30.1:《A》—Never odd or eveN—

「page 601」

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This one 
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category.

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Atienna opened her eyes. 

A flower-patterned ceiling greeted her. Light slipped in from the window to her right and illuminated the dull forest green wall on her left. The wall was littered with photographs carefully preserved in wooden frames. 

Atienna hadn’t dared to look at them when she’d first come to this room, and she didn’t dare to look at them now. Instead—just like the night before—she found her eyes drawn to the bookshelf wedged between the photographs and the door.  Each of the three shelves hosted ten books. The first shelf had books with green spines labeled A-J. Common letters. The next shelf displayed books with spines going from K to T. Third shelf—U to Z spines with a missing Y, followed by spines labeled 1-7.

Some of these were books she’d once held captive in her room at her childhood home in Ngoto. Her mother had gifted the collection to her for her eighth birthday. Atienna had discarded them on her sixteenth. And yet here they were—physical and present unlike the dream that was receding back into the corners of her mind.

Channels. Black and white. Color. Olive, Cadence, Werner, Maria, Jericho.

Atienna swung her legs off her bed and planted her feet on the ground. Cold. Hard. Real. She approached her door and placed her ear to it. Faintly she could hear the clattering of wooden spoons against wooden bowls, a sizzling pan, muffled chatter. She’d gotten so used to hearing silver utensils scraping against porcelain during her travels that she’d almost forgotten these homely sounds.

Nostalgia was a strange feeling. Both pleasant and unpleasant.

Atienna looked back behind her towards the window. Then she looked back at the door. She took in a breath and pushed forward.

* * *

This house was an exact replica of her home—her real home back in Ngoto. An open space with a small kitchen connecting to the small living room, and a hallway stretching back towards the bedrooms. Atienna kept to this hall instead of entering the open area and peered into the kitchen.

Three figures were sitting on the kitchen floor on a brightly woven mat. At the center of their triangle was an assortment of colorful dishes. Dried meats, pickled vegetables, and fufu. Atienna looked towards the stove just behind them to find the chef of the meal busily stirring a pot.

The trio: Kamaria, Kichea, her father. She had barely spoken to them the previous night and had only a minute to embrace each of them with hesitant and hopeful confusion before being ushered into another room by… someone who looked like her mother. The one who manned the stove. 

“Well, look at this miracle,” her father spoke suddenly in their native tongue. “Kichea and Kamaria waking up before Atienna.”

Was this the father Atienna knew or not?

Kamaria looked up at this, turned, and stared at Atienna. She chewed slowly before offering a wave. “Good morning.”

Was this the Kamaria Atienna knew or not?

Kichea leapt to her feet and rushed at Atienna. Atienna herself barely had the time to register the sudden attention before Kichea threw her arms around Atienna’s waist.

“Ati!”

Atienna looked down at her and placed a hand on her back—a half embrace.

Was this the Kichea Atienna knew or not?

“Well, it’s good for her to sleep in. She needs her rest,” the woman at the stove said, turning slightly to greet her with a smile. “Good morning, Atienna.”

The woman’s voice sent chills down Atienna’s spine.

Atienna knew this was not the mother she knew.

“Come, come”—her father gestured for her to sit beside him and held out a bowl for her— “We have not eaten together in ages! Now if only Bachiru would come visit some time…”

This was how things played out last night and most likely how it was going to continue to play out. Not quite addressing the issue—not the alleged VNW if this Ndoto place was indeed real, not the situation if this Ndoto place was indeed fake. Instead, bypassing and continuing on. 

Guiding Kichea back to the dining area, Atienna uncertainly accepted the bowl before seating herself by her father. She looked down at the set-out dishes and was hit with another wave of nostalgia. There was a touch of something in the presentation of the plates that stirred at a memory—the way there were green spring onions sprinkled generously over the meat, the texture of the corn meal, the smell of the seasoning. She had not experienced—seen—these touches in a long time.

“You’re sitting in mum’s spot, Atienna,” Kamaria said suddenly from beside her.

Atienna stiffened as she felt a warm presence behind her. Without looking over her shoulder, Atienna shifted towards Kamaria and away from her father. The warm presence behind her sank beside her. Atienna could not see her clearly from the corner of her eye—or maybe it was that she didn’t want to.

