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  The lift dropped. My sweating palms slipped on a metal rail. I rubbed them on my thighs. The clothes I wore soaked up the perspiration. A draft of cool air touched my calves. I hadn’t noticed what I was wearing, but it was some sort of hospital gown that came to my knees. I inwardly groaned. Nothing like an escapee still dressed in a hospital gown to stand out in a crowd. I put it from my mind. Unless I could grab some clothes from somewhere, I couldn’t worry about that now.

  The lift slowed to a stop and the door shushed open. I slipped into a corner so I couldn’t be seen from the outside. I hadn’t thought what I would do if the doors opened onto people I didn’t want to see. Fuck. That was stupid. I was on edge, and I wasn’t thinking clearly.

  I peeped around the door and caught a glimpse of a high-ceilinged reception area. Groups of people walked leisurely across a large, open, brightly lit space. Unrushed. Relaxed. There was something off about them. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I’d been in crowds before, but this one had a characteristic I was unfamiliar with.

  Maybe it was their clothing. They wore pants, tops, dresses, but they were of a style I hadn’t seen before. The material was smooth, almost satiny, and unadorned with any frills or sashes, belts or ties. There were no bursts of patterns. No florals, stripes, or even paisley. Their clothes were all solid color. I would have called the fashion plain, if not for the complex cut of jackets and pants, with a multitude of sewn in darts that hugged their bodies.

  The hushed hum of peaceful conversation filtered around me. The people that walked in pairs or groups conversed in a friendly manner. They were relaxed. Not like the guards I thought I’d see here.

  Some trees potted in large white barrels were placed along the walls here and there, adding splashes of natural color to the austere whites and grays of this huge reception area. White couches were clustered into groups with low coffee tables between them bringing people together, which people sat at, talking to each other.

  A large reception desk was set in the middle of the room, all smooth sides and corners. The sides were made from a sleek, white material up to waist height, where several women in matching navy uniforms were behind the desk. They either had their heads down and were working on something I couldn’t see behind the sides, or they greeted the people that approached them. Friendly staff. Something I wasn’t expecting.

  My breath became shaky when I saw some of the floating charcoal cubes that I had destroyed in my room hovering behind people’s shoulders as they walked, silent and aware. Their black spider eyes trained on the person in front of them. No one seemed to be bothered by them.

  “Ground floor,” the female voice said. “Exit please.”

  Shit. I had to get out of here and across the room without bringing attention to myself. I squared my shoulders and willed my legs to work without dropping me to the floor. Despite my appearance, I needed to appear confident in order to pull this off and get out of here.

  It took all of my resolve to move from the relative safety of the lift. I moved a slack foot to the cold floor. Barefoot. Shit. I should have registered that, too.

  The doors shushed closed behind me. I stood a moment, not really sure where to go. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the reception desk. To my left, were huge floor-to-ceiling windows, dotted with doors that looked a part of the glass wall, darkened by the night beyond. A man and woman approached the wall and swiped the blue panel. One of the doors swung open, letting them exit, and closed as they passed through. They were dressed in navy, like the women behind the desk, but weren’t wearing the same style. A navy cape covered the female’s shoulders matching her skirt, while the man wore fitted pants with a coordinating navy jacket. They wore white, sturdy shoes as though to be comfortable, as they might be on their feet a lot. The woman had a cap on her head with a red cross in the center. Nurses? If Julius was to be believed, nurses would have to be in this “hospital.”

  The outside air filtered in as the door shut, and I drew the freshness into my lungs. I wanted to run through a door, push my way into the freedom I could all but taste. But all I did was stand, bound tightly to the ground as though my feet were rooted in the soil. I tried to swallow the bitter taste of terror that froze me, the thought that a hand would land on my shoulder at any time, that someone would push me to the ground and end my chance at living in the world outside.

  I forced my legs to move. One foot, then the other. Shuffle forward. No eye contact. Just concentrate on where you’re going. Keep a steady pace, take your time. Blend in. Keep the focus on the door.

