“Peaches.”
“Okay.” The blond smiled broadly before disappearing back into the backroom, the double doors swinging behind him.
Mathieu spun on the stool and looked at the rest of the pictures. They interested him, captured memories that someone like him would never have. He sighed as he slid off the stool to examine the ones on the wall, eyes perceiving without judging. Some of them had a woman in them. She was very pretty with blue eyes and a heart shaped face; the blond resembled her a lot. There was a newspaper article on the wall:
Local Hotel Fire
The landmark hotel of Tuckern, Windside Inn, caught fire late in the night one night ago. It is believed the case of the blaze was electrical, but this is unconfirmed. Fifteen guests were checked into the hotel, three with small children. One family staying for the night, the Carsons’, were rushed out of the burning building without their daughter, Frieda. Local diner owner, Regina Mason, who happened to be on her way home from work that night, saw the fire and the screaming mother. Ignoring the warnings of others, the woman heroically entered the burning building to save the child that was not her own. She saved the child, however had received severe damage to her lungs. Regina passed away early in the morning. The funeral service will be held at 3 p.m. on Thursday.
“That’s my ma.” Geoff was standing beside him, arms crossed. “I was six.” His tone was sad, if not a little cold.
Mathieu jumped, startled. His mind had been very into reading the article, trying to imagine someone he would run into a burning building to save. No one came to mind. “Oi! Don’t do that to me.” He turned away from the article, looking at the blond. “Do you remember much of her?”
“My ma? Not really. I just remember she always smelled like roses. It was nice. This was her diner.” He said. “You aren’t from around here, are you?”
He took a deep breath. Confidence. Riiight. “No. I’m from…” he hesitated. What would people think if he said he was from an orphanage? “Ateri. I was out here visiting family.” Mathieu lied smoothly. “Hotter than hell out here, isn’t it?”
“It doesn’t get a bit warm out here, especially at the height of the day. So Ateri, huh. That’s a fair distance.” Geoff leaned against the wall, looking at Mathieu with the same blue eyes his mother had. “How does your family feel about you being so far away?”
He returned to the counter and sat on his stool, Geoff trailing behind him. “My family isn’t that fond of the idea, if I’m honest.” He continued to lie. He felt a bit bad about it, but he needed to work out his story out before he met other people. “But I’m an adult, so it’s my choice to live in the city.” Mathieu looked closer at the other male. Geoff was a lot younger than he’d originally thought, closer to his own age. The boy had very straight teeth.
“Kid,” a deep voice called from the depths of the diner, “foods up.”
“Yeah, Dad.” The blond called back. “Jeez, always something, I swear.” He gave Mathieu a joking smile before getting up and going to get the waffle. “Here ya go. Enjoy.”
“Thank you.” Mathieu politely laid the napkin across his lap, taking up the fork and digging in. The waffle was fluffy and rich, something Rebekah never managed to accomplish when making them, as well as smeared with butter. The peaches covering the top were clearly fresh, probably from just that morning. They tasted as though they had been marinated in sugar or some other sweet substance. As soon as he swallowed the first bite, he was shoving more into his mouth, not able to get enough of the taste. He wished he’d ordered another. Far too soon, it was all gone and he sighed in regret.
“That was delicious,” He said to Geoff, who was wiping down the counter, “But, I’d better get going.” He dropped a few Khrons onto the counter and stood, scooping up his bag. “Thanks a lot. Take care.”
The blond waved him off good-naturedly with a broad smile.
Mathieu was already out of the town and down the road when he realized something. Despite how short his interaction with Geoff had been, he had been mostly relaxed. It was nice to be himself, to not be afraid of what someone else thought. Yawning, he stepped off the road so a carriage could go by.
As he continued walking, he found the road oddly empty. A stray carriage here or there was nothing worth nothing. For such a thriving country, the area outside of the capital was pretty empty and boring. It made Mathieu itch; he wanted energy to surround him, to distract him from the tedium. A rabbit crossing his way was the most interesting thing to happen all morning.
After a few more hours, the suns were at their peak. They beat down, making Mathieu break out in a sweat across his lower back and shoulders. Sighing, he pulled out his map again and wrinkled his nose in distaste. He was still at least another hour’s walk to the next town and he was beginning to regret not stopping in Steeta a while back.
“This sucks!” Mathieu announced to no one in particular.
Out of nowhere, a strange, creeping feeling slide up his spine. He felt…he felt like he’d been here before. But he knew for a fact that he’d never come this close to the capital in his life. He’d always lived at the orphanage. Well, he supposed at one time he had lived with his parents, but he hadn’t known where that had been. Besides, he would have been too young to remember that.