“This feels so nostalgic,” her ‘mother’ said. “How many years has it been since we’ve all had a meal together like this?”

Years? Over a decade? Ever since her mother had become catatonic and bound to that wheelchair? Atienna knew, however, that this question had no answer and even if it did have an answer her answer was not ‘historically accurate’ in this place. 

“Too long,” her father answered with a laugh—an almost unfamiliar sound. “Kamaria and Kichea busy in school, Atienna on her own and busy with work, and you—”

“And you with your evening patrols in the park,” her ‘mother’ teased lightly back.

“They are important strolls,” her father rebutted. “I am keeping the neighborhood safe.”

Kamaria snorted. 

Nostalgia stirred in Atienna’s chest again. Unpleasant and pleasant.

Her ‘mother’ hummed, pressing a hand against Atienna’s back. “I know everything must be so confusing for you. You can stay here as long as you’d like to adjust. We can catch up and walk through some things to help you remember—”

Kamaria abruptly rose to a stand.

Her ‘mother’ paused and removed her hand from Atienna’s back. “I understand if you’re not comfortable, honey. We can head to your house instead while Kamaria and Kichea are in school since I don’t have to go to—”

“School?” Atienna looked up sharply at this. 

“It’s Monday,” Kamaria said, already exiting the dining area. She picked up a pink bookbag from the sofa in the living room and swung it over her back. “School starts on Mondays.”

Monday? This was when Araceli had said Maria wanted to meet with her, wasn’t it? Maria, who Atienna was certain would be the same even in this place. Maria, who Atienna vaguely recalled seeing in a dream. Monday—Maria, her sisters, her mother. A diverging path. Atienna knew which path she did not want to go down.

“What do you say, Atienna?” Her ‘mother’ tried, hand hovering. “We haven’t seen each other in quite some time—”

The way her mother kept wording things troubled Atienna deeply. It was almost as if—

“Why don’t you go with Kamaria and Kichea, Atienna?” Her father cut through her thoughts with a smile. “At least, take them on the way to school? Perhaps seeing the area will help some.”

Her ‘mother’ startled at this and looked over at him.

“I know you want to spend time with her, dear,” her father continued, “but I’m sure she’d like to spend time with her sisters just as much.” He locked eyes with her. “Right…?”

Peculiar. 

“I’ll accompany Kamaria and Kichea to… school,” Atienna said after a beat. She offered her sisters a smile. “That is, if you don’t mind it.”

* * *

The walk to the train station that was to take them to the Child of the World District was silent. Kichea was holding Atienna’s hand and skipping with a hum. Kamaria was a little ways ahead of her. The streets around them were bright and lively—filled to the brim with passersby wearing bright and loose clothing. The gray motorway to Atienna’s left was dotted with v-ehicles. Or ‘vehicles’?

“We missed you, Ati,” Kichea said suddenly. 

Atienna looked down at her sister and studied her face. Was this the Kichea she knew? A fake Kichea? A real Kichea? A Kichea who was real but was acting like a fake? A Kichea who was real but did not know she was filling in the shoes of a fake? A Kichea who was fake but did not know she was not real?  Was her definition of “real” and “fake” “correct”?

Kichea squeezed her hand. 

After a pause, Atienna smiled and squeezed back. “I missed you too.”

Kichea grinned.

“So… have you heard from Bachiru recently?” Atienna tried. 

“Bachiru is probably with that hippie ‘friend’ of yours,” Kamaria said back to her. “You know Bachiru. He always wants to be involved in things. Last I spoke with him he said he was going to join ELPIS.” 

Atienna froze immediately but did not allow her mind to race. Join ELPIS—as in the ELPIS of this place. A ‘counterculture’—a new term—group. Not an extremist group. But why? Was this Bachiru her Bachiru?

Eventually, they descended some stairs that led to an underground train station much like the one she’d seen before riding to this district with Jericho. Unlike the previous night, however, the train station was rather packed. Full of life.

Atienna’s thoughts went to the foggy remnants of her dream from the previous night as she followed Kamaria to the 7th platform. She studied her sister’s back for a moment before she tried, “Do you two remember, Carl?”

Kichea didn’t indicate that she’d heard. It was rather noisy with the crowd, after all.

