A World Together

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

Logan

Despite being told the directions in great detail, and repeating them back three times over, we still manage to get lost. In the time it takes to get back on the right path, we have four arguments, three whimpers from Gale and one occasion where Maisie looked to be on the verge of tears. Needless to say, these two are not my ideal companions. If the task at hand involved anything more than talking I would have insisted that Stella and Rocket came instead.

Talking. That's all we have to do. It really does seem too good to be true, but I suppose when you have all the gas in Las Vegas it must lose some of its value. What's gold to us is nothing but copper to him. I should be glad that he's willing to give it away so freely, but I can't shake the feeling that something more sinister lurks beneath his offer. I pose the idea to Gale.

"There's definitely something we're missing," he says.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

He takes a moment to think about his response. "I'm not s-sure, but I don't think he was telling us e-everything."

"You think these people he's sent us to talk to might not be friendly?"

"Maybe," he shrugs, the movement forcing the bottles in his bag to clink together. I don't have much in my own bag, but I can imagine how heavy his must be. We should have left them back at the museum.

I turn to Maisie next, unsure if her opinion carries any weight but wanting to hear what it is regardless. "But you think we can trust him? Don't you, Maisie?"

She's looking down at her lamp, gently stroking it. "I trust him. I don't know if you can."

Her answer pulls me up short, because it's definitely not one I was expecting from her. Like usual though, I have no idea how to interpret it. Does an answer lurk somewhere in those words? Or is it just more nonsense. I hope for the latter, because otherwise her statement carries insidious undertones that I'd rather not think about right now. I feel uneasy enough as it is.

Instead I focus my full attention on the task at hand, thinking out all the variables, planning for what could go wrong. The sun has passed over us but it's still high enough in the sky that I'm hoping we'll be done and back at the museum before nightfall. At least we should be if we arrive at the shopping center soon. The directions the Gas Man gave made it sound like it was relatively close, but that's proving to be untrue.

What else has he said that's untrue? I quickly push the thought to the back of my mind. The sooner we get this over with the better. I'll be glad to leave this city behind.  I quicken my pace slightly, urging Maisie and Gale to do the same. This has already taken too long. My unease swelling, I'm about to suggest that we give up and head back to the museum when we come to a stop at the end of an arcade. A narrow strip with shops lining each side and one lane for traffic snaking down the middle. On the right side, a little further down, I can just see the wall of glass, red letters plastered across its surface announcing it as the Westgate Shopping Center.

Now my pace slows almost to a stop. With the Gas Man I had an idea of what to expect, even if that idea was fed to me by a mad girl. But these people I know little about, and I'm almost certain that what I do know has been fed to me by a liar. He probably wasn't lying about them being easily spooked by strangers though. I can't imagine anyone not being cautious.