Steel Lily ARC

by Megan Curd

  A curved, carbon fiber archway housed a grand fireplace nearby, where coals clung to their final glowing embers. Red holographic letters flickered and scrolled across the mantle, Don’t forget to snuff out the coals, then went on to say, Welcome to Chromelius Academy, Avery Pike. They obviously hadn’t been planning on Alice.

  My eyes roamed to the window that covered the expanse of the far wall. I walked over and pressed my palm against the cool glass — the Twin Cities were colder than my dome. The lights of the academy twinkled and glinted off the broken windows of buildings nearby, and the silence of the night was like a soft blanket over the area. The false moon hung high overhead in the sky and illuminated the lightly swaying grass. Was that a hologram, or truly grass? Probably the former; there was no place on earth that survived the damage of our own greed and vindictiveness.

  My mind reeled from the day’s events. In the absence of noise, my thoughts seemed to scream out even louder. There were no people, no bustle of the seedy nightlife like Dome Four. No cries of hunger, of homeless people looking for a dry spot to avoid the damp humidity under an overhang.

  The silence was deafening.

  I turned, and two bookcases as big as the ones in the library lined the wall. There was a doorway in the middle and led to a hallway. I peeked through and saw additional doors on either side. I assumed those were our rooms.

  There was a bathroom situated between the bedrooms, complete with a claw-footed bathtub and a huge shower with two showerheads. A mirror ran the length of the left side of the room with multiple sinks. In the far back corner were three wide stairs that led to a whirlpool, with a fireplace situated into the wall beside it. Huge brass vases filled with metal flowers sat on either side of the fireplace, and ivy wound around the sides of the whirlpool. A wrought-iron shelf sat beside the ostentatious display and held fluffy white towels. Seriously, who in the world needed this? The governor probably didn’t even have this kind of a setup, I thought to myself.

  I left bathroom to find the room on the left now had light streaming out of the closet. Alice was already in there, poking and nosing around, murmuring to herself about good fortune. Personally, I kept thinking of our old home and how it was better, even though it technically wasn’t.

  She jumped when I walked behind her in our massive walk-in closet. Brass pipes lined the ceiling and hummed with electricity.

  “Ah! Avery, I didn’t hear you come in.” Alice waved her arms to the garments that lined the walls. A center island ran the length of the closet and held more shoes of different varieties than I’d ever seen. “Can you believe all of these clothes are yours? And look, it seems like Mr. Riggs took care to give you some things you’d actually like. See?” she pulled the arm of a green military jacket similar to mine away from the throngs of clothes, then turned to the shoes. “There must be five different colors of everything. I can’t wait to see what he gives me.”

  She pulled out a pair of black pinstriped heels, complete with gold designs along the heel and toe. She gave me a guilty smile. “I know you won’t wear these. Would you mind if I took them?”

  I nodded. Lack of sleep coupled with the overload of everything that had happened was finally catching up. I yawned and made a bigger deal out of it than needed. “Take whatever you want, Alice. You know what I’ll wear, and that’s next to nothing in here. Go wild.” I said while stretching. “I’m going to go find a bed and sleep.”

  “I think there’s only one bed in here for now,” Alice said, not meeting my eye. She fingered the lace that lined the high-heeled shoes she’d become attached to. “Would you mind if we slept in the same bed tonight? It’ll be like home.”

  The constant hum of hovercrafts patrolling the streets unnerved her back home. We had spent many evenings curled up in the same bed, reading and hoping to not be found before I snuck back to Wutherford.

  How odd it would be to not have to worry about that tonight.

  “Sure, sure, that’d be great,” I said, genuinely meaning it. “I need some company to get used to this place.”

  “It’s something else, isn’t it?” she said in wonder as she took in the closet that was bigger than our living room at home.

  I wasn’t sure if I liked the ‘else’ that this was, but I would try for Alice’s sake. “It’s something, that’s for sure.”

  ***

  “Come on then, get up!” urged a voice in my ear.

  I swatted at it like a fly. The voice squealed in annoyance. “Really, is that necessary? We gotta go. Breakfast is in twenty minutes!”

