Steel Flight [Completed]

Chapter 15: Rain

~Skai

When I awoke, it was still dark. The ground was hard and smooth. Why wasn't my grass poking up through the blanket I was supposed to be sleeping on? I groaned, then settled back down, listening for my city's music.

The world was dead. No honking horns, no clatter of metal on metal, no chattering kids up early to work in some extra play. . . The absolute only sound my well-attuned ears picked up was my unnaturally loud breath. And that of another.

"You finally awake?"

I opened my eyes. It was dim, but after a few blinks I could make out Jack's blurry form sitting against a curved wall that was dark and smooth enough to be made of obsidian.

With that one image, all my memories came rushing back. We were on the run in a land of the sky. Figures.

I squinted at my watch, but couldn't make out either of the hands. "What time is it?"

Jack shrugged. At least, I think he did. "I don't think the sky changes much here."

I sighed. Such was my life.

"Which of our cultures do you think has it right?" Jack asked without preamble.

"Huh?" My mind was still on the night before, when Marrianna and Ajaia had argued about what to do with us. Ajaia couldn't seem to get it in her head that we couldn't go back down, no matter how many times we told her. They finally agreed to stash us where they sometimes hid from predators. Despite my intentions to ask about the castle we were supposed to be finding, the second we'd reached their hideout, all of the stress and pressure and exhaustion had collapsed on me. Jack was even worse- he'd fallen asleep before I had.

Now he swallowed seriously. "Don't you find it weird that Juxtaposition and the Farmlands have the same words, but use them for different things? I mean, the two horses aren't so different, but snakes, well, sometimes we called people snakes, but it wasn't a good thing. And then there's Fyrn. A fern is a plant."

I had been thinking about it. "A plant? Like. . . hazel trees? And grass?"

"Right." There was a pause while we both thought about it.

"Jack, what exactly are snakes? And what the steel is a creature?"

He shook his head. "Geez, Skai. That isn't a shovel-load of a question or anything. . . Snakes are a type of animal. Animals are alive like us, only they don't think the way we do. They can move around and make noises to communicate, but don't talk the way we think of talking. Animals are creatures, and so are magical creatures, like that cat thing and Ajaia and Marianna."

"Cat thing?" My mind was spinning as I tried to process it all.

"The thing you called to that nearly killed us."

"Oh. That cat thing."

"Yes. That cat thing."

I thought back to all the things he'd named. They all had this special quality, though I didn't know what. "And what were those things back at the Edge? Were they alive too?"

"What things?"

"The things hooked up to those... those other things. The ones that people rode on."

"You mean the horses hooked up to buggies?"

"Those were not Horses," I said flatly, arms folded. The thought of those smelly things being compared to smooth, sleek Horses. . . It was ludicrous! Still, there was something different about Jack's "horses". Something enchanting. They weren't perfect. They had a wild look in their eyes that gave me the feeling they weren't something you controlled. Not the same way you did a machine.

"You can't tell me you've never seen an animal before. You had to have had birds at least!"

I gave him an incredulous look. "You mean the brand of shoes?"

Jack gaped at me. Frankly, he looked deeply insulted. "Shoes?!! No, I do not mean shoes! I mean the small winged animals that fly."

I blinked at him.

"Tell me you've at least got bugs!"

"Bugs?" That was a new one.

"Then how do you even know what flying is?"

I shrugged and swallowed down the memories. "I know almost nothing about the outside world. Want to know why? Because Juxtaposes don't care." I softened. "Not most of them."

"You didn't answer my question."

I shrugged. "Probably heard about it from some Trader or Edgian looking to come mainstream."

I could feel Jack's eyes boring into me.

"Really. That's it. My father was a blacksmith, and his father before him. Mother, well, I think she might have visited someplace else when she was younger. She was a businesswoman, so sometimes I saw Traders when they came to do business with her. Really, though, neither of my parents fit the typical Juxtapose stereotype. Sure, they had things to do, but they were never too busy for me."

There was a pause. I wasn't looking at him.

"Man. I guess things were different there." Jack sounded sad.

Blood rushed to my face. "Yeah. They were."

I turned my back on him, blood pounding in my ears. Juxtaposition might not have been perfect, especially in "Farmland Standards", but it was my home. It was where I belonged. And I was strangely proud of the fact.

"Whoa. Hey. What just happened?"

I didn't answer.

"Skai?"

I took another deep gulp of the water, relishing the memory of steel it awakened in me. I looked up as a new thought sharpened my vision.

"Mother, where does water come from?"

"From the sky, silly. What do you think rain is?"

I was thoughtful. "People catch the rain?"

Mother smiled warmly, eyes laughing, and took me in her arms. "Not individual people, but some corporations do. You remember last week when we went with Aspen and Jye and Fyrn to Center Square?"

My memory was still young enough that words like last week held no meaning. But I did vaguely remember the limo ride past where Mother worked. Fyrn had brought along her new magnet screen.

I nodded sagely.

"Then I want you to close your eyes and imagine again what you saw. Remember that really, really tall building whose tippy top kind of looked like the front curve of a Horse? And right next to that was the manufacturing plant with the really big letters that said S.B.M. And way behind it was what looked like a giant steel bowl. Remember?"

My eyes were screwed up tight with concentration, remembering all the sleek steel buildings we'd passed. "That's where Jye's dad works, huh?"

"That's right. I'd forgotten. Well that bowl collects the rainwater, which drips down through the water stack into an underground store. From there it's transported throughout Juxtaposition using steel pipes."

Bet Jack's Farmlands didn't have that. I was proud of my home's ability to adapt, mold things, and innovate. What did his people do but farm?

"Skai."

I opened my mouth but instead shushed him as I caught a faint crackle of electricity. The sisters were back.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Comment below: what did you like? Dislike? I'd love to hear from you!