Kael opened his eyes.
The sky was black. No stars with no moon and no ash-light from the street pillars that never went out in the lower districts. Just nothing above him. His back was on cold stone that felt old and older than anything in the city. Somehow, more older than the orphanage.
He didn't move right away, his body told him not to then the air shifted and the silence was quiet killing and something in his chest said stay down and wait.
The tolling was still there. Inside his skull. Low and far away but present. Like a bell ringing somewhere he couldn't reach.
He turned his head. Stone beneath him. Stone around him. A street that stretched into dark. Buildings that leaned. Windows that had no light behind them but still felt like they were looking at him.
He sat up. The scrape of his clothes on stone made a sound. It didn't echo. It just stopped. Like the air had eaten it.
Kael stayed sitting. He didn't stand. He listened.
Nothing. And then the footsteps.
Fast. Uneven. Someone running but trying not to. A figure came around a bent corner and nearly fell. Girl. Dark hair a mess. Clothes that looked like she'd been sleeping in them. Her breathing was loud. Too loud for this place.
She saw him and her whole body jerked back. Her mouth opened and closed. Her hands came up like she might fight him or push him away.
"Who are you." Her voice was a whisper that wanted to be a shout. "Who the hell are you. Are you real. Are you one of those things."
Kael looked at her. She was shaking. Not from cold. From fear. Her eyes kept moving to the buildings and the windows and the dark spaces between them.
"I'm real," he said. His own voice sounded strange. Too flat. Too quiet.
"How do I know that." She took a step back. "How do I know you're not going to turn into one of those shadows the second I look away."
"You don't."
She stared at him. Her breathing was fast and shallow. Then she looked around again at the streets and the dead light and the silence that pressed on everything.
"I went to sleep," she said. Her voice cracked. "I went to sleep in my own bed. My own room. I closed my eyes and I woke up here and I don't know where here is. I don't know what this place is. There was something in the street when I woke up. I didn't see it but I heard it. It was breathing. And it wasn't human."
She stopped talking. Her chest heaved. She looked at Kael like she expected him to have answers.
He didn't.
"I woke up here too," he said. "Same as you. I don't know where we are."
She laughed. It was a short sound. Ugly. "Great. Neither of us knows anything. We're going to die here."
Kael didn't argue. He looked at the street she'd come from. Nothing moved. But he could feel something. Not close. Not yet. But watching.
"What's your name," he asked.
She wiped her face with her sleeve. "Lira. You."
"Kael."
"Kael." She said it like she was testing it. "You're from the lower districts."
It wasn't a question. He nodded.
"I can tell. You've got that look. The one that says you stopped expecting things to get better a long time ago." She hugged her arms to her chest. "I'm from the textile quarter. Before the looms shut down. My mother worked there. My father left. Now I'm here. Wherever here is."
Kael didn't know what to say to that. He'd never been good at saying things. So he said nothing.
Lira looked at the buildings. "The windows are watching us."
"I know."
"You noticed too."
"Yes."
"So I'm not crazy."
"I don't know. You might be crazy. But the windows are still watching."
She almost smiled. It didn't reach her eyes. "At least you're honest."
They stood there in the silence. The tolling pulsed once. Soft. Far away. Both of them heard it. Neither of them spoke about it.
"We can't stay here," Kael said.
"Why not. Here seems as good as anywhere else in this nightmare."
"Because something's coming."
Lira's face changed. The fear that had been under her skin came back to the surface. "What do you mean something's coming. How do you know."
"I don't know. I feel it. Like something's walking toward us. Slow. But coming."
She looked at the street behind her. Then at the street ahead. "Which direction."
"I can't tell."
"Then how do we run from something if we don't know where it is."
Kael didn't have an answer. He just started walking. Not fast. Just moving. Lira stood there for a moment and then followed him.
"You're just going to walk. That's your plan. Walk."
"Do you have a better one."
She didn't answer. She walked beside him. Close enough that their arms almost touched. Neither of them commented on it.
The street curved. The buildings leaned. The pale light didn't change. Kael watched the windows and Lira watched the spaces between buildings and neither of them spoke. The silence was too heavy for words. Every sound they made felt like a mistake. Footsteps too loud. Breathing too loud. Even their heartbeats felt like they were announcing their location to everything in the dark.
Lira grabbed his arm.
Kael stopped. He followed her gaze to a puddle on the ground. Dark water. Still. It reflected a building that wasn't there. A tower with no windows. A door hanging open.
He looked up. No tower. Only the puddle had it.
Lira's grip tightened. "What is that."
"I don't know."
"Stop saying that."
"I don't know what else to say."
They backed away from the puddle. Neither of them turned their back on it. When they rounded a corner and it was out of sight, Lira let go of his arm and exhaled.
"I hate this place," she whispered. "I hate every part of it."
Kael didn't respond. He was listening. The tolling had changed. It was closer now. Louder. And beneath it there was another sound. Soft. Rhythmic. Something dragging across stone.
Lira heard it too. Her eyes went wide.
"Run," she said.
They ran. Their footsteps made no sound and that was worse than if they had. The dragging sound didn't speed up. It just kept coming at the same slow pace. Like whatever was making it knew they couldn't run forever.
They turned a corner and pressed themselves into a doorway. Lira's breathing was ragged. Kael's chest burned. They listened.
The dragging stopped.
Silence.
Long silence.
Then a sound from the street they'd just left. A soft exhale. Not human. Not animal. Something else.
And then nothing.
They stayed in the doorway for a long time. Neither of them moved. Neither of them spoke. The tolling faded back to its distant rhythm. The city was quiet again.
Lira looked at Kael. Her eyes were wet but she wasn't crying. Not quite.
"I don't want to die here," she said.
Kael looked at the dark street and the watching windows and the pale light that never changed.
"Then don't," he said.
It wasn't a plan. It wasn't comfort. It was just words.
But it was all he had.
♢♢♢♢
They found a building with a door that wasn't closed all the way. Inside was dark and empty. The silence was thicker inside. Like the walls were holding it in.
They sat against opposite walls. Facing each other. Facing the door. Neither of them closed their eyes.
The tolling was faint in here. Almost gentle. Kael almost believed he could ignore it.
Lira pulled her knees to her chest. "What happens if we fall asleep here."
Kael thought about the people in the streets. Eyes open. Breath shallow. Gone.
"Don't," he said.
"That's your advice. Don't fall asleep."
"It's what I've got."
She rested her chin on her knees. "You're really bad at this."
"I know."
They sat in the dark. The tolling pulsed. Outside the pale light didn't change. Somewhere in the twisted streets something was waiting.
And it had time.