  I reluctantly opened my eyes. The bed was softer than anything I could remember sleeping on. The cream coverlet was filled with down and more than warm enough for both Alice and me. It was a welcome change from the frayed and moth-eaten blankets Alice struggled to keep out of complete disrepair.

  I reached beside me to push Alice, and realized she was gone.

  My eyes flew open. Before me stood a girl I’d never seen before.

  Her eyes were hazel and squinted as she blocked the sun from her eyes. Her strawberry blonde hair was cropped above the shoulders in chunky layers, save for a long, shocking pink braid that was tucked behind her right ear. A pair of light pink leather goggles held back wisps of stray hair.

  “Welcome to the land of the living,” she said amiably. “I’m Sari. And no, not like the garment Hindu women wore when we still had multiple religions in the world.”

  I pulled the covers up around my neck. “I don’t remember a time there were multiple religions in the world, let alone what people wore according to their customs.”

  She shook her head, but the smile never left her heart-shaped face. I gave her a once-over and felt my mouth drop.

  “What?” she asked, looking very amused. “Did I grow a second head?”

  “No, it’s just you’re dressed…”

  “Like you!” squealed Alice from behind her, making both Sari and I jump.

  It was the truth; Sari wore a white t-shirt that showed her skinny midriff and bellybutton piercing. Suspenders held up her bulky black pants that had pockets all over them. Her hands were covered with fingerless leather gloves. Underneath the gloves a swirling tattoo wound its way up her arm and onto her bicep. I instantly liked her.

  She extended a gloved hand and helped pull me out of bed. “Let’s get you showered and dressed, and we’ll head out. Sound good?”

  I sighed as I headed to the shower. My feet prepared for the cold tiles that lined the shower floor, but instead I was greeted with warmth. Heated tile floors, I thought to myself. How much more extravagant could Mr. Riggs possibly be?

  I enjoyed the dual head shower against my will. Heat filled the room, fogging the floor-to-ceiling glass as I hummed tunelessly. A dozen bottles of soaps and shampoos sat at the ready in the little cubbies that were along the wall of the shower. I picked a bottle based on the propaganda on the label. It smelled of powder and lilac.

  In our dome, there were two smells: clean and stinky. There was no time to spend on such vain conveniences like perfumes. Everything here was overwhelming.

  Alice banged on the door before I could towel off completely. “Did you leave me any water?”

  I strode past her with one towel wrapped around my body and another wrapped around my head. “Yep. And it’s hot water.”

  Her voice went up three octaves and she bounced on the balls of her feet. “Oh, my God, seriously? This place is heaven on earth.”

  That’s all it took for her to disappear into the fog-laden bathroom. I wondered if we’d have to send a search party in there for her later. It was possible that she’d prune herself to no return before she’d get out of something so novel as a hot shower, and that was before she found the perfumed soap.

  The thought brought a smile to my face as I headed back to our room.

  Sari managed to find me clothes that looked like what I’d wear…almost. These felt too new, too tight, too clean to really be mine. By the time I was dressed, Alice was out
of the shower and giving me a pep talk on why these clothes were wonderful, and Sari seemed nice, so I went with it. I wiggled around to loosen them up as we walked down the dormitory hallway toward the atrium.

  “So right now we’ll have breakfast with all the students,” Sari informed us as we walked, “Then we’ll have a bit of free time to spend reading, meditating, or whatever strikes your fancy.”

  “What if I want to parachute off the Academy? Is there a place to sign up for that?” I said, trying to crack a joke.

  Sari looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Why in the world would you want to do that?”

  “Because she’s a nutter,” called a voice I’d recognize anywhere, much to my chagrin.

  “Jaxon,” I said stiffly.

  Sari laughed. “You call him Jaxon? Weird. We all call him Jax.”

  “Like I said,” he replied with a wave of his hand, as though I’d proved a point, “she’s a nutter.”

  I shook my head and kept following Sari. Jaxon fell in step with us. “Looking forward to some real food?”

  Alice squeaked with excitement, but cut it off after I shot her a withering look. The last thing Jaxon needed was encouragement.

