Bound by Glass

28| Close Call

The next days passed by in a blur, switching between training with Haco and with Allie—who both had totally different purposes.

While Haco taught me how to throw a knife, I also paid attention on how to keep my back straight and my chin up high, just like Allie had told me to. I mentally went through motions and strategies whilst I was trying to do my best to eat and speak as a Lady. As I was doing push ups I listed up the endless Family trees, forcing myself to do another fifteen reps once I got one wrong.

Late every night when I went to bed I was sore and exhausted, crashing down on the bed and immediately falling into a dreamless slumber. I woke up early the next day to continue where I left off the day before. I was physically and mentally drained, but somehow I was able to keep standing—I had a clear goal in front of me, which I was determined to reach.

Because the ball was in three days I didn't have time to perfect everything. I still made mistakes. I still said the wrong things. I'd never blend in perfectly.

Surprisingly enough, it had been Mauna who had come up with the perfect cover. We would say that I came from the Wastelands—the uppers would buy it immediately.

The Wastelands were located much further inland, where the effects of the radiation still strongly affected the landscape. Over time, most of the Globers located there had moved to other Globes further away from the drop sites, but some had remained. I didn't get why they had stayed, since the inland was overcast by impenetrable ash clouds nearly all the time, and electric storms frequently covered the entire area. Electric storms were rare to pass over these regions, but we could feel the sheer force of nature all the way back here when they scourged their way over the inlands.

I didn't know all the details about the conditions there, part from some vague stories I had heard here and there, but I knew that there were nearly no Outsiders there either. The few that had found a way to live there, had developed other traits and ways to live which were even for us unorthodox.

The whispered stories about inlanders around the campfires back home were often full of thrill, mystery and horror—just how we liked them best. The inlanders were described as primal savages who had lost their contact with humanity, doing who-knows-what to survive.

I guessed that was how the Globers would explain us Outsiders as well.

But the point was, the Wasteland Globes weren't as advanced or sophisticated as the other Globes. The Lords and Ladies would accept some mistakes I'd make, simply brushing them off by saying I couldn't do anything about it. I was permitted to respond in the wrong way or act strangely from time to time—even though I had to try my best not to. It was still my job to find out as much as I could, and attempt to blend in as much as I was able to.

"Kid!" Haco yelled, startling me out of my daydream. He clapped his hands in front of my face. "Still with me?" he asked.

"Yeah," I answered, changing my footing on the narrow ledge I was standing on. It was strange how much progress you could make in a matter of days. At first I had to concentrate to even stand on the beam, but now it was like a second nature for me.

I rubbed my hands over my face. I could notice that the long days and short nights were starting to take their toll on me. I hoped I wouldn't fall asleep during the ball tonight.

Haco had told me I'd usually get taught by Vace, but he had randomly disappeared a while ago. Haco had said that he'd come back.... eventually.

I wondered if I had scared him off. I dismissed the thought—he didn't care about me. And even if he did, he wouldn't have said something like that.