On Elyria, half-breeds were all around her. This was the only real home they had, so this was the place they congregated. Regardless of the crime or the destitution, despite the animosity they received or the lack of prospects, Elyria was all they had. Even with the sweltering desert heat, Trentians and half-breeds made it work. She trapped some water and poured it over her head.
“Share the wealth,” someone muttered.
Alexa stood and moved away as a young man, a full-blooded Trentian, kneeled and did the same. Unlike the Trentians that lived on Xanteaus, this one’s hair was cropped short around his face.
To survive the heat, no doubt. He didn’t have the luxury to keep his long locks if he worked under the Elyrian suns.
Alexa made her way through the parking lot, leaving the adolescent behind, and toward the tenement housing beyond the lot. Litter and sand were everywhere. The rolling dunes of Elyria had been flattened a century ago to expand the ever-growing Oasis City, but the sand was still everywhere. It got in people’s houses, and when it was windy, it made the sky hazy. When there wasn’t wind, it laid in dirty piles in alleyways. Sandy trash heaps. You never knew what you might find in a sand pile.
It was a favorite game for unwatched children.
At least in the slums.
In the distance, the sky towers, the skyscrapers, and the buildings of the wealthy rose up like spikes. Those buildings reached for the stars, while the ones she aimed for currently… were forced to stay near the ground. The slums didn’t have infrastructure like the main locales of the metropolis, nor did it have the flashing lights, pounding music, and neon mess.
Like Dimes.
She could see Dimes and its large dome several blocks away. It glowed gold, catching the suns against its metal adornments. The dome was always gold during the day. It was only at night when it erupted into a tacky riot of colors, but the music from the club was a constant. The heavy bass bled into the streets and could be felt from blocks away.
She’d lived in the domes and Raphael’s shadow until she’d stripped herself from her past, changed her appearance like everyone did in Oasis City, and applied for school.
Alexa hadn’t been back home since, clawing her way out by her broken, dirty nails. They were dirty now, but no longer broken. Some things never changed.
She made her way past groups of people loitering and toward the poorly manufactured homes where she used to live. The smell of meat, cooking oil, and grease filled her nose as she passed by home after home on her way to her destination.
Alexa saw a vendor selling water as she went. She bought a bottle, sucking it down to keep from overheating.
Her chest tightened.It’s been too long.More than a decade.
She didn’t recognize any of the people. She was certain no one would recognizeher. She also couldn’t believe how many more people there were. The slums had been crowded before, but now? It was bursting.
Alexa dodged two women walking in the opposite direction, nearly colliding with them.
Saddened, she sped up. The apartment of her childhood home appeared a short time later.
A young girl stood in the dirty window looking out. The same window Alexa used to look out and watch the people on the street below when she was the girl’s age. Alexa waved, and the girl turned away.
Alexa’s heart fell.
Why did I come here?
She knew why as she continued deeper into the slums.
She needed to say goodbye, to remember, because tonight…she would face Raphael for the first time.
She landed on Elyria a week ago. During that time, she had familiarized herself with the locals near her old home, asking questions, staying low. She asked about Dimes and Raphael, gleaning she could that would help her. She visited old haunts, hoping they would snap her out of her grief.
That she’d remember why she left in the first place, why she was back here at all.
Revenge.
She’d learned that Raphael would be at Dimes tonight. That today was his birthday, and the bastard was celebrating at the club. This was her chance to get access to him, to get close enough to kill him, for her dad, but also for Hysterian. If she didn’t act tonight, she didn’t know if she’d get another chance.
Raphael was a rich and powerful man. According to locals, he wasn’t hanging out at the club often anymore, having set his sights on other properties he managed.
Alexa felt the hard outline of the gun she’d bought second-hand at a pawn shop near the port, resting in the lip of her jeans. Her shirt hid it from view. In her pocket, she had an extra clip, just in case, but the gun was loaded and ready.
She just needed to get close enough to her target.