  Jaxon laughed. “Oh, come on Pike, admit it, you like having me around.”

  “I like having you around about as much as sitting in a tub full of rusty scissors.”

  He winked. “Sticks and stones, love. Don’t you remember how it was in the schoolyard when you were young? The girl that claims that boys have cooties always ends up being the one that gives it up first.”

  “If you mean gives up on diplomacy and hauls off and clocks the boy in question, then yes, you’d be correct.”

  He rolled his eyes and opened his mouth with what promised to be another retort when an ear-splitting alarm began to sound. A booming voice echoed off the atrium walls. It was Mr. Riggs. “A noncitizen of Dome Three has been sighted outside. I repeat, a noncitizen was sighted outside. Please return to your rooms until the threat has been eliminated.”

  “Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Jaxon lamented, “today was french toast day.”

  I glanced between Jaxon and Sari, who both looked suspiciously excited. “I take it we’re not going to breakfast?”

  Jaxon shook his head. “Nope, we’re doing something more fun.”

  “Which is?”

  He acted like I’d asked the dumbest question ever. “Sneaking out the academy and finding the noncitizen, of course.”

  Oh, of course. That made perfect sense. Go get ourselves killed after avoiding imprisonment in our own dome. Sounded like a great plan.

  CHAPTER

  ELEVEN

  Jaxon grabbed my hand and held tight. An unfamiliar zing of electricity surged through me at his touch. I liked it. I glanced at Jaxon for a split second to find him looking at me with a curious expression. Did he like it, too?

  As quickly as the thought surfaced, he squashed it by releasing his hold. I felt an inexplicable pang of loss. That moment we touched…it was unlike any touch I’d experienced before. I locked the feeling far in the back of my mind. It was Jaxon. Nothing about him was nice. Well, besides his looks, and the lilt of voice…I shook myself mentally. Get a grip, Avery. The Academy is on lockdown and you’re panting after a guy you don’t even know.

  He pointed at Sari. “Take Alice with you. I’ll take Avery. We’ll flank either side of the building.”

  Sari nodded and pulled her gloves higher on her hands. She put a hand on the small of Alice’s back and whispered something in her ear. Alice looked like she was going to throw up.

  “What are we flanking?” I asked, never looking away from Alice, whose knees were now shaking.

  “The intruder, of course,” Jaxon said.

  My mind immediately raced back to two nights ago when the Polatzi rained down on us. Panic settled in my stomach. “That’s not what Mr. Riggs said to do.”

  “Heavens, no,” Sari chirped. “We’re supposed to go sit in our rooms until he gives us the all clear, but…”

  “But where’s the fun in that?” Jaxon finished. His angelic smile was almost believable. Almost.

  And then I remembered that even Lucifer was a beautiful angel once. That explained a lot, if you thought about it.

  I swallowed. My throat felt like it was made of sandpaper. “Have you done this before?”

  “Oh yeah, loads of times,” Jaxon said lightly.

  “And it turns out okay?”

  “Usually. Sari broke her arm once and I needed seventeen stitches another, but our medical wing is top-notch. No worries.”

  Alice threw up on Sari’s shoes.

  Sari shook her left foot rigorously. It didn’t look like she was the least bit grossed out, just annoyed. She took one of Alice’s arms and placed it around her neck to help Alice walk.

  “Well, we know who the newbie is. I’ll take her back to the room and meet you outside.”

  Jaxon nodded and pulled me toward the grand staircase. “Can’t I go with her?”

  “Nope.”

  “And why not?”

  “Because I believe you’re made of a higher caliber than your Traditional friend.”

  He led us past the fountain and straight toward the wall of stairs. As we walked, he rummaged through the bag he’d been wearing on his back.

  “What are you looking for?” I asked.

  “These.”

  He pulled an oxygen mask out far enough so I could see what it was, then slipped it back into the bag.

  “I didn’t think we needed those here.”

  “Better safe than sorry when you’re doing things you’ll probably end up sorry for doing…follow me?” His voice was playful and he didn’t seem the least bit worried about our half-cocked plan.

