Chapter 3
It felt good that someone finally knew about her past. Someone it seemed she could trust. She had been keeping it a secret for the longest time, like a precious match she had been dying to light. Now, for the first time, she let that light shine, brightly, carrying within the heart of its flame, a source of hope.
Making her way back to the tenement, Emery decided on second thought to walk past the Cavity Car Station. The building was very rundown and the docking area was small, leaving just enough room for one hover car. The hover cars themselves were more like hover busses, due to their size and shape and one could easily sneak aboard without ever being noticed. The question was: should she go alone or with Adge? This was one battle that good old fashioned logic would undoubtedly conquer. After all, two stowaways would be far more noticeable and vulnerable than only one.
Adge got home feeling light on his feet. Where could he learn about this hidden enclave Emery was talking about? He had so many questions about people like him… For once, he would be able to learn more about who he was and what he could do with this special talent. And once he refined the skill, the possibilities were endless! And what was beyond Metrivos? If they made it out alive, where would they go? Before he got caught up in a whirlwind of thoughts and fears, a world of what-ifs with no answers, Adge turned out the lights in his room. It was him and the dark, now, and they both had a lot of work left to do. He swung himself into the wall of darkness he just confronted himself with and took generous portions of it in his fists. Throwing the dark masses around his body, he formed limbs which protruded from his upper back, almost like wings. And then he took them and compacted them and made himself a hunched beast. His figure was still in the process of being molded to the likeness of some unknown creature, he had yet to decide what. Emery often transformed into a cat, but what symbol could Adge take for himself? Slowly, he crouched lower and lower, pulling into himself and reducing his mass until he was the size of a rodent. Then, he molded an exoskeleton and 4 pairs of wiry legs. He was still the size of a rodent, but now he resembled an arachnid. If there wasn’t any light in the location which contained the archives, he could go about this break-in so much more easily…
Emery boarded the bus with haste and took shelter in the darkness at the very back of the bus. From there, she watched the bus leave the docking area and waited with anticipation for any hint of familiarity to wash over her as the bus came to each stop. She didn’t know what it was called, but she knew that if she saw it she would recognize it. The hidden enclave was somewhere beyond the central area. She kept her eyes searching through the windows, combing the streets, the intersections, the neighborhoods for anything she could use to find it. Finally, the trajectory of one person, who was for the most part hidden from her view, indicated some promise. The individual seemed to be heading in the direction of a mining colony; this was a place where immediate families of workers in the Cavity were held indefinitely. It was a prison. Emery shuddered. She used to live there, back when her father was a worker in the mines. Without another thought, she got up to follow. Her impulse led her off the bus and toward the same development, or rather underdevelopment with some space to spare. The mysterious figure was continuing faster now, and concentrating all momentum in the direction of a small shack-resembling dwelling place. Suddenly, it stopped. Emery froze in her tracks uncertainly. As the figure began to reverse its motion, a blast of some kind propelled it backward quite a distance. When it recovered from the explosion, it came face to face with Emery. The two exchanged puzzled glances at first, then alarmed expressions as more explosions began to occur in serial timing. The figure was a young man maybe only a few years Emery’s senior. He quickly held his hand out reaching for Emery’s to help her stand up. She took it obligingly and pulled herself upward. Without any sort of introduction, they ran for cover or more like he ran for cover and dragged Emery with him. Once they made it to the house across the way, they sat alongside each other struggling for breath.
“Well, that was a little unexpected,” the young man chuckled between chokes of air.
“You’re telling me!” Emery huffed as she let herself fall against the wall behind her. “Now what?” she looked over at him inquisitively.
“Well, let’s start with this: Who are you and why are you following me?” Now, he was facing her with demanding eyes, almost hiding a little bit of fear there as well.
“I’m Emery. I was following you, because I have a feeling you know where the hidden darkmolder enclave is.” She hoped he didn’t think she was sent by the Order…
“Well, that name doesn’t mean anything to me, I’m afraid. You are foolish to come here alone, kid. It’s dangerous. I advise you to leave immediately.” He motioned for her to go and began to continue on his way.
“Wait!” Emery called out. “I’m not a light-walker,” she eyed him nervously, suddenly praying that he wasn’t affiliated with the Order either.
He stopped and looked back at her thoughtfully. “You are a darkmolder, then? You’re even more foolish than I thought.”
Emery nodded slowly. “I know another as well, where I come from.”
“And where is it that you come from?” he asked.
“The Industrial City. I took a Cavity Car to get here.”
His eyes lowered for a moment. “The Industrial City…That’s where…I used to live there, as well.” He lifted them to meet her gaze. “My name is Shale. I had a brother there, once. Ah, but let’s not spend too much time pacing on memory lane…We should go. I’ll take you to the coalition, Emery, but stay close and don’t say a word.” With those instructions, Shale transformed into a wolf and, he led the way. Emery followed him in her feline state and the two of them headed across the development, zigzagging the network of streets and pathways throughout the compound.