  I attracted a few lingering glances. I saw them from the corner of my eye. I ignored them. I flicked my matted hair to hide my face in a quick, inconspicuous movement. My limbs trembled, shaking with fatigue. An exit was close, and I felt a tingling pull in my gut pressing me to run for it.

  I made it to the door, tried the handle. It didn’t budge. I gripped it with both hands, pulling with as much strength as I could muster. Heartbeat up. I tasted my panic and pushed it back down. Didn’t let it absorb me. Didn’t let it stop me. The blue panel. The nurse had used it and the door had opened. Where was it for this door?

  “Excuse me.” A voice from behind.

  If I could just get out now, I wouldn’t have to turn. Just skip away.

  “Miss?”

  I pulled together a surge of thought-energy, felt it writhing in my gut as soon as I willed it there. I slipped my hands from the door handle and faced a sweet-faced young man wearing a dark blue uniform.

  “May I help you?” He was smiling at me, bent forward a little, hands behind his back. No threat. I let the energy dissipate and with it went some of my strength.

  “Are you lost? Would you like me to show you back to your room?” His smile widened.

  “I need to get out,” I gestured to the unopened door.

  He frowned, looking unsure. That was not a good thing. I shouldn’t have let go of the energy so quickly. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

  “If you could help me with the door,” I said. “I can’t open it.” Keep the voice low, keep the tone light.

  “It is rather cold outside. I don’t think you should be out there.” Now his face lost the smile, and his eyebrows scrunched together. He looked at me in concern.

  Two blurry figures ran from one of the corridors to the reception desk. Quick movements where everywhere else was relaxed. I heard raised voices, urgent tones. My sixth sense jerked. Something was out of place, and that was me.

  I positioned myself so that they wouldn’t see me behind the guard. I held his glance, keeping his attention on me. “I have someone waiting for me. I’ll be fine,” I said, shading my words with a confident tone.

  “They should meet you in here,” he said.

  I forced a smile to my mouth, “To tell you the truth, I was kind of hoping to get out for a moment or two, get a bit of fresh air. You know how it is being stuck in here.”

  The look on his face faltered. He glanced at me, unsure if he trusted my words.

  “I’ll be back in a moment or two. Promise,” I said and beamed at him.

  His face softened, and I knew I had him. “Only for a moment. I’ll come with you to make sure you’re okay.”

  More dark uniformed people assembled at the desk. I strained to keep relaxed. “Okay. That’d be great.” I would ditch him when I was outside.

  A hover-box flew behind his shoulder, the lens focused on me. In a millisecond, I threw an energy ball. It was a quick knee-jerk reaction. The black lens shattered. It spun in silent, tight circles midair.

  Shit. That was bound to attract attention. I grasped his arm and smiled, hoping he wouldn’t turn his head. “Am I doing something wrong?” I gestured to the door.

  “All you have to do is swipe your hand here.” There was a glowing blue tile to the side of the glass. He moved his hand in a downward motion, and the door silently slid open.

  “I didn’t see that.” I didn’t see much at all at the moment.

  A
noise from behind caught his attention, and he swung around. It was the dammed spinning box hitting the floor. I watched in satisfaction as it danced blindly on the ground. When he moved, he left me in full sight of the people at the reception desk. Heads turned toward me. A yell, and several men dressed in navy uniforms ran in my direction.

  I saw the guard stiffen and face me. His eyes were wide, his body startled and slow to move. I stepped backward through the open doorway. He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him. “You can’t go.”

  “Make a bet.” I pulled the thought-energy in my mind and punched it out into his gut. He grunted, falling to the floor. I sent another burst to the door. It slid shut, and I blasted the glowing blue panel on the wall. Then I turned and ran as fast as my weakened limbs could carry me. I found a handrail, used it to bear my weight. Down stairs, stumbling blindly. A road into shadows. I disappeared without a backward glance.

