Zada glanced around the cave, at all of these people defying the law for no other reason than to sing the songs they loved with other people who loved them. Face burning despite everything, Zada ran as hard as she could, threw her body at the stage, and grabbed the microphone from the stunned-looking singer.
“Everyone,” Zada panted, her amplified voice sounding strange and far too loud in the echoing stone chamber. “The city guards are on their way. We need to leave, now!”
“Lights!” someone yelled. A second later, the candles liningthe walls were snuffed out, and the cave plunged into darkness.
The space filled with the rustle and rumble of people rushing out of the grotto and making their way out through the glade.
“Zada!” Daphne was calling her name, but Zada turned to the band members, who were methodically and quickly packing up their instruments. The guitarist fumbled for their case with shaky hands. Zada knelt down beside them, swiftly undid the latch of the case, and deposited the guitar safely inside.
“Thank you,” the guitarist said fervently, and then Aubrey was at Zada’s elbow.
“You need to go,” Aubrey said. “It was nice seeing you again, Zada.”
“What about you?” Zada said, glancing at the band.
“Don’t worry, they haven’t caught me yet. I’m fast,” they said, tapping the arm of their chair. “Get out of here.”
“Zada!” Daphne called again, her voice almost lost in the din. Zada leaped off the stage and ran for her friend, dodging elbows and feet, grasping Daphne by the shoulders as the crush of people pushed them out of the cave and into the night.
“Are you all right?” Zada fought to be heard over the commotion.
“I’m fine,” Daphne half yelled. “Just hang on to me.”
Thirty paces away, a blinding circle of bleached white light lurched onto the crowd. A short-range ship flying overhead had a spotlight trained on the pandemonium below.
Zada stared at the concertgoers caught in the light, their faces illuminated with a ghostly glow as others scattered into the shadows. “Don’t stop!” she screamed at them.
“Guard ships have facial recognition. It’s too late for them,”Daphne said into Zada’s ear. “We need to run. Head for the building over that hill.”
Ducking and weaving, they sprinted through the darkness. Zada’s lungs burned. Her legs ached. The toe of her shoe caught at a root, and it was only Daphne’s arm around her waist that kept her on her feet. Another circle of light swung into view, so close that Zada could feel the heat of the beam on the side of her face. She pulled Daphne in the opposite direction just in time, and together they ran for the half-caved-in structure at the bottom of the hill.
Finally, they slid across the slick wet grass into the building. It looked almost like a tower from a fairy tale, knocked crooked as if toppled by one powerful blow from a giant. They ducked down by the wall beneath a gaping window, the glass broken out of it like a mouthful of cracked teeth.
Zada was breathing hard. She could hear her heartbeat in her ears. The room glowed with a gentle blue light, and it took her a second of hard blinking to realize it came from the walls, which were inset with smooth glass like her fish tank back home. From the other side, a set of luminous eyes blinked back at her and then there was a flash of scales. It was an aquarium, she realized, the totally enclosed and self-sustaining kind favored by busy professionals and eccentrics too scattered to maintain a staff.
The cries and screams of the crowd, the hum of the ships overhead, the eye-searing lights all felt very distant now, like a story that had happened to someone else. The hammering in Zada’s chest said otherwise. She took another shaky breath and studied the tank.
The fish had been genetically modified to resemble extinctspecies. Zada caught sight of one done up to look like an anglerfish, as well as a few styled like miniature dolphins and narwhals.
“What was that?” whispered Daphne, with feeling.
“I think we’re in a folly,” said Zada just as quietly. “One with an aquatic theme. You know, they were in fashion seventy years ago. Build something on your property leaning into the grandeur and weirdness of the grounds. Pre-ruins, if you will. I heard, in the original follies back in the 1700s, aristocrats would hire hermits to—”
“No,” Daphne snapped. “What was that, back there? Grabbing the mic and telling the whole damn world where you were.”
Zada felt her shoulders stiffen. What had she expected? That Daphne would take her hand and tell her how brave she was, how daring and cool and interesting? Had she really thought that perhaps Daphne would fix her with that soft little grin she wore sometimes? Had she been half hoping, in some distant corner of her brain, that Daphne might throw her arms around Zada, giddy with relief, and that the two of them might laugh together from the sudden release in tension?
“I was just trying to warn everyone,” Zada said, shame flooding her body. She’d done it wrong, surely. She hadn’t been quick enough. It was already too late for the young people who’d been caught in the spotlight outside. “I didn’t want people to be caught—”
“Yes,” said Daphne, “but what ifyouwere caught? Going up there was way too dangerous. You’re lucky we got out.”
Zada jerked away as if stung, pressing her back against the cold and unforgiving wall. “Really, Daphne? You’re going tolecture me on taking a risk? We’re only here in the first place because you thought we should attend an illegal concert. Do you want to take a guess at how rash and thoughtless and foolishthatwas?”
“Yes,” Daphne gritted out, sharp as the jagged glass winking in the window. “Because that’s what I do. You can’t—”
“Oh, so you’re the one who gets to rush into danger, is that it?” Zada could feel her eyes going hot. “I’m not allowed to have a teaspoon of courage. It all has to be about you, and my only job is to trail behind you and follow your lead.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.” Daphne squeezed her eyes shut. “Do you have any idea how it felt for me to see you up there? You could’ve given the guard enough of a glimpse to ID you. And if they thought for a second that you were more than a mere concertgoer, if they thought you were one of Aubrey’s lot—”
