Hope in Ruins Book III: The Fountain and the City of Salt

Chapter 3: Jason

MICA

Mica walked.

She fought the urge to run as she followed Cassandra down a long stone hallway, up circling metal stairs, and through a narrow corridor towards the special guest quarters. Anda was out there somewhere, looking for a Burn, and every moment counted. But sprinting through the Unseen City would bring much too much attention, so Mica walked.

Hannah had stayed behind in Anda's cell, just in case anyone came looking for Anda or herself. Cassandra had instructed Ben to head back to the medical bay to cover for Anda's disappearance and to assure Dr. Henderson that they would be getting her out of the city soon. Stephen had been sent to find Styx. Mica's heart raced against the ticking clock in her mind. Each moment they spent here, Anda got closer and closer to Burning and forgetting and Loraine.

"You think he'll tell us where the tower is?" Mica asked.

"He'll tell me. No worries about that."

They reached a door with a guard posted outside. Cassandra waved her ID card at the guard. He nodded and opened the door to yet another long hallway. Bright sunshine flooded in through a large window at the eastern end of the hall. Sunrise. But Mica felt like she was walking down the barrel of a gun. Cassandra came to a door and rapped her knuckles against the metal. A moment later, the door opened just a crack. The darkness beyond was broken only by the shadow of a face.

"Jason. Mind if we come in?" Cassandra asked, but she pushed the door all the way open and forced her way inside.

Jason stepped back as Cassandra and Mica entered. His room was larger than Mica's room had been even when she had shared an apartment with Aaron and Stephen. Much larger. And his apartment was filled with little luxuries Mica hadn't seen in the Unseen before. His bed was big and comfortable looking. A soft rug lay on the floor. A bookshelf filled with books stood against the back wall, and a lamp sat on the desk. There was a plate of bread and cheese on the table and even a painting on the wall. It was something inoffensive: abstract trees and flowers. Her gut roiled. Jason was the lowest of the low: an analyst. Spying on his own neighbors and sending them to die for a paycheck, and that job had landed him a place of honor here in the Unseen.

Jason backed up to the wall and leaned himself next to the unoffensive painting, his arms crossed and his eyes dark. "Amelia, what a surprise," he said with exaggerated sincerity.

Mica watched him carefully. He looked well-fed, well-rested, and almost... happy. But the red around his eyes and the tilt of his mouth told her otherwise. She recognized bitterness when she saw it. Bitterness was a dear friend of hers.

Despite the lavish living, Jason had still been worked hard here in the Unseen: Colonel Mason had questioned him for hours and days about his job as an analyst in Windrose, and Jason had cooperated fully. No wonder they had given him a cheese plate.

But Mica could not shake the expression he had worn on his face as he had clutched Anda's shoulder, his hand like a creeping vine on her arm. There was something in his face that Mica did not trust, and now she had no choice but to trust him.

"My name is Cassandra. And I need to know where Anda went."

Mica watched Jason's face shift ever so slightly.

"How should I know where she went? I'm not allowed out of this room without a guard."

"She escaped the city, and we need to find her. Now, where did she go?"

Jason's eyes flicked from Cassandra to Mica for an instant. "Does Colonel Mason know you're here?"

"Just answer the question."