Hombre sits down in
a chair across from us and clasps his hands together, “So . . . ask me.”
“What’s up with
your eyes?” Beth jumps right in, her words running together a bit in her
excitement.
A part of me is
afraid he’ll decide to stop answering, so I quickly add on, “Why did you want
my bracelet? And why was that portal in the river?”
He shrugs, “To be
honest, I have no idea why it was there.” His shifts a bit, his gaze moving to
Beth, “My eyes, though, are a kind of warning system for my powers. They let me
know when I’ve used one too much or too little.”
Alyssa narrows her
eyes, leaning forward, “Powers? Like what you did in the clearing? As in . . .
magic?”
He twists his
mouth, considering that, “I guess you could call them magic. It’s not like
those wizard movies you made me watch, though. I can’t do anything I want.” He
sees us looking at him expectantly and elaborates, “I have four powers, but
they’re all related.”
Beth’s eyes are
wide as she says, “So you do have magic? That’s what we saw? Really?”
Hombre looks away,
scratching his head, “It’s not as cool as you think it is.”
Beth looks almost
outraged at this response, “Not as cool as I think it is? Are you crazy? You
can do magic!”
I hold up a hand,
“Wait, wait, wait. You didn’t answer my question before. What does my bracelet
have to do with any of this?” I pull it out from its hiding place in my bra, examining
it for some clue. I look back at him and see that he’s staring at the bracelet,
too. Narrowing my eyes, I reattach it to my wrist, “I’m still keeping it. Don’t
try anything.”
He rolls his eyes,
“I told you. I’m not going to steal it, but – ”
I interrupt,
“Yeah, yeah. You’re basically holding me hostage. Honestly, I’m not planning on
leaving. Now, tell me why you seem to think this thing is so important.”
He hesitates,
looking away, and leans back. After a moment he finally says, “It’s one of four
artifacts that will save my people.”
Beth, next to me,
shifts, and I give him a look, “Are you sure you have the right bracelet? My
mother told me that this has been in my family a long time.”
Alyssa frowns, “Wait,
what do you mean by ‘my people?’”
He sighs and
dodges her question, “If that’s the wrong bracelet, I don’t know how that
portal opened.”
I look down at it.
It’s so plain, not even very fashionable. Why would it be special?
Alyssa glares at
him, “Okay, cool, but what do you mean by ‘my people?’”
He winces,
“Listen, does it matter? I’m going to get you guys back home as soon as
possible. Right now the less you know, the better.”
Alyssa rolls her
eyes, “I have never known that to be the case.”
Neither she nor
Hombre looks like they want to budge, so I speak up again, “You said we had to find
another portal, right? Where is it?”
“I thought I made
it clear that I don’t know,” he responds, crossing his arms and looking away
from Alyssa’s death glare.
“We could ask Ki,”
Beth suggests, a little too eagerly.
I see Alyssa roll
her eyes. “You just want an excuse to make him come here,” she mutters, though
somehow I don’t think she’d mind having him show up, either.
Beth shrugs,
looking self-conscious, “I mean, I just want to speak to him . . . I couldn’t
think of anything before . . . Which was weird.”
Hombre’s eyes
connect with mine for a second before they move back to Beth, “I don’t think we
should talk to him. Something about him is off.”
Beth frowns, not
seeming to think that’s a good enough reason to avoid him.
“You could ask Ibei,”
Alyssa suggests with a shrug.
Hombre raises an
eyebrow, incredulous, “Somehow I think that’d be worse. Why would either of
them help us out, anyways?”
“Okay . . . how,
exactly, do you expect to find anything?” Alyssa asks, throwing up her hands.
Beth looks at me, “You
know, Carmen’s really good at convincing people to tell her stuff.”
I stare at her,
frowning, “No I’m not.”
Alyssa considers
me, “She’s right. Every time we go out there’s some guy who starts pouring his
heart out to you.” She gestures at Hombre, “He did that.”
I protest, “No he
didn’t.” He has a strange frown on his face, and my cheeks flush as I stammer a
bit: “It’s not like I ask for it when they do that, anyways. They just . . .
they just start talking, I don’t know. Sometimes a complete stranger is what
those people need, right? I mean, I’m not going to tell anyone they know.”
