waiting for me.
“You’re good to go,” the guard told me. I walked through the gate, but I stopped halfway through. I sighed at what my mother told me. I wish I knew what was wrong instead of her denying my answers to every question I ever asked her.
Isaac was waiting for me to get in, “Come on Iris. The gate’s closing!”
I quickly glanced back to see if my mother was still there.
But she was gone.
Chapter 3
I entered the train and took a seat next to Lexus. She gave me a reassuring smile.
“Cheer up Iris, it’s not that bad...,” she said, all upbeat about the idea. It was easy for her to say, she was Lexus, and despite her older brother’s painful death two years ago, she looked like she was more than excited to enter the Unknown.
“Yeah, you’re right, Lexus, I should cheer up. Yay!! I’m going to enter a maze where really bad things happen, where there’s a high chance that I might get sliced into nuggets. Isn’t it exciting?” I said in a sarcastic tone.
Lexus raised her eyebrows, “It’s because of your brother isn’t it?”
I turned to my brother who sat two seats behind me talking to Mason, who seemed to be trying to cheer him up the same way Lexus was trying to do for me. He hadn’t been feeling well for the past two days. Even though he looked fine, something was still out of character.
I turned back to look at Lexus,
“Nope.” I said in my best ordinary tone. I am such a bad liar.
“Uh huh, I see. Look, Iris, as you said yesterday, he must be nervous about it, no biggie. By the way, did you hear what happened to Professor Wright? She actually dropped out of school. Can you believe that?” Lexus said happily.
An alarm erupted in my body. Professor Wright left? Why does everyone know so much about Professor Wright except for me?
I looked at Lexus, acting surprised, “No way. Really?”
Lexus nodded and then stopped and looked at me skeptically,
“Do you even know who Professor Wright is?”
I nodded, “I met her yesterday. What a cruel woman!” I said, pretending to know. Lexus nodded back, agreeing with me. I didn’t intend to tell Lexus anything about what had happened between Professor Wright and me.
No wonder she left. She had been acting like I was threatening her with a butcher’s knife yesterday. I have never seen anyone acting like that towards me except for that one time when I was eight and some man was watching me while I was just playing around in the city’s only park. I felt like I was being watched and turned around to see the man watching me carefully. He noticed me looking back and suddenly became stiff. He made an uncertain and scared expression on his face. The man left before I got the chance to wonder why he was watching me from afar and acting strangely. I never thought that it would happen again. But it did yesterday, two times. I was pretty sure that that was no coincidence. Something was up.
Lexus turned and rested her head on the seat. I did the same. I stared at the gate outside as the guard let the Undecided pass through the gate. Why was my mother acting so oddly? Not to mention Isaac who had been so quiet the past two days? The odd professor, who I knew nothing about, yet grabbed me abruptly while looking so serious. I had been trying to convince myself that I was imagining, but I couldn’t. It was too real and I remembered it too vividly.
My train of thought was cut short when a boy with deep-set eyes entered the train. He stepped into the aisle and looked around. He saw me and his dark eyes glittered. There was nothing unusual in the way he walked towards me, but I had a bad feeling about this guy. I’d had a bad experience yesterday in the same situation, and I really didn’t want to repeat that awkward encounter again.
As I scrunched down in my seat, I pushed Lexus as well. She looked at me with a perplexed expression. She pushed me away from her and stared at me bitterly, “Iris, what in the world are you doing? Can’t you see I’m calming myself before the train starts moving – Hi...”
She stopped talking and began welcoming the boy who came close. I sat up straight in my seat and looked up at the boy. His eyes were still glittering, and I didn’t like it. His face wore an innocent and friendly look, but his eyes had ‘troublemaker’ written all over them. He noticed my confusion and smiled apologetically.
“I’m sorry if I freaked you out, but can I take the seat in front of you girls? All the other ones are taken,” the boy said. I had a bad feeling about him that I didn’t want him to sit close to me, but I didn’t want to sound rude. Lexus invited him to the seat anyway.
Lexus gestured for the boy to sit down opposite to us. He slumped on the seat like he had been carrying a heavy weight. His dark complexion gained color after he rested on the seat. He must have been waiting in the line for ages.
“Thanks for giving me a seat.” he straightened his back and leaned forward a bit, his elbow on his knee, “Hi, I’m Luther Conrad by the way, and you?” he asked, extending his hand. I hesitated at first, but he seemed so approachable. I had to stop being paranoid.
“Iris Abernorth”, I said in a clear voice, as I extended my hand to return his greeting. Lexus immediately extended her hand, pushing mine aside
“Keats...Lexus, Keats” she said dramatically. I rolled my eyes and glanced at the boy. He didn’t seem to mind Lexus’s behavior.
The train started to move and as soon as it did Lexus’s face turned pale white. “Oh, no” she said, shutting her eyes tightly,
“Ugh, now I’m gonna have to use the disgusting bathroom in the train, I’ll be back.” Lexus stood up and lurched towards the guard to ask where the bathroom was.
Luther slumped hard against the back of the seat. I looked out the window. The train was elevated a hundred feet above ground and the blur of buildings passed below us (I could see buildings passing under us, but it was a little hard to see what was down there since the train was moving so fast). I clutched the edges of my seat. I had a fear of riding things that were too fast.
Luther noticed,
“You okay?” he asked, sounding little worried. I nodded, as I held onto my seat even tighter.
“I have a fear of fast moving vehicles. That’s why I never board trains, but buses are an exception since they’re sometimes slow.” I stammered a bit as I hung on to the edge of my seat. Luther gave me a sympathetic look and then looked away. His eyes suddenly glittered again, and that made me feel uncomfortable. He sat up straight,
“Hey, I know you” he said pointing at me. Oh great. They all start that way.
“I’ve seen you before, at school I mean. You live next door to our house,” he said smiling at the realization. I looked at him a bit confused. I tried to search my mind for a boy named Luther.
Luther.
I remembered a girl named Anya who lived next door. She was a talented cook at a very young age. I suddenly smiled too. My paranoia eased and I became more comfortable.
“Oh, you’re the one who lives with his sister, Anya Conrad; your sister’s a Pegasus affiliate, right?” I asked.
He replied with a nod,
“Actually, I live alone. My parents died of an unknown disease when I was a baby. My sister, Anya, raised me. Later she became a Pegasus affiliate and came to visit me every week on Saturdays”, Luther said in a regular tone. I could see pain in his eyes.
I looked at him, feeling sympathy for him in spite of myself.
“I’m sorry,” I said, wishing I hadn’t asked.
Luther shrugged “Nah, it’s okay, I’m over it now. Besides, I never even knew my parents...” he told me mater-of-factly. I nodded. I knew