"Here," she said. "We stashed some stuff for when we go on longer swims." Ahead was a fallen tree, its roots having pulled up the forest floor like a flap of skin. She crouched and ducked under the thick base of the trunk. With a grunt, she pulled out a red bag made of smooth, waterproof fabric. She unclipped big metal buckles and pulled out a bulky yellow flashlight. She flicked a switch, igniting a beam of white light. "Waterproof."
"Cool."
She stashed the bag. "Come on."
We walked back to the water"s edge and had waded in knee deep when I paused. We were far enough from camp that we"d reached the edge of the inlet. The wide center of the lake spread away from us, and on its far sh.o.r.e, a couple kilometers away, was the EdenWest city. It twinkled in vertical stacks of amber-and-emerald lights. I"d seen photos of the old technopolises, with their miles of skysc.r.a.pers, and of the new, more modest ones up north, like Baffin City, Yellowknife, Helsinki Island, and New Murmansk. EdenWest was probably not even close to that scale, but still, for someone who had spent his life in a flat, hunched world beneath rock ceilings, there was something amazing to me about the straight, reaching towers, the idea that people might have existed, once upon a time, making free use of the sky.
"There"s Neverland," said Lilly.
"Huh?" I didn"t know the reference. When she didn"t add more, I asked, "Is it cool there?"
"I guess. If you"re like Evan and you just want to live your little life pretending everything"s fine, while the world outside goes to h.e.l.l."
I laughed, but cut it off when I saw that Lilly wasn"t smiling.
"It"s not all bad," she said. "There are museums and stuff, entertainment, sports, shows and games that travel from one Eden to the next, and you know, lots of boutiques with the styles from up north, SensaStreets made of hyperbricks that synch with your me-self and advertise to you and play your own sound track as you walk, but... I"m mainly at Cryo House." Her voice quieted. "You don"t get out much when you don"t have parents to take you anywhere."
She hugged herself, like she might be cold. I thought about putting my arm around her, but wasn"t sure if that would be okay. And how did you find out if it was? Did you ask? It seemed like you were supposed to just know. know.
But then Lilly said, "Come on," and I"d missed my chance.
We plunged back under, descending with the lake bottom until we were in new depths, maybe ten meters down, ears aching. Lilly switched on her light and we leveled out, losing the bottom and moving into the black, the light beam waving back and forth. You couldn"t tell up and down by sight, but there were other clues, variations in temperature and pressure, things your body could sense if you listened in new ways.
Lilly"s beam caught something white in the water. She paused and aimed the light as I swam up beside her. I looked down and flinched. There were eyes down there, large and black... a fish. An enormous fish, barely moving, just hovering lazily in the dark. Its body was a sickly peach color like dead flesh, with a pattern of dull coal-colored blotches like incomplete stripes. It had a square head and a fat body. Its fins flicked slowly.
"What"s that?" I asked.
"Zombie koi. That"s what we call them, anyway."
"It"s gross."
"Yeah. I guess back when they opened this place, they thought it would be cute if the lake had pretty fish like some Asian garden, so they put koi in with everything else, but then the koi ended up outcompeting the other fish, either by eating them or killing the plant life in the lake."
"I saw fake plants on the bottom," I said.
"Yeah, and then this lake never gets cold, like winter, so the koi just kept eating and growing all the time. And then, get this: Eden even put in these fish called walleyes that used to be here, to eat the baby koi, but then the koi and the walleyes just got it on, and that"s how you got these mutant zombie freaks. Oh, and the koi eat those walleyes now." Lilly turned to me and smiled. "This lake is full of weird creatures."
"Ha."
"Don"t worry, though; they might look creepy, but they"re just big dopes."
The fish kept floating there, shimmering in the light beam. It rotated to aim its other eye at us, then must have decided we weren"t food, and slithered off into the darkness.
We kept swimming, every once in a while seeing another zombie koi floating along in the murky depths. The story made me feel a little bad for the creature. I thought again about how this lake, this whole place, seemed like a giant lab, a weird mad scientist"s chamber of robot b.u.t.terflies, creepy fish, and mutant gill people.
Now Lilly"s flashlight reflected off metal. The side of the wreck. It appeared to us as a long wall looming out of the dark, rusty and twenty feet tall, red paint remaining here and there. It hung c.o.c.keyed, impaled on a spear of rock rising up from the unseen bottom. A flat deck in front, then a square cabin, and in back a bunch of cranes and ropes like maybe it had been a fishing boat.
Lilly swam to the side railing and into the cabin through a door that hung open. I followed. Inside was a little room with a dining table and benches. Everything was coated in furry green slime. I found her pretending to sit there at the table, despite the steep angle of the ship, her hands folded. "What"s for dinner, captain?"
I laughed and swam toward the door to the next room. "This is cool."
She slid beside me in the doorway. I felt her arm against mine. "We thought there might be bodies, but no luck."
We slipped into the next room, and the flashlight beam illuminated buckled counters, the gnawed remnants of rolled papers, an ancient computer floating upside down in the corner. The floor was littered with a mess of rotted books, plates and cups, electronic debris. Schools of small silver fish scattered around my feet. I wondered if they hid in here from the zombie koi outside.