Kamaria, on the other hand, looked back at her sharply before shrugging and looking away. “Mr. Foxman? We met him the other day.”

Atienna tensed. “How did you meet him?”

“He got lost,” Kamaria explained. 

“Lost… where?”

Kamaria didn’t answer and only shrugged again.

Frustrating, yes, but it wouldn’t do to make a scene. Plus, she was used to Kamaria being like this—though admittedly she’d almost forgotten what it felt like to be on the other end of Kamaria’s… eccentricities. Perhaps—Atienna thought further—Kamaria was merely being cautious. Atienna’s mind went to Lavi’s words she’d heard when she’d first arrived here— “Be careful or become fertilizer.”  A threat? Had that been real…?  Klaus seemed to have heard it too. Was that why…? 

A light test was needed.

“I was wondering if my lovely sisters would mind helping get some of my facts straight. My memory apparently is quite misplaced,” Atienna drew slowly. “I came across this word while reading last night called ‘Ngoto’. What does it mean? Does that sound familiar?”

“Ngoto sounds a lot suaver than Ndoto in my opinion,” Kamaria said without skipping a beat.

Well, that was both direct and indirect.

Atienna paused. “Why do you say that?”

“Atienna”—Kamaria turned to her before pausing, lips pursing. After a beat, she faced forward again and said, “Ngoto rolls off the tongue better. That’s why.” She popped her lips—a frustrating habit. “You know what? I think I saw ‘Ngoto’ in a book too. On your bookshelf. The one labeled ‘5’.”

“Is that so…?”

“Yep. It’s called the Quiescent Six. You read weird books sometimes, Ati. Is it okay if I borrow it some time? I know you hate when people touch—”

A sign? Or perhaps Atienna merely wanted it to be a sign. She wanted to at least give them a sign too either way.

Atienna paced forward and got hold of Kamaria’s wrist with her free hand. She interlaced their fingers. “Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t even have to ask. Whether what I think is real or fantasy, I am and will always remain your sister—perks always included.” 

“Don’t be embarrassing, Ati.” Kamaria smiled and arched a brow as the train roared into the station. She held Atienna’s hand in her own. “Who else would you be?”

* * *

The train ride was uneventful. Atienna watched people come and go as the train pulled into different stations. People who had their own lives? Real people? Eventually, the train pulled to a particular station and Kamaria and Kichea offboarded. Atienna followed behind them, offering to carry their bookbags.

Instead of departing back to ‘her’ district at the station entrance, Atienna decided to accompany both her sisters to at least the campus of their so-called school. The concept of school was not foreign to Atienna—though she had only experienced something akin to ‘school’ through Olive and Werner. She herself had been tutored personally by Usian, while Olive had gone through a handful of years at a private institute and Werner a rigorous military education. Nothing quite normal.

Atienna had read about ‘normal’ schools in books in passing but when she neared her sisters’ school with them, she could not help but think it seemed more mundane than mundane fiction. 

A limestone building painted the palest of pastel greens loomed ahead. An east and west wing spread out from its cubical center, and a large courtyard bloomed in front of it and was dotted by a handful of adolescents. The way the adolescents were dressed here was more extravagant than the others Atienna had seen since arriving in this place. Bright colors, dark colors, every color. Clothing that bloomed out, clothing that held tight. It was rather… daring—the fashion here. Interestingly enough, there was no sign around denoting the name of the school.

“Well, you don’t look like a student, so that must mean you’re a teacher.”¹¹

Atienna still hadn’t gotten used to the feeling—being caught off-guard by an approach from one of the other five. At least, in this case, she was able to recognize the approacher’s voice so it wasn’t too much of a surprise. Upon turning, she found none other than Olive making his way towards her.

Flanking Olive’s left was Claire and flaking his right was Trystan. Behind Claire was Eunji and Felix—the latter wearing a handkerchief to conceal his lower-face once again. Behind Trystan were another handful of adolescents Atienna vaguely recognized. Some of Olive’s old classmates from New Ram University back in Aries and… some faces Atienna recalled seeing in Olive’s younger childhood memories—before the Tragedy.

One of those phantasmal adolescents whispered loudly into Olive’s ear, “Who’s that lady?”

