Niko

by Kayti Nika Raet

  Chapter 14

  As soon as they entered the hotel Niko headed straight for the library. Ari might have called her name but Niko was already out of earshot before Ari could utter a second syllable. She didn't want to talk to anyone.

  She barged into the room crashing to a halt once she reached her favorite chair. It rocked slightly from the impact. She pulled her knees up to her chest and glared out of the window.

  She couldn't see any of the gates from her position, only the slums that huddled beyond them, completely rejected by the city. The Slithers had probably found more than a few people to cart off. With so many defenseless bodies hanging just outside the city what was the point of breaking through its walls to spread their destruction?

  Niko placed her fist against the glass. She still hadn't cleaned up after the attack and she left a red and black smudge on the glass. Tears filled her eyes blurring her vision.

  She heard the door open. "Go away." She called out. She wiped at her eyes blending the two colors together. She hated for people to see her cry.

  "I'm not leaving," Malik said. He stood before her but not as close as the first time they'd encountered each other in the library. It was better that he didn't, her anger at the city made her feel sharp and prickly. If he touched her skin it might cut him.

  She turned away but she could still see his reflection in the glass. "If for whatever reason Jared didn't quite make it to the city, say he was injured and someone in the slums was nice enough to take him in. If there was a Slither attack just outside the walls, I wouldn't be allowed to go Outside and protect him, would I?"

  "No," he answered reluctantly. "They'd try to stop you like they did today."

  Niko nodded once then she got to her feet.

  "Are you... " He began as she moved past him.

  "Relax," she said, "I'm not going to tunnel my way out of this place with a spoon." She looked at her hand. The blood was drying making her skin feel tight. "I want to wash this disgusting Slither blood off."

  Niko hesitated going in her room, Ari might be in there. But she needn't have worried the room was empty and she headed toward the bathroom leaving a discarded trail of blood-stiffened clothes behind her.

  She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she had no idea how she managed to get so much blood on her. She couldn't take a bath, she didn't relish the idea of sitting in her own muck but still, she liked what she was about to do even less.

  Niko turned on the shower. She flinched as the water sprayed drumming against the tiles and the glass with a sound like rain.

  She'd panicked the first time she had stepped in there it felt too much like how she imagined rain droplets would feel, hard needles of water slamming against vulnerable skin. Ari assured her that the water was treated, it wouldn't burn but Niko had avoided the shower ever since.

  The glass was beginning to fog she stepped inside skirting the water that fell from the overhead nozzles. Steam quickly enveloped the small enclosure blocking everything from view and making it difficult to breathe. She pressed her fingers against the glass if she closed her eyes nothing else would tell her that she wasn't caught in the middle of a rainstorm. She trembled before the deluge gasping for air. She was suffocating, her chest slowly constricting with each breath until she could do nothing more than wheeze hoarsely.

  Niko fell to her knees and scrambled to turn off the shower. She had barely gotten wet.

  For a moment she didn't move only trembled as she watched the water circumnavigate the drain before disappearing forever. She struggled for breath as the steam dissipated warm tongues of fog caressing her skin.

  As her heartbeat slowed she began to hear the strains of a violin. She doubted it was being played to calm her down but she latched on to it allowing the music to give her courage to reach up and turn on the shower again. A small wail escaped her as the water hit her back but she ignored its pounding using all of her concentration to hold on to the notes until all the blood and gore of the Slither attack was washed away.

  She was grateful to finally escape it.

  She could still hear the violin as she dressed. She wondered who was playing it. It had to be a person, she didn't think a record from the music room would be able to penetrate so many floors.

  Malik sat out in the hallway flipping a small black container over and over between his fingers. He had replaced his old glasses with black frames and with it went his final alliance to the color red. He wasn't playing the violin.

  The sound came from the room next to him and through the partially open door she could see Ben's right arm moving back and forth as he worked the bow over the strings. He glanced up and their eyes met for a brief moment.

  Malik got to his feet. "Ari and Duc left for a party so..." He stuffed the container into his pocket. "Wanna see something secret?"

  Niko raised an eyebrow though her gaze was still on Ben. "Does it come in parts?"

  Malik laughed softly. He rocked back on his heels. "Just one part. It’s in the back of the hotel."

  She was torn, she wanted to stay and ask Ben what he had been playing. It was beautiful. But if what Malik had to show her was as amazing as the music room she didn't want to miss it.

