Lu followed Adon out of the academy and down a busy corridor, weaving through crowds toward the rail station until Adon suddenly cut through an access door, the neon green Security Office tape hanging uselessly around a nearby doorknob, tangling in the sudden breeze. Lu reached for his plastic facemask, he didn’t do well in Grounder dust, but stopped when he realized Adon didn’t have anything more than the cloth collar he’d pulled over his face. The bright green filters would look ridiculous, so he shoved his hands in his pockets and wrinkled his nose, trying not to sneeze or shiver. He stalked loudly behind Adon to a small pick-up rail platform he never would have known existed. 

Adon explained that the sup-lines didn’t run regularly, so most people didn’t bother with them unless there wasn’t another convenient route out. Lu didn’t ask what a sup-line was, but searched inconspicuously on his phone to find they were supplemental rails that had cut through longer routes, creating more access, but the project had been abandoned for the gravity tunnels. Lu looked up to find Adon explaining it all to him, pointing to the faded map on the plastic panes separating the edge of the platform from the terrifying drop beneath every rail, revealing the protected pocket of Navy district, cut off from the rest of the Ground by precise transport center access points. Lu had never given much thought to the Sec-Offs stationed along the rails, or that he moved so easily between Pa’s mansion and school, without Benny insisting on Phaios joining him or Sias escorting him. Navy was an exception, for Mid cheaters to register cheaper businesses and Upper reps to pretend they cared about Caldera with investments into Public Resources and ARC sectors. What Jane Teal had meant when she talked about intentional isolation design and Clearwater influence. 

“Come on,” Adon grabbed Lu’s arm, pulling him aboard the tiny but crowded rail, swiping his school badge to let them leave without inspection as the doors hissed closed and the rail jolted backwards, Lu grappling for a handle as Adon caught him and Mess at the same time with a laugh. 

They exited at another small transport depot and climbed a back stairway, winding through abandoned corridors, masks up as they wound around broken glass. Lu gaped as Adon and Mess chattered happily about Mess’ new friend Chandra, weaving through the rubble and debris with a familiar gait, as they did every day. 

They reached a carousel food court, the rail car diners, coffeeshops, tea arcades, and burger joints circling the heart of Indigo District. Charming, but still dangerous. Adon swayed to the music as they waited for the bold ramen cart, stepping aboard with a wave to the counter. He settled Lu and Mess in a small corner table, then jogged to the counter, slinging a bright orange apron around his neck and taking the next order as he washed his hands. When the line was served, Adon began clearing tables, smiling and chatting to waiting customers while his coworkers happily hid behind the counter, assembling bowls. 

Even with dark circles beneath his eyes and mussed hair floating around his face, he was dazzling. 

“Hey,” Mess poked Lu’s arm that was taking up nearly their entire tiny table, “is Doni really that pretty?”

“What?” Lu flushed, lifting his cheek from his elbow and pulling his arm away, struggling to find a way to keep his legs tucked in the corner. He tried to smile at the kid, “what do you mean?”

Mess sighed wistfully, watching customer eyes follow his brother as he danced through the dining area, “just… everyone says he’s pretty. Even Aphy says.”

Lu evaluated Adon with Mess, unsure his motive, frowning, “what if he is?”

Messenger shrugged, “Heather calls him too pretty.” He pouted, flipping his homework sheet over and doodling a picture of Adon, “she says it will be trouble.” Mess sighed with an ancient wariness, “I hope I’m never that pretty.”

Lu wanted to know who Heather was, but he didn’t ask. He laughed at Mess’ remorse and absently added details to the sketch of Adon until it finally resembled him. He wrinkled his nose at it, “yeah, maybe he should be ugly.”

Mess nodded gravely, adding thick eyebrows with his scribbling pencil and cackling.

