City of the Falling Sky

by Joseph Evans

  “You actually asked her?” Tenk said incredulously, the next day.

  “Well, if I didn’t then I’d be stuck at home feeling even more miserable about the fact that I’d be missing the whole thing,” Seckry said. “So I did what I had to. But I want to make it clear that this is not a date with Natania. This is . . . pure necessity, okay?”

  “You did the right thing, man,” Tenk said reassuringly, and Tippian nodded with him.

  Seckry wasn’t sure what had come over him when he’d asked Natania, and nobody was more shocked than him when he did. He eventually put it down to the fact that he couldn’t spend any more time wallowing in self pity any more. He had to do something. Even if it meant going to the ball with the one girl he despised the most.

  On the evening of the ball, Seckry got dressed in his hired, oversized suit as quickly as he could, and tried to avoid Eiya as much as possible.

  But when he saw her emerge from his bedroom, just before leaving, his whole body sighed and he couldn’t look away.

  He had never seen anyone so beautiful in all of his life. She was wearing a slim, silky green dress that fanned out towards the bottom and she had tied her hair up into an elaborate pattern, with a few strands falling across her gleaming brown eyes.

  Seckry left the flat before Thom Malerk could arrive because he knew he wouldn’t be able to face seeing Eiya greet him.

  After picking Natania up from her home in a taxi, Seckry took her hand and led her into the school hall.

  “Seckry, you’re holding my hand too tight,” Natania said irritably.

  “Sorry,” Seckry said absent-mindedly, lost in his own thoughts.

  “So why didn’t you go with her?” Natania nodded and Seckry saw that Eiya and Thom had already arrived and were holding hands just ahead.

  “We . . . we’re not like that,” Seckry said miserably.

  They made their way onto the dance floor and Natania pulled him to the left, whilst craning her head to see through the crowd.

  “What’s the matter?” Seckry said.

  “Nothing,” Natania replied, dismissively. “I just want to stand over this side of the room, that’s all.”

  A few upbeat songs played and Natania danced in front of him, swinging her thighs around and gyrating thin air, whilst Seckry stood absolutely still, scanning the room for a glimpse of Eiya.

  During the third song Natania stopped and dragged Seckry right over to the other side of the room.

  “What’s the matter now?” Seckry said, confused.

  “Nothing,” Natania said abruptly. “Just try to act like you want to be here with me at least.” She craned her head again, as though trying to spot someone nearby.

  “Gedin, Seckry!” she suddenly blurted. “Are you gonna buy me a drink or what? I’m parched.”

  “Oh . . . yeah, I forgot. What do you want?”

  “A soursucker, but tell them I don’t want any ice in it.”

  “Soursucker. No ice. Sure.”

  Seckry wandered over to the bar (which was non-alcoholic only), getting knocked a couple of times and sloshed by drinks. He passed by Kimmy and Loca, who were locked in a seemingly infinite kiss. He did a double take as he glanced at them because Loca had shaved the whole of the left side of her head, and had patterned the skin with a rainbow of colours.

  “Cheer up, Seckry,” said Tenk, who was also at the bar. “It just wasn’t meant to be with you and Eiya, you know?”

  But Seckry couldn’t help but look down.

  In front of them, the bartender was doing some kind of performance art with the drinks, pouring all sorts of multicoloured juices and syrups into a metal container.

  “What on earth are you getting, Tenk?” Seckry asked.

  “Some slipshakers. Haven’t you ever had one?”

  “No, never heard of them.”

  “Ah man, they’re great! Hey!” he called to the bartender, “I’ll have another slipshaker for my friend here!”

  The bartender slapped the drinks on the table and they both took a sip. Seckry’s taste buds went wild in his mouth. According to the bartender, a slipshaker was a mix of something named goldberry, sweetslush, limeleaf, chocomilk, honeybutter, and all manner of other delicious sounding things, but even the taste of it couldn’t numb the pain he was feeling at seeing Eiya with someone else.

  “Come on, Seck,” Tenk said, more soberly now. “Just enjoy the night for what it is, hey?”

  “Where’s Poola?” Seckry asked.

  “She’s off chatting to her friends, which is fine by me.”

