“Let’s just go,” she says and grabs the straps of her backpack. Her eyes focus on the dark spot ahead.
“What do you think is in the cave?” she asks.
Metis shrugs. “As long as it’s big enough to lay down in, I’m good.”
Aris raises her eyebrows.
“What?” Metis asks.
“I wasn’t expecting to hear that from someone used to living in a grand home in Lysithea.”
“Well, nothing is truly ours, is it?”
The side of the hill is covered in boulders that look like pieces of a toy a giant forgot to put away. The higher they go, the harder it is to stay upright. They use their hands for balance and grip.
Despite the cold weather, a bead of sweat drips from the nape of Aris’s neck down the groove of her back. As she scales, she feels like an ant climbing over crumbs. Her hands hurt from the sharp edges of the rocks. They are slippery. She periodically wipes them on her pants so she would not lose her grip and slide down to death below.
She can only hope they are close to their destination. It’s too late now to turn back. Behind them is their old life and the Four Cities. But they have each other. She looks at Metis. His body is like a cat in the night. Graceful limbs extending and retracting. Reaching toward the sky.
Aris feels a shiver coming. She fights it. She concentrates on the hardness of the ring digging against the bones of her fingers. She must keep climbing.
“We’re almost there. I can see the opening,” Metis says.
Aris pulls herself up on the last rock and finds herself standing on a ledge. In front of her is the cave. It’s made of boulders coming together to form a chamber. Her heavy breathing is constant in her ears. Her hands sting. Blisters are forming.
She feels the warm tips of Metis’s fingers on her hand.
“Look,” he says and gently turns her.
She is stunned by the sight. A sliver of moon is high against an expanse of stars. In the distance is the twinkling city of Elara. Beyond it are clusters of brightness that are the other cities.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispers. She can see a light smile on the corner of his lips. It is the first smile on him since they began their journey.
Metis leads her into the cave. He pulls a flashlight from his backpack and shines it around, being careful to keep it away from the entrance. The Interpreter, the Officer Scyllas, and their drones may still be out there.
The walls are rocks of various shapes and sizes. The ground is compacted earth. Inside the cave is empty but for a ring of stones with the charred remains of an old fire in one corner. Metis sticks a foot into the ring, kicking the black logs around. The ashes clump together from accumulated moisture. No one has been here for a long time.
This is the place the Crone wanted us to come to? Aris wonders. It looks like an ordinary cave—the size of an average room. There is no bed, no food, no water. Nothing here indicates this place is a sanctuary. How are they going to survive?
We don’t even know how to grow a head of lettuce.
Metis lets go of her hand and walks to the far end of the cave. She lowers herself to the ground. Her entire body aches from the long walk and climb. Her mind is exhausted from being suspended in fear and uncertainty. She shrugs the backpack off and feels the beginning of tears in her eyes. This is the first moment she allows herself to feel sorry about her fate. At least this place gives her that.
“It keeps going,” Metis’s voice yells, “There’s an opening. Not that big. But it looks like a tunnel.”
She gets up and follows him. They squeeze through a small passageway barely wide enough to walk single file. Aris feels suffocated. She is pressed from both sides.
“I see light from the other side! It just came on,” he says.
“Is someone in there?” Aris asks.
Metis stops. “I haven’t seen any signs of people. Do you want to turn around?”
Aris ponders the probability of someone being there against the idea of having to leave this place. “No. Let’s just keep going.”
They squeeze out of the tunnel and arrive inside a rectangular room with white walls. The room is bigger than the one they came from and looks nothing like it. It is built into the cave by expert hands. There’s no one here.
In the middle sits a lab-grade chemical distillation kit on a large wooden table. Aris approaches the table with curiosity. She examines the kit, bringing her face close to the glass bottles and tubes. A trace of green stains the bottom of the receiving flask.
“It’s for Absinthe,” Metis says. “Someone was making it here.”
Aris looks around. In one corner is a bed. It looks to be a tight fit for both her and Metis. There is a side table with a lamp, and next to it is an overstuffed bookcase. Stacks of books that could not fit into the shelf line one wall. It looks like a small library was transported to this place.
“How is this here?” she asks.
Metis shakes his head. He grabs her hand and walks over to the bed. He pulls her down onto it. She complies. They kick off their shoes and curl up together on their sides.
“Tomorrow,” he says and wraps his arms around her. “I can’t think anymore.”
Her eyes wander to the bookcase. She closes them and soon drifts off to sleep.
“Would you care to explain yourself?” Apollina asks.
Thane shifts in his chair. They are alone in her office. Behind her is the vast expanse of the park. The charcoal sky and dark leafless trees add to her intimidation.
The Interpreter stares at him with resentment in her eyes. She has always treated him like a