“A friend….” Olive smiled rather impishly and then jerked his chin at Kamaria. “Hey, Kamaria. Still recovering from the game yesterday?”

Kamaria arched a brow and crossed her arms. “Strange that you are talking as if you won.” She looked past Olive towards Lavi and Eunji and waved.

Lavi returned the gesture casually while Eunji did so hesitantly.

“Were you heading to literature class?” Olive asked, sliding his hands into his pockets with an impish grin.

Kamaria gasped—the sarcasm was familiar to Atienna. “Well, how did you figure that? It is almost as if we have the same classes in the morning!”

This banter was odd to Atienna as Olive and Kamaria hadn’t interacted at all besides perhaps exchanging glances back in Francis’s rooms. A friendly interaction between them was something she’d imagined happening in passing daydreams, but this seemed to be some unnatural twist on that. This aside, Atienna noted that the two seemed to be more than passingly familiar with each other. Atienna knew Olive was a ‘part’ of this place, and this conversation seemed to put Kamaria as part of this place too.

Olive squinted for a moment before he shrugged. “Yeah, well, Mr. Stein is absent today.”

Derik?

“Absent?”

“He caught a bad case of VNW.” Olive shrugged again, sounding amused. “Apparently he kinda split and now some guidance officers are trying to lock him down.”

Felix shook his head.

Oh dear. It seemed as if Derik was taking a slightly opposite approach to Atienna’s own —completely opposite to Eunji’s too it seemed. Perhaps opposite to Kamaria’s approach? Kamaria…

“Anyway, the substitute that took over Mr. Stein’s three blocks said that our classwork today is to find something around to write about and write about it.”

Kamaria arched a brow.

Peculiar. The amount of freedom this school seemed to give its students. Not quite like Atienna’s books.

“Creative, I know.” Olive thumbed behind him. “Anyways, we were about to head to the zoo and write about animals or something. Although… I could always have Essay Writer do it for me…”

Essay Writer?

Kamaria nodded at Felix. “And him…? He is not a student. Why is he here?”

Felix tensed.

Claire broke out into a grin and patted Felix’s chest. “He skipped his classes and wanted to tag along.”

Although Felix’s face was mostly concealed, the emotion in his eyes was… pitiable. He seemed to compose himself and glanced at Eunji before making eye contact with Atienna. Atienna held his gaze before shifting her gaze to Eunji.

“Wanna come with?” Olive offered. He nodded at Atienna. “All of you?” He looked down at Kichea. “Er, minus her. She has her own classes she needs to go to, doesn’t she? Plus, feels weird dragging around some kindergartener.”

“I’m not some… kindergartner…” Kichea pouted, squeezed Atienna’s hand, and looked not to Atienna but to Kamaria. “I wanna come…”

Kamaria glanced up at Atienna as if deferring to her. The askance in her eyes was clear.

Atienna squeezed Kichea’s hand back and held Kamaria’s gaze. “I can act as a chaperone. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too much of a problem to miss one lesson.”

“A chaperone?” One of the adolescents snorted. “I don’t need a—”

“She’s not chaperoning you, dufus.” Olive kicked him in the shin with a smile.

* * *

After another train ride, Atienna found herself walking through a pair of large, open gates and onto a winding brick path that forked off into seven directions. At the center of the fork was a sign that read ZOO. Olive’s group gathered together with Kamaria at this sign and seemed to be debating which path to take. Atienna lingered slightly behind them, holding Kichea’s hand.

After a while, Kichea wandered towards a set of rose bushes just a foot away. Atienna remained in place, keeping an eye on her.

“Did you learn anything…?” came a voice from beside her.

Atienna turned and found Eunji standing beside her. Felix was behind the girl with his hands folded behind his back. This was rather surprising. Atienna had the impression that Eunji was a shy and quiet child, hiding comfortably in the shadow of her brother while occasionally showing defiance and stepping out from the darkness. That forwardness was a plot twist. 

After a pause, Atienna asked, “Have you been having any strange dreams lately?”

“We… both have.” Eunji nodded. “But some pamphlets that I’ve found lying around say that those things are symptoms of VNW.”

“I see…” Atienna ruminated. “What sort of dreams?”

“I… can’t remember them too well…” Eunji frowned. “I just know they were strange.”