The feeling was starting to intensify, making his skin crawl and forcing bile to creep up his throat. Something horrible had happened here, the horrors lingering in the air. Mathieu vaguely wondered to himself how this area wasn’t quarantined as he leaned against a nearby tree, trying to keep his stomach under control. Phantom screams echoed in his head, a woman’s voice. It made his stomach twist painfully, his guilt telling him he needed to save the woman being tortured. He collapsed to his knees, curling down on himself; then, he clutched his stomach, face pressed into the cold grass. Mathieu barely had time to lift his head up enough to avoid vomiting on himself.
After a few more minutes of the invisible screams fading in and out and emptying of his stomach’s contents twice more, he pulled himself together enough to get to his feet. His hands shook slightly, but he took steadying breaths to get his body under control. The voice in his head was screaming at him to get going, to leave this place behind. So he did, taking off running until he could no longer look over his shoulder and see the tainted area.
~*~
The next town, quite luckily, had a bus depot that would take him into the city. Apparently, this town had become quite the haven for people who worked in the city, but didn’t want to live there; he had no clue why. Mathieu paid the small fee of twenty Khrons and was rewarded with a bus ticket labeled “From Thorn - To Ateri” in thick, blocky black print.
Sitting on a worn wooden bench, waiting for the bus, he watched as people went by his seat. It was relatively quiet in the town and everyone walked with determined strides, the same serious look on their faces, clearly having somewhere to go. It made him feel like he was being lazy, not walking along with the same determined look on his face. He looked down at his ticket and ran his fingers across it. Anticipation was building in his gut; his little escape plan was quickly becoming a reality. Things had sounded good in his head, go to Ateri and start a new life, but how exactly he was supposed to do that, he wasn’t sure. No matter. He thought as the bus pulled up. In just a short while, he’d be in the capital and he could figure it out from there.
The bus was pretty packed, but he managed to find an empty seat. He slide into it and smiled politely at the girl beside him. She was young, but still older than him.
“Hello.” Her voice was soft and she smiled shyly at him.
Her shy nature made him grin. “Hi. How are you?”
Reddish hair hid her eyes as she tilted her head forward. “Oh, I’m good.”
She was a little thing, only taking up half of the seat and practically no space on the bus. Her hair was cut into a short bob that emphasized her jaw.
“Do you live around here?” He turned to look at her, focusing his attention completel
y on her as he set his bag on the floor between his feet. Mathieu had never ridden on public transportation and didn’t know the social protocol for socializing, but what he did know was that talking to as many people as possible would help him put together a better a cover story for once he was in Ateri.
She turned red. “Oh, uh, yes. I live just outside of the town before this. You know, Steeta. I work in Ateri, though. Do you live around here?”
Considering, he decided to stick with his previously constructed lie. “Oh, no. I live in the city. I was visiting family in the country.”
“I should have known.” She gave him an appraising look. “You don’t look like the people who live out here.” Her eyes caught the light for a moment before she looked away.
Insecurities suddenly spiked through him, but he pushed them down. “Oh?” Maybe she meant the fact that he was chatting her up like an idiot instead of sitting there quietly like everyone else on the bus.
“Well, I mean, uh, your hair and eyes and uh…yeah…” she tripped over her words lamely. He smiled at her reassuringly. He was going to have to get used to people commenting on his appearance. It would be okay; he would get over it. After all, he was very different looking.
The bus pulled away, and he looked past her out the window at the town. This was a much faster mode of transportation than walking, Mathieu decided. He was glad that he hadn’t tried to walk the whole way. Besides, he had a delightfully interesting girl to entertain him. Shifting in his seat, he slouched a bit until he was comfortable. Honestly, he had no idea how long the trip would take, but he was ready. At least, he thought he was. “I’m Mathieu, by the way.”
“Oh! I’m Vienna.” She blushed. “I seem to have forgotten my manners. So…Mathieu…That’s pretty.”
It was his turn to flush. “Thanks. So…what kind of work do you do?” More intelligence gathering, he told himself. These things would be important to know. Or at least he thought they might be.
“Well, I work in a government building. I do clerical work, filing papers and the like. Loads of fun…” Her voice trailed in an uninterested way, looking at the other occupants of the bus. She sighed softly.
Mathieu chuckled and she smiled companionably at him. He found himself wanting to make her smile; sometimes he was just like that. Something told him that this girl was very genuine and that made him happy. Her personality just showed him that some people were still nice at heart.
“Living in Ateri must be really nice. I could never afford it. Everything is so expensive. I’m surprised they don’t charge us to come into the city and work.” She laughed, looking out the window as they crossed a bridge. Mathieu was pretty sure she was joking, but she sounded rather serious. “This area is so nice. Funny how we can have a thriving metropolis disaster and not that far away is this slice of heaven.”
Something in her words had troubled him. Ateri was expensive. He should have known. His couple handfuls of Khrons wouldn’t take him far once he got there. That meant that he was going to have to find work quickly. And try to find somewhere that would take pity on him until he did. The shining beacon of their country should be visitor friendly, but this woman was making him think otherwise.
“If you live in Ateri, you must work for the royal family. No one else can afford to live there, right?” Vienna said off-handedly, peaking at him out of the corner of her eye. It looked like she was sizing him up.
