The guards led them to official checkpoint, then saluted a blue and yellow customs official seated inside a glass-paneled booth – yet another Cade.  The official raised a striped barrier arm so they could approach his window.  As soon as they passed the arm, the prairie beneath their feet transformed into paved asphalt.  The customs official stood at attention as the Cade guards stepped forward.

              “Good afternoon, sir.”  His intercom buzzed through the thick glass.  “Welcome to Checkpoint Absalom.  Do you have anything to declare?”

            “Yes,” Lyddie said.  “I hate mud.”

            The frontmost guard pulled a ream of papers from a pack at his side.  The booth guard raised a partition to receive them. 

            “Cade Brigade Alpha Lieutenant Commander Cadence the Second reporting in,” the lead guard said.  “We have apprehended cargo of interest to His Majesty.  Before we deliver it to him, we need to shower and change.  After that, we’ll use the tunnel to expedite our travel.”

            The booth guard nodded and stamped the document at the top of the pile.  He rifled through the stack and stamped two other papers within.  “Understood.  I’ll radio ahead to tell them you’re coming.  There’s a locker room with showers next to the Duty Free depot, just across the way.  You should proceed with caution; the criminal known as the Ace is likely still at large.  If I might ask, where is the commander?”

            Cadence the Second accepted the stamped papers and shoved them back in his pack.  “The commander remains in the field.  Our patrol encountered a crude ambush prepared by the criminal known as Pox Head.  The commander continues his pursuit, while we escort this high-value cargo inside.”

            The booth guard nodded and saluted once more.  “Very good, sir.  Welcome back to Cadia.”

            Instead of passing through the final gate to the city, Cadence the Second turned left and led them through a glass-paned door.  A blast of conditioned air whooshed around the girls as they entered.

***

The Duty-Free depot turned out to be a store that sold fancy merchandise Melisma couldn’t imagine anyone actually wanting.  Spotless, white shelves lined the spotless, white walls, stacked high with spotless packages and gleaming bottles.  The procession tracked swamp mud across the spotless floor.

            Cadence the Second pointed toward the back.  “Showers should be back there,” he said.  He pointed to the far side of the store, and the girls ran off.  Melisma almost forgot her annoyance at her captivity as she doused herself in steaming water, hosing off buckets of mud, soot, and poop.  The guards left a pile of clean clothes for her by the door – prepackaged socks and underwear, denim shorts, and a souvenir t-shirt with the Cadia skyline emblazoned across the chest.

            They emerged from the locker room, and the Cade guards moved in to clean themselves and change their own uniforms.

            As she waited for the guards, Melisma explored the rest of the Duty-Free shop.  She passed shelves piled with long, golden cardboard boxes, display cases stocked with sloshing liquids in sparkling glass bottles, and counters displaying gold cufflinks and wristwatches.  Next came a tall rack of silk ties and starched collared shirts.  The ties came in every color of the rainbow, if rainbows were limited to red, maroon, burgundy, navy blue, and maroon with navy blue stripes.  The shirts were mostly white, but a few had thin, powder blue lines.

            “Who buys all this stuff?” she wondered aloud.

            “Nobody,” a Cade guard answered.  His insignia identified him as Cadence the Sixty-First.  “You have to be twenty-one to make a purchase.”

            At last, she came to a counter with products she recognized.  A beige box advertised “Oleander Musk.”  A cobalt blue vial with a glass stopper read “Midnight Eclipse.”  Other bottles’ names were more esoteric: “Ephemera,” “Giggle,” “Sakura Satori.”  Melisma didn’t usually wear perfume, but she knew her way around it.  She picked up a bottle of “Zen Waters” and sprayed a cloud in front of her.

            Behind the cosmetics counter, a row of television screens played short advertisements on a loop.  A drop of rain fell from a lily petal.  An oyster pearl rolled into a pool of liquid gold.  Melisma rolled her eyes.  She’d never found perfume ads very interesting.  Then again, it was probably hard to sell a fragrance using only pictures.

            Now a new ad began.  A girl in a glittering dress ran across a city plaza.  Boring.  But then the girl in the commercial turned to face the camera, and Melisma almost choked.  She found herself staring in horror into the thoughtful, brown eyes of her best friend, Lakshmi Delacourt.

