Reese's Quest

by Blair Drake

  They’d been walking for a while in an open space that looked deserted. Both of them were tired, hungry, and starting to get on each other’s nerves.

  “I don’t remember seeing anything like this on the map. Do you?”

  Raven shook her head. “There’s nothing here. It looks like they haven’t even begun building anything.”

  “Do you think this is the outer rim?”

  “Can’t be. That guy in the scrap yard mentioned something about a guy name Joe B in the outer rim. But I don’t see any buildings or even signs that anyone is out here.”

  “Sort of like the tunnels.”

  “No, the tunnels have a purpose. I…I’ve never seen anything like this. Do you think we were supposed to go a different way?”

  Reese couldn’t see a thing. He forced himself to feel the energy inside him, to turn on something that would give him light and an indication of the direction they were going.

  “I don’t know. I don’t hear any of the activity from the scrap yard behind us anymore,” he said. “But we’ve been walking a while.”

  Unlike the scrap yard, which was bright, and made Reese feel like they were sitting ducks, this open space they were walking through was dark, filled with shadowed areas in odd places.

  He’d felt so exposed out in the scrap yard. Even with their altercation with gnarly guy, he knew he wasn’t the target. The workers were paranoid, as Raven had said. Their foreman probably did watch from that high platform just to make sure they wouldn’t steal. But how much could he actually see? And if there really was a person named Joe B, had the foreman already been in contact with him to let him know they were coming?

  “We keep walking. We have to eventually get to this outer rim, whatever that is.”

  Raven had followed him for a few steps and then stopped.

  “I’m afraid, Reese. I’ve never been this far out before. When I remember looking at the underground city map, I saw a big circle of nothingness. But I didn’t worry about it because I thought we’d be traveling through a tunnel to get through it.”

  Reese thought quickly of the map Endel had made him and Raven study back in that energy room where he’d trained, or at least tried to train and harness his energy. “You mean to tell me you memorized that entire map? In detail?”

  Raven frowned as she nodded. “Didn’t you?”

  He shrugged, almost embarrassed. “Well, yeah, I guess. How could someone look at a picture and memorize every detail? I mean, that map was full of stuff that made no sense. It’s impossible.”

  Raven’s shoulders sagged. “Maybe for some people.”

  “Are you telling me you have a photogenic memory or something?”

  She lifted one shoulder, and glanced away at the nothingness around them. “I guess. I really don’t know what you call it. I just remember things.”

  “Huh.”

  “What?”

  “I just…that’s pretty amazing you could remember all that from looking at the map for such a short time.”

  She chuckled softly. “You didn’t study it at all, did you?”

  “I did! Well, a little. I knew you were looking at it though.”

  “So you satisfied yourself with letting me remember all the details.”

  “Yes, okay. I was kinda busy at the time. You know, listening to Endel yell at me about every little thing I did wrong back in the energy room. The dude has it in for me as bad as my stepdad.”

  She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t know about your stepdad, but if Endel had it in for you, he would’ve left you right there in the city outside his shop where you could’ve been sold off to any one of those merchants passing by.”

  “Sold me?”

  “They do that down here. Sometimes I think that’s why my family sent me here. It was easier than dealing with who I really am.”

  Raven’s words struck a nerve deep inside Reese’s chest, and made him feel so bad that tears filled his eyes. It brought back memories he hated confronting. He hated the feeling it gave him even more. After all these years, Raven managed to bring it out in him.

  She hadn’t meant to. How could she have known he felt the same way about the way he’d been sent off to the Cliffs four years ago? It wasn’t fair to either of them. People shouldn’t be discarded that way, as if they were disposable because they were different. They shouldn’t be treated as if their differences made them unworthy of being loved.

  Reese knew that’s how Raven felt because he could see in her eyes. And he knew it because he’d felt it many times himself, although he’d always managed to squash it down, and fight it off with running on the track.

  “You’ll have to tell me about that some time,” he finally said.

  “What?”

  “Your family. Why they sent you here.”

  She looked at him funny. “Why?”

  He shrugged. “Why not?”

  “Why were you sent here?”

  “I don’t have a clue how I got here.”

  Raven shook her head. “I don’t mean the underground world. I mean…you said you were sent to a school to live?”

  “Yeah. Gray Cliffs Academy, school for weird kids with parents who want nothing to do with them.”

  “That can’t be true.”

  “Why not? My mom didn’t want me anymore so she put me on a train with my stepdad’s blessing and sent me away.” It hurt more to say the words aloud than he could stand. He scuffed his foot against the concrete floor as if he could rid himself of the feeling like scraping off mud from his shoe. It didn’t work.

  “Do you talk to her?”

  “No. George paid a boatload of money to send me away but wouldn’t spring for a cell phone. Not even one of those prepaid things.”

  “George is your stepdad?”

  “Yeah. My mother writes sometimes.” Reese’s resentment pushed its way to the surface of his composure and he hated it. “Whatever. We still have a long way before we can rest, do you mind if we talk about something else?”

  Raven nodded. “I think we went the wrong way.”

  Reese looked around. “Why?”

