Between the massive buildings, I can see bridges. They’re not on the ground, like the ones I’ve seen. They’re suspended in the air, connecting the buildings together like a web. There are vehicles moving across them. Not horse-drawn buggies, but sleek machines that glide without their wheels touching anything, floating like they’re carried by invisible hands.
“Are those cars?” Rose whispers, pressing her face to the window.
“I think so,” I breathe out. “But I’ve never heard or read anything about cars that fly before.”
The streets below are illuminated, even in daylight, lined with what must be the billboards I’ve read about. Enormous screens larger than the side of any building in Troona, flashing with colors so bright and vivid they don’t seem real. I can make out images of smiling faces, products I don’t recognize, and words scrolling too fast for me to read from this distance.
As we get closer, I notice green spaces tucked between the buildings. Not the brown, withered attempts at parks we have back home, but actual grass. It looks soft enough to sleep on. There are trees with full canopies of leaves, not the skeletal cacti I’ve known my whole life. There’s even water. A fountain in one of the plazas we pass shoots streams into the air like it’s abundant enough to waste.
“There’s so much water,” Rose says, still amazed, just like I am. “They’re just spraying it into the air for fun.”
“And they must have found some way to get things to grow here,” I say, pointing toward the expanses of green. “That’s grass, Rose. And those are trees!”
“No wonder people never come back to Troona once they move here,” Rose says, her voice faint. “Why would you want to ration your water to the point you’re always thirsty when you can drink from a fountain?”
“I don’t think people even drink from that fountain,” I say, remembering some things I’ve read in older books. “I think that’s just…decoration.”
“Unbelievable,” Rose sighs.
The train begins to slow as we enter the main part of Concord City, and I see people on the streets. Thousands of them. More people than I’ve seen in my entire life, all in one place. They’redressed in clothes that look like they’ve never seen a day of dust or sun damage. They’re so clean and colorful they look brand new. Some of the people are looking at small glowing rectangles in their hands. Phones, based on what I’ve read, but they’re a lot more plentiful than I realized.
We pass a building I’ve read about. The Concord City Public Library. It’s enormous, taking up an entire block, just like I’ve heard, with columns out front and windows that seem to go on forever. Next to it is an even bigger building. The sign on the front identifies it as Concord City Medical Center. It’s bigger than the entire town of Troona.
“How do people not get lost here?” I murmur. “I think I would get lost inside some of these buildings, much less the city itself.”
“How do they even know where to start?” Rose asks. “There’s so much to see.”
The buildings closest to us have balconies with flowering plants spilling over the edges. Real flowers. Not the stubborn weeds that occasionally break through Troona’s salted earth, but actual colorful blooms that seem to exist purely because they’re beautiful.
Just ahead, I can see what looks like a massive wheel, slowly rotating against the sky. It looks like people are riding in enclosed compartments attached to it, going around and around for no reason I can fathom except enjoyment. I’m not even sure what it’s supposed to be. I guess I never got that far in my reading.
“This is what they’ve built from selling second-borns,” Rose says, glancing back at me. “They couldn’t share some of this wealth? Make things easier for everyone?”
“At least things will be better for our families,” I sigh, finding it hard to imagine my parents and sisters in a place like this.
I try to find comfort in knowing that my family will be taken care of as I take in the sight of what has been built from sellingpeople. Two hundred years of Reparations Auctions have clearly produced more wealth than Concord City needs. Gleaming towers. Flying cars. Fountains that waste clean water. All built on the crushed dreams of people who are sold because they were unfortunate enough to be the second-born child.
Soon, those of us on this train will be adding to their fortune.
The train glides into an underground station that’s more luxurious than any building I’ve ever entered. The platform is made of polished marble that reflects our faces as we slow to a stop. There are attendants waiting, dressed in crisp uniforms, their faces professionally neutral. They appear to be the only ones on the platform, which means they must be here for us.
“Welcome to Concord City,” a pleasant, automated voice announces through speakers I can’t see. “Once you disembark, the concierge will take you to your rooms.”
Rose and I look at each other. This is it. We’ve made it to our destination and there’s no turning back. Even if we ran, we’d get lost in this maze of a city. We’d never find our way back to Troona from here. Not that there’s anything waiting where we used to call home except suffering for those we love. We can’t run. We’ve already accepted that.
“Ready?” Rose asks apprehensively.
“Doesn’t matter if we are or not,” I sigh, standing up and smoothing my dusty dress that looks even more pathetic now.
Then I follow Rose to the door that hisses open at the front of the train. Jasmine is ahead of us, looking as unsure and dazed as we are. Cedar is behind us, several rows back, like he’s reluctant to get off the train, but understands he has to, just like the rest of us.
I’ve known this moment was coming my entire life.
Now I will find out just how much the rest of it is worth.
CHAPTER 4
Clover