“I wish people talked
like that to me,” Beth says, sighing, “Having gossip is always useful.”
I look at her,
confused, “They’re always random strangers. It’s not anything useful.”
Beth shrugs, “Yeah,
until they become like Hombre and we see them everywhere. Whatever. Sometimes
people hurt you. It’s good to know you can fight back.”
A frown twists the
corners of my mouth, but Alyssa raises a hand and interrupts before I can say
anything, “Let’s not get off topic. Why are we going after these artifacts at
all?”
Despite his
previous evasiveness, somehow Hombre looks almost relieved to be answering
questions again, even though his answer is short, “They belong to my people.”
Alyssa grimaces,
her voice tinged with annoyance, “And you’re never going to tell us who they
are. Fine. Why does Carmen have one of these artifacts, then?”
“I don’t know.” He
shakes his head, his eyes flicking over to consider me as he says, “Some of it
doesn’t make sense to me either, as I’ve said before.”
I feel like he’s
with-holding, but before I can prod for an answer there’s a knock on the door. Hombre
seems happy for the interruption.
A key clicks in
the lock and then the door opens to let two men in, each carrying trays which
they place on a table to the side. They say nothing and leave quickly, locing
the door behind them.
We all look at
each other and then move to the table. Cautiously, I lift one of the trays’
covers . . . to see that they’ve delivered us food. Strange food. There’s some
type of meat under an ochre sauce and, to the side, some leafy, orange
vegetables. The only familiar thing is the glass of water, of which I take a
sip for confirmation. Yep. Water.
By now everyone
else has grabbed a plate and a seat, so I sit down, too. We all dig in, almost
inhaling the food. I didn’t even realize I was so hungry. It’s all very rich, and
after a few huge bites I find I have to slow down so I don’t get sick.
Alyssa opens her
mouth to ask a question, but Hombre raises a hand to cut her off, “I’m eating.”
She lets out a
little huff and sends a prolonged glare in his direction as she picks through
her food.
There’s a thin slab
of black glass, about the size of a textbook, on the table, its screen covered
with words. I pick it up and examine it to find that it contains a list of
laws. This must be what Ibei was talking about.
Most of them seem
basic, such as forbidding any murder or theft or bodily harm, but I find odd additions:
“One must not deceive another with their form unless under lawful instruction.”
I have no idea what that means. How do you deceive someone else with your form?
“Final ruling defaults to divine rule if a satisfactory outcome cannot be
found.” ‘Divine rule?’ What does that even mean? Do they have Commandments or a
Supreme Court or something? Or is this some kind of monarchy? There’s a long
list of clauses underneath this one, but none of them really help, they just
list exceptions. “Excessive public intoxication, to where it damages one’s
form, is not permitted. Rule-breakers will be subjected to arrest and isolation
until control is regained, on opinion of the imprisoning officer and his/her
superior.” I frown, wondering what, exactly, counts as ‘excessive.’
Hombre pushes his
plate away. “I’m tired. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
“What?” Alyssa
says, “You can’t just leave!”
“Well, that’s what
I’m doing,” he responds, walking away. He pauses a moment, sighs, and then
turns back to us: “I promise it’s best for you not to know everything.”
He disappears into
one of the rooms before we can even open our mouths again. Beth lets out a
small sigh of disappointment, but Alyssa looks after him with her jaw set and a
prominent grimace. She turns back to her food, pondering it and I try to place
aside the questions which bubble up now that he’s disappeared.
“Could I see that,
Carmen?” Alyssa asks, gesturing at the slab of glass. I hand it to her.
Beth leans over to
glance at it and then shakes her head. “Uh . . . Someone just let me know if
there’s anything important on there.”
Alyssa raises her
eyebrows, “I thought you could read.”
Beth snorts, “I’m
not reading that. Are you kidding me?”
I finish my plate
and look over to see Beth’s left her vegetables. I can’t help but smile, “Are
you a little kid or something?”
She shrugs,
grinning back at me, “Maybe. You can have them. I figured I ran enough today
that I could just eat the good stuff.”
“We didn’t even
run that much,” Alyssa says, looking away from the glass to stare at Beth judgmentally.
Beth rolls her
eyes, “Yeah, alright. Just go back to being a nerd.”
“Go back to being
a four-year-old.”
