Sydnot: An unlondon fanfiction

An Unfamiliar Place

A/N My friend and I both loved the book this is based on, it's sort of like a sequel to it. I lent her the book three years ago and didn't get it back for a long time she loved it so much! :) if this is a bit random, please excuse us, our writing styles are completely different, she plans everything, and I like to see what I come up with in the spur of the moment. If you like it, maybe you could check out our other stories at our respective wattpad accounts, minaces and selinewilliams. Don't be afraid to inbox us, we don't bite. Or at least, I don't! ;) Enjoy!

P.S. The book this is based on is called Un Lun Dun, by China Mieville. You don't have to read it before you read this, but it might help. It's a great book. :)

Deeba and Hemi scrambled to maintain their balance as they felt their whole world spin on its axis. What had appeared to be up was now down and vice versa.

"What the hell just happened!" Deeba yelled as she tried to maintain her balance.

"Oh, that was just a simple polar reversal shift. I'm more worried about where we are!" Hemi stated calmly, kicking at a book near his foot.

"Talk in English, would you?" Deeba demanded, her brow wrinkled in frustration. It may have also been to do with the bright Unsun shining on her face.

"I don't think they speak English here," Hemi said softly as he looked out over the unfamiliar city with its strange new landmarks. Mostly, though he was eyeing the people he could see going about their daily lives like they couldn't feel it. Hemi didn't know what it was that didn't feel right, but it was something important and not to be ignored in any case. It was probably right in front of him and he just couldn't see it.

"Huh?" Deeba said, waving her hands furiously in an attempt to get rid of the flies chattering incessantly just centimetres from her face.

"We're not in Unlondon anymore, Deeba," Hemi stated, though he thought it was rather obvious.

"Who knew there was all this at the other end of the Wordhoard Pit," said Deeba, lost in thought.

Deeba looked out over the unfamiliar panorama spread before her, taking in the sight much as she had all those long months ago when she had stumbled upon Unlondon with Zanna. The abcity appeared to be entirely constructed from books, there was a tower in the centre of it all, tall and thin, with a point at the top, that appeared to be put together with books, like they were the building blocks. But who was the creator?

There was even a building looking out over the harbour that seemed to be made from the pages of books, still with the writing on them. It reminded her of Obaday Fing and his word-suits. The whole thing resembled the sails of a ship, the old fashioned kind.

There was a bridge with a graceful arch over the harbour as well, which appeared to be constructed from the spines of books spun and woven together until they had just as much strength to them as steel. The whole thing inspired awe within her, and she desperately found herself wanting to walk right up to the architect and shake his hand, telling him what a good job he'd done.

But that wasn't all. In the sky were boats. Lots and lots of boats. There appeared to be people in them, too. The boats had balloons attached to them to keep them aloft, or sails, or hundreds of other obscure but brilliant ideas to keep them aloft. The people on the boats sometimes steered the boats closer to one another and people would jump back and forth from boat to boat. There even appeared to be entire communities consisting of boats and ships tied together and floating up there amongst the clouds.

She felt slightly bug-eyed as she looked out over the unfamiliar landscape, but not as bug-eyed as she'd been when she'd first seen an abcity. She supposed it was even weirder when you had a real city to compare it to, this one didn't seem to resemble any cities she remembered, but then again, she'd never been that great at geography. It was just such a boring subject. Who needed to know where anything was anymore, what with Google Maps and all? Although, in an abcity, an unfamiliar one, it probably would help.