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“How high?”
Nat’s gaze fell to the satin bag. Lily sighed, pouring its entirety out onto the block. She still had silver and copper from her earnings. She could manage with what was left.
Nat chuckled, dropping the graft into Lily’s eager palms. “I hope it fixes whatever mess you got yourself into.”
Indeed it will. Lily placed it in the empty coin bag then exited the shop. She pulled her hood up and clung to the deepest parts of the shadows.
She needed to get to Midtown. That was the only place Xavier could possibly be. There wasn’t any trace of death near the club. He was alive. He had to be…
And if he wasn’t? Lily clasped her eyes shut. Don’t think about that. He’s alive. You’ll find him.
An eerie sensation licked at her heels. She spun around. No one was following her. The streets were as quiet as ever. Still, her skin picked up on the slightest change of the wind, her hairs standing on end.
It hit her at that moment. Neir’s creeping voice trailing up her spine.
“I am looking for a pet.”
Was that why he was in the subcity? He was looking for the boy?
She waited, tense. A few pedestrians passed her on the street without a second glance, but the sensation never left. The chill of her quick breaths floated above her head.
Why was he here?
Lily started again, one foot in front of the other. The sensation never vanished completely, but it did intensify as she approached the east side of the ridge. She paused, head angled up toward the rock-face separating the districts. The feeling grew stronger.
Her legs wanted to carry her as far as they could until her chest gave out. To run to the nearest tunnel and brave the smugglers at its beginning and the wilds of the mountain at its end.
Not without making sure Xavier was safe.
Keeping her head low and hood pulled tight, she approached the sheer cliff separating the upper levels. The city was built right up to it, forming an endless maze of stone, steel, and glass. Cables and tracks from the lifts carried upward and out of sight. Lily stepped around a group of loitering night-goers and hopped into an empty one.
She placed a silver crescent into the payment slot, and the lift came to life. A gentle green light illuminated the cylindrical space as a rumble launched the lift up the track, smoothing out the higher it climbed.
Most of Reave’s technology was crafted using ghostsoil. Soul energy provided an efficient means for almost anything the imagination could think of. It was worked into medical tools, set into storage to keep food and remedies from spoiling, and laid beneath rails and lifts to steady their movement along the mountain’s rocky ledges. For all its reputation as a means to make monsters or weapons, ghostsoil had become something necessary too.
Once the lift exceeded the height of the lower district’s skyline, Lily seemed to forget all of her worries for a breath. She approached the glass, peering out of a hexagon shaped pane.
She deduced it was nearly morning from the brightening sky cresting over the mountains to the east. Dim stars scattered across the expanse, and the light from the Flux was as much of a rainbow as she could imagine. Its neon glow pierced through the darkness, illuminating the steeples and rooftops around it.
The ride lost its magic the higher it climbed as she remembered all the possibilities that waited for her at the top and everything she deserted at the bottom. She glanced down, the height noticeable now, and gently pressed her back to the far side of the tube.
When the lift landed, it was too dark to take in the conditions, but all she cared about was how empty it was. Much like the Flux and Meat districts below, Midtown was made up of both Dawns and Dusks, but more lived and worked with hard, honest labor on this level. Sanitation workers, electricians, sentinels, plumbers, and smelters were among those that occupied this part of the city.
Lily pressed deeper into the district. She maneuvered by lamplight, one way then another, taking care to avoid busier streets with armed sentries waiting around for someone like her to walk by. Lily listened to the sensation against her skin, coming to a stop and nestling against a wall. The prickles were beginning to fade. Flares had a blind spot the closer they came to each other. She craned her neck around the corner, scanning the area.
He was close.
Lily moved to the opposite wall and waited. Soon the sun peeked through the gaps in the buildings, waking those who called this section home. Smoke threaded from chimneys, and shutters clapped open. Slowly, the streets trickled to life, and the obscurity of night faded into a wish.
A small figure ducked behind a short set of stairs in a dead-end pocket across the street.
After a time, her patience paid off. Sunlight was bright in the cross street, shining over carts, clunky automobiles, and foot traffic. Between the passerby, the small head of a child appeared beyond the handrails of a set of stairs. He lingered, meeting Lily’s gaze, then startled and ducked.
Why was she bothering with this? Every fiber in her body told her to run. This was a Hazevale child—the worst possible person she should cross paths with. Xavier was the real reason why she was up here. She needed to find him and leave.
But deep in her veins, the Wraith purred like a cat curled up near a hearth. Why was he here, running around unsupervised all over the city?
What harm could it do by asking?