  Kimmy joined them at the bar, slightly breathless, and ordered a large love potion, which appeared to be a bubbling red berry juice with two spiralling, intertwining straws.

  “Kimmy, when are you gonna have time to drink that?” said Tenk. “I mean, think of all the kissing you’ll be missing out on while you’re slurping that thing.”

  Kimmy just smiled.

  “Come to think of it,” Tenk continued. “I think this is the first time I’ve actually seen your face all night. I’m surprised Loca hasn’t eaten you whole.”

  “I never imagined kissing would feel this good,” Kimmy said, his face beaming with delight.

  Snibble pushed past them and said, “Enjoying yourself, Kod? Must be like kissing a guy with that shaven head of hers.”

  Kimmy slanted his eyes in anger but Snibble wandered off.

  “Don’t take any notice, Kimmy,” Tenk said. “Snibble ain’t spoiling it for any of us tonight.”

  Before long, Loca had pulled Kimmy back onto the dance floor and smacked her lips on his again.

  “So where’s Natania?” Tenk asked.

  “Oh yeah,” said Seckry, feeling misery sink back into his body. “I almost forgot about her. I better take her the drink. See you later, I guess.”

  “Where have you been?” Natania scowled angrily, as he approached her. “I’ve been waiting for my drink for twenty minutes.”

  “Sorry. I lost track of time.”

  “You lost track of time? You’re supposed to be treating me like a princess. It’s the annual ball. Don’t you know anything about how to treat a girl?”

  Something inside of Seckry burst then, and he exploded with rage.

  “A princess! After what you and Snibble did to me down that alleyway! You’re lucky I didn’t get you both arrested. Here’s your soursucker.” He thrust the drink into her hand and it splashed all over her dress, making her scream in outrage.

  Seckry stormed away as she stood, dripping, shouting all matter of obscenities after him.

  Seckry plonked himself down at the side of the stage and covered his face with his hands. Even when he had been beaten up by Snibble, he still hadn’t felt as bad as he did now. For the first time in his life, he knew he was feeling heartbreak.

  “Seckry.”

  To Seckry’s surprise, it was Eiya’s voice. He lifted his head from his hands and tried to regain his composure.

  They both looked away from each other uncomfortably.

  “Things didn’t go so well with you and Natania, hey?” Eiya said.

  Seckry laughed feebly. “You could say that.”

  “How are you enjoying your evening with Thom?” Seckry felt ill just saying his name.

  Eiya sighed. “Well, he told me I looked ‘fit,’ and then tried to shove his tongue down my throat earlier on. That’s probably been my highlight of the evening so far.”

  Despite himself Seckry laughed, and Eiya did too.

  “So . . . he kissed you then?”

  “Are you kidding? I managed to dodge his face.”

  Seckry smiled weakly.

  “You look terrible,” Eiya said.

  Seckry almost couldn’t talk any more. His emotions had been so unstable over the past week, it felt as though everything was culminating at this very moment. The lump in his throat was ready to burst.

  “Hey, wanna play the thumb war game?” Eiya said.

  “Don’t you have to get back to Thom?
”

  “He can wait.”

  They locked hands and had a game of thumb war, and Eiya managed to win again.

  They sat for a while and played a few more games.

  “You know what?” Seckry said, his voice cracked and raw. “Sitting here with you has been the best part of my evening so far.”

  “It’s been mine too,” Eiya said. She sighed and looked down. “When I saw the note, it took me by surprise how much it affected me.”

  Seckry frowned. “What note?”

  “You know . . .” Eiya said. “The note.”

  “Eiya,” Seckry said. “What note are you talking about?”

  Eiya reached into her small handbag and pulled out a torn piece of paper with typed text on it.

  Eiya, I’m going to the ball with Natania Linse, I’m too embarrassed to tell you myself so I’m writing you this note. I know you were expecting me to ask you but I’ve been in love with Natania since before I met you. Please don’t bring this up or mention it to me, it’ll be too embarrassing. Thanks.

  Seckry was sitting bolt upright.

  “What?” he said. “What in Gedin’s name is this?”

  Eiya frowned. “You didn’t . . . write this?”

  “Eiya, I have no idea who–”

  Seckry suddenly spotted Natania across the room. She was glaring viciously at a couple on the dance floor who were kissing.