“If I may interject, My Lady.”

Eunji looked to her guard in surprise. “O-Of course, Felix.”

“I don’t wish to overstep my bounds, but…” He unfolded his hands from behind his back, crossed them in front of his chest, and stared across the path towards Claire. “…what if this is real? What if everything we have experienced before is what isn’t?”

Eunji’s eyes widened, and she spoke rapidly in the language of the Seong Clan as she grabbed Felix’s arm. Felix startled at this before dipping his head, folding his hands behind his back, and mumbling something back in response. 

A moment later, Eunji continued in Common— “It could be a trick. I don’t understand fully about what’s really been happening because Claire always kept me in the dark….” Her lips quivered for a moment, but she pressed on, “But we shouldn’t draw any conclusions yet… I mean, I don’t think we should. I think we should just blend in and investigate for now. There are three enemies Claire had, right? The other clans, ELPIS Leaders… and saint candidates? This obviously is beyond the scope of my siblings, but… the other two…”

Crafty, like her brother. 

Eunji regarded Kichea. “Your sister?”

Atienna looked down at Kichea and nodded. 

“So, you found your family here too…”

Atienna nodded slowly.

“My brother says my mother is away at work and my father—I don’t recognize his face. I don’t know that man.” Eunji looked back at Kichea then at Kamaria. “Are they…?”

“I’m not sure,” Atienna murmured, squeezing Kichea’s hand. “They may be acting or maybe…”

“You couldn’t tell?” Eunji asked, seemingly surprised. She caught herself and flushed. “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean… they didn’t tell you? I mean—”

Kichea ran back to Atienna’s side. “What are you talking about, Ati…?” she asked, blinking up at Atienna then over at Eunji. Before Atienna could respond, Kichea pointed to the sign at the fork in the road.

A group was gathered there. They seemed to be debating which path to go down. This was not a group that Atienna recognized.

Eunji went stiff beside her. “Where’d…. they go?”

Eunji and Felix immediately made their way to the signs at the diverging path. Atienna followed them with Kichea in tow. She looked down the multiple paths and could not spot any familiar faces among the crowd. Out of habit, she tried, Olive—but, of course, she received no reply. She moved on to trying to reach out to him—to feel him through their connection. Static.

Finally, Atienna looked up at the signs. They were wooden, the letters engraved and then painted white. Vines grew up the pole of the signs and sprouted buds at the edges of the posts. The buds were peculiarly shaped like stars—stars that popped and blossomed heart-shaped petals that pulsated with white light.

Atienna stared incredulously at the sight, unable to comprehend how the fluorescence could have occurred so quickly. Her attention was drawn away from the phenomenon by the letters on the signs which the flowers illuminated—

THIS WAY

NOT THAT WAY

THAT WAY

NO THIS WAY

NOT THIS WAY

THERE IS NO WAY

“Miss… Imamu… should we split up and look for them?”

Atienna startled and glanced over at Eunji who was facing one of the paths. She looked back up at the sign. There were no vines, no star-shaped buds, no floral blooms. The signs read—

AVIAN

AQUATICS

SAFARI

RAIN FOREST

JUNGLE

DESERT

“It might be best to wait for them to come back,” Atienna drew slowly. “We don’t know our way around this place…”

Eunji’s face fell for a moment.

“Ati!” Kichea pointed down the path indicated by the arrow labeled AQUATICS. “I want to see fish!”

“Kichea—”

“Please,” Kichea begged.

“How about… we return to this post in an hour?” Eunji suggested. “Felix and I will take the left half paths from the rainforest of the desert and… you can search the right paths?”

Eunji was a princess with authoritative power, Atienna thought to herself, but she was still young—still looking for direction instead of being the one to give direction. Additionally, Eunji had recently suffered the loss of her brother. Now that he was standing before her again, she didn’t want to leave his side in fear of him disappearing from her sights once again. Atienna felt sympathy for her.

Atienna relented with a nod. With that, Eunji and Felix departed and Atienna allowed herself to be pulled forward by Kichea. Several exhibits opened along the left and right side of the path.

