  “Back to work!” the Officer threatened.

  But the children weren’t afraid of him. Not today. They took another small step forward.

  Clem Usher was out there somewhere! And whatever was happening to them all, the staring teenagers were their friends.

  The Officer backed up. “Don’t come any closer!” The Officer’s voice … shook. Was that fear?

  The children stopped. Their friend, the staring boy, tilted his head in the other direction now. He was definitely listening to — or looking at — something.

  Then … one by one, the Cavers all tilted their heads.

  Suddenly, they could hear something, too. They listened, straining to hear.

 

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