City of the Falling Sky (30 page)

“
The last contact that
either Endoman or Ringold had with the outside world was a post in
which Endoman expressed his fears that Lux was going to kill them.
He said that Lux had become something else, something had changed
inside of him, and he had become a monster.

“
Now the rest . . . the rest
may just be speculation. I don’t know how anyone could know what
happened after that, but there are rumours about what did. Maybe
there were cameras inside the lab that were being fed to an
undisclosed location, maybe there were people stationed close by,
who knows? But it’s said that Lux did, indeed, murder both Adelbert
and Rikard, and he turned against Pawl.

“
Pawl defended himself, but
he was terrified by the monstrous nature of his, let’s say,
brother. He said to Pawl that they should kill themselves. They
shouldn’t have been allowed to be created. Pawl tried to calm Lux
down but this just riled Lux even more.

“
Pawl managed to escape from
the lab because Lux was developing serious walking difficulties,
and he bolted the door behind him. He survived the night in the
open air but when he returned to the lab entrance in the morning
there was a message written on the inside of the glass. It
said:

I will kill you one day and I will kill any
child you bring into this world. We should not exist, and I will
not rest until we are both dead.

“
That was when Pawl knew
that Lux had to be locked away in that chamber for the rest of his
life. There was renewable food in there, he’d survive. It would be
the loneliest existence, but it was necessary. Pawl knew that he
could never let Lux out if he wanted to survive himself.

“
He fitted the door with the
most secure lock he could find and he synced the lock to a simple
device he invented that he named a xinary. While the xinary showed
green it indicated that the lock was secure. If the xinary showed
red, it meant that the lock had been opened.”

“
His watch . . .” Seckry
said to himself. “That’s why he disappeared, wasn’t it? The xinary
turned red. I’ve seen it in my dreams, and I remember. I remember
him having this watch. And I remember it glowing green. But . . .
it turned red. Lux escaped.”

“
It would seem so. I imagine
your father would have done anything to protect you and your
sister. That’s why he disappeared. So that when Lux came looking
for him, he wouldn’t find you.”

“
Do you think Lux found him?
Do you think my dad . . . do you think my dad is dead?”

Seckry barely remembered the rest of that day
afterwards. He drifted from lesson to lesson like a ghost. His body
was there, but his mind was far, far away.

His dad had disappeared because he knew Lux
would come after him. He knew Lux would murder him and Leena. His
dad had been . . . protecting them.

When he arrived home that evening, he sat his
mum and Leena down in the living area and said, “There’s something
you both need to know. It’s about dad.”

Coralle took the information with a calm
intensity, soaking up everything Seckry was saying in silence and
not giving any indication on what she thought about it. Leena, on
the other hand, burst into tears and started screaming at
Seckry.

“
Who does this guy think he
is? Your teacher? How is he supposed to know anything about our
dad? He doesn’t know the half of it! He’s making it all up! Dad
left us, Seck! He dumped us for another family. You can believe all
this artificial baby nonsense yourself but I’m not having
it!”

She continued to cry off and on for days
afterwards and Coralle remained mostly silent.

“
Do you believe that’s what
happened?” Seckry asked his mum.

“
The truth is, Seckry, my
love, I don’t know. I do not know the answer to that question.
After nine years of accepting something, to have what you believe
to be true shaken up like this, it’s just . . . hard to
comprehend.”

Even though Seckry’s thoughts were filled
with his father, he had to stop himself talking about him at home
because Leena was on the brink of a breakdown.

While at school, Seckry told Eiya everything
Vance had said, and even though the conversation was awkward, she
was still genuinely interested and concerned.

Seckry was desperate to know if his dad was
still alive or not, but Vance had assured him there was no way of
knowing. If his dad was still alive, he would never allow himself
to be found by his children because it would put them in danger
from Lux.

Seckry also thought about Lux. He had no idea
what he looked like, but in his mind he saw a hooded man stalking
the streets with a concealed knife, ready to slit the throat of his
father and then to come looking for any traces of his family.

Over the following few days, Coralle and
Leena began packing for a work trip that was going to last two
weeks. They were heading down south, to Arivel, in order to
research into new ways of recycling paper. When the time came for
them to leave, Leena left without saying goodbye, but Coralle
hugged Seckry tightly and said, “You’ll be okay love, won’t you?
I’ve stocked up the fridge, you know how to use the cooker. Just
make sure you lock this door at night and switch all plugs off
before going to bed. See you soon, hey? And despite everything, I
hope you can . . . enjoy this ball of yours.”

Seckry had been thinking about his dad so
much that the ball had completely slipped out of his mind. It
seemed so trivial in comparison now, but he knew he had to drag
himself out of his daze to carry on with life. He wasn’t about to
forget any of this, but he had to think about something else for a
while, for the sake of his own sanity.

“
Well, I’ve got my date
sorted,” whispered Tenk, during an astronomy lecture in the
planetarium tower. “Poola Pinyada, from the year below us. But man,
what are you gonna do? The ball is, like, two days
away,”

“
I know, you don’t have to
remind me,” Seckry said.

“
There’s only one girl left
who hasn’t got a date,” Tippian joined in.

“
Really? Who is it?” Seckry
asked.

“
You’re not going to like
this.”

“
Just tell me,
Tipps.”

“
Natania Linse.”

Seckry’s face dropped. He couldn’t think of
anyone worse. His contempt for Natania had, if anything, grown
stronger and stronger since the day she had tricked him into
meeting her so she could get drugs from Snibble. The thought of
taking her to the ball was beyond ridiculous. He couldn’t even
comprehend it. He almost stifled a laugh.

“
It’s no wonder she hasn’t
got a date,” Seckry said vehemently. “She’s vile.”