She noted her surroundings as she passed them by but did not actively invest in admiring them. She had read about zoos in books. They had a tumultuous beginning but an apparently hopeful end. Entertainment to conservation in recent years. Though, now that Atienna thought about it, perhaps her perception of ‘zoo’ was different from the ‘reality’ of ‘zoo’ in this place—

“Ati, look!” 

Kichea pointed to a wide tunnel that opened adjacently along the path. Blue glowing light emanated from within and seeped out onto the road.  Kichea ran forward, pulling Atienna along through the tunnel. Atienna welcomed the respite from the heat and listened to the leather slap of her sandals against the brick path. Her eyes strayed to the walls that were illuminated from the light at the end of the tunnel. There were letters there painted green—

NEVERODDNOREVEN

A peculiar phrase to have at the zoo…

Soon, they pulled out of the tunnel and onto a bridge platform guarded by red railings. Above them was a glass dome. Beyond that dome was a deep blue—not the lit-up sky but the glowing blue sea. Or a false sea. A special tank, it seemed. Schools of brightly patterned fish were swimming up there as if they were birds. 

It was dream-like, and Atienna could only wonder about the engineering feat. 

A shadow suddenly passed over them. If the sky was above Atienna’s head instead of the sea, she would’ve thought it a cloud. The passerby—rather, the passer-over—had bumpy gray skin, wide fins that spanned out like bird wings, an eye that glistened like a black marble. It was through memories that were not her own that Atienna was able to identify what swam above her—a whale.

Atienna thought of Maria. 

“Wow!” Kichea bounced up and down and pointed at the animal before running over to the railings and peering over them. “Ati, look!”

Atienna followed Kichea and followed suit. There was another floor level just below them, and it was sparsely dotted with people admiring the fish swimming and the seaweed waving at the bottom of the dome. She looked over at Kichea and studied her sister’s rosy cheeks and wide eyes before turning her own eyes onto the dome that encapsulated her in this chamber. 

What exactly was she—

“—doing here?”

Atienna turned and found Olive leaning against the railings beside her. Claire was sitting on the rails next to him. Trystan stood behind them, and beside him stood Kamaria, Lavi, and two other adolescents. 

“There you are!” Kamaria ran over to them and grabbed Atienna’s arm. “We were looking everywhere for you!”

Atienna arched a brow and teased, “After you excitedly went on an adventure without us?”

“To be fair, we thought you were behind us,” Olive replied with an easy smile. “I guess you have to reconsider your chaperoning profession.”

“I thought I wasn’t chaperoning you?” Atienna returned.

Kamaria rolled her eyes and took Kichea’s hand in her own. “There’s an ice shop just outside of the aquarium. I’m going to take Kichea to get some. I’ll get you some too.” She started out the tunnel.

Atienna contemplated following but settled on saying, “Don’t go wandering off again.”

Kamaria winced and muttered, “I know. I know. You don’t have to say it out loud.”

Atienna watched them go.

Olive tapped his hand to his chest. “Heart-warming. Really. Even VNW can’t break your sisterly bond apart.”

One of the adolescents arched a brow at this. “What’s this about VNW…?”

Instead of answering that adolescent, Olive whipped around to another one and procured a small triangular package no larger than the palm of his hand. “Hey, Tomas, I dare you to throw this down there after I light it.”

Tomas stiffened and peered over the edge towards a small group chattering just below them. “Right now?”

“What is that…?” Atienna asked.

“It’s just a little firecracker.” Olive explained with a shrug. “You light it and throw it and it sparks a bit and makes a popping sound. Fun stuff.”

What?

“It’s not dangerous close range or anything, but…” Olive looked back at Tomas. “I’ll write your final paper for you if you do it?”

“No joke?” Tomas pressed.

“No. Joke.”

Trystan frowned but said nothing, while Claire looked on with interest. Lavi didn’t seem interested at all.

Tomas slowly, hesitantly reached for it but Atienna swiped it out of Olive’s hand before it was passed on. Tomas looked slightly relieved.

“Afraid Tomas?” the other adolescent teased.

“No—”

Olive shrugged, still smiling. “You know there’s a reason why fear exists. Some say it makes you a coward, but in reality, it keeps you alive.” He nodded at Tomas. “I’ll do your calculus homework tonight if you go buy us all some of that shaved ice Kamaria was talking about.”