"What would you like?" Lilly asked.
I turned to see her near a stove, holding a rusted frying pan. She was smiling.
I was supposed to say something witty, I knew that. But what? "Um... ," I said.
Lilly drifted over to me, the pan in front of her, the flashlight pointed straight at my face. "Jeez, it"s not a test."
"No?" I said, wincing against the beam.
"You"re funny," said Lilly.
"Me?" I felt my insides spinning into overdrive. Funny? Where did she get that idea? "I"m never funny."
"Yes, you are. Your whole awkward thing." Maybe it was just the currents in this room, but Lilly seemed to be inching closer. "The way you get so fl.u.s.tered."
"I don"t get... I..." I had no idea what to say.
"Exactly what I"m talking about. You never try to act all cool around me. You never try to put on a show." The frying pan bounced against my abdomen. She lowered it and let it sink to the floor. The flashlight beam pointed up, giving us sinister faces.
"I-show? I wouldn"t even-"
"That"s what I like." Lilly smiled, and her eyes seemed to get bigger. "The Owen Show isn"t a show, it"s real. It"s just what you are."
Closer. A shocking thing suddenly crossed my mind. Was Lilly flirting with me? Like, real flirting? The actual I like you I like you flirting? I felt frozen. How could this be possible? And what was I supposed to do? I felt like I should say something witty, something smooth, but there was no time and so I just replied, "Sorry," and then I thought, flirting? I felt frozen. How could this be possible? And what was I supposed to do? I felt like I should say something witty, something smooth, but there was no time and so I just replied, "Sorry," and then I thought, Why did you say that? YOU ARE AN IDIOT! Why did you say that? YOU ARE AN IDIOT! Why would I say sorry? I- Why would I say sorry? I- Lilly laughed. Moved even closer. "Owen, it"s not a bad thing."
Our bodies were only centimeters apart. Now what?
"I fl.u.s.ter you," Lilly said, her face like some kind of black hole, sucking me in, bending time. Could this really be... that? Could we really- Owen.
A blue glow caught the corner of my vision.
Lilly was right there, our eyes locked- I turned away. Now, of all times, but I had to, because it was that that blue glow. blue glow.
Find me.
It flickered from the porthole window behind me. "It"s back," I said.
"Wait, what?" Lilly asked.
I was ruining the moment, but I couldn"t help it. I slid over and pressed my cheek to the gla.s.s, realizing with a tight twist of nerves that I had just missed a gigantic chance, though I was maybe relieved more than anything else, my head still spinning from the possibilities.
The glow was to the right, faint blue, but unmistakable. "Come on," I said to Lilly, and shot back into the first room and out the door.
"Where are you going?" Lilly asked, following me out. Did she sound annoyed?
Maybe. But... the siren... It was real. I felt sure of it now, and I had had to see it. I arced up and over the top of the ship, getting a view down the other side of the hull. to see it. I arced up and over the top of the ship, getting a view down the other side of the hull.
Only black.
Lilly arrived beside me. "Owen, what is it?"
"I saw something," I said, but now I felt like an idiot. There was nothing. I"d been making things up because I was too scared to- Wait, there. The faint blue light again, this time out away from the ship, almost swallowed by the murk. I pointed. "See it?"
Lilly followed my finger. "See what what?"
"The... the thing." It was hard to see, but it was definitely the siren"s ghostly human form, flickering blue, swimming away. "You see her?" I said, kicking in that direction.
"Her?" Lilly definitely sounded annoyed. "Okay, I have no idea what you"re talking about. Where are you going?"
I squinted. The image-because it almost seemed like a picture rather than a solid object-was getting smaller, distant. We had to hurry if we were going to catch it.
What is oldest will be new, what was lost shall be found.
I spun back to Lilly. "That! Did you hear that?"
Her eyebrow c.o.c.ked. Arms crossed. "You"re not making any sense."
I looked back. The siren was almost gone.
Find me.
"Come on, we have to catch it." I started to swim.
"Owen! Catch what what?"
"The-the thing, the siren, I mean, that"s what I call her, it... whatever! Just come on." I thrust ahead, attacking the water, swimming as fast as I could. When I turned back, Lilly was still at the ship, already distant. "Come on!" I called to her.
No answer. I spun around. The siren was maybe a little closer, but still dim. I"d lose her if I stopped.
In the temple.
Okay, fine. I couldn"t believe I was doing this, couldn"t believe I was leaving the moment I"d just left, and possibly ruining any chance of future moments, but... Lilly would catch up if she wanted to. "I"ll be right back!" I called to her, and took off as fast as I could.
I hurtled through the water. The siren was still far ahead. Glanced back: Lilly had been swallowed by the dark.
Kicking. Reaching. A knife through the liquid. I gained some ground, and started to see the siren"s shape again, and though the blue light was muted and impermanent, I thought I could see legs kicking in smooth dolphin style, arms moving, hair maybe flowing out behind her.