“
It’s either her, or you
don’t go to the ball,” Tippian said, matter-of-factly. “They don’t
let you in without a date, they say it’s to try to stop rowdy gangs
of guys coming in together and starting trouble.”

“
I can’t go with Natania. I
can’t even bear to look at her.”

“
Just think about it, Seck.
You can turn up with her and then just hang around with us. Do you
think I’m gonna be staying with Curly Hetchings all
night?”

“
I suppose I never thought
about it,” Seckry said.

“
Well I’m not. I’m gonna be
chilling with Tenk.”

The middle of the week was plagued with more
torrential rain and Seckry had resigned himself to the library
where he knew he’d be able to be left alone. Mr Nebrio had given
them a substantial piece of homework the day before and Seckry used
this as a good excuse to separate himself from the group. If he
buried his head in his homework, maybe this whole ball thing would
just go away.

He was running his finger across the dusty
astronomy shelf, trying to spot Milkiny’s Maelstrom Mathematical,
when he heard the sound of ruffling fabric behind him.

“
Hey.”

Seckry turned around and immediately scowled.
It was Natania.

“
What are you doing in
here?” Seckry said spitefully. “I thought you’d never be seen dead
in a library.”

“
I know, the place is making
me sick. Look, Seckry, I know it ain’t ideal, but we’re the only
ones without a date. Are you gonna do anything about it or aren’t
you?”

“
You’ve got to be kidding
me, right?” Seckry shook his head in disbelief.

“
Well there’s nobody else to
take me.”

“
Looks like you’re not going
to the ball then,” Seckry said simply. He couldn’t believe she
actually expected him to ask her to the ball after everything that
had happened.

Natania huffed.

“
Seckry, come on. Can’t you
just forget about that night? It was such a long time ago. And
besides, I had no idea Snibble was gonna beat you up like that. I
thought he just wanted to rough you up a bit. Shove you
around.”

“
And that would have been
okay, would it?” Seckry said angrily. “I get shoved around by
Snibble, you get your drugs, and everyone’s happy?”

“
Look, I’m sorry, okay? I
shouldn’t have led you on. Can you accept an apology from me, at
least?”

Seckry breathed out exasperatedly.

“
Sure,” he said. “Apology
accepted,” and he turned around.

“
If you change your mind,
just let me know, okay?”

He heard her walk away and he let his head
slump into the shelf of books.

“
You actually asked her?”
Tenk said incredulously, the next day.

“
Well, if I didn’t then I’d
be stuck at home feeling even more miserable about the fact that
I’d be missing the whole thing,” Seckry said. “So I did what I had
to. But I want to make it clear that this is
not
a date with
Natania. This is . . . pure necessity, okay?”

“
You did the right thing,
man,” Tenk said reassuringly, and Tippian nodded with
him.

Seckry wasn’t sure what had come over him
when he’d asked Natania, and nobody was more shocked than him when
he did. He eventually put it down to the fact that he couldn’t
spend any more time wallowing in self pity any more. He had to do
something. Even if it meant going to the ball with the one girl he
despised the most.

On the evening of the ball, Seckry got
dressed in his hired, oversized suit as quickly as he could, and
tried to avoid Eiya as much as possible.

But when he saw her emerge from his bedroom,
just before leaving, his whole body sighed and he couldn’t look
away.

He had never seen anyone so beautiful in all
of his life. She was wearing a slim, silky green dress that fanned
out towards the bottom and she had tied her hair up into an
elaborate pattern, with a few strands falling across her gleaming
brown eyes.

Seckry left the flat before Thom Malerk could
arrive because he knew he wouldn’t be able to face seeing Eiya
greet him.

After picking Natania up from her home in a
taxi, Seckry took her hand and led her into the school hall.

“
Seckry, you’re holding my
hand too tight,” Natania said irritably.

“
Sorry,” Seckry said
absent-mindedly, lost in his own thoughts.

“
So why didn’t you go with
her
?” Natania nodded and Seckry saw that Eiya and Thom had
already arrived and were holding hands just ahead.

“
We . . . we’re not like
that,” Seckry said miserably.

They made their way onto the dance floor and
Natania pulled him to the left, whilst craning her head to see
through the crowd.

“
What’s the matter?” Seckry
said.

“
Nothing,” Natania replied,
dismissively. “I just want to stand over this side of the room,
that’s all.”

A few upbeat songs played and Natania danced
in front of him, swinging her thighs around and gyrating thin air,
whilst Seckry stood absolutely still, scanning the room for a
glimpse of Eiya.

During the third song Natania stopped and
dragged Seckry right over to the other side of the room.

“
What’s the matter now?”
Seckry said, confused.

“
Nothing,” Natania said
abruptly. “Just try to act like you want to be here with me at
least.” She craned her head again, as though trying to spot someone
nearby.

“
Gedin, Seckry!” she
suddenly blurted. “Are you gonna buy me a drink or what? I’m
parched.”

“
Oh . . . yeah, I forgot.
What do you want?”

“
A soursucker, but tell them
I don’t want any ice in it.”

“
Soursucker. No ice.
Sure.”

Seckry wandered over to the bar (which was
non-alcoholic only), getting knocked a couple of times and sloshed
by drinks. He passed by Kimmy and Loca, who were locked in a
seemingly infinite kiss. He did a double take as he glanced at them
because Loca had shaved the whole of the left side of her head, and
had patterned the skin with a rainbow of colours.

“
Cheer up, Seckry,” said
Tenk, who was also at the bar. “It just wasn’t meant to be with you
and Eiya, you know?”

But Seckry couldn’t help but look down.

In front of them, the bartender was doing
some kind of performance art with the drinks, pouring all sorts of
multicoloured juices and syrups into a metal container.