by E. J. Mellow
Remembering what I have to do next, I fidget for a second. I have to stay calm or I might wake up, repeating what happened the last time I was on the zipline with Dev. I tighten my grip on the Arcus and press the buttons.
My feet leave the ground in a rush, and a little squeal escapes me. Before I can think, I’m near the platform, and Aveline’s grabbing my shirt to bring me forward. Once I step on, she tells me to press both buttons again to release the grapple. Looking behind me, I see the outstretched city and beam. “That was awesome!”
Ignoring my elation, Aveline pushes a button on the ground near the circular landing zone. Just like before, the platform rises so we are closer to the zipline cord.
“I’m not as keen on snuggling up to you as Dev is, so you’ll have to do this next part on your own too,” she says, causing me to grow awkward remembering Dev’s body intimately hooked to mine. “I already programmed this line for our destination, so just straddle the cord with your Arcus, and you’ll eventually get to where we need to be.” I glance up, surprised by all the cables jutting from the top of the pole. Aveline is pointing at the line in the center. “Now watch what I do and follow.” She extends her instrument over the center line and glides the Arcus back and forth, making sure it’s in place. She turns to me. “Remember, hold on.” With those last words she pushes off and goes barreling into the city.
Shit.
I can’t believe I’m about to do this—by myself. Shouldn’t I have some sort of harness? What happens when my hands get tired and I can’t hold on any longer? I curse again, wishing I had thought to ask Aveline these things. Though she didn’t really seem too enthused to instruct me any more than necessary.
Taking a large breath to clear my head, I walk to the cord and swing my Arcus over. It locks in place, and I smoothly slide it back and forth, pumping the confidence that says I can do this into my veins.
Stay calm, breathe.
I repeat the words once more before I rip the Band-Aid off and push away from the landing. The wind whips through my hair and over my body as I zoom between buildings. The feeling is exhilarating! I’m not sure if I’m less scared because I already experienced this with Dev, but my heart pumps in excitement, and my face is plastered with an ear-to-ear grin.
I catch glimpses of other people passing by on other lines, reminding me of a subway system in the air. I relax my grip, feeling the effects of some sort of natural stickiness holding my hands in place, and let my body take the turns the line delegates. Below, the city streaks by in a blur as I careen forward over lit sidewalks and dozens of people in black, none of whom take notice of my moving form. I’m just another person traveling among many.
Eventually, I begin to zip between more dated, classical buildings, indicating that I’m entering the older part of the city. The modern structures recede as I find myself flying into an open space. Below me lies a beautifully manicured tree-lined square. Grecian-style buildings jut up gracefully, and one in particular seems to be the main attraction. Sitting in the back center of the square, the large building has crowds of people walking in and out of its impressive entrance. Giant marble ionic columns line the expansion of its façade, supporting an impressively carved frieze that sits below another ornately decorated pediment. In the center of the triangle pediment lies a simple, carved T S. I wonder what those letters mean. Rising from the top of the building is a massive domed roof.
My zipline ends at a landing platform close to the impressive building, where Aveline waits next to an Asian girl who’s also dressed in black. They exchange words while watching me approach.
My stomach tightens as I realize Aveline never told me how to land. I instinctively clench my grip on the Arcus handles, relieved when I feel myself slowing. As I draw near, Aveline and the other girl walk to either side of me, catching my waist and easing me to a stop. Unhooking the Arcus from the cable, my arms only slightly ache and I let out a breath, thankful that my landing was more graceful than anticipated. My heart still pounds from the ride.
The sound of clapping and a familiar laugh turns my attention to Dev stepping onto the platform, wearing a huge knee-weakening smile.
“You’re a natural,” he says with pride.
A vengeful flame flickers in my gut, and despite my easily manifested anger, I manage to move my mouth up in warmth. Reading my expression, Dev’s face radiates with joy. I slowly approach him.
“Hey,” he says gently down to me.
“Oh hello,” I sweetly purr. Then I pull my hand back and slap him across the face.
Dev holds his cheek in shock, and Aveline guffaws with her friend behind me. I watch as the bemusement slowly leaves his face, replaced by a heated and entertained expression. I work hard to ignore the pulling sensation in my abdomen and stay angry.
“If you EVER do that to me again,” I growl through clenched teeth, “you will wish you were the one plummeting down that canyon instead.”
He attempts to mold his features into a look of severity while saying, “Yes, ma’am.” But the task proves too great, and he’s once more smiling playfully. My hand itches to slap him again, and I’m unsure when I became a person who slapped anyone. Coincidentally, my answer is literally staring at me.
“You know, Molly, that might have been the most redeeming thing I’ve ever seen you do.” Aveline comes to our side along with her companion.
“I think you’re the first girl who’s actually acted on what quite a few of us have wanted to do for a while,” the other girl says with a smile. “I’m Brenna.” She extends her delicate hand.
“Molly,” I say while shaking it.
Brenna has beautiful clear features and eyes as black as night. Her raven hair is cut in a sharp angle right under her chin. She’s young, maybe in her midteens, and I can’t help but wonder what her purpose is here. “Yes, I’ve heard a lot about you.” She quickly glances to Aveline.
