Built on smoke and mirrors

Chapter 33

I stepped off the hovercraft and instantly I felt the sun pounding down on me. It was stronger than I was used to. 

I brought my hand to shield my eyes from the sun. 

"Good luck finding her," the man who called himself Apple, said. 

I smiled at him then looked at the sign that said 'Solano'. It was a long shot, but I had to at least try. Eydis was the person I felt home with. If she still couldn't remember me, I could at least start again. It was better than nothing. She was the keeper of my heart. She always had been. 

"Do you know what way the center of town is?" I asked Apple.

He pointed ahead. "I should be about a mile up the road." He tossed me a bottle of water which I caught. "Take this. It's going to be a hot one today." 

"Thank you," I said before walking down the dirt road. 

I wasn't sure how I would find her but I knew she was here. I just had to ask the right people if they had seen her. 

With the sun beating down on me, I wondered into the center of town. I tried to find common ground in this new city, but everything was so different then Hell. The houses were made of paster instead of the wooden structures of my city. The roads were smooth here, but instead of pavement, it was packed gravel and dirt.

The people I passed seem to pay little attention to me. They were taller here, and tanner. Their skin had varying shades of chocolate. With the warmer weather, they wore brighter clothes and less of them then in Hell. They showed skin like it wasn't an issue but in Hell, people would complain of your outfit.

A few smiled as I passed, but most were too busy tending to their own needs. They all wore the same tired faces the people in Hell wore. At least that was one similarity. 

A frown appeared on my lips as I looked around at the town square I stood in. There were people selling things, talking to one another, but I was unsure if I could walk up to one and ask about Eydis. I wasn't sure who knew her anyhow. If this town was big then maybe not many.

I sighed as I glared at the town hall. It stood out starkly against the run-down looking buildings around it. Just like in Hell, the town hall stood tall with it's perfect white walls.

"You look lost, lovely," an older woman said to me as I looked around the town square. She over pronounced her vowels the same way Eydis did.

"I'm looking for someone," I stated carefully. I wasn't sure if it was safe to ask around for someone, to look as if I didn't belong. In Hell, people would report me, I figured it was the same here.

"Who is it then?" 

"Eydis..."

Before I could say more, her face lit up with a smile. "I know Eydis. Sweet girl, often sells peaches in that stall," she said as she pointed to an empty stall across the square. "Looks like she isn't in today." 

I frowned, letting disappointment sink in. Of course it couldn't be that easy. "Do you know when she normally comes in?"

She scratched her head in thought. "No, not really. I don't pay much attention to people's coming and goings in the market. Just look out for myself."

"Orla, how much for this shawl?" A lady said as she walked up to the older woman I had been talking to. She draped the shawl around her neck and smiled. 

"Should be on the tag," she replied.

"It's not. Must have fallen off." 

"Oh dear. Let me take a look then..." Orla said and took the shawl from the lady and gave it closer inspection.