tik-tik~ tik-tik~
The driver pointed through the rain slick window.
"Follow the trees that way. When you look to your right, the entrance should be there. It's hidden, but you'll see it."
Valentina and Julian opened their doors, unbuckled little Jie's seatbelt and helped her out. (X)
Little Jie hunched against the rain. The soaked wildefowl hung heavy in one hand, and her feathers lay plastered against her head. Everything around her shone—the street, the sidewalk and the leaves.
She watched rainwater push a single leaf along the sidewalk until Valentina took her hand and drew her forward.
Valentina headed in the direction the driver had pointed while Julian stayed close behind, leaning over Jie to shield her from the rain.
They found the entrance rather easily.
It was hard to miss when the lights spilled over it.
A handful of people emerged from within, holding umbrellas, bags, jackets and whatever else they could over their heads. The three hurried forward, their shoes splashing against the wet ground.
There was no door—at least, not the kind Jie had imagined.
Instead, a short counter and an empty inspection lane marked the entrance. It reminded her of the checkpoints near the stations, only without card readers or gates blocking the way. The night and rain blurred the finer details, but no one stopped them.
Jie followed Valentina through the empty lane.
Once they crossed it, a wide-open space greeted them.
The ceiling stretched high above them. Far higher than it should have. The rain sounded different here—muffled against the glass, nearly buried beneath passing footsteps and quiet voices.
On the far side, past the people gathered inside, stood another gate identical to the one they had just passed through.
Most people kept to themselves.
Others spoke quietly with the friends beside them, their heads tilted close together like they were sharing secrets.
They stopped near a wall.
Julian knelt, unzipped Jie's soaked jacket and eased it off her shoulders. He held out his hand for the plushie. She surrendered it with drooping eyes and a frustrated little sigh.
Then he reached for both feathered tufts.
He gently tugged and shook both tufts, scattering the water caught between their feathers. Jie scrunched her nose but stayed still for him.
"Didn't know this one was still open this late."
Julian said.
Valentina answered too quietly for Jie to hear. Her bracelet buzzed against her wrist, drawing her gaze down.
She muted it and checked the caller ID.
An older couple hugging each other appeared on the screen. Valentina answered, then lowered the volume once the call connected. A woman's quiet voice came through.
"Hello? Are you there?"
The voice was clear, though tension wrapped every word.
"Yes, I'm here."
Valentina responded in a soft tone, speaking closely to the bracelet.
"I'm sorry but my husband got a heart attack on the way...."
Why would your heart attack you?
Jie looked down and placed a hand over her chest, feeling a small thump.
"You'll have to forgive me for all of these inconveniences but my boy will pick you up."
The woman on the call paused. A swallow followed.
"—Could you wait for my son to arrive? Twenty minutes at most."
Valentina glanced toward Julian and Jie.
Jie's eyes moved to Julian, who was placing her wet jacket and plushie inside a plastic bag.
Little Jie was busy smoothing the feathers on her head, shaping them into tiny horns. One side stayed down no matter how much she tried. She pressed it harder, then let go.
Yet it bounced halfway back.
"That's okay."
Valentina said quietly.
"It's been hectic all month with everything going on."
She rubbed her arm, blowing out the cold in her.
They spoke a little longer before ending the call. Valentina exhaled, her sigh blending into the soft patter of rain against the glass to their right.
Valentina lowered her wrist and looked at Julian.
"We'll be waiting for their son to pick us up."
The two shared a look. Julian raised his eyebrows in question.
"He had a heart attack."
He only replied with a low whistle.
"Since we're here...might as well check it out."
Julian added.
Julian handed the plastic bag to Valentina, then took Jie's hand.
The open hall seemed to widen the farther they walked.
Then she saw it.
Its ribs curved wide enough for the lights to pass through, casting thin shadows across the floor. The long skeleton hung above them, its tail wrapped in a slow spiral toward the ceiling.
Her tiny chest tightened while the air around seemed to grow heavy.
The overhead lights hummed. Faint shadows stretched through the beast's ribs, leaving a cage of bone and silence across the floor. One narrow strip of light reached Jie and struck her square in the chest.
She could not tell whether it was the cold air or her own heart making her shiver.
It was not moving. She knew that.
Yet she felt its weight anyway.
The longer she looked, the harder that weight pressed against her chest.
It stayed still.
But something inside her did not.
She took one careful step toward Julian, followed by another.
Without looking away from the skeleton, she reached out and grabbed his hand.
His fingers closed around hers without a word.
Little Jie glanced up once more, following the creature's tail as it wrapped and spiraled toward the ceiling.