  “There’s supposed to be a tunnel here. Somewhere. I saw the platform high above the scrap yard. But I didn’t see a way into the tunnel that should be running through here.”

  “I didn’t see it either. “ He looked around at the path in front of them. It was too dark to see too far. “I don’t think there are any lights in here.”

  “Why do you think that? You aren’t trying to light up the room again, are you?” She looked panicked. After last night, he didn’t blame her.

  “No. It’s just that this place is different. It feels different. I’ve been feeling this low buzz of energy ever since we started into the underground city. Now I don’t feel it. I’m not sure I’ve ever not felt it in my life. It’s weird.”

  “What do you think it means?”

  He shrugged. “There’s a path here. I think we should follow it. It can’t be too far until we get to the epicenter.”

  “If we get to the epicenter,” she muttered.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Let’s go.”

  If there was another way to go, Reese couldn’t see it. And he had looked the whole time they’d been walking in the dark. How they could see at all was still a mystery to him. He couldn’t figure out where a light source was located that would give them enough light to be able to see.

  Every few steps, one of them would trip over a small rock or boulder on the path. Reese had never been one to run away from a challenge. Hell, he’d had enough challenges in his life, first when his old man left, and then when he’d been put on that train alone to go to the Cliffs. He’d been scared because he’d been a kid, and he didn’t know where he was going. But none of that compared to how scared he was now.

  Raven walked slowly beside him. When Reese glanced down, he couldn’t see her expression, but he caught her fidgeting with her hands.

  “You okay?” he asked quietl
y.

  “Sure, why wouldn’t I be?” she whispered. “We’re walking into a black hole. For all we know the Boogie Man is waiting for us right around the corner. If there is a corner. I can’t see anything.”

  He blinked, but then chuckled. “Never fear. You’ve already met him.”

  “Who?”

  “Are you sure Endel isn’t the Boogie Man?”

  Despite the darkness, Reese suddenly saw the whites of Raven’s eyes as if such a notion was shocking to her. “Don’t ever let him hear you say that,” she warned.

  “He’s not here. We are. And he sent us here.”

  “What about those mechanical creatures? Aren’t you afraid we’ll see them again?”

  “Yeah. But even if we do, this is the only way to the portal, right? So if we have to move forward.”

  A railing of some type came into view. Again, the light was still too dim to see it clearly. But as Reese took a few cautious steps forward, he could finally make out the details and let out a sign of relief.

  “I was beginning to think we were going to be walking through a cave,” he said.

  “I’m still not sure that isn’t the case.”

  “Look. Stairs to the left and the right,” he said. “They must lead somewhere. Maybe the tunnels you mentioned seeing on the map?”

  “Maybe. Looks like a platform that goes through it. I wish we could see more. I…don’t like not being sure.”

  “Maybe this is the second bridge,” Reese said, suddenly a little more hopeful. “What are the chances we skipped the epicenter all together?”

  “Why are you asking me?”

  “You’re the one who memorized the map.”

  Raven took a deep breath. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “Yeah? Well, that makes two of us. I didn’t like going through any of the places we’ve already been. I’m guessing I won’t like it this time around either. But…”

  “But what?”

  “We’ve been gone a long time. How do we know the portal is even open? I mean, we could get there and—”

  “Stop that,” Raven whispered.

  They hadn’t eaten since that morning and suddenly Reese’s stomach began to growl. The noise was so loud it seemed to echo off the walls around them.

  “I would, if I could. I’m hungry.”

  “Yeah, no kidding.”

  Raven hadn’t asked for anything since they’d left Endel’s shop. She just seemed to accept that she’d get whatever she got when she could. For the first time Reese wondered why.

  Most people Reese knew wanted something whether it was a video game or money for a weekend trip off campus. Some of the kids in class were lucky enough to get real perks like that from their families. Reese wasn’t one of them. He had a yearly visit with his mother. George stayed home, which was fine with Reese.

  “They hear us.”

  “They? Who?”

  “Ssh.”

  “What do you hear?” he asked as quietly as he could, which earned him an annoyed glare from Raven.

  He shrugged in response.

  “I’ve heard stories…”

  “From who?”

  “Endel.”

  “Oh, jeez. Remind me not to let Endel tell me bedtime stories.”

  “I’m not joking, Reese.”

  And she wasn’t. Reese couldn’t see exactly how dead serious her expression was, but he could feel it as if her energy was wrapping around him like a blanket.

  “What did he tell you?”

  “The mechanical creatures are real. We saw them. But there are others. Similar, but more…human. I guess you could call them that. But I don’t know. Remember that jacket you saw in Endel’s shop?”

  “Yeah? It looked a lot like the one the mechanical dude had on.”

  “That one came from a soldier.”

  His eyebrows knitted. “Soldier? Endel didn’t mention anything about an army or anything like that down here? Are you telling me we’re walking into a trap?”

  “No. I don’t know.”

  “Well, which is it?”

  “I don’t know,” she said impatiently. “I only know what he told me about the jacket.”

  Reese reached into the pocket of his blazer and felt around for the talisman. It was still there. But it was cold, and it wasn’t humming.

