If Evelina was hoping for something resembling the Chatrani, she was sorely mistaken. After the American guarding the exit had let her through, Eve realized that the only resemblance the Subterranean bore to her home was the architecture—it vaguely resembled a mall. Whereas the workers at the Chatrani sold common wares, this was another market altogether.
One might, in fact, call it a meat market. Evelina couldn’t help but gape as she walked down the wide steps leading further underground. The hallway she’d previously navigated had nothing on this: along with the inevitable prostitutes and strip clubs, there was a veritable smorgasbord of unsavory shops. Nobody bothered her, but she didn’t need to be harassed or haggled to feel out of place—their looks said it all.
Fetishists wandered into sex shops that featured chimeras, not typically welcome in normal cities. Cyber-punks perused storefronts full of electronics, which, although spendy, had mostly all been stolen or acquired through otherwise shady means. Those with a passion for body art didn’t have to look very far to acquire a new addition to their canvas of flesh. For anyone feeling braver, there were actual body alterations to be had. Androids—albeit low quality ones—were readily available. Evelina furrowed her brow and stuck out her jaw, exhaling in a quick burst to blow a strand of hair out of her eyes. She thought to herself how the Subterranean had just about everything in life she didn’t need.
A pair of dark blue eyes startled Evelina. She blinked, stopping in her tracks and gazing perplexedly into them. The eyes stared back, unmoving as they sat floating at the top of their liquid prison—a jar in one of the body alteration shops, this one specifying in brand-new eyeballs. A wave of nausea washed over Eve as she thought “Julia. Those eyes look just like Julia’s.” They weren’t, of course, but it unnerved the young woman nonetheless, which is why she nearly had a heart attack when someone’s hand touched her shoulder.
“You have beautiful eyes,” hissed a man, perhaps the owner of the shop. He seemed to be fond of changing his own eyes, because although they were a brilliant purple, they seemed a bit too small for his own head. The man grinned, revealing his rotten, crooked teeth. “Care to make a trade?”
“Ugh, no!” Evelina shouted, yanking her shoulder out of the man’s grip. Severely unsettled, she broke into a run, away from that creepy man and his creepy store. She shuddered, wrapping her arms across her chest as she ran, eyes downcast. A moment later she slammed into someone’s shoulder, muttering a brief apology. That would have been the end of the encounter was it not for a glimpse of long brown hair, a familiar jawbone, and—could it be? —those dark blue eyes…
“Julia?” asked Eve, turning to get another look at the woman. Where was she? Frantically Evelina scanned the crowded underground, but the familiar face had vanished. It was completely improbable, as they had touched shoulders just seconds before, leading Evelina to believe that somehow she really had seen her friend. “Julia, get back here, dammit!” Now she was yelling, oblivious to the stares she was receiving as she turned around and ran past the purple-eyed man and his customers, past all the cyber-punks and the chimeras and the sex fiends until she had reached the stairs.
“Where are you…?” she whispered, resting her hands on her knees and panting. She knew how illogical and crazy it was to think she’d actually seen Julia, but in Evelina’s mind she accepted that she just might be going crazy. Better to be a little loopy and see her friend than to not see her at all, and it had to mean something…
Tears were streaming down her face, leaving a trail of black mascara, and she silently cursed herself for crying in public. Evelina had no idea what to do next, and so she was actually thankful when the gate lifted and Marena and Dante rushed down the stairs to meet her.
* *
Two small, pale hands with chipped blue nail polish fumbled with a set of keys, finally managing to open the car door. Kaori Matsuya was in the garage behind the Mezzanine, a small, four-car deal. She had snagged her suitcase from Eve’s bike, and now tossed it into the car where it landed with a bounce on the passenger seat.
“It is my fault we lost Eve. I wish I could do something right. I can't mess this up. I'm not going to mess this up.” Kaori thought to herself before sitting down, then cursed audibly: there was water on the seat, and it had already soaked through her pants. “Of course, thanks to our new outlaw friend and his aquatic skills.” Before she could insert the key into the ignition, the garage door farthest from her began to open. Several policemen walked in, shining flashlights around.
“Crap,” she muttered, briefly contemplating driving straight through the closed door behind her. It would open, normally, if the car moved slowly enough, but not if she backed out quickly, as she was considering. Instead she opted to squeeze down beneath the dash on the passenger side, keeping her head low and praying they wouldn’t notice her. A few moments later, her worst fears came true when there was a rapid knocking on the passenger side window.
“Ma’am?” said the accented voice. “Ma’am, what are you doing hiding there? Get out of the car, please.”
Sullenly she hoisted herself up and over to the driver’s side, then opened the door to stand beside the car.
“What’s all this about?” asked one of the men.
“I was scared,” she said, making her voice high-pitched and sweet sounding. She kept her left hand on the roof of the car. “I heard there were some dangerous people in the club so I went out here to hide. When I saw you guys, I guess I just panicked.”
“Uh huh,” he replied skeptically. “Is this vehicle registered to you?”
