by Resa Nelson
I want to follow Milan through that door. I’m walking to follow her.
Although Zuri’s body remained seated on the sofa, the empty doorway now approached her, as if she were walking through it.
I’m doing it!
Zuri’s excitement derailed her, and the doorway receded as if an earthquake had misplaced it.
That didn’t deter Zuri. She thought about how she had succeeded and repeated those thoughts.
This time, Zuri felt as if she breezed through the open doorway, greeted by bright light inside the living room of an apartment with an adjacent hallway that stretched for blocks. The white alabaster walls and polished marble floors gleamed in the light, which poured in from a bank of French doors lining the living room and separating it from a golden balcony. Trees potted in elaborate vases created the sense of a garden setting. Elegant furniture formed sitting areas throughout the room, each area centered below a crystal chandelier.
“Good girl, you figured it out,” Milan said. She stood in front of a granite fireplace and a large mirror framed in carved and gilded wood. “Welcome to my home.”
CHAPTER 12
Zuri stared at the majesty of Milan’s apartment, thinking no palace in the world could look more beautiful. She shivered in delight. “Are all the floors in the Platinum Tower like this?”
Milan raised an eyebrow in astonishment. “Platinum? Why would any of the towers look like this?”
Tearing her gaze from the luxury surrounding her, Zuri looked at Milan. “This isn’t the Platinum Tower?”
Milan laughed. “I’m a native, not a newcomer.”
“Are we still in VainGlory?”
Milan laughed harder. “Come and take a look.” She walked across the room to the French doors and walked outside on the golden balcony.
When Zuri joined her, the view took her breath away.
“I live in Tall Ship. That’s what the building is shaped like. We’re on the hundredth floor.”
Looking straight down, Zuri saw nothing but ocean. The edge of the city stood the equivalent of a few blocks away, lined with stone and marble buildings that twisted and turned like tree trunks shaped by wind over centuries. One looked like an ice cream cone that had landed upside down on a sidewalk. A bridge lined with towering columns led across one waterway to a round theater with a marquee announcing the current production in demure lights. Canals penetrated the city like veins. Zuri saw a maze of marinas that ringed the city, each filled with sleek boats.
“The flock of pelicans is over there.” Milan pointed to the left.
At first, Zuri couldn’t make out what she looked at, striking her as little more than configurations of long stretches of small and narrow beach islands filled with back-to-back houses so that every home faced the ocean. It took a while for her to see the pelicans.
Each “pelican” was an engineered island community. And there were pelicans for as far as Zuri could see, circling around the main island of VainGlory.
“This building—the Tall Ship—stands on its own foundation in the ocean. The Pelicans are island communities but still considered part of VainGlory.”
“Everything is so beautiful,” Zuri said. “If I lived here, I’d never leave home.”
Milan gave a twisted smile. “Now you’re getting the idea. Hardly any of us ever do.”
“But the other morning I went to the water garden, and I saw lots of people there.”
Milan snorted. “Probably the nouveau riche. Most of them are stars and don’t know what to do with sudden wealth.”
“Like, movie stars?”
“Sure. Movie stars, pop and rock stars, sports stars. Up-and-coming artists of all kinds.” Milan winked. “Including designers, so take note of what your foolish peers are doing now so you don’t make their mistakes.”
Zuri didn’t know how to respond. She didn’t know what kind of mistakes Milan meant, and Zuri felt too intimidated to ask.
Instead, she simply nodded in agreement.
“Oh!” Milan said in a bright voice. “The good news is that you can take advantage of them.”
“Take advantage?” Zuri said. She fidgeted. “I don’t think I want to take advantage of anyone.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Everyone takes advantage of each other in VainGlory.” Milan swept her arm across the panorama of the city at their feet. “If you take advantage of them, you’ll get everything you want.”
Zuri shifted her weight from one foot to the other, suddenly unable to find a comfortable stance. “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel right.”
“Don’t be silly.” Milan cast a casual glance at Zuri and then returned her gaze to the city. “Look at us. I’m using you to improve my status. And you’re using me to boost your career. We both know what we want. We’re willing to help each other get there. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, I guess.” Still, Zuri felt something heavy in the pit of her stomach, even though everything Milan said made sense.
“Now,” Milan said. “Let me show you what we do for fun.” She led Zuri back inside her lavish home, closing the balcony doors behind them. “Share mode,” Milan announced in a loud voice.
A hummingbird made of precious stones zoomed in front of Milan, sparkling in the bright light. “Yes, Mistress,” the hummingbird said in a high-pitched voice. It swept around the perimeter of the room and then hovered in front of Zuri. “Share mode complete,” the hummingbird said.
An explosion of light rocked Zuri back on her heels. In a panic, she reached out to steady herself, startled by the rough texture that she recognized from her own sofa.
I’m home, not with Milan. This is just an illusion. I’m sitting down on my own sofa. I’m safe at home.
When the explosion of light faded away, Zuri recognized the surroundings of Milan’s home in the background but saw a more refined wall of icons displayed in front of her. Instead of hundreds of everyday icons, she saw a few dozen that looked like elegant shop store windows, dressed to perfection.
