by SJ West
As I look back at the children singing in front of us, I know they will be the future of the down-world. If we can educate the young now, while their minds and hearts are still pliable, they’ll be able to integrate cloud city technology into their lives naturally. That’s my goal, anyway. Only time can tell us if it will work.
When the song ends, everyone cheers the children for their efforts. A young girl close to Liana and Liam’s age begins to walk up the steps with a copper box in her hands. The line of War Angels in front of us don’t seem to know whether they should stand aside to allow the girl access to us or halt her steady progress up the steps.
“Let her come,” I tell Marcus, who’s standing directly in front of me. As he moves aside, I begin to second-guess my decision. If someone here wanted to hurt my family, sending a child to do their dirty work would be a smart way to get close to us.
The girl walks up to stand before Liana and Liam. She extends her arms out to give Liana the rectangular copper box in her hands.
“Our teacher said the reason you’re here today is to learn more about us, so we all wrote a letter to tell you about our lives,” the little girl explains.
I notice Liana look at the girl in slight disgust. I can only assume she’s appalled by the state of the child’s tattered clothing and grimy hands. Her reaction causes me to feel as if I’ve failed my daughter as a mother and not taught her proper manners.
“Thank you,” Liam tells the girl as he reaches out to take the box from her, since Liana is doing nothing but staring at the child. The girl smiles at him gratefully with a gap-toothed grin before turning around to return to her friends.
I feel mortified by the way Liana reacted, but there’s nothing I can do about it now without bringing more attention to an already awkward situation. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Malcolm ask Liam for the box so he can keep it safe for him. I suspect he’s really taking it away from our son on the off chance that it’s been booby-trapped with something dangerous. Even though I only want to help the people of the down-world, I’ve heard rumors that a rebellion of traditionalists is forming, who want to keep the people here in the dark ages. These rebels seem to believe that cloud city technology will only lead to divisiveness among the residents of the down-world and cause wars to break out again. I don’t understand their logic, but there are those here who seem to agree with their ideology.
“We thought you all might like to view the mining operation while you’re here,” Sean tells us. “I know this visit is supposed to be short, but it’ll only take a few minutes if your angels phase us over there.”
“I think the children would enjoy that,” I say, welcoming any excuse to leave the attentive crowd and find a quiet place to talk to my daughter about her rude behavior. “Before we leave, I would like to speak to the crowd here first.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Sean says with a slight bow.
I walk over to the edge of the stairs and look out at the crowd.
“I just wanted to say thank you to everyone present here today,” I shout out in order to be heard by as many as possible. “My family and I appreciate you welcoming us to your town. Perhaps one day in the future some of you can visit us in Cirrus.”
“Empress Anna!”
I look out into the crowd to seek the person who called out my name and see a woman waving at me by crossing both her arms rapidly in the air to gain my attention.
I wasn’t exactly expecting questions, but I see no reason not to find out what it is the woman wants.
“Yes?” I ask her expectantly.
“Is it true that you’re planning to lower the cloud city to the down-world?” she asks me excitedly.
“We’re working on a resolution to do just that,” I assure her. “Unfortunately, there are still quite a few people in Cirrus who want to remain in the sky, but we’re confident we’ll be able to change the majority of our citizens’ minds in the near future.”
“It still won’t make you one of us!” a man shouts belligerently from somewhere within the crowd. He doesn’t bring attention to himself, so I’m not sure who said it.
“I think if we continue to view ourselves as being two separate societies,” I begin, “we’ll never reach a middle ground where we can all come together as one. It’s my most fervent wish that we can all think of ourselves as citizens of Cirrus and become a united territory, instead of a group of haves and have-nots. As humans, we’re not meant to live alone. We need each other to survive, or we’ll all perish in time. The only thing I ask is that you place a little bit of faith in me and my family to lead everyone into a much brighter and more prosperous future.”
The majority of the crowd cheers after hearing my words, but there are definitely a few who look rather discontent about my pledge to them. The only way I’ll be able to change their minds is to show them I mean what I say and that I’m not just making empty promises to them like the politicians of old.
“Again,” I say to the crowd, “thank you all for coming out today. It’s meant a great deal to all of us.”
I turn to walk back to my family and notice a worried look on Malcolm’s face. He knows how hard I’m working to improve relations with the down-worlders, but sometimes trying isn’t enough. If people are set in their ways, you can’t force them to change. I still feel like success will have to wait for the next generation of down-worlders to grow up, and I hope I can prepare my children so they’re ready to carry on my work when it’s their time to rule.
Chapter 8
(Liana’s Point of View)
Marcus phases me to the copper mine that Sean Rhodes wants to show us. I can feel how tense he is, but I don’t know why. As the rest of my family phases in around me, it’s my mother’s eyes that capture mine first.
“Liana,” she says to me in the voice she always uses when one of us kids is in trouble, “I need to have a private word with you for a moment.”
