THERE'S AN X across my face. It obscures the eyes, distorts the features like a disguise in a self-portrait. I sit across Bernard, jaw set, both clenched fists on the table that separates us. "I want to know everything, and I want to know it now," I tell him stiffly. Bernard laughs at my tone, drawing from me an affronted frown and a look of mild confusion.
He seems so sure of himself, so... so at home, here in his underground tunnels, tunnels that lie underneath a city of glass that will never shatter. He is the father and the leader of the people of the Red Hand; he takes care of them, guides them into fighting for 'what's right,' keeps their heads high with speeches, restores hope by talking to individuals and by expressing his devotion to certain people.
I grit my teeth and lean forward over the table, attempting an intimidating stance. "Listen here, alright? You're going to tell me everything you know about what Julian and I found in that laboratory, or you're going to lose me."
His response to that is a mocking expression, featuring a raised eyebrow.
"You need me more than I need you. I could just walk out of this facility. Nobody can stop me, and trust me. I'll take down anyone who tries to stand in my way."
Bernard sighs. "The President has billboards and projections of your face slapped onto a wanted poster, Evanna, I don't think you'll get very far. Besides, the drones are everywhere. They'll put you behind bars within less than a few hours."
He's right, of course. I sit back, feeling as though I've lost my case. I'd threaten to kill him, but Julian would never forgive me for it.
"But if you're so eager to know everything, I'll tell you what I know."
At last. Answers.
▿
Bernard begins with the obvious. "I assume you're aware of the fact that you're not like me."
"You mean we've got different physiologies," I reply.
He nods, bringing both hands up, knitting his fingers together on the table. "Yours is unique." He frowns, slightly, looks down, then back at me. "You were human, once. Fully so, like Julian, like me, like the President."
"I know." I'm eager for him to just get to the parts that I don't know about.
"Let me finish," he answered calmly. "Do you know why... why you were created? Do you know by whom?" He doesn't give me the chance to answer any of his questions. "You weren't the only one. The people who made Tetrahmon also made you what you are. Exactly what it is they did to you, I don't know- but I know that your purpose was to protect Tetrahmon."
I tuck a stand of white hair behind an ear and give him a befuddled, non-comprehending look. "Protect it? Protect it from what? There's nothing beyond that wall, just ice. There's nothing living."
Bernard smiles, but it's a bittersweet expression. "You were meant to protect it from itself. Protect it from self- destructing - you see, it's difficult to change human nature, and curiosity is something difficult to repress. You were never educated- or should I say, brainwashed- in the same manner in which Tetrahmon's inhabitants are. That was their mistake. Instead, they gifted you with the capacity to use more of your cerebral cortex than any other person is capable of."
"It's not a gift," I scoff.
"Oh, but it is. And that's what going to help us win this," he replies, his tone containing uttermost certainty. "Now, then. Back to curiosity. It's not truly a flaw within a person, Evanna. Everyone has it, even you. But to the system- to the ideals of Tetrahmon, and what it stands for, it is a threat, and therefore a flaw."
I look at him like he's gone mad, and he laughs. "I didn't come here for a lecture on the ambiguity of how dangerous curiosity is."
Still smiling, he picks up his glass and refills it with what looks like wine. "I'm aware," he hummed. "What I'm trying to tell you is that you were sent to destroy the individuals who threatened to disrupt the system. The people who live here were not chosen, not like you were chosen to protect it, not like the high council and the president were chosen." He draws in a long, rattling breath, takes a long drink from his glass. "They either survived the storm or were born into the system."
He clears his throat before continuing. "I'm sure you've noticed the wall is entirely made of glass."
"I think it's the stupidest material to build a wall out of, but yes," I reply dryly. That draws another laugh from him. "I don't get what's so funny."
"The entire city is made of glass, Evanna. The architecture of the city that lies above us is designed through the opacity of the materials used, not necessarily their strength. Glass is transparent."
"Really? I hadn't noticed." I'm beginning to get irritated, and it's coming through in my tone, and the anxious shaking of my knee underneath the table as I wait for some proper answers.
Bernard ignores my sarcastic comment. "In the city, it eliminates privacy. It keeps the community in a tight knot, and it means that everybody can see everybody. But the wall..." He draws in a long breath. "The wall works on psychology. Your job was to stop people from going out. The outside world tests temptation. You see, people here are educated with the belief that what is left of the world beyond that wall is a dangerous place- which it is. And yet, people are so deprived from it, that they feared some would try to get out- and if there was nobody to stop them, the whole system could come crumbling down."
I rest my elbow on the table. "Sounds like a pretty fragile system."
"It's made out of glass."
▿
By the time the sun draws back its last rays from over Tetrahmon, and the daytime patrol team (a meagre group of three) hand over their stolen, white uniforms and weapons to the night team, Bernard and I have found a middle ground. No more questions, no more threats, no more unnecessary answers. He's told me what I need to know- everything he's found out about me.
And the more he tells me, the more I remember, although only frames of a past that was stripped from me along with so much else. A checkered blouse with a loose button. The smacking sound of latex gloves being pulled onto a pair of strong, tanned hands, criss-crossed with thick, green veins. Much of the rest has disappeared into oblivion.
▿
They're all here. Julian, Bernard, Francis, Jumanda, Alejis. Standing the way we are, we make a perfect recreation of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, but only several long centuries later. It's our final meeting before crawling back to the surface of tetrahmon like rats to infiltrate and gnaw through the threads that hold the city together. Our first step: determine who is an ally, who is a friend, who is an enemy. And our first target is Vance.
Hey everyone!! I'm so sorry for the long hiatus- I had finals and it's been really tough getting back into the story, but I hope you liked the chapter! I'll do my best to start updating regularly again from now on.
Thank you so much to those of you who've stuck by Shiver and who've taken some time to read this! Don't forget to like and comment if you enjoyed this chapter (or if you didn't)!
Love,
Sarah xx