  “That’s her ex boyfriend,” Eiya said. “Apparently she’s jealous of this new girl he’s been seeing.”

  Seckry looked at the note again.

  “It was her. It was Natania. She’s been dragging me around all night, trying to position me in visibility of someone. It was him. Her ex. She wanted him to see her at the ball with someone. She wanted to make him jealous. No one would go with her and she knew I was the only one without a date.” Seckry put his hands to his head and bared his teeth. “I can’t believe she did this!”

  “So . . . you never wanted to go to the ball with Natania?” Eiya asked.

  “Natania?” Seckry said. “I hate her. She’s the last person I wanted to come here with. Wait . . . so you didn’t really want to go with Thom Malerk?”

  “I never even knew who he was!” Eiya said. “He asked me in the corridor, and I was so confused after reading that note that I just said yes without thinking about it.”

  They looked at each other for a moment, and then burst into fits of hysterical laughter.

  Suddenly, Thom appeared, having pushed through the crowds with a fierce expression on his face.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded.

  “I’m talking to my best friend,” Eiya said sternly.

  “Yeah, well you’ve been talking long enough. I invited you to this ball, not him.”

  Seckry wasn’t sure what happened to him in that moment, but he was filled with an incredible sense of ease and confidence. He felt like he could conquer the world. He stood up and said, “You came to the ball with the most beautiful girl in the room and you treat her like a piece of dirt. What do you expect?”

  Thom looked at Seckry with confusion and then anger, and made to shove him, but Seckry was quicker and shoved Thom first, so that he stumbled backwards. Thom’s eyes flickered nervously for a moment. Seckry held his gaze until the large boy huffed and stormed off.

  Seckry sat back down, adrenaline still running through his body.

  Eiya gleamed with delight.

  “You really showed him.”

  “Yeah, well the guy is just absolute scum, you know?” Seckry said, now shaking slightly.

  “Did you mean what you said?” Eiya asked, “About me being the most beautiful girl in the room?”

  Seckry gulped. “Oh . . . right . . . um . . .” Suddenly he was back to his normal self, bright as a beetroot. He had been so overcome with confidence he hadn’t even realised what he had been saying.

  “Thank you for that.” Eiya flashed him an embarrassed smile and wiped a wet strand of hair from her face. “All this music, this noise, the heat and the lights. It’s really full on, isn’t it? It’d be nice to get some fresh air.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Seckry said.

  Eiya suddenly shot up. “I know! Seckry, take my hand.”

  “What?”

  “Just trust me. It’s perfect.”

  Seckry took Eiya’s hand in his, and felt the little beads of her sweat mix with his own in his palm. With anyone else, he’d find it unpleasant, but with Eiya, it was the opposite.

  “Actually, there’s something I want to do before we leave,” Eiya said. “That’s Natania’s drink sitting over there, right?”

  “Yeah, I saw her leave it there while she went off to the bathroom.”

  Eiya looked around quickly before hurrying over, pulling a small tube out of her shoe, and tipping half the contents into Natania’s straw. They were some kind of bright green capsules, but after a few seconds they dispersed and the drink looked normal again.

  “What was that?” Seckry asked.

  “I bought it a few days ago. Just in case Thom Malerk tried anything funny.”

  Eiya handed him the tube.

  Toppletang’s Tongue Inflater – when you just can’t get rid of that guy, put a little TTI in his drink and he’ll soon be tongue tied.

  Caution: only ever use one capsule at a time.

  “You put five in!” said Seckry.

  “Yep,” said Eiya matter-of-factly, and Seckry grinned.

  Eiya led him through the crowds of pupils and out of the back door of the hall, into the fresh, open air. Their ears were ringing, and the clip clopping of their shoes was magnified as they walked down the street.

  She twirled around in front of him. “It’s so nice to be away from that oaf.”

  “So are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Seckry asked curiously, but Eiya shook her head playfully.

  “It’s a secret place,” she said.

  Seckry followed her around a couple of streets until they came to an old power reactor.

  There was a wooden sign hanging on a chain that blocked any entrance to the site saying, ‘BEWARE. DO NOT CROSS.’

  “Eiya, I’m not sure about this.”

