She stared at me blankly, her eyes filling with tears.
I sighed.
Given everything that was happening, I knew I couldn’t let her go back.
“Luna... do you trust me?”
We’d grown up together. Luna had always relied on me, believed in me. There were hardly any secrets between us.
But in that moment, I didn’t know if I should tell her the secret I’d been hiding deep inside my heart.
I stared at her in silence, and time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Cold sweat soaked my back before she finally gave a hesitant nod.
I let out a breath of relief, took her hand, and spoke carefully, deliberately.
“Then I’ll tell you... the people we call our parents—they’re not our real parents.”
“And this exam... it’s not the real college entrance exam. It’s a trap, Luna. A prison that’s been built just for us.”
“Come with me. We’re getting out of here. We’re escaping—together.”
As the words left my mouth, I watched the blood drain from her face. Under the pale moonlight, she looked ghostly white.
Her voice trembled. “Camila, what are you saying? Are you sick or something? My parents…”
“Luna, trust me.”
I cut her off again, steady and calm, my eyes locked on hers.