The Fourth World: Chapter 5 Part 2

I realize that during all this time I have not said a word.

I open my mouth to speak but am soon interrupted.

“I’m sorry to disrupt everyone’s, most intriguing, conversation, but are we going to get to the matter of things yet or not?” I look away from the stranger and face the person who spoke. He seems nothing but bored, judging everyone with small, narrow eyes. I can’t make out his age… He doesn’t appear to be older than my parents, yet his eyes are completely drained of colour, something which only happens to victims of Scorpio, or, very rarely, if you make it past the age of 60.

Silence continues to fill the air around us.

“No? Nothing? Really? What are we going to do with her?” He raises his voice, a frigid tone that sends shivers up and down my arms.

“I’m thinking, Agro.” The young man at the head of the table says.

“Well, we can’t read your thoughts now can we? It would rather help if you spoke them out loud.” Lou snaps back.

“Hmm. It would be rather helpful if we had a telepathy machine now wouldn’t-” I look over at the person who said this. He is dead serious, not kidding. His voice is so calm and peaceful against Lou’s battling cries I almost have the urge to laugh.

“Shut up Noah.” She snarls at him, reminding me of a hungry beast.

There is only one more person I have not yet noticed at this bizarre table.

A woman, with black, lucid hair cropped up to her shoulders and a diamond-faced shape sits hidden behind the man who apparently is named Agro. She is so slender and tiny behind his masculine build that I hadn’t noticed her before. Now that I she comes out of his shadow to speak, I feel my body go suddenly still. My eyes unblinking, shock numbing my muscles.

I have also seen her before.

Before Sky’s incident. Something that had completely escaped from my thoughts. The woman. The mysterious woman who was talking to my mother. The woman who ignited my parent’s fight during the night. The woman who warned my mother to be careful about our changing world. What is she doing here?

I keep my eyes fixed on her, but she refuses to face my way.

“Kole, why don’t we simply have a discussion and decide what to do with her?” She says in a still, soothing voice.

“You mean how to get rid of her.” Lou retorts back.

I roll my eyes. I don’t think I’m scared of her anymore.

I realize the blurry fog that covered my eyesight up until a few minutes ago has cleared, the sedation suddenly losing its effect.

The leader, Kole, finally opens his mouth to speak.

“Right. Ember, isn’t it?” He looks at me, “See that door behind me? Go through it and we’ll come and call you when we’re ready.” I think he’s about to offer a smile, but then he changes his mind and just points to the door.

I hear Lou behind me making some type of protests on how I shouldn’t be left alone. As if I could back-flip out of a window, I laugh to myself.

As I go through the door, which looks more like a metallic vault, I remember there aren’t even any windows for me to back-flip out of. Before I have time to process, I feel my breathing grow heavy. I feel my heart run faster and pound against my rib cage as if wanting to get free of its cage. I am far, deep underground, I remind myself. Sweat starts dripping down my forehead. I don’t like closed spaces. I never have. I have to restrain myself from letting the screams escape from the corners of my mouth. I clench my teeth together and my hands are held in tight fists on my sides. Something salty gets into my mouth. Blood. My lip starts stinging. I must have bit it.

Distract yourself, I think, Get your mind on something else. Before my head starts spinning and growing dizzy as I feel it just might, I start walking around. I realize this room is even darker than the one we were just in. All around me I feel surrounded by a tribe of dancing spirits. These oil lanterns give off the strangest of shadows. This room is so tiny it would be considered a storage room in normal houses, although I highly doubt this… refuge can be compared to the cube houses we all live in.

In front of me is an old book shelf, and I think it’s made of wood, which is unusual though because the Authority forbids the cutting down of trees and production of any wooden materials. What is this place?

“The dust on these books is unbelievable isn’t it?”

I don’t have any time to jump at the sound of his voice since the dust he blew of the top of one of the books got into my throat, making me cough.

It’s the older man, Noah.

He looks at me, offering an unrequited smile. I keep glaring at him. I finally exhale, about to speak, but stop. I continue trying to talk for about a minute, not sure from where to start. All he does is flick the pages of the old book in his hands.

“Take your time.” He says.

I count to ten and start again.

“Why are you here?” I finally hear words come out of my mouth.

“Why am I here with you or why are we here here?” he keeps flicking the pages, never looking at me.

“Both.”

“Okay, well, as you may have guessed the people in there don’t really care about my input, I’m considered the weirdo of the group,” He laughs. “Which is big considering the group itself.”

I start to think he forgot about the second question when he finally raises his head at me, his tiny spectacles laying on the tip of his nose. “Why are we here, in this strange underground refuge? I don’t think I’m really supposed to tell you yet, but if they get mad at me you can just say ‘Oh you know, Noah’s just the crazy old man, he didn’t know what he was saying’ because that’s what they think anyways.” He chuckles to himself.

Part of me wants to smile. He is like a weight leaving your shoulders, he already made me forget about my small claustrophobic attack.

“So this is our secret meeting place. Think of us as secret, ultra hidden spies who no one knows about.”

I can’t say his answer really helped me place the pieces together, but I don’t ask again.

“You know what this place is anyways?” He asks me.

He doesn’t wait for an answer. Instead, he goes to the end of the book he is holding and lets a crumpled up, almost brown piece of paper slip out and hands it to me. I notice his arms are very shaky, and his veins slither through them like blue snakes. I wonder if he has Scorpio. The paper feels rough, like sandpaper, I assume it must be very old.

Inside it is a drawing.

It’s nothing like the geometric scribbles I always draw though. I’ve never seen this type before. It’s like a plan of this place, this underground retreat. There is a symbol on the top left corner: a yellow circle with three black triangles.

“What does this mean?” I ask him.

“This,” He answers, “This place, is called a Fallout Shelter. It was built during the Last Age, more than a century ago. The Last Age, you’ve studied that, I believe. The wars. These refuges were built everywhere, specifically built to protect the civilians from those minor nuclear bombs.”

A lot of questions form in my mind and I try to get them out.

“How do you know this? Why didn’t they ever teach us? Why haven’t I ever come across one before?”

He chuckles.

“I like you.” He smiles at me while I continue staring at him incredulously. “Well, firstly, I’ve read it in all these books which lay before you.” He starts running his hand against the spines of the books on the shelf as if they were sacred and a single touch brought knowledge into his brain. “These aren’t the books you’re used to, Ember. The Authority doesn’t know about this place. They think all of the Shelters have been destroyed.”

I don’t immediately understand how the two things he said relate to each other but soon enough it hits me, The Authority doesn’t know about this place. I repeat in my head. That means that these books in front of me are…

No.

It can’t be.

Banned Books.

These are the Banned Books. These are the books that the Authority does not know of. These are the books which might actually come from our past, not the books the Authority provides for us, written by Members.

It takes a large part of me to grab hold of that rope in the back of my mind and pull me back in before spiralling in between these pages and never wanting to leave this room. This small and narrow room, I remind myself. I can’t dive into these words, I need to find out more.

“Banned Books.” I whisper.