Tomas broke out into a grin, aiming two fingers at Olive as he departed.  “You’re the best. See you on the flip side.”

Once Tomas left, Atienna stared at Olive. In this place, nothing and no one was familiar to her. But the way people were unfamiliar had been in—dare Atienna think it—pleasant ways, dream-like ways. Even Jericho’s passive combativeness had been entertaining in a way. This was…

Atienna regarded him, palms itching, curiosity consuming her apprehension. “Why would you do something like that?”

Olive arched a brow at her. “I didn’t do anything. I asked someone to do something.”

“Why?”

Olive shared a look with Claire who shrugged.

Olive peered over the railings before he said matter-of-factly, “Happiness is supposed to be constant in Ndoto. But you know—scientifically speaking—in order to say something is a constant you have to measure it by observation or by comparing it to something else.”

“That’s an interesting perspective—”

“So how can people know what being happy is when they’re happy all the time?” Olive turned, leaning back against the rails. “There’s nothing to compare it to. You could say you could observe it but people are different so you can get an average or anything. Not that you can even score it.”  

Atienna watched as he reached into his pocket again and pulled out a familiar triangle-shaped packet.

“Well…” Olive drew, tapping his index finger against the wick that protruded from one of the triangle’s corners. A spark of crimson blinked in-between the wick and his finger. “I guess we can help them know by bullying them a bit, so they know what happiness really is, right?”

Before Atienna could comprehend his foreshadowing words, Olive tossed the sparking triangle over the edge of the bridge.

There was a beat of silence and then—

Pop! Pop! Boom!

The air filled with shrieks as bright sparks of green and red light emanated from below the bridge. Smoke rose shortly after, the sight swiftly followed by stampeding footsteps.

Olive laughed wildly before he ran forward, grabbed Atienna by the wrist, and began dragging her across the bridge and towards the smoke-filled tunnel. They were followed closely behind the other adolescent, Lavi, Trystan, Claire, and a handful of other people Atienna assumed had been admiring the fish. Abruptly, Olive released her hand and Atienna slowed to a stop at the center of the tunnel.

Impassively, she watched the passersby run past her and outside. Her gaze was drawn to the walls again—to the painted letters glowing green on them.

NEVERODDOREVEN

“Never odd or even,” Atienna repeated to herself. “Peculiar…”

“It depends on the direction you walk.”

Atienna turned and found Claire slowing from a jog to a stop behind her. He was smiling, half his face cast in long shadows, half cast in the light from the tank. Behind him, Atienna spotted Lavi who stopped short, remaining in the dark.

“The meaning,” Claire elaborated. “It changes depending on the direction you walk.”

“It’s a palindrome,” Lavi interjected, brow raised. “The same thing forwards and backwards. AKA, the meaning—” She stared at Atienna— “always stays the same.”

Oh…?

Claire clicked his tongue and shook his head as he turned to her. “Lavi, Lavi, Lavi, Lavi…” He wagged his finger. “What does Mr. Stein always say?”

Lavi put a hand on her hip. “To you? He says your sentences never seem to end.”

“No, you’re getting me confused with our other buddy. Mr. Stein says that you’ve got to look deeper into the meaning behind things.” Claire loosely pointed to the end of the tunnel leading to the outside and then to the other end of the tunnel. He held Atienna’s gaze. “This way or that way—the meaning changes depending on the direction you walk.”

Atienna regarded him before an ominous dread began to build at the pit of her stomach. Sweat broke out across her back, and she instinctively took a step backwards. The heaviness in the atmosphere was oppressive—and familiar.

As Atienna’s mind raced through possibilities and reasons, her palms began to itch. After a moment, she composed herself and tried, muscles tense and ready, “Are you—”

“That’s really stretching a metaphor.” Lavi sighed, crossing her arms as she walked past Claire and stopped beside Atienna and stared at her.

Atienna stared back. “What… do you know?”

Lavi’s expression changed suddenly—melded into something softer, sweeter. “Know about why Ollie does these things? Nothing sadly. Sorry for the trouble he causes. I really appreciate you sticking by him and trying to guide him on the right path.”

Atienna remained silent. Another hidden meaning? Or was she just being paranoid? It was somewhat vexing—finding the line between the two. 

