Gods Under The Dome

17.3

《Into the Night》

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"You okay?"

Frowning, I reach up and tug at the neon green wig pinned to my scalp. Brushing aside the angled bangs, which were cut at such a precise length as to assault my eyes when the wind blew, I catch a glimpse of the mid-level Sect - the crop of massive steel and glass skyscrapers, the interwoven tubes of the tram, ascending through the plate, and the sky, clear, dark, and dappled with stars.

"I'd be okay if I hadn't been forced into wearing this stupid disguise," I mumble, feeling a few stray strands slick against my skin, made sticky from the replicated summer humidity. "This stuff's like straw and the weather's doing me no favors."

My frown worsens as my fingers brush the leather belt, cinching me in at the waist. I'd rather have a voracious python wrapping itself around me, at least it would eat me and end my suffering.

The jeans Della had tossed at me at the end of our briefing hadn't been any better. They were tight around the calf, loose around the knees, and ended at the unflattering length of mid-ankle. At least I'd been given sneakers to wear. They were a size or two too big, but I could walk in them without looking like a fool, so I considered that a small victory.

Sin nudges me in the arm, smiling. "At least you're well enough to complain."

"I think I'll only stop complaining when I'm dead and even then, I'm sure I'll find something to bitch about, so don't fret."

Sin slows his gait so he can stare down at me, his lips losing their smile from seconds ago. I guess macabre wasn't the right attitude to have during a run.

Clearing my throat, I continue to blather, hoping what I'd just got said gets buried in an avalanche of incoherent nonsense. "Hey," I place my arms behind my head, both bags of Elysium pressing down on my shoulders and bouncing off my hips. "I read on the Network, real cities made it hard to see the stars. And then all the company buy-outs of lower sectors and littering those sectors with product advertisements, made it hard for the stars to be seen so eventually, they stopped programming the lower sect's night skies with them."

Craning his neck plateward, Sin says, "Never really paid attention." Unencumbered stars reflect in his brown eyes. He smiles. "Guess there's an upside to everything."

I snort. "I wouldn't exactly call it an upside. More like an unexpected perk." I stare up at Sin, whose head is haloed by an overhanging sign. "Kind of like how a fork can have the unexpected perk of being jabbed in someone's eye."

"Wasn't an eye." Sin points to his throat. "Jugular."

"So our anatomy lessons came in handy?"

He nods. "An unexpected perk." The corners of his lips curve upward. Sin motions to Quint and Marava who walk arms linked in front of us. "You avoiding them?"

I purse my lips. Throughout the past month, my interaction with Quint and Mars had been minimal, on purpose. Every time I caught wind of the pair, or my eyes happened to settle on Mars, I'd turned tail and bolted in the other direction.

They'd seen a part of me I wasn't happy to have shared to those closest to me. Even Mars. Her scowls became somehow worse, sparkling with hints of pity or sympathy. I missed the cold hatred. At least then, she'd seen me as her equal. She despised me but we were equals. I wasn't just some broken toy nobody had the tools to fix because I'd killed someone. I made the choice, it was my burden to wear and if I let it bury me, that was my choice too. No one had a right to look at me like that. Least of all Marava.