Her shoes tapped lightly against the polished stone floor. The tight feeling remained wedged inside her chest.
Little Jie shook her head and faced forward.
The desks gradually gave way to lounges. Past them, the open space narrowed into rooms. Glass panels sat low enough for Jie to peer through, held in place by polished wooden walls.
To their right, another section opened beyond a stretch of smooth concrete.
Slim lights embedded in the ceiling spilled their brilliance across the floor toward an outer window, where a small garden swayed in the rain. Nearby, a monitor blinked at the help station beneath the hands of a worker typing at the keyboard.
The trio kept walking until they reached the base of the stairs.
The steps tapered inward before rising into a floor of their own.
Little Jie looked up. Then up some more.
Too many stairs to count.
More rooms wrapped around the staircase. Along one side hung a wall full of framed portraits. The faces stared into the open space, all still, all serious, all looking like they knew where everything was.
They moved toward a slim kiosk beside the stairs, its screen showing an image of the building itself—concrete, steel, wood, and glass all stitched into one.
Valentina tapped the screen, hesitating over the unfamiliar layout.
"Oh wow."
She murmured.
"It has auditoriums… classrooms. It's much bigger than I thought."
She had not forgotten the signs near the entrance asking everyone to keep their voices low. People passed quietly around them, and she did the same.
Curious, she tapped the colored icons scattered across the map. Each one unfolded into a new image.
"Huh," She breathed, studying the screen with little Jie peeking from below. "A museum too."
"Is there any book you want to read?"
Jie's tufts were still flattened from the rain. One tuft curled the wrong way, but she had already given up fixing it.
The little girl thought for a moment, her eyes drifting until they landed on a nearby screen, where a looping video played.
"Um… Ma...? Ma…gic..."
She fumbled over her words. The tips of her shoes tapped together, and her hands tucked themselves behind her back. Her gaze slipped aside before peeking up at Valentina again.
The faint gleam in her eyes was unmistakable, bright with hope.
Valentina ruffled her hair, mussing the little tufts until they stuck out.
Little Jie puffed her cheeks in mild protest.
"Lets see, there should be something here."
Valentina kept searching. Numbers and short descriptions popped up with every touch.
Once the screen gave them a floor and section number, little Jie grabbed her hand. Valentina led her toward the stairs.
Then they kept going.
And going.
And going.
Little Jie held the railing with one hand and Valentina with the other, her short legs working hard to keep up. The wooden rail curved around the edge of the floor, smooth beneath her fingers whenever she had to let go and grab it again.
At the next level, a long desk of metal and wood wrapped around the space, lined with computers separated only by distance, not walls.
They kept walking until they found another staircase, this one made entirely of metal. Jie and Valentina grabbed the railing and started up, with Julian close behind.
Valentina followed the interior map on her bracelet, checking each platform against the section listed for their books.
The upper floors hung from the ceiling, supported by catwalks of metal and opaque tempered glass. Some opened into platforms lined with leather seats, others held shelves, and a few existed purely as quiet spaces to decompress.
Little Jie did not know what decompress meant.
At last, they reached the correct floor.
The shelves were spaced much like the ones below, though the platforms beneath them were set farther apart. The glass under her shoes was not clear, but she still walked carefully, just in case it changed its mind.
Soon enough, the trio found their section. Books filled the shelves beside terminals displaying cover art and short descriptions.
"Jie."
"Yes?!"
Her voice turned slightly chirpy right when she looked up at Valentina, who was already looking back at her with a thin book in her hands.
The cover immediately caught her eye.
It showed a sword—a gleaming blade that was neither ornate nor plain. Blood stained its length, and its golden hilt rested atop a patch of grass standing alone in a boundless desert.
"Do you know…"
Valentina began, her voice softer now, her thumb pointing at the hilt of the sword.
"…of Maides, the Radiant King?"
Little Jie shook her head and waited patiently.
Valentina crouched to Jie's height and held the book where she could see it.
"It's a simple story."
It told of a young man, the king of a distant land, and his journey through the sands of Sabahran. He sought wealth beyond imagination—vast fortunes and treasures of every kind.
He was the most prosperous Intermezzian of his age, a master of countless spells, a builder of endless fortune.
During his pursuit of riches, he came upon a satyr lying half-buried in the endless backlands of golden sand.
Little Jie's eyes moved to the picture on the cover again.
Amused, the radiant king kept the creature company, humoring its riddles and laughter for ten days and ten nights.
"And when all was said and done, the satyr granted the radiant king a wish—everything he touched would turn to gold."
Even his food.
Jie's fingers curled around the edge of the book.
The king could not recognize the danger. He returned to his realm and tested the gift on anything he desired. Cups, tables, jewels—each new piece of gold only made him reach for another.
