Beyond the alley, everything I thought could be possible, shattered. Even after seeing the things I'd seen, nothing compared to this.
Bright lights danced and swirled around in a ballet above us, lighting the streets up, all along the avenue were vendor carts filled with treats and smells that sent my mind swirling with delight. People of all kinds roamed about, animals pranced around among them with the same intelligent eyes I'd seen in wolf boy. The sky above was remarkably blue, and the clouds shifted in soft puffs. The buildings shined like metal in the light, but were never blinding. The air smelled of flowers and honey. The trees and flowers ran in a straight line through the center of the street, the leaves and petals were a translucent crystal, and the bark and stems had gold and silver running through them like veins. Even the pavement was remarkable, spongy like corkboard and unnaturally clean.
It was like a utopia!
"Don't get used to this, we're not staying here longer than we absolutely have to." Lex whispered against my ear, tickling my neck. His statement confused me, who would want to leave here?
I looked over at him, he was tense and jumpy, eyes shifting and analyzing every thing that passed us.
"Why?"
"The longer you're here, the harder it is to escape." He said in a grim voice, staring me dead in the eye, the intensity making me recoil a little.
"Escape?"
He gently gripped my arm and began to guide me along with him.
"Look up, watch the clouds."
I obeyed, not expecting much but the typical sight. But what was strange was, the clouds shifted and moved, dissipated, and then appeared exactly where they started. Then repeated the process.
"Why are they doing that?"
"Because they're not really there, they're on a loop."
The others had put a little distance between us, but were still in sight, still I felt the need to whisper.
"What exactly is this place?" A deep and unsettling feeling was in my stomach.
"It's a prison. Beautiful and fun, the exact kind of place you can lose yourself in and forget all about reality." He looked like he just tasted something sour.
"Just because it's like Las Vegas on steroids doesn't mean it's a prison." I said brushing his doom and gloom off, along with my unease.
"The longer you stay, the more you lose yourself and all your rationale, until you physically can't leave." He grabbed me and spun me to face him. "Everything here is fake, it's all designed to pull you in and hold you here, cause the more people that are here the bigger it gets. Just because a prison is pleasant doesn't make it any less a prison." He sat there holding my gaze, practically willing me to agree.
"Ok, why can't it grow? What will happen if it keeps getting bigger?" I looked around, looking for any big red warning signs or caution tape.
"Honestly, I don't know. But I can't imagine anything good will come of it."
"Hey! You guys alright?" Ari shouted from ahead of us. They had all stopped in the street, waiting on us. Lex and I stood there for a few more moments, so our conversation could set in.
Without another word Lex turned us and pushed us through the crowd to the others before releasing my arm.
I hated to admit it, but he was right.
Mob mentality is a very real thing. Once you get enough people living off of you, and living happily, there's not much you couldn't push them to do. And a world full of very powerful people... If the wrong person got their hands on a world like this and sent it after ours, that would be catastrophe.
**********
After roughly thirty minutes of walking we reached a staircase heading into the ground. I assumed it was a subway, but boy was I wrong. If I thought the world up there was busy, this was chaos. There were so many people and animals that there was barely room to stand, and moving was like pushing against the ocean waves. The same lights hovered above us, but they looked hazy due to the smokes from the numerous food tables and potent smelling sconces, probably some type of incense. The voices of people shouting and laughing, debating politics or haggling prices was deafening.
The commotion and chaos was so intense I latched onto Lex's arm for stability. I was still angry at him, but at the moment I needed someone I could count on to pull me through this crowd. He gently laid a hand on mine and pulled me to him till he could nestle me under his arm.
"We're almost there." He shouted down to me, but it was more like a whisper.
I just closed my eyes and leaned into him. I never had issues with crowds, but this was ridiculous!
In what seemed like forever, the noise and commotion lessened after we went into a building. I opened my eyes and was relieved at all the normality of it. It was still different than the world I grew up in, but this I could handle.