“Uh oh,” Liam says inside my head. “I think you’re in trouble.”
“Why? What did I do?” I ask him because I’m at a total loss and can’t think of anything that I’ve done wrong recently.
“Nothing, because I know what you were thinking when that girl gave us the box,” he tells me. “Just be honest with Mom when she asks you about it and everything will be all right.”
My mom holds out her hand for me to take. I walk over to her side and place my hand in hers. She begins to lead me across the snow-covered ground toward a secluded spot near the woods surrounding the mine. The snow here is barely falling through the swaying tree limbs above our heads. I wish I could just play in the snow with my brothers and the dogs, but I know my mother needs to talk to me first.
When she turns to face me, I immediately note the look of disappointment she’s wearing, but the cause of it is a mystery to me.
“Liana,” she begins in a tone that warns me I’m about to get a lecture on something important, “I couldn’t help but notice the look of disgust on your face when that little girl gave you and your brother the box with the letters in it. I realize she wasn’t wearing the nicest clothes and that her hands were a bit dirty, but I thought I taught you better manners than to look down on someone who’s less fortunate than you.”
“What?” I say, bursting into tears as I realize what my mother is accusing me of. “I wasn’t looking down at her. I would never do that.”
My mother’s expression immediately turns to one of concern for me. She walks the two steps separating us and places her arms around me as she brings me in closer to her. I continue to cry because my heart feels like it’s been broken by her accusation. How could she think so little of me?
“Oh Liana,” she says as she continues to hold me tightly to her for comfort, “did I misinterpret your look? Tell me what you were thinking when the girl was standing in front of you.”
I continue to cry, unable to utter a word, but my mother doesn’t badger me to answer her right away. She allows me to calm down first because I th
ink she realizes she got everything wrong.
When I’m finally able to draw in a complete breath, I pull back from my mom so I can look into her face and watch her reaction to what I tell her next.
“I was thinking,” I say before I have to take in another deep breath to continue, “that she deserved to live better. We have so much while she has so little. It just doesn’t seem right, Mom. I felt ashamed for thinking of this trip as a grand adventure. When I saw the man in town who was missing his arms, all I wanted to do was help him in some way. I think I finally understand why you keep drilling your lessons into our heads. Liam and I will have a lot of work to do when we grow up, and I promise I won’t let you down. I swear it.”
This time, it’s my mother’s turn to cry, but I know she’s only doing it because she’s so proud of what I just said to her.
“I’m so sorry,” she tells me, bringing me back into her embrace. “I should have known you’re too tenderhearted to ever think so little of someone who’s less fortunate than you, Liana. Can you forgive me for what I thought?”
“Yes, but Mom,” I say, pulling back a little to tilt my head up to look at her face again, “do you think the girl thought the same thing you did? I would hate it if she went off thinking I didn’t like her because of how poor she is.”
“I don’t think she did, sweetie,” my mom replies. “She seemed really happy to just have the opportunity to meet you, Liam, and Lucas.”
I sigh in relief. The last thing I would want is for the girl to think I disliked her. It isn’t her fault she’s poor. It’s ours. I wish I could go back to town and talk to her. She and everyone else there need to understand that I’ll do everything I can to help lift them out of the poverty they live in now. I know my parents have done a lot so far to help the down-worlders, but there is so much more that still needs to be done.
Like a bolt of lightning appearing without warning, we see a flash of white light and hear a loud explosion right as the earth beneath our feet begins to shake.
Before I even have time to react, my mom phases me to the living room in our castle in Cirrus. Apparently, it was a predesignated meeting spot for everyone in case something unexpected occurred on the surface, because the rest of my family joins us only seconds later.
“Did you see what happened?” my mom urgently asks my dad as she lets go of me.
“No,” he replies with a worried frown. “My first thought was to get the kids back home.”
Marcus phases in a few seconds later to make sure we all made it home safely.
“Do you know what just happened, Marcus?” my mom asks.
“Where’s Jered?” Liam says, looking worried over the absence of his friend.
“A bomb was set off in the building housing the transporter,” Marcus tells us.
I hear my mom gasp in surprise at this news. I begin to feel sick to my stomach because I know all those people who came to see us today couldn’t have cleared the street before the bomb went off. Was the girl we met dead now? Did any of them survive?
“Jered is in Stanton now trying to assess the situation and help the wounded,” Marcus goes on to tell us. “I’m about to head back there to help too.”
“I’m going with you,” my dad tells him before turning to my mom. “Why don’t you take the kids to Laed-i? They’ll be safer there.”
“We should go back and help too,” I argue.
My father kneels down on one knee in front of me and places a comforting hand on my right shoulder.
“I’m proud of you for wanting to help,” he tells me, “but right now, we need to make sure you and your brothers stay safe. For all we know, the people who did this were targeting all of you. If that’s true, you’ll only be placing the people there in more danger. Do you understand?”
