Sister Cities

Part 28: Vi

All this time, I've been chasing down a lie

And I know it for what it is

But it beats the alternatives

I still miss you

But there's no going home

With a name like mine

~

But now I'm looking for a time machine

Or anyone who can justify why I've been gone

Or anyone to lie to me

They could say that they understand the things I've done

________________________________________________________________________________

Powder's machine gun has great range, so Caitlyn glues down the guards outside the back entrance before they've even seen us. They squeal; we go in and jam the door. Inside, we creep down the hall, and she peeks around a corner and glues the three guards at the reception desk. They squeal too.

"Which floor is Jinx on?" I ask while Caitlyn sticks her rifle in the closest guard's face.

"Second-to-last," he says, panting. "You trying to break her out? You'll pay for this."

I take his key ring from his pocket and hope he doesn't see my hand shaking. "Whatever you say."

"How many guards are on each floor?" Caitlyn asks me. She's getting to work tying these ones to the desk with her ropes.

"Just one. I can take them."

"Be quick."

"I will."

The elevator stops three floors down and a guard tries to get in. I knock her out— I slip the brass knuckles off first, not wanting to do too much damage— and take the rest of the trip alone, feeling my heartbeat speed up as the air pressure piles on. When the door opens on the thirty-ninth floor, a guard spins around from the end of the aisle, shouts, and races toward me. The gritty white light is disorienting in its familiarity. Before I know it, he drops at my feet.

I look at his blood on my taped fist to ground myself and make my way down the aisle, looking at the empty cells until I find Sevika in the second to last one. She sneers and points.

I brace myself and tiptoe to the cell behind hers. At first glance, it's empty. Then I spot Powder clinging in the top left corner like a spider, her fingers and toes having found invisible perches on the dirty walls; her braid hangs down beneath her, tangling with a chain that leads from the wall to a band around her waist.

"Jinx," I say.

She drops to the floor, landing in a silent crouch. I never gave her shoes, so she did everything she did tonight in her too-big socks. She has my jacket, as I expected, and as she straightens up, I notice that she's cropped her shirt with a dull blade.

"Vi?" she whispers.

Are you real?

She doesn't ask it this time, but I can see the question in her eyes. I see something else too: on her right iris, a fragment of her natural blue breaking through the purple.

"We came to get you," I say. "Me and Caitlyn. You're gonna be okay." I start rifling through my stolen key ring, but Powder steps closer, her hand held out.

"Wait."

I wait, glancing at her bindings. I don't see how the band closes, but I can unlock the chain from it and we'll worry about the rest later. "What?"