He chokes on a laugh, kisses my forehead. “Trouble-maker.”
I give an affirmative hum before turning to Andrew and Zephyr who walk hand-in-hand over to us, wheeling suitcases behind them.
Andrew looks completely at ease in his perfectly tailored gray suit, black shirt, no tie. Zeph looks like a man who just walked offthe runway in his dark violet turtleneck and gray pants, the same color as Andrew’s suit.
They put my outfit to shame, I think. Cropped black pants with loose legs, sleeveless green top with a nearly plunging neckline. The light jacket hanging on my arm matches my pants. I’m wearing jewelry for the first time since I’d been taken away, and the cold metal feels strange against my skin, especially where our explosive collars had once been.
“Here are our bags,” Erich says before lunging forward and taking his, then mine, off the carousel belt. When I reach for mine, he sends me a “Yeah, right” look and ignores me.
“Let’s head to the tube so we can check our bags at the hotel. I want to see what the city has to offer,” Andrew lies with ease.
The four of us exit the airport, and I can’t help but gawk at the scene before us.
Things have changed a lot in ten years.
Everything is clean, the buildings shine in the sunlight, most of them, near and far, have enormous screens on them displaying everything from advertisements to news broadcasts with captions. The vehicles all around are nearly silent, many looking like they were right out of a sci-fi movie.
How has technology advanced so quickly right under our noses?
“This is wild,” Erich mutters quiet enough that only we can hear him.
We need to pretend like it’s nothing we haven’t seen before, no matter how tough that is going to be.
We walk the few blocks beyond the airport to get to our destination, the nearest subway entrance. But we walk past it, as instructed, and tuck behind one of the smaller buildings nearby. In the alley, we hustle to a small metal container beside several trash receptacles.
Even the dumpsters don’t smell. This is… weird.
I pull one of my earrings off and hand it to Erich who breaks it apart to pull out a small key which he uses to open the container. He then pulls from the container new clothing and divvies them between the four of us.
After changing into far more comfortable clothes and shoes, we dump our expensive things on top of our piled decoy luggage. While Erich envelopes it all in fire, Andrew pulls some more items from the container and nods at Zephyr. A dark bubble forms around the box, then disappears, taking the box with it.
Next, Erich extinguishes his flames, and Zeph sends the ashes away with another bubble.
Andrew passes small devices to each of us, no larger than simple calculators, which we stick in our pockets.
Barely able to take a breath, we’re off again. This time it’s me with Andrew, Erich with Zeph, as we split up.
We don’t acknowledge Erich and Zephyr as they disappear down the stairs and into the subway. Instead, we walk back to the sidewalk together and I link my arm through Andrew’s as we maintain the pace of everyone else around us for the next few blocks, weaving around haphazardly until we reach another subway entrance. This is the one we descend into, my arm dropping away from Andrew’s as we weave through more droves of travelers.
Andrew uses his little device to get us through the turnstiles. Once inside, there’s already a train waiting. We move parallel to the flow of people boarding the train, and make our way to the station’s seats closest to the dividing wall.
Andrew takes my hand and speaks inside my mind.“Once this train leaves, I’ll ensure no one looks at us.”
I trust you,I think at him, and he squeezes my hand in response.
When the train takes off down the tunnel, there are only a couple people left behind with us, and already none of them arelooking our way. Still, Andrew shields his eyes from any security cameras, the green glow reflecting off his palm as he uses his power to do whatever it is he planned, then drops his hand and looks down at me with a nod.
Cameras seeing our next move doesn’t mean much when we’re about to disappear.
We drop down to the tracks, rush past the dividing wall until we reach the maintenance ladder that brings workers back up. We ignore it, using our physical prowess to leap upward, then run deeper into the tunnel until we find a door where Andrew holds his hand out to me. I place my device in his hand which he taps above the knob. The lock clicks loudly, and he hands my device back to me, then opens the door for us to pass through.
A motion sensor light kicks on to reveal a small maintenance closet, filled with cleaning chemicals, a few lockers on the wall, and one small table with two chairs. It isn’t a beat later when a vent in the ceiling pops open, swinging on its hinges.
Zeph’s head pops down from the opening. “Hello, darlin’,” he says with a cheeky grin before reaching for me.
My heart flutters at the sight of him, his hair waving as he hangs upside down. When I grip his hand, he negates gravity, levitates me off the ground and through the vent, into the large metal shaft. Then, he does the same for Andrew, who secures the vent behind him.
“This way,” Zeph whispers before taking the lead, crawling along the shaft as quiet as possible, me and Andrew following suit.