            Lakshmi flipped a mane of black, curly hair over her shoulder.  She laughed delicately, showcasing the natural dimple on the right side of her mouth.  The camera drank it all in, playing up every detail of her face.

            Lakshmi whispered something in French, and Melisma’s stomach twisted.  She was pretty sure her friend didn’t speak French.

            Melisma’s cheeks began to burn.  She wanted to turn away, but she couldn’t stop watching.  Lakshmi smiled a dazzling smile that she’d never seen in real life.  A single word ghosted into existence across the bottom of the screen: “GODDESS.”  The screen faded to black.  Melisma wanted to vomit.

            Cadence the Twenty-Seventh grabbed her arm and pulled her away.  “The tunnel’s open,” he barked.  “We’re leaving.”

***

“What was that, on the television screen?” Melisma asked as the guards pushed them down a long passageway beneath the city.  The tunnel was decorated to look like her middle school hallway – it had the same carpet and lockers and everything.  At any other time, she would have asked about that, but now the image of her friend’s face burned in her mind.  “Why is Lakshmi in a perfume ad?”

            “It’s nothing, shut up!” Cadence the Twenty-Seventh growled.  He pushed them forward even faster.

            “No, I’m serious!” Melisma cried.  “Why was my best friend decked out like a supermodel?  What’s going on?”

            “Just drop it!” Cadence the Sixty-First hissed.

            “Wait a minute,” Lyddie giggled.  “Is Cade in love or something?”

            Cadence the Second slammed his fist into a locker door.  The sound of the impact thundered down the whole length of the tunnel.  His hand left a dent in the metal.

            “Leave it alone,” he said.

***

At the far end of the tunnel, they came to a small, private elevator.  Cadence the Second pushed the girls in, then the other Cades followed.  The door whispered shut, and they began their ascent.

            They exited into a small atrium, with dark paneled walls and knotted gray carpeting.  A gray couch sat against the wall, flanked on either side by potted plants.  A glass door to the left opened onto a small suite of offices.  Cadence the Twenty-Seventh crossed to an intercom at the far end of the wall.

            He rejoined the group a moment later.  “He says he won’t see us until the full brigade is here,” he told the other guards.  “I guess we should wait.”

            “But this is important!” Cadence the Sixty-First interjected.  “We have the real –”

            Cadence the Second silenced him with a gesture, then shrugged.  “We’ll wait for the commander.”

***

Ten minutes later, Cadence the First stepped from the elevator, looking golden and resplendent.  His brigade stood and saluted him. 

            “What’s the news?” one of the guards asked him.

            “The criminal known as Pox Head escaped,” Cadence the First said.  “But he won’t go far.  He wasted a lot of resources on his little scheme today.  We can finally wipe him out if we make a single, concerted push.”

            The intercom chimed on the far wall.  “His Majesty will see you now,” a voice announced over the speaker.

            Cadence the First led the procession through the door and into a maze of cubicles.  Cades sat at every desk, typing documents and rifling through file cabinets.  Some paused long enough to gawk at the girls as they passed by.  Melisma stared back at them, feeling more and more out of her depth.  On the far side of the cubicle farm, they came to a simple door.  Cadence the First knocked, then opened the door and gestured them inside.

            His Majesty’s office was impressive.  A heavy walnut desk with lacquered panels dominated the space, dwarfing everything else.  Behind the desk, a wall-to-wall window presented a commanding view of Cadia.  They must have been at least seventy stories up.  Between the desk and the window, leg elevated in a plaster cast, sat His Majesty himself -- otherwise known as Dad. 

            Lyddie squealed when she saw him.  “Daddy!” She wriggled free of the guards and jumped in his lap.

            Andrew Sullivan grunted in pain, then laughed as he shifted Lyddie away from his broken leg.  “Hey there, cupcake!  Melisma, it’s great to see you, too.”  He turned his attention to Cadence the First, and his demeanor hardened.  The warmth in his voice shriveled and died.  “Yes, son, what is it?”

            Cadence the First bowed in front of the desk.  “Father, we found this Mixolydia and Melisma wandering the swamps outside the city.  We believe they were taken captive by the criminal known as Pox Head.  We’ve brought them to the city, for safekeeping.  Doria could be out in the swamp, too.”  As he talked, his men placed Melisma’s bow and Lyddie’s ball on the floor, well out of reach.  