“Sticks and stones
may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”
Alyssa ignores her
and turns to me, “Carmen, do you think we can trust him? I mean, really. Do you
think he’ll get us back home?”
I look over at the
closed door. “Well, I think he’ll try, at the very least. I know you don’t like
him, but he’s always kept his word when he promises something.”
She gives me a look,
“I don’t know if that’s true.”
Beth sighs, “Why
do you hate him so much? I mean, yeah, sometimes he needed us to pay for
things, but he always tried to get us back for it.”
I frown, nodding
in agreement, “You’ve barely even been around in the time we’ve hung out with
him.”
She avoids our
eyes, looking down at the screen, “He’s just always seemed like a liar to me.”
Beth and I meet
eyes. I mean, she’s not wrong, he did lie, but for some reason I want to defend
him, “Well . . . he seems like he’s trying to be honest, now.”
Alyssa frowns,
looking between me and Beth, “What? Are you two ganging up on me, now?”
I shake my head,
“No. I mean, it would be nice, though, if you could get along with him. You
know, try to trust him. He’s been good at making sure we haven’t been killed so
far.”
Alyssa looks at
me, “We’re prisoners right now. You got that, right?”
I can feel
exhaustion starting to weigh on me. I don’t want to have an argument, so I lean
back and say, “Nevermind. I think I’m going to go to bed, too.”
“Goodnight,
Carmen.” Beth says, smiling. Alyssa nods, but she looks irritated and won’t
meet my eyes. I just give the two of them a smile and enter the other door,
which leads to a bedroom, thankfully. I linger by the door as it closes behind
me and chew my lip, hesitating. I shouldn’t have said anything, should I?
Through the door I
hear Beth ask, with a sigh, “What’s bothering you?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re the one
being a liar, now.”
Alyssa huffs, “Fine.
I just . . . she’s talking about trust and everything, but she doesn’t even
seem to trust us. She was having a full-on panic attack in the car and you’ve
told me that you’ve heard her hide in the bathroom, cry, and then pretend
nothing’s wrong way more than a few
times. I mean, obviously I want to help her and have her feel better, but take
some of your own advice.” I can feel my heart beating furiously and my cheeks
flushing with shame. My teeth sink into my lip. She’s right, isn’t she? I’m
being a hypocrite. But – I don’t want to tell them, I don’t want them to worry
or freak out or to have them think I’m disgusting.
Beth sighs, “Maybe
there’s a reason why she can’t talk about whatever’s bothering her. It doesn’t
mean that you should ignore what she’s saying. She is right, you know.” Even
though I’m still biting into my lip, I feel a bit of relief. At least Beth
understands.
“Oh, shut up,
Beth.” Alyssa pauses and then says, “Fine. I’ll try, okay?”
I pull away from
the door, afraid to hear anything else. I feel slightly nauseous as I slip my
shoes off and move to the low bed, hiding myself under the covers. Luckily, I
drift away almost immediately.
I don’t remember
most of my dream, but at the tail-end of it I’m running away again to the river.
This time the portal is in the water and instead of trying to open it, I’m
trying to force it closed. Something horrible is on the other side and I can
hear it clicking and cackling and I’m terrified and straining to keep the way
shut and screaming for Cal and, just in time, he’s there to force the door
down. He pulls me into a hug, smiling, as he says, “I always have to protect
you.” I want to tell him that maybe I should be the one to protect him this
time, but it’s almost as if he hears my thoughts as he whispers, “Don’t worry,
Carmen. You’ll be strong enough soon.”
I wake up as a
tear traces its way down to my pillow.
It hits me like a
tidal wave. I miss Cal.
Alyssa’s next to
me, now, so I carefully slide out of the covers and open a side door that leads
into a bathroom. I don’t want to worry her. Maybe she sees it as me shutting
her out, but if she knew the level of screwed up I am, I doubt she’d actually
want to listen. I’ve almost opened up to her so many times, but each time my
mouth goes dry, and I get that same taste of ash. I just need people who will
help me be happy. I don’t need anyone to know how weak I am. I close the door
and sit down on the smooth floor, putting my face into my hands.
My vision’s blurry
as I try, unsuccessfully, to hold back tears. I touch my bracelet, twisting it anxiously
so that the dragon’s on top. Somehow turning it calms me, though there are
plenty of questions still demanding answers. I mean, what am I looking for? My
mom? Does some part of me still think she’s here? Am I looking for some adventure?
