The World Below (ON BREAK)

Chapter 7

Lab, Sanctuary city

Tanner made his way to the lab, just to check something. He knew where the room holding the switches was, because his father expressed such incredible enthusiasm for the project that he couldn't help but talk about it.

Once in the lab, he checked the floor plan on the wall for room 3b. Once he figured out the path, he slithered through the hallways until he reached the door with the label 3b on the door. He checked the doorknob. The room was unlocked.

Tanner went inside, careful to disable any cameras that might be filming him using his acidic saliva. He then went through every shelf, careful to read each label. Each claimed to have been tested, and were safe. Once he reached the one labeled "human" he snagged the one farthest back, and clicked the button.

Sure enough, his tail disappeared and was replaced with human legs, which fortunately came with pants. It worked. He felt his ears. They weren't pointed anymore. Then a dark thought gripped him. He pressed the button again, and fortunately it reverted him back to his normal form.

He could go out above ground, without fear of being hunted or persecuted. He could be human. Of course he would have to learn to walk, but that was something to worry about later. For now, he was just glad he could go outside.

He quickly left the lab, in Naga form so that he wouldn't be noticed, and went over to the storage center. Once there, he made sure that no one else was around and went up the ramp to the hatch, put in the code, and opened it. This time, instead of someone coming in, he pushed the button on the switch. He was turned into human form, and was now able to be among other humans without anyone giving him a weird look.

When Stacy and Jessie saw Tanner, it took them a moment to recognize him. Once they did, they asked where his tail had gone.

He smiled and pulled the switch out of his pocket, showing the button in the center and explaining that when pushed, it made him look human.

"What about when it's pushed again?" Stacy asked.

"I'll go back to my normal form. For now however, I need to figure out how to walk."

At first, the girls thought he was joking, but then they remembered that he previously had never had legs.

He stood up, leaning against the wall, and nearly fell again. Stacy helped him up, and he was able to regain his footing.

"Okay, can you please help? This is hard." he said to them.

Jessie tried her best to explain, saying it was just putting one foot in front of the other. After a few tries, Tanner got it. He was able to walk around without looking like he had a broken leg. Running was a bridge they would cross when they got to it.

Fortunately, Tanner could now mingle and blend with the general population. This was revolutionary. On top of that, he could turn back whenever he wanted. He turned to Stacy and Jessie and asked if they wanted to see something. They said sure, so he opened his bag and pulled out his sketchbook, and opened to the page he had drawn on during detention. It had many botanical drawings, as well as a few animals.

"Wow. You're really talented," commented Jessie. "Do you have a favorite book? Stacy and I love reading."

"No, sorry. I don't read much. Most books down there are propaganda to scare everyone into staying in Sanctuary. But I draw a lot, even if the things I draw are considered treasonous." Tanner looked down, ashamed that he had let more information about Sanctuary city slip.

As he walked through the town with Jessie and Stacy, he was given a few strange looks, likely because his footing wasn't as sure as he'd liked it to be. He'd only had legs for a few minutes, anyway.

Distantly, he heard the sound of a violin. Rounding the corner, he was met with a sight he didn't expect: Two teenagers playing music for a waiting crowd. The one with the violin had brown hair and freckles splattered across his face, and the other had messy chocolate-colored hair and was playing a guitar with the violin boy. They were singing lyrics to a song that Tanner didn't recognize, but it was clearly something they enjoyed playing.

The violin boy was occasionally singing with the guitar boy, and the song sounded distinctly Irish. Tanner stopped for a moment to listen for a bit. The guitar boy even seemed to have an Irish accent. One of Tanner's neighbors spoke with the same twang.

Stacy tried to grab his arm but he shook her off and whispered "I've never heard something like this. Let me listen." She let go and stood next to him. "Do you know what song this is?" he whispered to her. Another person in the crowd told him to hush, so he shut his mouth. Stacy leaned in and whispered, very quietly, "I'm not sure, but it sounds great."

She did have a point. The boy's thick Irish accent made it difficult to make out the lyrics, but he tell what he was saying at some parts one part went like this:

"Oh lord why did you take her, she meant so much to me,

Now I'm a wretched soul, I'm a privateer, drowning out at sea,

I'm killing and I'm drinking, my blue heart to black,

But I swear Oh Lord, I'll never sin again,

If you bring her back"

The song seemed somewhat sad and longing, perhaps written by some other person, and they were simply playing it for the crowd's enjoyment. Clearly, they had some fans. There were people clapping along to the rhythm, even singing along. Once the song had ended, Stacy began urging Tanner away, but he stood his ground. There was something different about these two boys. He may have looked human, but he still had the sense of smell of a Naga.

"Just a moment, Stacy," he quickly said to her, and began pushing his way through the crowd. The two boys began playing another song, only this one Tanner had heard before. He recognized it as "The Rocky Road to Dublin". He waited patiently for them to finish, then walked up to the two boys and asked if he could talk to them.

"Why, is there something amiss?" said the violin boy. He spoke in a way that wasn't quite unrecognizable, only different. "Were we off with lyrics somewhere?"

"No, no, not at all. You sounded great. Now please, there's something I need to ask you. Somewhere private. Both of you."

The boys looked at each other with brief confusion, then agreed and followed him away from the crowd. Once away from prying eyes, he asked his question.

"I know there's something different about you guys. I know, because I'm different, too."

The boys exchanged a look of concern, then the boy who played violin turned on his heel and said, "Nope! No clue what you're talking about. Now, if you wouldn't mind, I have a song to play."

The guitar boy reached out and grabbed him by his jacket's fluffy hood. "Not so fast, Simon. I think this fellow's on to something."

Reluctantly, the violin boy, Simon, turned around and came back with an exasperated look on his face. "Fine, you caught us. I suppose this is the part where you stab me with a stake?"

Tanner had no clue what he was talking about. "What do you mean, a stake? I don't have anything in my bag other than my sketchbook."

Simon's expression remained neutral. "Because I'm a vampire, and if you didn't know what I was before, you sure do now." He turned to the other boy. "Connor, are you sure this is a good idea? Telling them what we are?"

"Yeah, it's fine. This guy won't tell anyone a thing, will you, mate?"

"Of course not," Tanner promised. He had no intention of mentioning this to anyone, excluding Stacy and Jessie. There were monsters outside of Sanctuary! This was excellent news for him.