Adon glanced over at the burst of sound, unnerved by Lu and Mess giggling conspiratorially over a paper taking up the entire table, but smiled at himself and his good judgment. Whatever Aphro’s warnings, Lu had seemed like the stray dogs he sometimes encountered cutting through the access routes to get to the cake shop in time. They growled and hissed, but didn’t bite, and once they got to know him, they even came to be pet, waited for him, and warned away more aggressive predators. Lu was just lonely, and Adon knew more about that than he cared to admit. 

After a short four hours, Lu followed Adon and Mess to the Indigo transport hub, scanning his district ID/Alert band for all three of them before Adon could object and riding a single rail all the way back through Navy to Violet. They passed the cake shop, Mess pointing and announcing loudly, “The Cake Hole!” He turned to Adon for confirmation, showing off his navigation skills yet again, and Adon, biting back a yawn, gave an excited thumbs-up confirmation. 

Lu listened to Adon list the order in which Mess should seek safety, making Mess repeat it back, a different acronym for each warning light of his ancient district alert fob. Half the hazards Lu had never even heard of. Contaminations? Collapse? Quake and Error? Evac? He’d quarantined plenty of times in Pa’s massive concrete mansion, but never in a district shelter or public facility.

Following Adon off the train, Lu was again left in a small cafe with the ten-year-old Mess, this time instructed to help with the pile of math worksheets while Adon met one of his students for an hour review session. 

When Adon returned to their table, it was with his own Caldera Advanced Placement Test flashcards in hand, standing over a frustrated Lu and whining Mess arguing about the order of operations. After listening to each of their explanations, Adon burst out laughing, “you’re both right, you dorks. You were just taught different songs. The songs don’t matter.” He was near tears, partially from exhaustion, as Lu and Mess pouted and continued their argument about which song was correct and therefore superior.

Adon refused Lu’s offer of the train again, carrying a sleepy Mess on his back and meandering the back halls where the safety glass was still in place, until all three of their district alerts flashed a localized curfew morning. Adon sighed, now having to race the clock home before they closed the gates. It was expected after news of riots in Navy, of all places, but still inconvenient. Sometimes he got used to the safety of the academy and forgot that they lived in Indigo, just above Forest. When he remembered, it was with renewed motivation to get his siblings to safety. He’d returned home with Aphy and Mess one day to find Sec-Offs replacing the windows of their unity, the old ones leaning against the outer wall with a spray of ghost-gun bullets clearly pierced through. Adon had nagged Aphy for two months to not get caught on the Old Internet so he could use the fee money to pay for the bullet glass. It hadn’t worked, but he eventually scraped enough out of a few bonuses from proud parents whose kids placed well enough on the CAPT to keep them at least in the upper layers of the Ground levels. He wasn’t proud to be a Grounder like the Forest Green kids, but he was proud of where he’d gotten them so far, of where they were going.

Adon looked nervously at Mess drooling on his shoulder, hefting him up and biting his lip as he craned his neck to check the time on Lu’s bright District band. They had barely thirty minutes during high-traffic commute times. He sighed, relenting, “fine, we can take your fancy train.”

Lu smiled but said nothing, leading Adon to the private call station. A small rail car pulled up in seconds, opening as Lu keyed in the passcode sent to his District account. Adon woke Mess as they boarded and the brothers spent several minutes gawking and investigating the quiet luxury. There was free water, Adon and Mess cheersing the thin cups after confirming with Lu that it was actually free, then downing it in unison, comparing the flavor to their metallic hard water at home. When the car buzzed, Lu nudged Adon to put in his address, then sat them on the plush bench on either side of him so the car would move, registering their weight as seated on the touch panel. Within minutes, Adon and Mess’ heads were conked out on each of Lu’s shoulders. He wondered if other people felt so warm all the time, if that was why they smiled so much. 

Lu woke them when the car slowed in a shady part of Indigo Pa had forbidden him to venture into. He waved goodbye because he couldn’t find a good reason to stay, and returned to Pa’s mansion above the Wells.

☆