Life Lines

28: The Agora

Chapter Twenty-Eight

That projection room they were talking about, yeah, it was just one of many rooms. As it turned out there were hundreds if not thousands of rooms in a building they called Agora. If my infinite vat of useless knowledge served me right, an agora was an open place of assembly. The building was definitely open but there weren't many people assembled.

I wasn't able to comment on what Kells said about being a stone. He quickly walked me up the stairs and through the door before I knew what was going on. From what Logios said, he was supposed to be my guide...helper...person through all of this. So far he was doing a horrible job.

After leaving the projection room, we entered what I assumed was the ground floor. It reminded me of an airport lobby almost. It was open and bright, there was glass everywhere. A fountain sat in the middle with a statue of, you guessed it, Hermes in the middle. It was a little blush inducing since the depiction was naked, as many statues from the Ancient Greek and Roman era were. I tried to look at it as something you would see in a museum but it was kinda hard since the actual guy was walking behind me.

An elevator bay sat directly across from where I was standing, catching my attention for a split moment. Then I looked up. Kells let me go, giving me a few seconds to take it all in on my own. And there was a lot to take in. As I gawked up, I noticed the place was nothing but one huge cylinder. It stretched up and up as far as the eye could see, the top showing nothing but blue sky. Floors were layered like a cake with a slight upward slope. Walls of glass faced the middle of the building, making it easy to see each floor.

"Wow," I muttered.

Cecil came to stand next to me, unable to take my hand since I had them both wrapped tightly around me.

"It's a lot to take in at first but I promise it gets easier. If you think of it as a hotel..."

I looked over at him while keeping my head tilted up. He stopped talking when he saw the look in my eyes. "I doubt that."

"Let's get a move on!" Logios called back. "There are more important things to do then gape at nothingness."

Kells rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. "That man has never been patient. Why it's so hard for him, I don't know. He should know by now that not everyone likes to zip around like a hummingbird."

Logios just grunted as he pushed the up button to call the elevator.

I figured it was best just to do what I was told so I could get out of this strange...wonderland. We all piled into the elevator when it reached us and it zoomed up faster than I was prepared for. My stomach felt like it dropped to my knees, making me feel nauseous. I closed my eyes and set my jaw, trying every trick in the book to keep the nonexistent contents of my stomach inside my body.

"You ok?" Jesse asked.

I nodded without looking at him. Everything would be fine once I got off this infernal elevator. My stomach would settle and I would get a shower...

The elevator shook for some reason and I braced myself against the rod that ran waist high. The metal was cool under my palm and I used that to focus.

"I think there's something wrong with her," Jesse said. "She looks a little green."

"It's just an after effect. Once we get out of the elevator she'll be fine."

I felt hands frame my face, thumbs brushing across my cheek bones in comfort. My eyes opened briefly to see who it was and my unvoiced prediction was right. It was Cecil. He was looking at me with those blue eyes I never thought I'd see again. There was nothing but apprehension coming from this boy and it made me a little bit sicker.