Milan appeared next to Zuri. “I’m sharing my Personal Bubble with you,” Milan said. She pointed to one shop window displaying tarts, eclairs, napoleons, and other pastries against a backdrop of Paris. “I have a weakness for French patisseries.”
The shop window to its right contained diamonds falling like musical raindrops onto a field of porcelain violets. “And jewelry,” Milan added.
Another shop window showed expensive stiletto shoes walking on their own volition down a miniature marble staircase. Milan released a wistful sigh. “And, of course, shoes.”
When she clapped a friendly hand on Zuri’s shoulder, Zuri jumped in surprise.
Wide-eyed with wonder, Zuri said, “This feels so real. How is it possible?”
Milan shrugged. “They say it’s mostly the power of suggestion. But that’s not why you’re here. I want to show you what’s possible. Let’s decide how I can get you on a fast track.”
“With a shop window like these?”
“You can’t afford one. Not yet. This is what you want in the end. The trick is determining how to get you there from the lowly status you have now. But this is just one slice of my mosaic.”
The term surprised
Zuri so much that she spoke before she could think better of it. “Mosaic? What does that mean?” As soon as the words fell out of her mouth, Zuri wished she could take them back, terrified of looking foolish and stupid in front of Milan.
“They haven’t explained it to you yet? I’m surprised.” Although she spoke with a feather-light tone, Milan failed to hide her condescending air. “This is part of my mosaic, which is everything I buy. Everything I want. Everything I consider. Each individual thing is like a tile in a mosaic. Everyone has hundreds of thousands of tiles in their mosaic. My mosaic is who I am. Without it, I’d be nothing.”
Zuri decided it was better to risk appearing stupid with someone committed to helping her than anyone else. She drew up the courage to speak again. “Every VainGlorian h
as a mosaic? Does that mean I’ll get one, too, when I make it to the Platinum Tower?”
Milan failed to contain her laughter. “Silly goose! You already have one!”
The weight in Zuri’s stomach reeled. “How? When they gave me my Personal Bubble?”
Milan’s laughter faded. “No, you’ve had it much longer than that. Your mosaic was created when you were a child, as soon as you were old enough to make your own choices. It’s been growing ever since.”
Zuri forgot her fear of looking ignorant. She needed to understand what her new friend was talking about. “How is that possible? No one told me about it.” She racked her brain. “Who made my mosaic?”
Milan gestured to the curved wall of the Personal Bubble surrounding them. “The world. Every time you make a decision—what to eat, how to spend your leisure time, every business decision you make—it’s recorded. For example, when you order food, everything you order is recorded by the restaurant. If you walk in a park, the surveillance cameras take note. When you purchase whatever you need to make designer clothing, the people who sell to you keep records.”
“But that’s a lot of different places.” Zuri chewed on her lower lip in distress. “How does all of that end up in a mosaic?”
“They sell it,” Milan said. She shrugged. “And sooner or later it ends up in one place. You’ll be doing the same thing when you get to the Platinum Tower.”
Startled, Zuri said, “I’ll be doing what?”
“Selling information about your customers, of course. And that information will go into their mosaics. And then you’ll use their mosaics to determine who your best potential customers are.”
Manipulation. That’s what Milan is talking about. She’s telling me that I’ll manipulate people into buying my work.
And that I’ve been manipulated all my life by people doing the same thing to me.
Horrified by Milan’s words, the weight in Zuri’s stomach became so heavy that she struggled to keep her balance and remain standing.
CHAPTER 13
“That’s like an analysis or some kind of report,” Zuri said. “You’re telling me that my mosaic is really a breakdown of who I am.”
“It works differently, but … oh!” Milan said in an excited voice. “That gives me an idea! You should see what’s new and electrifying in VainGlory right now. It could give us ideas.”
While Milan directed her bejeweled hummingbird Personal Digital Assistant to change the display of the bubble wall, Zuri considered mosaics and tiles.
Could it be all that bad? What does it matter if anyone else knows I like to eat croissants for breakfast? Doesn’t that mean bakeries can compete for my attention? What’s wrong with that? Milan likes bakeries. So do I. How can there be a problem with having a mosaic?
Her stomach rumbled.
Instead of appearing as a veil allowing the background of Milan’s home to show through, the wall of the Personal Bubble they shared blackened. The shop windows vanished, replaced by framed images that looked like book covers or movie posters. Slowly and deliberately, they rotated on a carousel. When each one stopped before the women, it came forward and dominated their vision. The first showed a boisterous gathering of VainGlorians on a rooftop, where the city glittered against the night sky. White fog poured from their mouths.
Milan nudged Zuri and said, “Forget that one. Opium is fun when you have nothing to lose, but you’re not ready for that yet.”
The next image to come forward revealed a catwalk where muscular young men wearing little more than hats and thongs strutted for approval. When a redhead came to the end of the runway, he winked at Zuri.
“Again,” Milan said, “maybe later but not for now.”
Zuri avoided making eye contact with the redhead when he looked back over his shoulder at her, walking away as the catwalk image retreated and moved on.
Screams permeated the air when the next image jumped toward them, so dark that it exposed nothing until enough light faded to show a young woman dead on a floor.