  “It’s okay. Honestly. There’s nobody here. I came across it the other day. It was abandoned twelve years ago. They just put that sign up to stop kids coming in here and graffiti-ing.”

  Eiya stepped over the chain and Seckry followed cautiously, glancing around him.

  The only entrance to the inside of the reactor was a circular grating on the ground that led into the lower section of the main funnel.

  Eiya made her way over to it, slid the grating to one side with a heave, and began climbing down. Tentatively, Seckry followed. He was so overcome by relief and joy and excitement about Eiya not wanting to go to the ball with Thom Malerk that he would have done anything for her right then.

  They made their way downwards, their feet clanking on the metal rungs, and emerged into the funnel, which was radiant with the shimmering light of thousands of blue glowflies.

  “Wow,” Seckry said, stopping in his tracks. “What are they all doing in here?”

  “I don’t know. It’s incredible, isn’t it? It must be some kind of nest or something.”

  “Do you think they mind us being here?”

  Eiya raised her arm and a few glowflies settled on her moist skin. “I think they like the company,” she said.

  “It’s like we’re underwater,” Seckry said, dreamily. “Look at the floor.”

  Waves of light were ebbing and flowing beneath them and rippling over their shoes.

  “Can you hear something?” Seckry said.

  They both stood still.

  “Is that music?” said Eiya.

  “It’s . . . Serenade in D,” Seckry replied, reaching into his own past. “By Ingledorf Zivskin.”

  “Wow, you really know your classical music.”

  “Not exactly,” Seckry laughed. “We had to learn it for assembly back in M
arne. Where’s it coming from?”

  They held their ears close to the circular wall.

  “Maybe the metal remembers the music from long ago,” Eiya said quietly. “Maybe the music’s been stored in the memory of the reactor, and if you listen carefully enough you can hear the echoes of it.”

  At the other side of the funnel was a rusty door with a wheel for a handle. Seckry wandered over and tried to turn it.

  “It’s rusted shut,” Eiya said. “I tried it last time.”

  Some of the glowflies were hovering above it, and a group had settled on the wall, almost forming a kind of pattern.

  Eiya took out her mobile phone and took a few snapshots of the glowflies, then she pulled Seckry close to her and took a picture of them both.

  After a while, Eiya said, ‘Would you like to dance?”

  They held hands and swayed clumsily. It was awkward and messy and Seckry nearly tripped over Eiya’s dress a few times, but he never wanted it to end.

  When they did stop, they remained standing the same distance apart from each other. They were too close to be comfortable, but neither of them moved away. Seckry could almost feel Eiya’s heart beating. She was so close to him that he could smell the saltiness of her skin, and the dampness of her hair. Her skin was pulsating with the reflective cyan radiance of the glowflies.

  Eiya closed her eyes and smiled.

  “What are you thinking about?” Seckry asked.

  “Do you ever get this feeling that, the very moment you’re in, you’re going to remember it for the rest of your life?”

  “Yeah,” Seckry said. “Yeah I do.”

  “It’s like we’re in our own dreamworld down here,” she said softly, and Seckry felt her breath against his collarbone, cherry scented from the cherrysuckers she’d been drinking. Seckry watched her semi-translucent lips move as she spoke.

  A glowfly hovered around her face for a few moments before settling on the tip of her nose. Eiya crossed her eyes to focus on it and they both giggled, before she shook it off.

  “Earlier tonight,” she said. “I thought that this had been the worst night of my life. Now I think . . . it may be the best. Seckry . . . when I find out what my name used to be . . . I don’t want to go back to that. I’m Eiya. That’s all I know and all I want to be. Will you still call me Eiya?”

  “You’ll always be Eiya to me, Eiya.”

  They stood for a while longer, looking into each other’s eyes.

  “Have you heard about that song they’ve all been talking about,” Eiya asked. “With Me Tonight?”

  Seckry laughed. “Yeah, Tenk told me all about it.”

  “Oh, Gedin, I was dreading it so much,” Eiya said exhaustedly. “I thought I was going to be stuck with Thom Malerk and I wouldn’t be able to get away. Just the thought of it was making me ill. Do you know what, though?”

  Seckry waited for an answer.

  “Now that he’s not going to be with me when it’s played, the thought of that song doesn’t bother me so much.”