  She turned her full attention to Malik and offered him a small smile. "Lead the way."

  She and Malik went down to the ground floor then trekked through several halls, which slowly darkened as the sun set until it felt like they were walking through an amber haze. They walked in utter silence and Niko missed Ben's music, which had been cut off as soon as they entered the stairwell.

  They came upon a large metal door and Malik pushed it open. It led to a massive stone courtyard glittering with salt; in the center of the quadrant was a large enclosed canopy. It was made out of thin metal that was once painted white but most of the paint had peeled off in big rust coated strips revealing the dull grey underneath.

  He shoved aside one of the doors then he stepped back watching her with a bright smile as he waited for her reaction.

  She squinted at it in confusion. “What is it?”

  “It’s a helicopter.”

  It looked like a strange and giant insect but she followed Malik into the cockpit. Though it was relatively warm outdoors inside the helicopter it was cool.

  They stretched out in the front seat and Niko’s eyes danced over the controls and gauges.

  “It’s Duc’s really, he’s always fixing it up,” Malik said closing his eyes as the sun slowly began to warm up the interior. “But we’ve all sort of adopted it. I like to come out here sometimes, it’s quiet.”

  He fell silent, his eyes were still shut and it gave her free reign to examine his profile. He had a strong nose and his bottom lip stuck out a little further than his top one. She leaned forward and pressed her fingertips against the glass. Beyond it the setting sun had tinted the salt a blazing orange, it glimmered brightly and it was as if they were standing in a field of fire.

  "We're wasted in here," he said suddenly and it took her a moment to realize he had changed the subject. "There are so few of us with the ability to kill Slithers that they think the smart move is to keep those they do find in the cities. Slithers hardly attack the cities---once a week tops--- while Outside people are savagely killed each day." His eyes flew open. "There are fifty two of us in Amaryllis City alone and we're not doing anything."

  He rubbed his eye beneath his glasses and sighed. “Once a month,” He continued, speaking up again. “We’ll fly out over the wall and give water and other things to Outsiders. We’re not supposed to, what we’re supposed to use it for is boring stuff like surveying Slither movements and recording their migration habits ...” He faked a snore before flashing her a quick sideways grin. It disappeared as he grew serious. "We'll find your brother too."

  “Is that how you found me,” She asked. “On the Outside?”

  “Kinda.”

  She glanced at him over her shoulder. It was an odd answer to give.

  He had been
leaning toward her in slow increments only to stop when she turned around. "You're beautiful," he said, his voice pitched low. His eyes darkened as he watched her.

  "I know." She let go of the glass leaving four perfectly round smudges on its surface.

  His eyebrows lifted in surprise and a crooked smile appeared. "Traditionally, people say thank you."

  She gave him a smile of her own. "I know."

  He kissed her, the barest press of skin against skin before he immediately pulled away. "Shit, I shouldn't have done that. I---"

  She tangled her fingers between his locks. "That's a terrible thing to say."

  When they finally left the helicopter the sun had set taking with it the last tendrils of spring warmth. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

  She'd asked him about the helicopter and he explained with most of the oil gone they'd tried converting it to solar but it was rather impractical. It took over a week to power only an hour of flight.

  She glanced at the aircraft. “Can you teach me how to fly it?”

  Malik opened the hotel’s back door. “I don’t know how to fly.” He sounded regretful.

  As they retraced their steps back to the lobby Niko wondered what it would feel like to be so high above everything and for a few moments not have to worry about things like Slithers or acid puddles. To be free.

  “Next time, I want to come,” she said. Maybe she’d get a chance to look for her brother as well.

  “Sure.” He agreed. He slipped his arm around her and pushed open the door with one hand.

  Ari and Duc had recently returned to the hotel, the revolving door was still rotating behind them. Malik slipped his hands into his pockets. “You’re back early, was the party that bad?”

  “Pfft.” Ari agreed. “We got lollipops though.” She thrust out a bouquet of brightly colored candies.

  Duc plucked a lollipop from the bunch. He tucked a strand of Ari’s dark hair behind her ear, placing the sucker there as well. An artificial rose. “I don’t know why they even try. It’s not like the Pale Circle was ever any good at it.”

  “Yet we go just the same.” Ari lamented. She turned a concerned eye toward Niko. “Are you okay? What they did at the wall was horrible.”

  Niko glanced at Malik he seemed to be studying one of the paintings hanging nearby. “I’m fine now.”