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

Chapter 27: Waking Up in Glass

ANDA

Anda opened her eyes.

Lights flashed red in the darkness. Sirens. And she was still in a kiln.

While she knew she hadn't really been in a garden with her family, the transition from sunlight and wind to red emergency lights and smoke was jarring. She gasped and then coughed, tasting metal and alcohol and something sweet. The air in her kiln had grown clouded and heavy and bitter. Yet, despite the toxic air filling her lungs, her head felt clear and sharp. She thrashed, trying to free herself from her restraints. Voices outside her kiln shrieked and wailed. Her restraints refused to budge.

Gunshots. Not far away.

She froze, listening. After a moment of stillness, she shivered and resumed her escape attempt.

"No, come on, come on, come on!" She thrashed harder, her muscles stretching to their limit, but her restraints refused to budge. A frustrated wail escaped her, but she snapped her mouth shut as the sirens and screams and crashing grew louder. A door had opened and closed.

Someone had just walked in.

She couldn't see anything through the fogged and dusted glass of the kiln, just the red light pulsing, and terror gripped her. She squeezed her eyes shut and lay still, hoping to be mistaken for a sleeping Human Element. With her restraints still tight, she could do nothing. But maybe she could see....

She focused, trying to search the futures ahead, but a crash jolted her out of her concentration.

Footsteps.

Her mind snapped to the steps darting across the floor towards her, and she opened her eyes. A shadow moved beyond the clouded glass. While it was impossible to tell who it was through the foggy glass, she knew they were looking at her.

That someone came closer, then disappeared. They tapped on the side panel of her kiln. An error sound.

Cursing.

More furious tapping. More error sounds.

Suddenly her kiln shuddered and tilted. Anda caught her breath and closed her eyes as her kiln toppled to the side. The metal corner hit the ground first, and the kiln tipped to fall backward. As the kiln slammed into the floor, the glass around her shattered and showered her with a million tiny pricks. Anda's restraints popped open, and she brushed little pebbles of glass off of her face and body. Then she opened her eyes and sat up, ready to fight, but—

"Anda!"

Before Anda could respond, arms wrapped around her and squeezed, a shaved head warm on her neck.

"We couldn't find you—we looked everywhere, but we couldn't find you. I tried to find you and Mom and Ben, but I couldn't. I thought maybe I'd find you in the garden, but I couldn't find the garden. I mean, I tried, I just lay there trying and trying to find you all, but no one was there. It was just... empty. And then I just woke up."

Anda sighed with relief as she recognized Mica's voice.

Mica continued, intently focused on and yet completely oblivious to her sister. "I thought maybe you were dead. That maybe you didn't make it out of the other dimension and that your mind was trapped there. But then I thought, no. If I made it out, then you made it out, and I knew. I knew that you couldn't be dead. So I tried to find you. But we'd all been moved from the kiln room to other rooms. We tried and tried—so many doors in this building—and it's crazy out there—"

"Mica, it's okay...." she squeezed her sister in a hug to shut her up and then pushed Mica off of her. "I'm okay. What's going on out there? We were just...." But she couldn't finish the sentence.