  “It would have been nice if Endel had mentioned that to us before we left.”

  “He told me.”

  “We have no choice, Raven,” he said, looking at the outline of the platform in front of them, and then the stairs on both sides. “There’s no other way around that I can see. And this time, we have to keep it dark.”

  “You have to. I have no problem keeping it dark, even if I don’t like it.” She took a step and then stopped and turned to him. “Are you coming?”

  “I’m not sure which way we should go. I mean, should we try the stairs and see if we find a tunnel? Or should we go onto the platform?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is there is supposed to be a tunnel somewhere around here. But we could get up the stairs and not find a way in.”

  “True. Let me go first.

  Reese held out his arm to keep Raven behind him. He didn’t know why. Raven had certainly proven she was a strong girl. He’d seen it firsthand, and was blown away by the fact that she was even coming on this journey with him at all. She had no idea what she’d find herself when she got to the end of the tunnels. He was going on the same blind faith that the portal was going to be there when they reached it. Wherever it was. But she could have stayed behind. She’d lived here long enough.

  No, she had no choice, just like he had none. He knew there came a point where you had to get out. He needed to get out of the Cliffs. He didn’t exactly expect an underground city as a way out. But he could get out of this, too, or die trying. Maybe that’s why Raven had insisted on coming along with him. She wanted to get to that portal just as much as he did. Anything had to be better than how she’d been surviving here.

  He took his first step toward the railing, and felt naked in the nothingness around him. For so long he thought of the hum of energy that flowed through him that gave him energy and light was annoying. It had caused him so many problems in his life.

  But despite the disconnect he felt, Reese couldn’t turn back. Endel said they didn’t have much time before the portal closed. Raven had already been down in this shithole for a long time. He couldn’t imagine it. He didn’t want to imagine it. He just wanted out so he could do what he wanted. He wanted to be free of it all.

  Raven grabbed the back of his blazer, and tugged. “Don’t. I want to go back, Reese. Something doesn’t feel right.”

  Reese ignored her, and continued to look ahead, and move forward. When he felt the space between him and Raven widen, he reached back, and grabbed her wrist. She didn’t fight him. She could have easily pulled free of his grip. But Raven allowed him to keep her close.

  “We can’t go back,” he whispered, glancing quickly over his shoulder. “You know that. This is the only way.”

  He began to inch forward again, slowly and deliberately with each step making sure he scanned what little his eyes could make out in the darkness.

  “It’s just a bridge,” Reese said when he got within twenty feet of it. “Silently and swiftly through the darkness.”

  “It’s not the second bridge. It’s that nothingness I saw on the map,” Raven whispered.

  Heart in his throat, he took another step, and felt it. The hum. It was small at first and then it grew. It was so familiar to him that he almost didn’t recognize the change. But having the momentary absence of it made it all the more apparent to him now.

  “The talisman,” Raven said, tugging at his blazer.

  Disappointment threw him off his game for a moment. Raven was right. It wasn’t his energy that had come alive. The talisman had begun to vibrate.

  “He’s been quiet all day, and now he calls us?”

  Raven sucked in a sharp
breath. “He’s warning us.”

  Reese let go of Raven’s hand to reach deep into his pocket. The gold pin with the stone was vibrating. The stone was warm as his thumb brushed over the smooth surface, and began to grow warmer until it was almost too hot to touch.

  “Great timing,” he said under his breath sarcastically. Reese pulled the talisman out of his pocket, and looked at the glowing color. Ice blue. He listened, and heard nothing.

  “It’s blue. We should be good to go. I mean, wouldn’t it be a different color or something if we were in danger? Like red or black or something?”

  She glanced down at the pin, but didn’t appear relieved at all. Reese wondered why. Raven had continued to believe in Endel’s mentoring.

  “I say we keep going. If there was something wrong, Endel would have stopped us by now, right?”

  She shrugged, and stared straight ahead. “I wish we could see. I wish I could see.”

  A pang of guilt punched him in the gut. Maybe that was the sign. Reese closed his eyes, and concentrated. He thought about the track at school, something so familiar to him that he didn’t need to be there to smell the earth, or imagine the loose dirt beneath his sneakers. He could feel the wind coming off the ocean as if he were there.

  “Reese?” Raven said quietly. He opened his eyes and looked at her. She looked around, and then ran over to the wall, touching it. “The wall is rumbling.”

  “Rumbling? How can that be?”

  “What are you doing, Reese? The wall is almost…glowing. What is this place?”

  They both looked around. Reese saw that walls were indeed moving…or crumbling. There was a slight glow to them that made it easier to see the expansive room around them a little better. He looked up and saw that the wall soared many stories high. There was a light source above them, or perhaps it was meant as an air duct. He wasn’t sure about anything except that he could see better, and he didn’t like where they were one bit.

  “This is nothing like the other bridge we were on,” Reese said, walking over stones that had been scattered on the floor around them. He bent down and picked one of the pieces up and tried his best to inspect it. “Do you know what this is?”

  “Graphite? Iron? I’m not sure.”