Mathieu made a humming noise that could be taken either way, tilting his head back against the seat.
“Have you ever been to the Royal Gardens? I really want to go there…” It seemed to Mathieu that this girl was all over the map, but now her voice had a dreamy quality to it that he couldn’t fathom the cause of.
“Why?” He questioned, his brow furrowing as he tried to understand her desire to see some garden. Maybe they grew rare vegetables there.
She gave him a disbelieving look. “How could I not? Ever since I was a little kid, my mom talked about how beautiful and grand the gardens were and how you could only get in by invitation. It’s my life’s ambition…to do something so noteworthy that I get invited.” Vienna gave a longing sigh, her eyes far away.
The gardens…huh… Vienna seemed nice enough, but not cutthroat enough to really get noticed. At least, that was his opinion. In his experience, bullies tended to get noticed a lot more than the nice kids.
“Oh, when you get back and get settled in, you should look me up. We could have lunch together! Er, I mean…only if you want to, of course…” She bit her bottom lip in an embarrassed way, tilting her head.
Mathieu considered for a moment before he nodded. It might help to have an ally already in the city. “That’d be really cool.” The more they talked, and the closer they got to Ateri, the more he started to panic about starting over there. “So, my…brother was thinking about moving to the capital, and he asked me to think of some advice for him, ya know, to make it easier when he first gets there. Only thing is, I’m not very good at giving advice. What would you tell him?” His voice was unsure, but he tried to lie as convincingly as possible.
“Hm…” Her face became thoughtful and she tapped her nails against her leg, “I’d tell him that he needs to be tough, to not let people take advantage of him. The street urchins can be rather abrasive if you’ve never dealt with them before. Oh, and to avoid the Seventh District, because it’s kind of rough there. I don’t know, just stuff like that.”
He nodded, making mental notes for himself. “Thanks.”
Nodding, she rested her head against the window, closing her eyes.
Okay, got to be tough. This was going to be harder than he thought. He was beginning to realize that this was the stupidest thing he’d ever done. But, that thought kind of thrilled him. For once, he was doing something for him. Not because he had to or was intimidated into it; no, just because he wanted to. And that was why he was sure he could make it through this.
The bus winded down the country road, the trees and rolling hills giving way to flatter land. As they got closer to the capital, the land became more colonized land, housing complexes cropping up here and there. They were apartment style buildings, but their poor construction made them less than desirable. Mathieu supposed that was a downside of urban areas. The nicer the inner city became, the worse the surrounding areas started to seem. Compared to large, airy houses that Mathieu could see not far off, the apartments seemed cramped and almost unsanitary. He really hoped he wouldn’t need to live in an apartment.
Over the loud speaker, the driver announced that the next stop was central Ateri, District One. His heart started to pound again, nerves getting the better of him, causing his leg to bounce up and down quickly.
“Excited to be going home?” Vienna was looking at him, not seeming to find his behavior weird.
“Oh, of course I am. I’ve been away for a while. Coming back will be like starting a new life…”
Chapter
Two
Outside the window, the city was taking shape. It was rather creepy to see. It started just past the large stone fence; first, there were heavy metal structures, skeletons of what were once offices, Mathieu assumed. They looked like metallic monsters standing ominously against the sky and looking down at the world with blank eyes. Slowly those faded away, and in their place stood smaller buildings, homes. They were petite compared to those that came before, sort of like cottages made out of a white metal. Each had a nicely manicured front to it, a least one tree full of foliage. Once the houses were done, the non-businesses had their place. They were the charities and the like. Only a handful of them were in the area and they were in mismatched pairs, like the rejected socks that lost their mates to the dryers.
But then, to Mathieu’s wonderment, the bus entered through the gates of the inner city, into District One. Everything became tall and shiny. New. Flowers were in bloom everywhere: store fronts, planters that lined the center dividers in the streets, all over. Statues of previous rulers were erected aro
und the city, cared for and well maintained. Office building with glass fronts mixed with the shorter buildings, businesses to keep the economy stimulated. Many of them were trade fronts for goods ranging from exotic foods to pets and luxury goods.
The bus stopped at the innermost square, just outside of the royal family’s castle. It was the main market square for local goods, such as fruits and hand-woven clothing. Everything was of the finest quality: silks, fruits so ripe that they were ready to eat as soon as they were bought, things like that. Mathieu stepped off the bus, looking around at the stalls.
Vienna exited just behind him. “Okay, so I work in the Hollander building, just north of here. Come by anytime.” She smiled one last time before turning on her heel and walking into the crowd. Her bag was held tightly to her side.
Hoisting his bag a bit higher after seeing how Vienna carried hers, he looked around again, taking in more this time. People were milling about, looking at the goods in the stalls and haggling over prices. This seemed like a good idea to him, so he approached the nearest stall: a jewelry cart.
Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) Page 3