            “Uh huh.”  As Cadence talked, Andrew swiped absentmindedly at the screen of his cell phone.  “And?”

            Cadence the First blinked nervously at the floor.  “And, well… we await your further orders.”

            Andrew frowned and set down his phone.  “Where is Pox Head now?” he asked.

            Cadence hesitated a moment before responding.  “He, uh, got away.”

            Andrew nodded.  “And that’s why you were late in coming to see me?  You kept your whole squad waiting, you know.  And the city suffered an Ace attack in your absence.”

            Cadence the First gulped.  “I… I know, Dad.”  The other Cades stared awkwardly around the room, focusing on anything except their commander or His Majesty.

            Andrew sighed.  “You know you’ll have to do better than this, Cade.  You’re not a kid anymore.”

            Cadence the First’s cheeks flushed red as he stared at the floor.  “I know.”

            “Being an adult means accepting responsibilities,” Andrew continued.  “It means learning from your mistakes, so they don’t happen again.  Your mother and I don’t expect you to be perfect, but we do expect you to try sometimes.  Do you understand?”

            Cadence nodded silently.

            “I mean, how many men did you lose in the swamp today?” Andrew asked.

            Cadence the First frowned.  “Twelve,” he said at last.  “We were attacked by a horde of pod-Cades.”

            “Twelve,” his father repeated.  “Twelve is a lot.”

            “Pox Head lost more,” Cadence the First muttered under his breath.

            Andrew leaned in.  “Excuse me?” There was a soft but unmistakable edge in his voice.

            Cadence closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.  “I said, Pox Head lost more men.  He’s got to be running low on resources.  We could go back now, hit him even harder –”

            “You see?” Andrew scolded.  “This is exactly what I’m talking about.  These are the kinds of excuses that lost you twelve good men!  I don’t care how badly Pox Head is managing; I’m talking to you.  You need to accept responsibility for your failure, or you’ll never do better.  Believe me, Cade, I’m just trying to prepare you for the real world.  Life isn’t as forgiving when you don’t have Mom and Dad around to protect you.”

            “Yes, Dad,” Cadence the First whispered.  He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on breathing.

            Andrew sighed.  “Okay, that’s enough of that.  I’m not trying to be an ogre; I’m just looking out for you.  You know that I love you, right?”

            “Yes, Dad,” Cadence the First mouthed.

            Dad steepled his fingers.  “You asked what I want to do next,” he said.  “Clearly, a well-organized counter-offensive is called for.”  Melisma looked up in surprise.  Her father was a lot of things, but she’d never heard him talk like a military strategist before.  “We can’t send too many out into the swamp,” Andrew continued, “or the Ace will seize his moment to attack.  We have to assemble a brigade of our very best.”

            “I understand,” Cadence the First said.  “I’ll start preparing immediately.”  He stood up to leave.

            “Just a second,” Andrew stopped him.  “I’ve actually got something else in mind for you.”

            Cadence the First paused.  “Um, you do?”

            Andrew pushed Lyddie off his lap.  She darted back to Melisma.  “We need somebody to take care of your sisters,” Dad said.  “To keep them safe, here in the city.  If the brigade tracks down Doria and brings her back to the city, we’ll need someone to take care of her, too.”

            Cadence the First gulped in shock.  “You want me to… stay here, and… babysit?”

            “Just for a little while.  It’ll be good for you.  After all, you could learn a thing or two from Melisma.”

            “But… but… I’m the commander of –” Cadence stammered.

            Andrew nodded.  “I know,” he said.  “Actually, I wanted to speak to you about that, too.  I mean, you’ve worn that uniform for quite some time, right?”

            “I… guess?” Cadence said.  He looked nervously at his golden gauntlets.

            “I think a little change would do everybody some good.  Cadence the First, I’m reassigning you to ‘City Escort.’  We’ll have an appropriate blue and peach uniform brought to you immediately.  I hereby promote Cadence the Second to the rank of commander.  Cadence the First, please pass him your uniform at your earliest convenience.”

            Cadence the Second stepped forward and bowed.  “Thank you, Sir.  It’s an honor, Sir.”

            Andrew smiled warmly.  “I look forward to working with you, Son.”