“Yes.”
“License and registration?”
“…I left them at home.”
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to step away from the car,” he announced, and when she didn’t move, he grabbed her by the wrist. Another policeman had opened the passenger door and was now rummaging through the glove box. “Bingo. This car is registered to Dante Lamoroch. You’re mixed up with some bad company, little girl.”
Kaori deeply resented being called a little girl, but most of all she was angry with herself for getting caught. Everything she could have done differently over the past several minutes flashed through her mind, going back even further to how they lost Eve in the first place. The awkward motorcycle ride from earlier was starting to seem like an impossible dream, that she had ever been in Evelina’s presence.
“Let go of me, you jerk!” she exclaimed, wrenching herself out of the man’s grip. He seemed surprised by her strength. Moments later his shocked expression turned to one of severe annoyance, and he made another lunge for her, which she deftly avoided. “I’m not going to mess this up,” she thought again, feeling a sort of disconnection in her mind. Although Kaori feared what her power could do, there was very little alternative with so many policemen to take out, and she didn’t think she could do it with her fists alone. Manipulating the earth was becoming more automatic; an instinct that would ensure her survival—one she wanted to know more about, despite her fears.
A barely perceptible growl started deep in her throat. Fifteen minutes, Dante had said, and she’d already wasted at least ten. Her fists clenched as her growl became louder. Kaori didn’t realize that her eyes were glowing green, but the police looked at one another warily and even took a few steps backwards.
“Now hey, little girl, just calm down...”
“I’M NO LITTLE GIRL!” Her scream echoed eerily through the garage before she slammed her fist down into the concrete floor. As the ground trembled, a wave of earth rippled forward from where she crouched, breaking the concrete into large, dangerous chunks that went flying through the air. The policemen went flying as well, slamming bodily into the closed garage door. When the wave reached the door, there was a loud splintering of wood and a crack shot up through the center. So great was the upheaval that the door broke into pieces and fell to the side, allowing for the policemen (badly injured, but still alive) to crawl to safety.
“Safety,” unfortunately, was a busy parking lot, and they were nearly run over on the spot. They had barely clambered out of the way when Dante’s sleek white sports car went barreling through the broken garage, struggling to back over the cracked cement and spraying the crowd with debris. Behind the wheel, one very determined Kaori Matsuya grinned wickedly, put the car into drive and spun out into traffic. Instinctively, her hand reached up to clasp the emerald necklace at her throat, and she found that it was warm.
* *
Further, if Evelina had been hoping for a chance to catch her breath and calm down, she was mistaken there as well. Dante wasted no time in catching her by the upper arm and dragging the black-clad woman through the Subterranean at a breakneck pace, Marena in tow.
“Excuse me, what…hey, what’s going on?!” she demanded, scowling at Dante.
“Just…run,” he said, never once looking at her.
“I’ll thank you to stop…manhandling me.” Evelina pulled away. She was getting really sick of people randomly grabbing hold of her.
“Whatever, just run!” Dante said impatiently, glancing back over his shoulder. Evelina did the same, taking note of the stream of policemen who appeared to be chasing after them. “And don’t shoot any of ‘em, either. They’re just doing their job.”
“Fantastic,” muttered Eve, shoving her way through a particularly crowded section of the underground. Everyone was in an absolute panic, not wanting to be caught doing anything illegal, but they had nothing to worry about: Dante and his accomplices—but mostly just Dante—was the big prize, and the police chased him with fevered single-mindedness.
“So where are we headed? This had better not lead to a dead end.”
“Oh ye of little faith,” said an out-of-breath Dante, still managing to grin slyly over at the females, who both looked at each other and rolled their eyes. The group had just clambered up some rusty metal stairs and through a doorway leading to the subway station—evidently this was some kind of secret entrance, and very well hidden behind a large pillar in the corner. “See?” said Dante suavely, though the beads of sweat on his forehead betrayed his nerves. “I know my way around a few places. Now, if that kid got out of the Mezzanine okay, my car ought to be waiting—“ he motioned to a crowded set of stairs leading up. “Right out there.”
Peering out across the noisy station, Eve looked down at the several rows of train track before them—all four lanes of it. In between each was a narrow strip of concrete where passengers congregated around ticket dispensers and waited for their train.
“And what if she’s not?” asked Marena.
Dante’s reply was blunt. “Then we’re screwed.” Motioning for them to follow, he started across the tracks. Marena, who was still fairly tipsy, fearlessly ambled along after him and had soon made it all the way across. Evelina paused halfway across—a train was pulling up, and there was no way she’d make it in time. As the train slowed, she stood directly in front of the doors as they parted, hoping to use it as a shortcut. However, she was greeted by policemen who, anticipating something like this, were waiting inside.
Eve hesitated, knowing that if she ran, they’d shoot her. She wasn’t too keen on having assault charges against her, either. Luckily, as the police were pulling her onto the train, Dante appeared behind them and expertly knocked their heads together. They slump
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