I don’t really know, but I know I’ve screwed up my big brother’s plans for me.
When my dad died,
Cal dropped out of high school and started to work full-time to support us. Whenever
I told him I felt bad, he’d say, “Well, make it into college, hermanita, and
all of it will be worth it.” So I did. I didn’t receive enough of a scholarship
to get into the best school I got into, but the second-best seemed right, so
long as I worked some hours to help pay for it. I was going to get my business
degree and start making tons of money at some huge firm, and now . . . now I’ve
ruined it.
I close my eyes
and take a shaky breath. It’s too late to do anything, now. I just need to stop
thinking, because sometimes I think too much and drive myself crazy. I take another
deep breath, stand up, and wipe my face. My eyes are red, so I just decide to
use the shower and see if the extra time will help me to pull myself together.
There isn’t any
shampoo or conditioner, but there’s soap, so I just use that to wash my hair.
As I rinse off, I’m hyper-aware of the jangle of my bracelet, its contact as it
moves, slightly, up and down my arm. What does having it even mean?
I shake my head
and turn the water off. As soon as I do, a huge fan turns on, venting hot air
into the room. I close my eyes, appreciating the warmth, and stay in until I’m
only slightly damp. As I step out of the shower, the fan turns off
automatically. I have a band on my wrist, so I tie up my long hair, even darker
than normal, and then pull my dirty clothes back on. When I look in the mirror,
I’m happy to see my brown eyes aren’t as red anymore.
I creep past
Alyssa into the living room and see Beth passed out on the couch. I’m surprised
she didn’t try to crawl into bed, too, but I’m not sure there would’ve been
enough space. It looks like she’s somehow
figured out how to turn on the screen attached to the wall. The images are
crisp, clear, but nothing out of the ordinary. It looks like an ad is currently
playing, with smiling, happy, pretty people sitting at a table, eating. The
familiarity of it makes me uneasy. As I stand there, though, Beth shifts.
Not wanting to
talk to anyone, I turn and scurry to the porch. I slide the door shut behind me
as I take a deep breath of the hot, humid air. It’s much darker outside, now,
and I look up at the glass ceiling to see that the sun has retreated so much
that even the mirrors can’t catch its light. It doesn’t really seem like it
matters too much, though, when I look down at the city.
Huge, bright
floodlights have turned on in certain areas, like the fields that are just
below us. The walls are full of lights, too, but one ornate structure in
particular catches my eye, now. It’s highly decorated with stone carvings, much
like the interior of the tower, and made of the same strange, metallic
substance – even some of the same green and yellow bulbs protrude out of it. It’s
surrounded by parks and many violet-robed individuals. A number of them have
gathered for a ceremony in one of the larger gardens, while others walk in some
type of pattern, tracing a symbol I can’t quite make out from here. Are they
some type of religious order? Some different take on spirituality, or a
practice creepily similar to one back home?
Something flashes near
the corner of my eye and I turn to see another building, undulating with fluid images
and, to some extent, taking on their shape. It seems to be constantly changing,
lighting up the area around it with brilliant, colored lights as fantasy people
and lands flash across its face. It plays a scene where the camera moves up an
ice spire, the building seeming to almost shape itself in response, and I can’t
help but be drawn in by the rest of the fantasy city in front of me. The
majority of the buildings look modern, with only a few hinting at a distant
past, and they’re all rounded and interlocked. The roads are tangled all over
the place: across the tops of houses, behind them, even tacked up underneath in
some cases. Porches, gardens, and greenhouses stick out into the void and metal
supports crisscross everywhere, as well as piping and wires and catwalks.
The whirring of
the trains serves as the backbone to unite all the other sounds of the city. They
zip back and forth, either on the large rails across the chasm or on smaller
lines which circle the whole pit itself. Some of them even act like elevators,
ascending and descending as they bring their passengers to and from the depths
of the pit. One of the stations is just below me, and I watch as a train shoots
out of it and people immediately begin to gather again.
I lose track of
how long I’m there, trying to collect myself, but after a while I just creep
back to bed, hoping for better dreams.
Ki doesn’t come
until the next morning.
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