expire

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Eating in Kerran was one of the most weird and unpredictable things I had seen in my entire life.

There were 10 of us, including my Paladin and I, who sat side by side on a slick white bench, backs supported through a small padded Rester that slid up behind you once you sat down. I was perched opposite my new acquaintances Arrow, Viola and Isis, all of whom shared the same lopsided grin that had greeted me here, technicolour clothing swathing their frames in swirls of blue, yellow and green. All the clothing here was made from natural resources, Seren had explained, when she had introduced me to the Requisition Wall and had ordered a whole new wardrobe. She and I would be sharing a room, so she took it as her responsibility to show me everything and everyone that inhabited this place. She even explained about Tine; apparently, she had been through more than just dying some secret, unknown death, although no one knew what. Seren said that she had quite a something of a past, and was here at the very beginning of this world. I asked her how, but she just shrugged and diverted her gaze to a glass plant on the windowsill.

Now I looked down at my own tribal dress and basked in it's silky touch, a million miles from the scratchy nylon that had made up my hospital gown. Solstice, knowing as she was, seemed to read my mind and grinned as she passed a glistening bowl of soup down the table. The actual soup was a bright, slightly mushy red colour when it was put in front of me, but as I took my first spoonful it whirled between green and orange before settling on purple. Strange. Maggie would have loved this.

I shook my head, shaking the prospect of tears from my eyes and brought the spoon to my lips. The texture was smooth, soothing, and slipped down my throat like a mouthful of feathers. The most freakish thing was that I could see it going through me; thanks to my glassy, transparent body the soup became visible within my being. It raged down indistinguishable tubes and slithered between invisible organs before settling in the pit of my intangible stomach (well, I'm guessing that's what it was), turning ethereal as it blended into the same see-through glass hue as my skin. I stared down at my tummy, suddenly confused as I realised a layer of clothing lay between me and my digestive system. I shouldn't have been able to see that soup.

“Is that normal?” I asked, only realising after I'd said it that no one would know what I was on about. Despite my dumb question, Isis, across the table, nodded.

“You're seeing your food, aren't you? Don't worry; I was just the same,” Her voice had a slight irish lilt, and it sounded sweet, homely.

“Uh, yeah. It's kinda gross,”

She laughed. “Uhuh. It just means that your X-ray is kicking in. You'll get used to it soon, though. We're all given X-ray vision, but you'll be able to control what you see with it a little later.”

I nodded, the information squirming in my mind as my soup had done only a minute before. X-ray vision? This whole death-thing really had its perks.

But Isis was right, it did get easier to handle. Although discovering what my insides really looked like was immensely gross, it was also kind of fascinating to see my ceramic-like bones; they seemed to gleam in an unearthly way. After my tenth spoonful of soup my X-ray was under control, and I was no longer living with the privilege of spying on my own intestines.

Spoons scraped against china as dinner came to a close; a success, for Forrest, as all soup remains had been delightfully digested. Seren then stood up and grasped my hand. “Ivy, there's so much more I need to show you!” My arm was pulled upwards with a surprising amount of strength, standing me up with a suddenness that almost felt urgent. I staggered on my seemingly fragile glass legs, set out of balance by her swift tug. “Seren, hold up,” Jola pulled at my sleeve, keeping me tethered to the table. I felt like the rope in a Tug of War competition. “I think maybe you can show her later. Solstice needs to give the talk...” At this, the others seated around the table seemed to arouse themselves, instantly leaning slightly inward as if waiting for a story to be told. Like Alice, my conscience reminded me. Later, I chastised my inner monologue, This could be important. Jola gave me a sheepish smile as I slowly sat back down, Seren's sudden grip on my arm loosening and then disappearing altogether. She sat back down beside me, shooting Jola an irritated glance before returning her gaze back to the table. I watched as she traced patterns on the table with her translucent fingertips, seemingly uninterested in this 'talk', as if she'd heard it all a million times. She turned her head, seemingly feeling my gaze, and smiled, but it had lost some of that joy it had had only a minute before. Surely she wasn't that eager to show me round.

Returning my eyes back to the gathering around the table, I instantly felt all eight pairs of eyes on me, focused and riveted. I looked over at Seren; she too was looking at me, but with reluctant eyes, almost fearful.

I could feel them burning holes in my mind.