Zuri cringed. She covered her eyes with one hand and clung to Milan with the other.
“This is what I want you to see,” Milan said. “When you talked about analysis, you gave me the idea. Take a look.”
Zuri peeked through her fingers to see uniformed police and men in dark suits circle around the body. A ticker ran below the image, reading Can You Solve the Crime Before They Do?
“Everyone loves a good mystery,” Milan said. “It’s even better when it’s real. We get a steady feed from the violent cities. Some are real-time, but most are edited so they don’t get boring.”
Zuri didn’t need anyone to explain the violent cities to her. She knew about the dozens of cities throughout the country where multiple murders happened daily. If not for her drive to create, she would have considered becoming a lawyer or detective.
The image of investigation and Milan’s words chilled Zuri. It dawned on her that the VainGlorians depended on the suffering of others for entertainment.
Zuri remembered Karen’s warning about something not being right in VainGlory. Could this be what she meant?
Zuri considered her last conversation with Mae Lin and wondered if her friend might be right about returning to Aspire and being content with the success they’d already accomplished in VainGlory.
Zuri thought about what Benjamin had said about passion and purpose before she’d interrupted him. Had her own Personal Digital Assistant been on the verge of advising her to return to Aspire and focus on her work instead of seeking fame and riches in VainGlory? Why would a program designed to help her succeed in VainGlory do such a thing?
“This is the tip of the iceberg,” Milan said. She swiped the icon, and a news feed displayed. A suited man sat at a news desk and said in mid-announcement, “… reported missing today. Although expected to return to Ascend, her presence is silent on all sites, and those who attended her scheduled arrival claim they never saw her.”
Zuri’s misgivings heightened as she let her hand fall away from her face. “Karen? Are they talking about Karen?”
“Boring,” Milan proclaimed as she swiped the news image out of sight.
“Please go back. I think they’re talking about Karen. She’s from Ascend.”
“So are a lot of other wanna-be artists who come to VainGlory. They might be talking about someone else.” Milan swiped through a few other news feeds. “I saw her going-away message. When people get kicked out of VainGlory, they’re often so ashamed that they don’t go through the correct channels and fill out the expected paperwork. It’s impossible to leave the city without removing your Personal Bubble and leaving it behind, and many people don’t find that out until they’re at the border, ready to go. They remove their Personal Bubble and drop it, which leaves them with no way to connect to the world. It’s a common mistake to think they’ve gone silent, when the problem is that it takes time in whatever city they arrive to acquire one of those sad little devices to replace their Personal Bubble.”
“Slim Goggles,” Zuri said. “We use Slim Goggles.”
“Whatever.” Milan shrugged. “My point is that people in Cornville or Haytown or wherever panic when the VainGlory reject doesn’t seem to be there and report them missing. It happens all the time.”
Milan’s explanation sounded logical to Zuri. But for some reason she couldn’t pinpoint, Zuri didn’t like it.
The rotating icons halted and displayed an image of VainGlorians running through the Carnival of Animals park, screaming in a panic while masked people wielding bloody knives chased them.
“Wonderful!” Milan said. “This is the one I want you to see. It’s last month’s Murder Dash. I’ve run it so much that it does nothing for me anymore, but I know people who have done it for decades. The next one is coming up soon, and they’re always looking for sponsors. If you become one, the attention will be massive.”
Zuri took a closer look. Men and women dressed in high-end athletic gear raced through the
park, sometimes using the crystal animals as obstacles or hiding behind them. No one appeared injured. “Does anyone get hurt?”
Milan guffawed. “Only the ones chasing them. It’s all about the thrill of the chase.”
In the park, a man crouching behind a crystal gorilla stood and touched its shoulder when a masked woman crept close.
The crystal gorilla swept the masked woman into its grasp and crushed her skull.
Zuri shrieked in horror.
The man who had hid behind the gorilla gave a shout of victory.
“Oh, don’t feel bad for that one,” Milan said. “The ones doing the chasing are real criminals.”
“Murderers?” Zuri cried in dismay. “People want to be chased by real murderers?”
“No. Mostly, they’re shoplifters or frauds. We don’t tolerate that kind of criminal in VainGlory.” Milan smirked. “Once they’re convicted, they’re offered a deal. If they can run the Murder Dash and get to the end, they’re set free.”
Zuri pieced everything she’d seen and heard together. “And the Carnival of Animals kills them?”
“Only when activated by a VainGlorian. You saw that man touch the gorilla’s shoulder? That’s the signal to take care of the closest criminal. The masks are fastened in place so they can’t be removed. That’s how the animal recognizes the target—by the mask.”
What kind of city is this?
Zuri fidgeted, crossing her arms and then rubbing her hands against her face. Her fingers felt rough and dry, as if she were made of straw. Empty, hollow straw, brittle to the touch. Like the straw her hands had once brushed against when she was young and running through the corridors created by bales of straw in a maze.
For a moment, Zuri promised herself that when she left Milan’s bubble and returned to her own that she’d make plans to go back to Aspire.
But then an old idea combined with a new idea, and she saw a way to live in VainGlory on her own terms.