“Hey, what about me?” Claire interjected. “I’m always here trying to be a good influence and friend and—”

“Let’s get out of here.” Lavi said, starting off down the tunnel again. “The guidance officers will probably swing by with questions—”

“Hey, wait for me!” Claire called out before chasing after her. “Why do you guys always leave me behind—”

Atienna watched them go, before whipping around as she heard footsteps clicking from the opposite way. A young woman in bright clothing emerged from the smog.  There was an umbrella dangling in her left hand. As soon as they locked eyes, the woman bent over slightly to catch her breath. She appeared relieved to see someone among the confusion.

When the woman straightened herself, she opened her mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out. As Atienna contemplated speaking first, a red line grew from one side of the woman’s neck to the other.

A cracking resounded followed by a sputtering as the sharp point of a glowing knife erupted from the red line. The woman’s body hit the ground with a thud followed by her head. 

A figure wearing a green raincoat with a hood so large that it concealed their face stepped over the young woman’s corpse. In the figure’s hand was the knife—the murder weapon—with a blade that was pulsating with light. Red, orange, blue, yellow, green, white, black. Each time the blade pulsed, the color changed.

Vitae? Conducting? Yes, Atienna recognized the metal and class bits. A conductor. No. A proto-conductor. The perpetrator? Wait—Ndoto’s ‘first ever’ murderer that she had heard about in passing?

Atienna’s heart went roaring as her palms began to itch—

“You’re not here nor there.”

What? The figure’s voice had come out so warbled that Atienna could barely understand them.

The raincoat man lunged at Atienna, blade swinging. Atienna skirted back, kicking out her leg as she did so.  Her foot contacted her assailant’s wrist and sent the blade flying upwards. Atienna regained her balance and faced her opponent—who was still gripping the pulsating knife.

What?

Atienna’s gaze swept the ground. The knife was nowhere to be found—

The raincoat man lurched forward again. Atienna ducked back, feeling the heat from the weapon ghost her neck. She barely managed to catch herself before she was forced to dance back once more. When she tried to throw out her foot again, her assailant blocked it with the side of their forearm before throttling the weapon forward. Again and again. The attack was relentless, and the attacker almost inhumanly fast—so fast that Atienna did not have time to complete a coherent thought, so fast that it felt like they were predicting her movements, so fast that Atienna could not even make to escape—

A gust of wind suddenly whistled down from the entrance of the tunnel. The gale was so forceful that Atienna was thrown forward off her feet. Thankfully, her attacker was thrown off their feet too.

Atienna took the opportunity to leap up to her feet and run towards the closest exit of the tunnel—the tunnel which seemed to stretch on forever.

N

E

V

E

R

O

D

D

O

R

E

V

E

N

She could not seem to escape these letters—nor could she seem to escape the pounding footsteps behind her, nor the heat of the blade at her back.

Ah.

 She’d forgotten the most important rule when facing an opponent. Never turn your back—

Suddenly Atienna was stumbling out into warm bright light. A blue sky unfolded above her head with not a cloud—nor a sun—in sight. Pedestrians idled around her, some laughing, some whispering, all in seemingly bright spirits despite the smoke seeping out from the tunnel behind her.  A couple meters away she saw Olive and his group gathered by a standing fence. Eunji and Felix were there too—both seemed relieved.

The scene was dissonant to what Atienna had just experienced. It made her wonder if she had truly experienced it at all.

Out of the corner of her eye, Atienna could see Kamaria¹² and Kichea approaching her. They were holding cups of shaved ice dyed green and red at the top. Atienna rushed at them, grabbing them by the wrist and pulling them back away from the tunnel. 

Ignoring the cries of her sister as their shaved ice cups crashed to the ground, Atienna said, “We need to—” 

Atienna swallowed her words as she saw a very familiar young woman in bright clothing emerge from the tunnel. There was an umbrella dangling in her left hand. As soon as they locked eyes, the woman bent over slightly to catch her breath. She appeared relieved to see someone among the confusion.

Atienna stared at her in confusion as laughter and peaceful chattering drowned out the heartbeat in her ears. Her gaze strayed towards the smokey tunnel. No one was inside. No one on the ground. All that remained inside was a pile of brightly colored flower petals scattered on the floor.