Turning the Cards of Fate

Chapter 10

They walked calmly through the city of Glass. It was one of those places he had heard about from Osred. The other had criticized while trying to figure out how the buildings were still standing. Sector Z and their glass buildings were known by all who built anything. It was almost scary, he thought as he walked through the maze of buildings. Everybody could see everything. It was disturbing.

He knew that in most places, privacy was something that simply didn't exist. It was something only the deluded believed in. The One Nation saw everything. Here, they weren't even given the ability to pretend.

He could see people changing through the glass walls, and he carefully averted his eyes. Glass, as a building substance, wasn't the most sturdy of things. Usually, one good kick and it shattered, but not here.

Their glass was specially made in a secret workshop on the outskirts of Sector Z, and created so that every bit of it could withstand far more than even most steel. That didn't mean it was invincible. Steel could bend without breaking, stone could dent without falling to dust, but glass shattered.

It would be so much more difficult to fix their buildings than it would any other building in most of the other Sectors. There were exceptions, of course, The Councilman's home, the Governor's estate, and all One Nation buildings were made with opaque glass. Impossible to see in or out of, but it caused the illusion of openness that most people believed.

He wasn't sure how, or why they were so gullible, but he knew it wasn't his place to question things like this. That said, he wasn't going to deny that he was curious. He knew that as a member of Turning the Cards, he was a government worker, but he also knew that he and the others didn't officially exist in any way other than as builders, or whatever the covers were. Cadis didn't exist at all out of the building, and while it annoyed him, she was more than content with it.

He hadn't understood why at first.

He did now.

Walking beside Zephira, no matter how beautiful she was, made him receive glares. Her hair wasn't normal, and that was enough for most people to be able to guess what she was. He knew that most people saw Partial Human's as failed experiments that needed to be put down, but he didn't agree. They, unlike Perfect Humans, started the same way that any Normal Human did, as a bunch of cells multiplying.

In those moments, they were just as human as he had been, or as any of them were.

It wasn't like they asked to be turned into what they were, but that didn't stop the hatred. The eyes on her were worse, because she was a Partial, and they were given plenty of room to move around. The eyes on him were a bit different though. While she was being looked at with disgust and hatred, he was being watched with betrayal and hurt.

Zephira acted like she didn't care, or notice, but even Cash could tell that she hated it. There was only so much they could do though. He wanted to ask her to wear a head scarf, or maybe even tuck her hair back in the white coat, but he couldn't do that to her. Just because he was uncomfortable didn't excuse him trying to change her.

An hour passed, and they exchanged looks. It wasn't going to be safe for either of them in a few more minutes. He knew that they needed to get as far away from Sector Z's Glass City in as little time as possible.

He glanced around, waiting for the crowds to thicken, and walked calmly over to a bubble carriage. He picked the lock as quickly as he could, and gestured for Zephira to get in on the other side.

Once they both were inside, he turned it on, and directed it away from the city. It was going to be a long drive, but he knew the coordinates of where they were going.