“Oh?” I raise my eyebrows, knowing none of what she’s heard was probably good if it was coming from Aveline.
Dev wraps his arm around my shoulders, turning me in the direction of the stairs. “We’ve got to get going, Ave, or we’ll be late.”
Walking away, I steal a glance back to Brenna, who has resumed what I’m assuming is her post at the platform. New travelers have already begun to land.
The three of us make our way down a cobblestone path that’s adjacent to the side of the main building I saw when I came in for my landing. “Where are we?” I ask Dev.
“This is what we call City Hall.”
I wonder if bringing me here is his way of finally answering all my questions. I can only hope.
As we traverse along the beautifully tree-lined path, the sidewalk eventually opens up to the front of the impressive City Hall. On either side of the building are the illuminated pods I remember seeing before. People stand in a line to either enter or wait for someone to magically exit from the circle. Before I can ask Dev what the pods are, he grabs my hand, and all thought momentarily leaves me. He guides us up the expansive marble stairs toward the main entrance. I feel like I’ve traveled back in time and am entering a dramatic Roman governmental building.
A row of severe-looking men and women guard the front of the building, wearing the classic black uniform with extra armor adorning them. Every guard holds an impressive Arcus, which I’m starting to understand is used for weaponry as well as transportation. They each sport a black armband on their left wrist, and as we pass, I notice a glowing lightning bolt etched into its surface. My stomach twists with a weird sense of foreboding.
As we walk through the giant open doors, my mind reels from the amount of people hustling by and from everything I’m trying to take in. No one pays me any mind, as I’m merely another citizen dressed in uniform. With Dev’s hand still in mine, he tugs me forward to a balcony that’s immediately inside the entrance of the building, and my mouth gapes.
The interior of their City Hall is massive. We’re standing on a balcony platform that overlooks
the entirety of the domed space. On either side are giant stairs traveling down to the floor below. A marble railed balcony wraps around the circumference of the room, level with the landing we’re currently on. Doors open and shut on every tier as people go in and out, suggesting that this is only the main center of a much-larger building. The space reminds me of Grand Central Station, except it’s a circle and much, much bigger. People walk hurriedly across the atrium while others stand in small groups talking with one another. The most beautiful and realistic image I’ve ever seen of the earth is painted in the center of the floor like a map. People sidestep around the picture, and a strange, watery sheen appears to move over it. I notice that half of the map is in darkness while the other portion is lit with yellow sunlight, making me believe it must be some sort of world clock.
How strange.
“This place is amazing,” I say as Dev guides us down one of the sets of stairs. “Why are we here?”
“We have a meeting about something that has come up,” he answers.
Something that has come up.
An image of the glowing, fire-like red light from the last time I was here flashes in my mind. “Does it have to do with what we saw at the canyon?”
He glances at me sideways, scrutinizing every inch of me before answering. “Yes.”
“Dev!” Aveline admonishes. “Shut up! We’re already going to be in so much trouble for bringing her here.”
“Calm down,” he says with an eye roll. “She’s probably not going to remember any of this anyway.” I frown as I’m tugged along, willing my brain to soak in everything that’s happening.
Walking past the strange liquid map on the ground, we travel on toward a giant white door on the other side of the room. Two austere guards flank the entrance, while a group of older men and a woman stand in front, talking. I recognize Tim among the assemblage of people and relax. He’s speaking with a shorter and very stocky dark-skinned man who has patches of gray in his closely shaved hair. Each person in the group wears the standard black garb except for one woman who has blonde shoulder-length hair, sun-kissed skin, and intelligent blue eyes that follow me intently the entire time we approach. She has on an elegant, floor-length white robe, similar in fashion to a wrap dress. This is the first time I’ve seen anyone here in another color, and as I take in her appearance, I find it difficult to look away, but staring hurts my eyes, like I’m looking into the sun. I’m pulled out of her trance by a gruff, rumbling voice.
“What are you thinking, Devlin, bringing her here?” The short man next to Tim pins his eyes on me in shock and anger while his Herculean chest puffs out in agitation.
“I believe she can help us, Alexander,” Dev says, clearly annoyed at the use of his full name.
The man, Alexander, begins to sputter his protest, but Tim places his hand calmly on the man’s shaking shoulder.
“Alex, I supported him in bringing her here. She was going to be in Terra anyway, from previous accounts, and we needed Dev in the meeting today. He wouldn’t have come without her.”
Alex glances from me to Dev to Tim and then to the lady in white. She nods her head slightly, and he lets out a huff. “Fine, but she’s staying out here. This discussion is for Nocturna and Vigil only. We’d need another meeting to even begin to come to an agreement about letting her inside those doors.” He points his short finger toward the large white doors we are standing in front of.
I can hardly register what he’s saying because my mind is still stuck on what Tim said. She was going to be in Terra anyway? What’s Terra? I also try to ignore the happy flutter I got when he mentioned Dev wouldn’t have come without me. This isn’t the time to evaluate my adolescent swooning.
