Masquerade ✔

Chapter 6

Instead of being horrified, Amyeliana giggled. "I suppose that wouldn't be good."

"No, it really wouldn't."

Amyeliana started coughing at that moment, and Clara observed her with concerned. "Why do you even like sitting up here?" Clara asked once the fit died down. "The oxygen filters help, but they're not magic, you know?"

"I know," Amyeliana said. "But it just gets so stuffy down there. And I'm around Archibald all the time, and I love him and everything, but I just need space."

Clara could understand that. She looked up at the airships. "Which one would you want, if you could have any of them?" she asked.

Amyeliana looked up and thought for a moment. "That one," she finally answered, pointing at the sky. The chosen airship had three balloons supporting it, and a black and gold body.

"Nice choice."

"It's hard to believe that steam and helium keep them going. I mean, they're just so big."

"Technically, I don't think it's helium." The world had run out of helium a long time ago.

"Fine, manufactured helium," Amyeliana said, and Clara guessed she was rolling her eyes. "It's still impressive."

"I suppose." Clara's stomach rumbled again.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Amyeliana sounded guilty. "You probably haven't eaten yet, have you?"

"No, but it's alright," Clara reassured her.

But Amyeliana got up anyway. "Let's go back inside."

Anxious to get out of the bad air, Clara didn't argue.

Just before they reached the door leading back down to the building, however, a loud bang followed by several seconds of shaking knocked both of them off their feet.

When the shaking stopped and Clara got her bearings back, she just caught the collapse of a building only a few blocks away from them. She and Amyeliana watched the dust cloud erupt into the air.

"I didn't know there was a demolition scheduled for today," Clara said. It wasn't uncommon for buildings to just randomly collapse; factories had to be built somewhere, but usually the residents of the surrounding area were given at least a day's notice.

"There wasn't one," Amyeliana said, sounding troubled.

Clara cursed under her breath. "We should get back down there," she said. "You know how terrifying demolitions feel when you're underground." Thanks to the usual warnings, Clara and the rest of her family usually made a point to come to the roof when they happened. But the few times they had been caught underground, it felt like the whole place was going to collapse.

The pair hurried down, and when they finally opened the door to their quarter, the other three greeted them immediately. Archibald pulled his sister into a hug, and Emme grabbed Clara around her waist. Ezra gave her a concerned look, but relief was already spreading across his features.

"What was that?" he asked when everyone finally calmed down. "A building?"

Clara nodded. "Yes, we saw it go down. It's not far from here."

Ezra looked worried. He always looked worried when something out of the ordinary happened. And Clara couldn't blame him. Unlike in the air, where people attended fancy balls and randomly called upon others for meals, everything down on earth had an order. Nothing was spontaneous, nothing happened randomly.

"I'm sure it's fine," Clara told everyone, although she knew Ezra would be able to tell that she was just as worried as him. "They likely just missed our dwelling when handing out notices."

Her explanation seemed to soothe the younger three, but later, as Ezra and Clara lay side by side, trying to sleep, neither could figure out a way to shut their eyes.

"What if you had been walking by when they did it?" Ezra hissed. The other three were asleep, but the last thing either of them needed was Amyeliana, Archibald, or Emme hearing their concerns. "You could have been crushed."

"But I wasn't," Clara said. "You can't think like that, Ezra. It was probably just a mistake. And besides, they clear areas before destroying something."

"You're right," Ezra murmured. "Just promise me you'll be careful?"

"I always am."