  Chapter Four

  I hated the cold, and it was freezing out here. My breath clung to the air in white clouds like an old steam train. I walked as fast as I could, locking my stick arms about me, keeping as much heat in my core as I could. The white hospital gown only went to my knees and provided no warmth. The cold lay like a death cloak on my skin. My feet were past hurting and now nearly numb. It was a godsend.

  The people in dark blue uniforms had run from the building and scattered down the front steps of the large building I had escaped from. Before they reached the bottom step, I was out of sight, keeping to the shadows, using the protection of trees, corners of buildings, and solitary alleyways. This was how I’d remained free for so many years. I had honed the craft of disappearing to perfection. They wouldn’t have a chance of finding me now unless I did something stupid. I kept my head down and walked cool and calm, like I didn’t have people looking for me. That was hours ago, and they still hadn’t found me.

  I’d hunkered down at the end of a back alley so I could rest. I don’t know how long I’d been there, but cramps borne from the freezing temperature told me I had to move. Violent shivers racked my frame. The cold cut to my bones, and I knew I was at the end of my reserves. I needed to get warm. I needed rest. I needed to find a place to hide out, or my body was going to give out, and that was just plain stupid.

  I moved automatically now, my mind as numb as my body. I didn’t realize that I stumbled around a corner and into a street full of people. I attracted stares. It would be too obvious if I doubled back. Better to look as though I knew where I was going. As though I fitted in, like any other person wearing nothing but a hospital gown at night would fit in.

  I glanced about, looking for a place to duck into, another dark doorway, another alley. People nearly walked into me. I couldn’t help the quick, darting looks I threw around. Lights shone all around me, making the footpath twinkle. It was so bright, like the midday sun. I wanted the dark and the shadows; I was a sitting duck under these bright lights.

  I still didn’t have a clue where I was. I knew inner Melbourne like the back of my hand. Knew the cut-throughs and the alleys. The buildings, inhabited and empty. My inner map was out. I had wandered for what seemed like hours, and still everything was strange, like my sense of reality had slipped a degree or two out.

  I glimpsed garbage cans, vehicles parked to the side of the street, flashing neon signs, and colorful shapes of unknown items behind windows. Nothing was familiar. Maybe there’d be a landmark I’d recognize here on the busy street.

  I looked up, took in what I could make out through bleary eyes, and what I saw made me stop short. I had to lean my hand against a wall to stop from falling. There was a buzzing noise in my ears as though wasps were zinging around in my head. What I saw couldn’t be right. It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t real.

  It just couldn’t—be.

  Endless rows of vehicles crisscrossed in midair lanes noiselessly overhead, one line above the other, so high that I couldn’t see the sky from the singular disks on their undersides that emitted yellow light. They weren’t cars. They weren’t planes or light aircrafts either. Some sort of transportation vehicle. I saw people sitting inside, through clear domes, facing each other, talking and laughing. Some people were reading. Some contained only children. No-one was driving. The vehicles—these “cars”—were nothing I’d seen ever. Miraculous advances from nothing I could have imagined. Normal for the people inside. Far from normal for me.

  Where the fuck was I?

  Goosebumps broke out on my skin, large and painful. A wave of intense heat licked from deep inside me, but my skin was so cold it chilled the heat into ice. Suddenly there was no oxygen, and I began to suck in tight gasps of air.

  “You look unwell.” A woman on the street stopped and paused at my side. Black dots passed in front of my vision, and I blinked rapidly to clear them. Her face was framed with a severe black fringe. Her thick-lashed eyes were elongated larger than any I had seen before, as though they’d been enhanced. Her skin was very pale and made her eyes sparkling-blue sapphires.

  The woman wore a simple shirt and pants, of a fashion I hadn’t seen before. I studied the other people on the street, focusing on their clothes, hairstyles, the things they held. They looked different—off kilter. Some wore strange devices on their bodies or clothes I could find no name or use for. The strange hovering machines followed some of the people, floating soundlessly just behind their shoulders as if eavesdropping.