My thoughts skip forward to the two words that Alex said, and my brow knits in confusion. What in God’s name are Nocturna and Vigil? I’d hoped I would gain answers here, but the list of questions I was mentally writing down has started to bleed off the page. The one thing I do know for certain is I can’t ask any of them now in front of these people. I’m observant enough to see that my presence could lead to unknown severities with the wrong move.
“I suggest we go inside before we say anything else that could confuse Molly.” The woman in white speaks, not shifting her gaze from me this entire time. Her voice is breathy and soft but has undertones of authority. I can tell that she’s the highest ranked among the people standing here, and the omniscient gleam in her eyes takes away any shock I might have felt at her knowing my name.
At her words, the small group makes its way toward the doors while the lady in white stays staring at me for a moment longer. Slightly tilting her head, she gives the impression that she’s debating something. I don’t seem to possess the power to look away, and after a second longer she quickly shifts her eyes in Dev’s direction and then back to me. The side of her mouth twitches before she nods infinitesimally and turns away.
That was weird.
Dev enters my line of sight, and I blink to dispel the enthrallment of the departing form. “Just wait out here,” he says. “I’ll be out as soon as I can.”
“Dev, wait!” I reach for his arm.
He turns back. “Yes?”
“What’s a Nocturna?” I lean in and whisper. For some reason it’s the one question I decide to ask now. A smirk edges along his mouth as if I asked something amusing, and the only answer he gives is a wink before turning away from my annoyed face and walking through the threshold.
Before the doors completely close, I catch a quick glimpse of the room beyond. It’s large with vaulted ceilings, and it has similar characteristics to a grand room one would find in parliament. Both sides are fitted with stadium-style rows of chairs facing toward the center, and a podium resides in the middle of the floor. Directly above the podium, resting in the ceiling, is a giant round orb, producing the majority of light in this space. Blue-white light swirls and glows from within, exactly like the streetlamps and fixtures in Dev’s apartment. Looking at the pure substance, a familiar feeling of seeing something I’m not supposed to settles over me.
The room is filled with people clad entirely in black, some wearing pants and T-shirts like Dev and Aveline, with signature quivers on their backs, others in floor-length black robes. There’s a smaller group in all white, like the woman I saw earlier—some have wrapped robes, while others are in pants and T-shirts. Almost all of the people in white have golden-blond hair, while the hue of their skin is as diverse as they come.
Right before the doors close, I rest my eyes on an extremely tall, dark-skinned blond man standing with the white group. I take a step forward to gain a better view, but as the figure turns to face me, the doors shut oppressively in my face.
I look sharply between the two guards standing in front of the closed entrance, ignoring my very existence. Their eyes remain forward, unfocused on any one thing. I straighten and move away, knowing there’s not a chance I’d ever be able to get in there even if I tried. And boy, do I want to try.
Walking around the expansive hall, I pass other doors that are concealed in the walls—none of which come close to the majestic height of the main door, but still retain their own mysterious allure.
The soft conversations of the people in the atrium bounce around the domed enclosure, making it seem much busier than it actually is. I glance up to the convex ceiling and take in a breath. How did I not see this before? The curved space is completely transparent. Bright shooting stars are visible through the glass as they zip by overhead, exposing the vastness outside these walls. I continue to stare, mesmerized by the humbling view of the sky, when my toe stubs against a solid barrier. Looking down, I realize I’m at the edge of the giant map of the world. An invisible lip keeps me from walking directly onto it.
Seeing it up close, I’m captivated by the details. It’s like a real-time satellite projection of the world laid flat. The portion in shadow blinks quickly and sporadically with billions of blue lights, while a few white lights stay burning. The other ha
lf of the globe is lit up like the sun is shining on it. This portion has the similar number of blinking lights, but they are white interspersed with some blue.
I walk along the perimeter, dazzled by the watery sheen that sits on top like a protective skin. I don’t know how long I stand there watching the shadow slowly move across the map as I try counting the various blinking lights that fill it, but I’m suddenly aware of someone standing by my side.
“This is how I know when you’ll be here.” Dev’s voice is soft and close. He watches the map below impassively. “If you notice, the eastern part of the United States lies in shadow, meaning it’s night there.” He points to where the part of North America sits under the slow-moving darkness. “The blinking lights represent the number of people either going to sleep or waking up. Blue indicates sleeping and white waking. The number of people asleep is recorded at the top.” I shift my gaze to a counter with rapidly changing numbers.
“That’s amazing,” I say softly, scared that if I speak too loudly, Dev will become aware of his forthrightness. I’ve seen similar examples of this technology used to show planes landing and taking off, but I don’t understand how they could possibly know when someone’s going to sleep or waking up. Planes are recorded in a computer system, but not people. “But why would you want to know how many people are sleeping?”
Dev glances around, making sure no one is listening, and I have to lean in to hear his quiet words. “Every sleeping mind gives energy to this place,” he says, focusing on the map below. “We would not exist if you did not exist. You could say we are a form of protection for those who dream. We monitor their sleeping minds, persuading the thoughts they dream to come to fruition in waking life if that idea can serve a larger purpose for the world. And often we take inventions we find in dreams and use them for ourselves.” He faces me. “That’s why we count the people sleeping. You are all important to us,” he says, studying me closely and awaiting my reaction.