It took Mia a few minutes to remember where she was when she first woke up. The room around her was dark and everything was still and silent. For a second, she thought that she was still dreaming. But she was alone now. That warm presence that had been with her through all of her dreams was gone. Then Mia realized that it had all been a dream. Now she could hear voices coming from outside her door. They were talking quietly and hurriedly. Mia sat up and stretched. Everything was dark outside. It must be very early in the morning. Even this early, there would always be a handful of dolls who were already awake. Mia could hear them talking and moving around downstairs.
As she listened closely, she realized that the two voices she was hearing in the hall belonged to Ruby and Jasmine. As usual, Jasmine's voice sounded frantic and nervous. It seemed like Ruby was desperately trying to calm her down. Poor Jasmine. These past couple of crazy days had probably been very hard for her. Slowly, Mia climbed out of bed and made her way over to her window. The world outside was covered with moonlight and shadows. But Mia could faintly see the edge of the sun way off in the distance. Soon everything would be glistening with golden light.
A part of Mia was still a little bit tired. She half wanted to climb back into bed and fall asleep all over again. But she knew that wouldn't work. She was already awake. Her body was filled with energy, and she wouldn't be able to relax if she tried. So, Mia headed out into the hall. She slipped past Jasmine and Ruby and wished them a quick good morning. Then she made her way down to the main hall. There was a handful of dolls hanging out down there. They were talking quietly together. Mia decided to sit down at the bottom of the stairs and wait for Ruby to finish calming Jasmine down.
But upon sitting down, Mia noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It was a small group of dolls standing nearby. None of them were dolls that Mia had ever seen before. By now Mia knew most of the dolls in her apartment. These were strangers. Their faces were totally unfamiliar to her. Every single doll in this group of strangers was staring at Mia. She stared back.
"C-can I help you?" Mia asked after a moment. The dolls all looked at each other. Then one of them stepped forward.
"Do you happen to know anyone named Lu?" asked the doll. Mia frowned.
"Why do you ask?"
"We found this letter addressed to someone named Lu. We live in the apartment across the street. A couple of days ago one of our dolls named Blossom went missing," explained the doll. Mia was standing by the doll's side in an instant. She had to tell Ruby about this.
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"I knew Blossom. She visited me a lot!" said Mia.
"That's why we thought you might know who Lu was. We found this letter in Blossom's room. It was the only trace of her that we found." The doll held out a small piece of folded up paper. "We haven't heard any news from Mary, so we know Blossom isn't dead. She would tell us if Blossom was dead. If I were to guess, Blossom broke the rules and is now being punished." The doll’s voice cracked at the word punished. Mia winced. There was nothing Blossom feared more than punishment. She was always so careful not to break the rules. There was no way she had actually done that, right?
"I know where Lu is. I can take the letter to her!" The words came tumbling out of Mia's mouth before she had time to realize what she was thinking.
"That would be great! We haven't read it ourselves. We just thought that it would be a kindness to give the letter to Lu. Clearly that was what Blossom would have wanted. Thank you." With a soft sigh the doll handed the paper to Mia. Mia stared down at the wrinkled paper. For a split second she thought about reading it. No, she wouldn't do that. This wasn't meant for her. It was for Lu.
And if she wanted to give it to Lu, Mia knew that she needed to hurry up. It was very early and if Mia ran the whole way, she could make it. That way she would be back in time for the games. Mia's feet were already moving. She was running now. There was no time to tell Ruby where she was going. It was now or never.
Out the door and into the streets she ran. Faster and faster, she ran. She had one goal on her mind, and it was consuming her. Mia could feel the wind on her cheeks, and she ran. This was a job that she had to do. She was the messenger. It was her duty to share this with Lu. She would deliver this for Blossom and for Lu and for Ruby, and of course for Ivy. Suddenly, Mia felt as if Ivy was running beside her.
They were running together now. Faster and faster. Almost there. Lu's tiny yellow apartment was a wonderful sight to Mia. Her stamina was slipping away. But that didn't matter. At the moment, all that mattered to Mia was the letter in her hand. All that she wanted to do was deliver it. That was her job. She reached the door and began aggressively knocking on it.
"Hello? Please open up! It's important!" she called. The door swung open instantly. Lu stared at Mia in shock as Mia handed her the letter.
"What are you doing here, Mia?" she demanded. "The games are about to start. You need to get to the square!"
"Blossom... wrote... this... for... you!" Mia gasped out. At that, Lu's whole face changed. But Mia didn't have time to talk. She turned and headed back down the street. She felt as if she could fly. She had done it! Mia didn't know why, but she sensed that what she had just done had been very important. Whatever was in that letter was going to change everything.