Until the day his own fingers grew too heavy to lift, and his heart too still to move.
Valentina's voice softened near the end. Little Jie listened with her full attention.
"But even in regret, he did not mourn his riches—only his touch."
"So, Jie." Valentina said, her tone playful.
"Was this man good or bad?"
Her thoughts bumped into each other until her mind cleared.
"Neither!"
"She said at last, proud enough for her little voice to carry throughout the building.
"...!"
"Mmm?"
For a second, something felt off.
Her body became light and heavy all at once, like she had stood up too fast. The lights above stretched themselves into long pale lines. The shelves blurred together, brown and endless like a desert.
"...?"
Jie looked down at her hands, then at the book.
The hilt on the cover gleamed under the library light, just the same.
"Jie?"
The little girl lifted her head, trying to find her words but her nose twitched first.
Her eyes squeezed shut.
"nn-chh!"
The last bit of wakefulness inside her scattered like crumbs across the floor.
"Sleepy?"
Jie tried to shake her head. Instead, it came out as a wobble.
Her eyes closed, and her knees softened beneath her. (X)
Julian stepped in before she could fall. Her body sagged gently into his arms, the library lights warming her face. The sounds around her thinned one by one—rain, footsteps and, at last, the voices.
"Looks like that's enough for today."
Valentina closed the book and left it on the return cart.
The trip downstairs came to Jie in pieces: Julian's coat against her cheek, lights passing above her eyelids, and the distant ring of Valentina's bracelet.
Some time later, the three of them returned to where they had started. A larger crowd waited there for the rain to pass. The twenty minutes were nearly up when a call buzzed against Valentina's wrist.
"He's here? Okay, hmm. Alright, see you soon."
She ended the call and turned toward Julian.
"It'll be the white car in the front."
With Jie still drowsy in Julian's arms, they stepped outside and headed toward the front, searching for a car with its hazards on. They spotted one through the rain and hurried toward its headlights cutting across the downpour.
Julian walked up and knocked on the glass.
The window rolled down, the dome light giving both sides a clear look at each other.
"Come on in!"
Valentina pulled open the rear door and climbed inside. Julian passed the drowsy Jie to her before getting in beside them, shutting the door with a dull thump.
"The heat's already on, so it won't take long,"
The young man said. He glanced into the rearview mirror, making sure they were settled and buckled. The steady rhythm of the wipers filled the silence, blending into the slow crawl of traffic.
"Sorry about the wait."
Valentina gave a small nod. The three passengers settled deeper into the warm seat.
They stopped at an intersection and waited beneath the signal hanging above the rain.
Jie slept between Valentina and Julian, her head resting against Valentina's arm. The wildefowl lay trapped beneath both hands, and the seatbelt crossed over her small chest.
A few long seconds passed.
Then—green.
The young man eased his foot onto the throttle. Their car rolled into the intersection, the wipers dragging back and forth across the windshield.
A horn blared from the left.
Bright headlights tore through the downpour, cutting across their path far too quickly.
For a second, they were all anyone could see.
"Wait—!"
The driver stamped down on the accelerator, trying to clear the crossing before the other car reached them. Their engine cried out and the tires slipped, caught, then threw them forward.
The other driver hit the brakes. Water burst from beneath the tires, but the wheels could not hold the road. The vehicle swerved, its rear swinging wide until the entire chassis twisted sideways.
It kept coming.
The horn ripped Jie from her sleep. Her eyes opened to white light flooding the windows.
Julian threw an arm across her. Valentina twisted herself toward Jie.
"OH F-!"
The other car's front corner struck the rear.
KRRR—BANG!
The impact punched their car sideways. Metal folded near the rear wheel, and the floor beneath the back seat kicked upward. Glass burst in a cloud of hurt. The world snapped hard enough to tear every voice apart.
Jie snapped toward the impact. Her seatbelt locked across her chest and dragged her back into the seat.
For half a second, she was in place.
Their car began to spin.
The second jerk threw her the other way. The buckle at her hip tore out of the seat frame with a sharp pop, letting the belt whip loose across her chest.
Her small body lifted from the middle seat. Valentina's fingers caught the edge of her dress but lost grip just as quickly. Jie shot forward between the two front seats, the wildefowl tumbling somewhere behind her.
Streetlights, rain and shattered glass spun together beyond the windshield. Both horns wailed without stopping, their cries blending into one deafening scream.
She tried to breathe.
Tried to cry out.
Nothing.
Pain rushed through her. Her limbs moved without direction, and her eyes burned behind the haze swallowing her vision.
The whole street collapsed into a single sound.