The same sconces filled with incense hung everywhere, giving off an herbal smell. The floors were white tile, and there were rows of mahogany chairs ahead of us, a few taken up by people. The walls were all a beige marble, and the vaulted ceilings had floating chandeliers. Beyond the chairs was a mahogany desk, with a very tall, very lean woman with pastel blue hair and pale skin. I assume an elf.
"I'll be right back, I'm gonna check us in." Richard said as he broke away from us, making his way to the elf lady. The rest of us took up residence on the expensive wooden chairs.
There were no pictures or posters on the walls, no decor besides the seating and desk. The place was rather empty and immaculate.
"This is the Investigative Bureau. They're the governing force here. If anyone knows where the Gypsies are, it's them." Lex assured me, sitting down beside me.
"Hmm." Was all I said, too nervous and excited to think of something better.
We all sat there, relaxing our feet and minds.
"I'm sorry." I heard quietly from beside me.
"What?" I assumed I had heard wrong, or perhaps I had imagined it.
"I said, I'm sorry. I should've told you what to expect, but I knew you'd want to stay behind if you did." He whispered, I assume to keep our conversation private. His eyes lifted to mine and I saw guilt and sadness in them, turning the stormy grey darker. As always his eyes dropped first.
"I just... I don't get why it's so important I be here." I whispered back. "Will I even be part of this meeting?"
"No, but..." He exhaled a heavy breath and ran a hand through his hair, making it stand up at parts. "I'm worried about you being alone." He admitted, sending a sweet tingle along my skin.
"You were worried about me being alone?" I repeated, hoping he'd pick up where I left off and explain in more detail.
"Someone is following you. You're having nightmares. And who knows what else is gonna happen. Not to mention your brothers were blowing me off like they thought I was gonna be someone else's problem in a week, so who knows what they're planning." I smiled at that last bit, he certainly wasn't stupid. "I just didn't want to be stuck here and you be stuck there where I can't get to you." He looked up at me. I felt an urge and I followed it. I lifted my hand to his face and gently cradled his cheek in it.
"That's actually, probably the sweetest thing any guy has told me." He grinned, like a kid in a candy store.
"I still don't forgive you though." His smile shifted into a devious smirk.
"Oh, don't worry, you will." I giggled at his cockiness.
I started to feel that sensation again, making me realize that he'd been looking at me this whole time without breaking eye contact.
As if reading my thoughts, his eyes darted down.
"Why do you do that?" I asked without thinking, he looked confused and I mentally reprimanded myself for it. But, I figured I was in it now.
"Why do you always look away?"
He shifted in his seat and leaned back in it, looking at his hands as he lightly rubbed them together.
"When I was young, probably around 10 or 11, my gift started coming out. I was so excited, so eager to work on it. I didn't realize then what a hassle it would be. I've never been shy, I've always been confident enough to stare anyone down, but with a gift like mine, you can't." He paused to sigh before continuing. "When I was about 13, I started noticing it. How everyone just agreed with me, about everything. Well, everyone but my brothers. Richard was always busy, so I didn't bug him about it, I know I should've. It got really bad one day, I was so frustrated that everyone acted like everything I said was perfect, even when I intentionally said bad things. I got angry, so angry. I started picking fights with the other kids, hitting them, trying to get a reaction from them... they all just let me." His eyes got a far away look in them, like he was reliving that day.
"What happened next?" I gently urged him on, putting my hand on his arm.
"I called Richard, frantic, told him what was going on. He came and picked me up, then took us to the lake behind my childhood home. It always felt like a safe place for me. My mum use to take us down to it for picnics before she..." He didn't need to explain that bit, dream or no dream, I knew she had died, and I knew he'd tell me more when he was ready. "Anyway, he explained to me that I was doing it, that the more I held their eyes, the stronger their pull to me was. The more I looked in their eyes, the more obedient to me they'd be. After that day I stopped looking at people unless I had to. As I've gotten older, I've gained more control over it, but it still scares me."
"I'm sorry, I can't imagine what that was like."
He smiled a knowing smile at me before dropping the clincher my heart had apparently been waiting for.
"I don't look at you for extended periods of time, though there's nothing I want more, because when I speak to you, I want to speak to you. That way, when I win you over, I know it's as real for you as it is for me."
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