  Seckry looked at his watch. “I bet they haven’t played it yet. It’s only half past ten.”

  Eiya smiled. “Would you like to go back?”

  They said goodbye to the glowflies, and made their way out of the disused chamber and headed back to the school under the late night air.

  As they entered the hall, Tenk came rushing over.

  “Seckry! My good friend Seckry. And my good friend Eiya.” He draped his arms over their shoulders and hung his head in between them both.

  He suddenly seemed to notice something.

  “Hey! You two are . . . you two . . .”

  “It’s okay, Tenk, we’re good now.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well that’s the best news I’ve heard all evening.” He slapped his own leg.

  “Tenk, you’re absolutely wrecked aren’t you?” said Seckry, reeling from the acidity of Tenk’s breath.

  “I am indeed, if I do say so myself,” Tenk said proudly, trying to puff out his chest and nearly falling backwards as he did so.

  “Where’d you get alcohol from?” Seckry asked.

  “Shhhh!” Tenk said, waving his finger somewhere in front of his lips. “Don’t tell anyone . . . but Tippian smuggled in some of his dad’s finest whistlebloo . . . he thought it would make it easier for him to kiss Curly Hetchings.”

  “Where is Tippian, by the way?”

  “Last time I saw him he was . . .” Tenk rolled his eyes around in their sockets as if trying to locate his own brain. “Being sick in the loo I think. Seck . . . have you told her yet?”

  “Told me what?” Eiya asked.

  “You haven’t told her?”

  “Tenk . . . I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Seckry said. He was pretty sure he didn’t want to know, either. “Come on, Tenk, why don’t we go and sit by the bar over there.”

  “Eiya . . .” Tenk said. “He’s in love with you.”

  “Right!” said Seckry, hauling Tenk away. “I think you need to sit down.”

  Seckry cringed to himself while he dragged Tenk across the dancefloor like a limp ragdoll.

  “Man, something really weird happened earlier,” Tenk said, slurring. “Natania. She had some kind of allergic reaction and her tongue, like, really swelled up.”

  Seckry tried to stifle a laugh but failed.

  “Seriously!” Tenk said. “It was hanging out of her mouth. It was like some kind of alien thing. Her ex, Bobber, he was about to kiss her, and then this tongue just came slobbering out. I thought he was gonna faint. He ended up running away. He left the party.”

  Seckry smiled and made a triumphant fist. He didn’t often wish bad luck on people, but after what Natania had done to him and Eiya, he couldn’t help but feel good after a little bit of revenge.

  At that moment, Tenk’s date, Poola Pinyada hopped over and said, very excitedly, “Tenk! They’re about to play the song! You gonna give me a snog or what?”

  Tenk raised his eyebrows at Seckry. “Duty calls,” he said, and staggered after Poola.

  When Seckry returned to Eiya, With Me Tonight began playing, and the atmosphere in the hall immediately changed.

  Seckry smiled at her and then immediately averted his gaze out of embarrassment. His whole body was tingling with excitement. He had wanted to kiss Eiya for so long, and now was the moment he’d be able to.

  He felt Eiya’s hands touch his sides and she pulled him towards her, gently, until their lips could almost be no closer without them touching.

  Seckry had never heard the song before, so he didn’t know when they were going to sing the famous line that Tenk had told him about, but he didn’t know if he could wait any longer. He could smell Eiya’s skin, he could feel the tip of her nose brushing softly against his, he could almost taste the sweet pinkness of her flowery, trembling lips.

  “You’re coming with us,” came a deep voice.

  Seckry was suddenly ripped away from Eiya, and was being hauled backwards.

  He looked around in shock and saw that two Endrin employees were dragging him across the dance floor, towards the entrance. Seckry tried to wrench himself away from them, but they were strong, like bouncers.

  “What are you doing?” Seckry said desperately, as everyone around him began kissing. Eiya was trying to run after him but another man in a suit grabbed her and held her back.

  “You’re needed urgently at the Endrin headquarters,” said one of them.

  “No!” Seckry shouted. A few people stopped kissing and saw him being dragged away, but they looked too terrified to do anything.

  “Eiya!” Seckry shouted, and he heard her cry his name back before he was ripped out of the building and thrown into the back of a blacked out jeep.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Jenniver’s Message