“But …” I say, prepared to argue that Liam and I can help phase people in the down-world to safety, but my father quickly cuts me off before I can say any of that.
“I’m sorry, Liana,” he tells me in a voice that indicates he won’t accept any argument I try to make. “You can’t go. We have enough people on the surface to help those who need it. You would just end up diverting everyone’s attention away from what they need to do because they would be more concerned about your safety. If you really want to help the people of Stanton, you have to stay with your mother and brothers. Do you understand me?”
Reluctantly, I nod my head.
My dad stands back up and faces my mom.
“I’ll come to Laed-i after I see to things on the surface,” he says before kissing her on the lips.
“Be careful,” she pleads.
“I will be,” he promises before phasing back to the down-world with Marcus.
My mom looks at all of us and tries to smile, but I can tell she’s forcing the expression, hoping it will bring us all some comfort.
“We should do what your father suggested and go to Laed-i to be with Cal and his family,” she says.
“Can we take Luna and Vala this time?” Lucas asks. “I don’t want to leave them here until we know it’s safe. Besides, they never get to go anywhere with us.”
Luna’s ears perk up, as if she understands what Lucas just said. And maybe she does. Since she’s a hellhound, I believe she’s smarter than a regular dog or wolf, for that matter. I thought about asking Aunt Helena for a hellhound of my own since Luna is really my big brother’s pet, but then I thought better of it. Lucas and I have totally different destinies. He can live his life any way he wants, but Liam and I will always have to dedicate our time to Cirrus. My parents have made that fact painfully obvious to the both of us. When I get older, I’m not sure I’ll have the spare time needed to properly take care of an animal like Luna.
“Oh yes,” Vala says excitedly, looking up at my mom with beseeching eyes. “Can we go too, Anna?”
My mom looks at Luna with a great deal of hesitancy.
“It’s not like Luna hasn’t been to Laed-i before,” I tell her, since it seems like she wants to leave our hellhound behind.
“We’ve never taken her to one of the parties though,” my mom points out. “There will be other people there besides just Cal’s family and friends.”
“It’s not like she’ll hurt anyone,” Lucas contends, assuming that’s what our mother is thinking.
“I’m not worried about how she’ll react to a room full of strangers,” my mom clarifies. “I’m more worried about how a room full of strangers will react to her.”
Luna whines and sits back down beside Lucas as if she expects my mother to leave her behind again.
My mom sighs in resignation as she looks at Luna’s disappointed countenance. “Oh, all right. You can come with us, Luna, but just make sure you keep your eyes on her at all times, Lucas. I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“Don’t worry, Mom,” my big brother says as he rests his right hand on top of Luna’s head. “She’ll be fine.”
Once we’re all on Laed-i, I can tell my mother’s thoughts are still lingering on the explosion and what’s happening in the small mining town of Stanton. If she didn’t have to look after us kids, I’m sure she would be with my father now helping the people of her down-world instead of trying to pretend she’s having a good time at a kid’s party. Honestly, I don’t feel like being here either. I do love Cal like a little brother, but I share my mother’s worry over the safety of those we left behind.
I know my parents don’t tell me everything that happens in the world. My Aunt Helena and I have had talks centered around this very subject quite often. She told me that sometimes parents believe it’s better to keep their children shielded from the horrors people commit against one another. My knowledge of life has been filtered through the viewpoints of my parents. They’ve only allowed me to see the beauty life has to offer, and today was the first time they couldn’t control what I saw. I’m not sure how my mother expects me to lead the people of Cirrus when it’s my time to rule if I only understand pain and suffering as abstract con
cepts.
Speaking of suffering, as soon as I see Cal at his party, I know something is wrong with him. Normally, he’s excited to see us and quickly pulls us away from our parents to go play a game with him. When we phase to the ballroom on Laed-i (where his party is always held), he doesn’t seek us out right away. In fact, Liam and I have to ask his mother where he is since we don’t see him.
“He’s over there,” his mom says, casting her gaze in the direction of the farthest corner of the room where the sunlight shining through the glass doors causes a natural shadow to form.
“Why is he hiding in a corner at his own birthday party?” I have to ask, finding our friend’s behavior beyond strange.
“Because I made a mistake,” his mom answers as she continues to stare at her son worriedly.
“What mistake was that?” my mom asks her.
“I let Keelan bring one of his friends here without asking Cal about the boy first,” Jules answers. “I knew Cal had been acting odd lately and not spending as much time with Keelan as he used to, but he never said what happened between them. Ethan and I just figured it was probably a misunderstanding that would work itself out on its own. You know how it is, Anna. You don’t want to keep solving your children’s problems for them. At some point, you have to let go and allow them to figure out how to handle difficult situations on their own.”
My mom doesn’t say anything. She just nods her head as if she understands what Jules is talking about. Since neither Liam nor I go to a public school like Cal does, we’ve never had relationships with people outside the select group who we’re allowed to interact with. Our lives have practically been altercation free.