  It did nothing for my confidence in my decision to follow him.

  When we reached the stairs, he began to press the silver stars embedded in the granite. His fingers danced deftly across the monolith. When he stepped back, the stars glowed a cyanotic blue. The outline of a door emerged, and the stone slid away.

  Jaxon pulled me through the opening. “Hurry up.”

  “What did you just do?”

  “A magic trick. Follow me.”

  We ran up the slippery cement steps. The derelict walls were blanketed in green and yellow mold; its fuzzy growth even overtook the railing. Old rusted cogs that were made of basic metals and not coated in splendor revealed the underbelly of the Academy. They struggled to move under the weight of the kudzu that grew between the teeth in the gears, and turquoise oxidation overtook most of the copper cogs. I ran my hand along a lever, and Jaxon hissed under his breath. “For the love of God, don’t touch anything down here. It’s the only safe place in the Academy. If you start poking, prodding, and leaving a trail, cameras will go up here, too.”

  I pulled my hand away and heard the squelch of watery muck under my palm. There was enough light from the intermittent gas lamps to see that my hand was now a breeding ground for God knew what. I went to wipe off my hand, only to be barked at again in the low light.

  “Don’t wipe that on your pants,” Jaxon called. “It’ll never stop growing. Wipe it on the wall.” He took two steps at a time, apparently not deterred by the perilous grime on the stairs. I did as he said and grimaced when the mold attached itself to the wall.

  I wheezed and struggled to keep up. What sounded like a cannon fired overhead and shook the passageway. Dust and small debris fell from the ceiling as the floor rumbled. An over-patched pipe that ran the length of the ground began to groan, and a bolt sprang loose. Steam hissed and exploded from the hole. Every neuron in my body was on fire with a mixture of adrenaline and fright, but it was a reaction I could understand. This was more like home. I cocked my ear toward the top of the stairs after another blast thundered. “What in the world was that?”

  “The warning shot,” Jaxon said. “Next one will be to kill. We’ve got to find the insurgent before Riggs does.”

  The blood i
n my veins ran cold. Insurgent? What kind of place was this? I thought we were here of our own free will.

  Then it hit me.

  Jaxon had taken Alice and me. Taken us. We didn’t have a choice. It had been the Polatzi or Jaxon. Part of me wondered if other students came from similar situations.

  Another boom sounded overhead, freezing me in my tracks. Try as I might, panic seeped in. Why were we doing this? Who was this person we were trying to save?

  Whowhatwherewhy? Questions rampaged through me. What had I gotten myself into? I longed for the time I simply snuck out and stayed out of the wandering eye of the Polatzi.

  Jaxon was there instantly, hands on both of my upper arms.

  “Pull it together,” he urged, his eyes full of concern that I’d never seen there before. “We’re this guy’s only hope.”

  He turned and moved faster up the stairs. I heard the echo of a doorknob turning and then sunlight streamed down the passageway. Almost to the top.

  My muscles ached from speeding up the stairs, but I was desperate to find whomever Mr. Riggs was shooting at before they were killed.

  Jaxon grabbed my hand and pushed me through the door into the light. He was right behind me, not wasting a second.

  “The shot came from this direction,” he said, taking on the air of a dog in the middle of a hunt. “Riggs’s defenses can’t shoot more than forty yards out. The guy will be close. Come on.”

  The holograms were barely visible. Only vestiges of tall, willowy grass remained, and the destruction from the war prevailed. We ran between abandoned cars and remained in shadows. Jaxon’s eyes constantly darted upward, always watching. Twice he held his arm out to his side, stopping me in my tracks. We were never alone.

  We rounded the corner of a massive white stone citadel. Jaxon whirled to face me. “Stay here,” he said before disappearing around the corner.

  I pressed myself against the stone wall. It was warmed by the sun and would have been comforting, had I not been breaking more rules than I could count and trying to find someone that was shot with a guy I barely knew. I sucked in a deep breath to steady myself and drown my fears. How I had managed to have a crappy situation in Dome Four turn into an even crappier one here in Dome Seven, I’d never know. There couldn’t be a person left alive with worse mojo than me.