  She held my elbow. “Come, I think you should sit down.” She spoke in English, but there was an accent I couldn’t place. Thoughts twisted tornado-like in my mind. Realization came in a maelstrom of comprehension as my world crashed. It was the doctor’s accent. Julius. He spoke with the same lilt to his words. And the guard who’d spoken to me at the building.

  One thing after another so unfamiliar. The “cars” streaking through the air above me. The streets around me. Lighting, signs, shops. The cuboid machines hovering over everyone’s shoulders. The style of clothing. Everything foreign, everything I knew to exist just—absent.

  The inexplicable truth that dawned on me was unfathomable. But it couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be. Julius’s words echoed in my mind. He had told me the truth. As unrealistic and fantastical as it was, somehow, someway, I was now a century ahead of my time. The woman spoke, her words were a blur to my ears. “What did you say?” My voice sounded frail and thin to my ears.

  “I’ve called for an ambulance. It will be here within the next few seconds.”

  I made my eyes focus on her face. “What?”

  “An ambulance. I’ve called one for you.” Her brows creased in confusion.

  “Where? How?” I didn’t see her make a phone call. My mind was a torrent.

  “Here it is.” She smiled in a way that was supposed to assure me this was the right thing to do. That she’d done a good thing for me. My feet screamed run. I pulled away from the cold wall and slipped past the woman as she watched the vehicle hover toward the ground.

  I hunched over and sidestepped around several people walking past. I forced myself to walk at a slow pace where every instinct screamed otherwise. I ignored the startled cry of the woman when she realized I no longer stood shaking against the wall in front of her.

  There was an alley just past the next building. There was a noise behind me, a scrape against the concrete. Don’t look, Katia, I screamed in my mind. Keep going. One step, then the next. Nearly there.

  My fingers reached the edge of the building and I slid around the corner. I pressed my back to the building and locked my knees straight so I wouldn’t fall down. If I went to the ground, I knew I wouldn’t be able to get back up.

  I inched along the wall back into the thick darkness at the end of the alley, away from the bright lights of the street. I needed the shadows of the dark alley to swallow and lose me.

  The nose of a vehicle appeared at the entrance. The ambulance shifting along the street. Looking for me. The woman stepped in front of the alleyway entrance gesturing to the doctor—Juliu
s. Raised voices, urgent, questioning.

  I had to move. They would see me here. My legs shuffled on automatic now. Numb and heavy, it seemed as if I were walking on stilts. My breath came fast, panting as I stumbled along the alley wall.

  I crashed into something hard. It rattled metallically—a metal, close-linked chain fence. I looked up and sobbed out loud. It was high, three times the height of my body. It hung from one side of the alley to the other. I was boxed in. Cornered like a rat. I shook the fence. A futile effort. Desperation clawed in my belly and writhed like a living thing. The alley continued past the fence. If I could just get past.

  I’d have to use my energy. God, did I have enough to spare? I’d used it too much already. More than I had in years, one hundred and ten to be exact. I tried one last time, dredging up the remnants of anything that might be left. I heated from the inside out, scraps of energy combining into something powerful.

  I took a running start and threw the energy into my limbs. I leapt reaching for the top of the fence. My hands found the top, fingers clenched, holding me however they could. Using the momentum, I hefted my legs over the rim. They slipped over and I dropped like a stone on the other side.

  My legs dissolved beneath me. I slammed into the ground. I couldn’t do much more but suck air into my lungs. Move. Move. Move. I willed my limbs. I struggled upward, using the wall next to me as leverage. I stumbled, one foot in front of the other, kept going until the shadows engulfed me, deeper into the black so inky I couldn’t see where I was. Only then, when I thought I was safe and nothing could see me because I couldn’t see anything back, I slumped to the ground and let my body take the rest it so badly needed. Black, deeper than the shadows that washed my body and pooled in my mind.

  Nothing.

  Chapter Five

  “She looks half dead.” The voice came from somewhere above my head. It was deep and guttural. Disappointed.