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I can tell I’ve annoyed her again. The flash of hatred and envy that crosses her face is enough to have me shrinking back and tying the thing around my eyes.
“Fine, let’s go.” I can’t see anything at all, and disappointment fills me at not being able to see the wall up close. She moves nearer, and I feel her tug at the fabric before grunting in approval.
I stumble from the force, and she grabs me, making me jump. Her hand is warm in mine and scarred where mine is soft. Night and day. She’s a fighter, I’m a scientist, and for a moment, I feel ashamed of that—ashamed that I grew up comfortable when she clearly didn’t. “Don’t let go at any point. If you get lost, I’ll leave you.”
Fear fills me at what I am about to do. I was so stupid. I need to talk, to babble like I do when I’m nervous, even though I know she doesn’t want to talk to me. “What’s your name?”
There’s a heavy pause, and I wonder if I have pushed her too far when she finally answers. “Aria.”
I roll the name around in my head and nod. It’s strong and to the point. Beautiful. It fits her.
“What’s yours?”
“Talia,” I respond instantly.
“Well, Talia, I hope you know what you’re doing,” she mutters, and I wince, knowing I really don’t. I was so stupid to agree to this, but there’s no going back now as she leads me away. I try to keep track of our direction, but it’s impossible. The sound and smells are foreign as I stumble behind her sure, silent steps. It’s embarrassing when I realise how heavily I’m breathing in fear and how loud I am compared to her.
She directs me with blunt, clipped words, and I follow her without hesitation, having no other choice.
We stop suddenly, and I pant, knowing we are close now. I can almost feel the huge wall’s presence. “You’ll need to get to your knees and crawl now. Hold onto my foot. I’ll go slow and it’s going to be cramped, so do not freak out and scream.”
I want to argue, to jerk back, but she lets go of my hand. “Okay,” I squeak out. There’s nothing for a moment, and then her hand is there again, lower, and it tugs me to my knees. I drop into the mud with a wince as she places my hand on her boot. When I nod, she starts to move slowly so I can keep up.
I sigh, wanting to see where we are, but a moment later, something fresh and amazing smelling brushes over my nose, and I know we are through the wall. I can almost feel the wide-open spaces around me, my eyes darting around behind the blindfold, desperate to see.
I’m dragged to my feet and pushed back. I hit something hard, and my hands spread on either side as I trace it. Concrete. Scarred. Uneven.
The wall.
I’m touching the wall, which means I’m through.
I’m in the Forgotten City.
“Do not move, do not look, and do not make a sound.”
I couldn’t even if I wanted to, but I silently beg her to hurry up and take off this blindfold because above the fear, I feel excitement.
Then she does just that, tugging down the blindfold and stepping back. I wince at the sudden onslaught of sunlight before my mouth drops as I take in our surroundings.
Compared to Athesa, it looks desolate and destroyed, but under that destruction is so much beauty, it steals my breath. The miracle of nature and manmade structures leaves me silent. I spot birds in nests on lampposts, dogs asleep in cars, and flowers and plants growing everywhere, even through the holes in the concrete below us. It stretches out like a forgotten metropolis, and there is something so achingly beautiful and real about it.
“In the hurry to escape, everything was left behind.” Aria’s voice suddenly cuts through my examination, explaining, “Some tried to buy their way out of the wall, but it didn’t happen.” She nods to her left, then down to the dirty wall in the distance. “Down there is a mass grave of people. None of them were buried, just bodies piled on bodies. They are all decaying skeletons now, with claw marks and blood decorating the wall.”
I blanch but nod. This might be nature’s city now, but it’s also filled with monsters. Yet I can’t help but think they didn’t seem to destroy everything, more left it to decay.
There’s something else as well.
The silence.
In Athesa, it’s always so busy. There are cars, people, cameras, and sounds of the city, while here, there is nothing. It has my shoulders relaxing in a way I didn’t know I needed, even as it makes me slightly unsure. “It’s so…quiet.”
“It comes alive at night.” She smiles, and I share a quick smile with her for her joke.
But the reminder of what lives here has me wrapping my arms around myself and eyeing the city differently. Where are they hiding? Are they watching now?
Aria looks back at me. “Where to?”
Her question prompts me to focus on the mission, even as I look around nervously. She stops in front of me, her unafraid gaze settling me a bit as I eye her. She doesn’t look scared at all. Instead, she looks happy and peaceful, as if being here is akin to me being in the lab.