My muscles were starting to burn. I was even getting a dull pain in my abdomen. And yet there she was in front of me, that flickering, ghostlike figure, and I felt a certainty: Keep going. Keep going. Even if I was leaving Lilly behind... This meant something. It knew me. It had something to share. Something about... everything. I felt certain of that. Even if I was leaving Lilly behind... This meant something. It knew me. It had something to share. Something about... everything. I felt certain of that.
Minutes pa.s.sed, maybe a half hour. I couldn"t tell. All I knew was that slowly I was catching her.
"What are you?" I called.
There was a humming sound in the water now, and a distant din like moving parts. I could feel it saturating my ears, and yet the siren"s voice seemed to be somehow inside my head again. It was warm-sounding, maybe even electric. What is oldest will be new. What was hidden shall be unlocked. The secrets remembered by the true. What is oldest will be new. What was hidden shall be unlocked. The secrets remembered by the true.
I swam harder, trying to close the gap, and saw that now shapes were beginning to draw themselves into existence in front of us. I was maybe ten meters behind the siren, and maybe another twenty meters in front of her was something solid, vertical-a wall. Closer, and I could see that it was made of concrete. The edge of the dome?
Rocks had appeared from below, the rising lake bottom. Ahead on the wall, halfway from the surface of the lake to the floor, were two horizontal lines of large cylindrical holes. There were yellow lights glowing in rings around them. I was parallel with the top line, and I could feel the push of water coming through them. Looking up, I saw the wavy outline of a tall, triangular building above the surface. This must have been the Aquinara, where the water of Lake Eden was filtered and continually recycled. It also created the water vapor necessary for clouds and rain in the dome.
This way.
I looked down and spied the siren flickering among the black boulders at the base of the wall. She circled and vanished into what looked like an opening in the rock.
I started down, but I was exhausted. The pressure seemed to close in tighter than before. My side ached. My legs were burning, feet cramping.
I grabbed at the fluid, pulling myself deeper, pushing through the current of incoming water, down toward the fissure. I could see the blue of the siren glowing from inside, almost like she was waiting for me....
Come home, Luk.
"What-?" I started to ask.
But suddenly my vision exploded with light and it was like the inky dark of the lake had been washed away by white. I lost track of everything, and was greeted by a vision that I couldn"t explain and yet felt like I knew, almost like it was a memory: There was a ma.s.sive city built of stone, copper, and gold. It sat high in a steep-sided valley, with a great curving wall at its end, meeting the sea. Sailing ships moved to and from giant stone docks. More ships in the air, too, somehow. Mountains rose behind the city, jagged peaks topped with snow and cradling glaciers. The sky was dark gray, red sunlight edging the horizon.
At the center of the city was a giant structure, a pyramid like something out of ancient Egypt but with a flat top that was bordered by strange round globes, glowing like fire, but with white intensity.
Atop the pyramid stood a cl.u.s.ter of people, adults in crimson robes adorned with turquoise, and in the center, three teens, dressed in virgin white, on their knees on soft pillows, staring straight ahead. Things blurred....
And I was one of the three. Before me was an object of brilliant crystal, sparkling translucent white. There was one in front of each of us. They glowed brighter than they should have, given the dim, smoky sky. I now noticed the weightless snow that was falling on me-gray snow, dead, leaving streaks on my white robe. I glanced to my right. Beside me was a girl: black hair, a round face, coal-black eyes. She looked back at me. I didn"t know her, or did I? Tears were leaking slowly down her cheeks. Beyond her was another boy, but his face was obscured in s.h.a.ggy hair. But this girl... who was she?
She nodded slightly then turned back to face the giant crystal before her. I did too, and I looked into the pale light, the crystal object the size of my head. On its surface I saw a distorted reflection of a face that wasn"t quite my own, yet the features were similar, almost like we were related.
Behind the crystals, the priests and priestesses moved their hands in slow circles, performing final rites. One of them cried, but we all knew this was what had to be done.
I watched that one woman"s gaze flick over my shoulder, and, though I could not see them, I understood that behind us stood men, men with daggers, men who were stepping forward and placing those perfect blades to our necks.
And then the crystal"s glow increased, overwhelming everything and blinding me of every other thought. The blade pressed in and I felt searing pain and my eyes widened and I saw that the crystal before me had been perfectly carved into the shape of a human skull.
Its hollow eye sockets gleamed at me and I stared at it and I was so afraid but sure this was right, that all would be right. The giant skull, smiling a skinless grin of perfectly etched teeth. I believed. I believed....
The pain of the blade was like the burning of forming gills only worse, and deeper, until there was nothing but the mineral light of the crystal skull, growing brighter, and I was gone within it, of it, in an oblivion of pure white.
Chapter 11
GREEN.
My eyes blinked open to a view down into sun-streaked water. A few feet below me, among the angling sunbeams, a giant puke-colored zombie koi hovered, watching me like it was waiting to be sure I was dead. Its gills billowed slowly in and out. Its eyes flicked around almost as if it was embarra.s.sed that I"d noticed it.