For the second time in thirty years, the entire world has fallen asleep...
Thirty years after the Greymen caused the decimation of her people, high school drop out Rain Collins spends her days learning to pickpocket and hold her booze. Yet she long...
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In clear view of the crowds that roamed the city's streets, I paced and worried while Jacob showed Beth how to make walls disappear. They stood, side-by-side, examining the dark facade of Dr. Farrah's building.
"It's scarier than I remember," Beth said, staring up at the massive spire's tip somewhere above the clouds.
"It's not really the doctor's building," Jacob said. He gestured at the streams of people flowing past us, up and down the streets. "Those are projections of people." He pointed at Dr. Farrah's building. "This is a projection of a building. A nightmare version of it. The Greymen make everything uglier."
Beth shuddered. "They're awful."
Jacob placed a gentle hand on her arm. With his other, he tugged lightly on the blue ribbon around Beth's head.
She looked up at him. "Right. Show me what to do."
"Hold up your hand," he said, showing her his palm and spreading his fingers. "And push it up against the wall." Jacob pressed his open hand against the smooth cement of the building. Beth opened her hand and pushed it against the wall, next to Jacob's. "Good," he said, smiling at her. "How do you feel?"
"Happy and brave," she said, returning his smile.
"Perfect. Now, close your eyes and pretend the wall is gone."
Beth closed her eyes. Jacob looked at her, then their hands, before closing his, as well. My sister and the strange, powerful boy stood for a long moment, eyes closed and hands flat on the wall, inches apart.
The wall disappeared.
Beth stumbled forward into the empty space, opening her eyes as she did. She cheered. "We did it," she said, staring at the place the wall had just been and stepping into the room, then back into the alley again.
"Ladies first," Jacob said, gesturing at the hole in the building.
"After you, then," I said, stepping up to look inside.
Jacob laughed and walked into the small room, flickering in fluorescent light. Behind Beth and Jacob, I stepped in. A metal flight of stairs wound up and up, far higher than I could see. We were at the bottom of a stairwell.
"Well done," Beth said, smiling at Jacob. "Oh, look!" She ran up half a flight of stairs, her boots clanging against the metal. Slowing at the sound, she took the rest of the flight with greater caution. At the top, she laughed.
With the lightest steps that I could manage, I followed Jacob up the stairs to see what Beth had found. She was bouncing on her heels, staring at a poster on the wall. It looked like a diagram, all covered in arrows and strange boxes layering one on the other, like floors of a building. Floors of this building.
"A map," I said. "Why is there a map?"
"For visitors and patients," Beth said.
I laughed. "Why would the Greymen leave that here?"
