Page 14 of The Danger Kiss

I had been so surprised, to see the old, old man still alive, still looking at me with his pale, ageless eyes.

"We are the same, my lady Blanca. You do not have to be afraid."

***

Sunrise.

Falling, yet it had always felt like flying.

It was an odd feeling.

From the top of the cliff that had been my sanctuary for so long, I jumped unaided, my body slicing through the bits of wild foliage that jutted from the hard earth. I cut a swath of motion through the stillness of the mountainside. There were razor sharp rocks along with the cliffside growth, the ones that would tear through flesh as a hot knife through butter.

For everyone else, it would not be an easy jump.

Exactly the way I liked it.

The drop was several hundred feet. That was my idea of a shortcut.

I have spent the past three days packing and putting things in place, but mostly the latter. After many years, I would be leaving the greenhouse for an indefinite length of time. I spent most of my time making sure that my plants would continue to thrive in my absence. That meant deactivating the hybrid functions of a great number of my specimens as well as assigning some servants to watering and cleaning chores.

I also spent hours organizing a choice arsenal of weapons and substances, and studying what I could of Asphalt City’s black market. There was precious little on it, even on the most sensitive databases. Rukko had even resorted to contacting his mysterious sources throughout our network, but the organizers of both our auctions were apparently very good in covering their tracks from being picked up by anybody.

The sun was fully in the sky and shining brightly when I reached the front Gates of the estate.

I looked around and gave a short, shrill whistle. The large furry white head of Zavas peered out from behind a clump of trees. When he saw it was me, his hulking form slowly lumbered over and lowered its head flat onto the ground.

I gave the family pet a good scrunching behind the ears and a reminder to look after my plants while I was away.

That done, I tightened the straps of the pack on my back and flexed my fingers beneath my leather gloves. My hands settled on the thick wood of the multi-ton Gates. I took a deep breath. Then I pushed.

One. Two. Three.

The Gates opened. Not bad for someone who usually carried nothing heavier than a potted plant in her greenhouse.

Smiling slightly through the sprigs of misgiving churning in my stomach, I slipped through the Gates, listening to them slam close behind me.

I was outside.

***

Family loyalty demanded my compliance, yet the inherent danger of exposing myself to people while traveling and in Asphalt City gnawed at the edges of my consciousness.

At any given time, I could wreak havoc to anything or anyone. My touch is called a probability because there are no certainties with it – there were only carefully established controls, and even more cautiously calculated risks.

Travel took two days. I went down Black Mountain on foot, which was the longest part of the journey. Once I reached Steel City, I sought passage on a blimp that would land directly on the terminal of Asphalt City.

I took meticulous care with crafting my identity for this mission, my first official one as an adult Zola and, more importantly, my first trip outside alone. The last time I was out without any family or servants as companions was the time I went to the Borderlands to train with Yuri. It felt like many lifetimes ago.

I exchanged my laboratory coats and gowns for a more practical ensemble, one more befitting a denizen of an industrial metropolis like Asphalt. I picked dark-colored cotton clothing, paired with calfskin boots and a long, lightweight hooded cloak. I swept back my dark hair and concealed by eyes behind goggles, a common accessory in Asphalt City, used to avoid irritation in the eyes from the strong fumes emanating from the ground itself.

I made my way into Asphalt City on foot as soon as I landed. I marveled at the desolate, sooty beauty of the landscape. The place appeared to be a cityscape in monochrome, with silvery skyscrapers jutting out from the grey earth in an attempt to pierce through the perpetual clouds of its equally dismal skies.

The place appeared to be a sprawling ruin accentuated with technology and ambitious infrastructure. I was reminded of a dying human clad in the finest armor, carrying the most sophisticated of weaponry. Protected, fortified, reinforced…yet unable to quash its own mortality or eventual decay. Oddly, I felt as if the gray cityscape reflected my own struggle to balance the power within me with the fragility of the rest of the world.

The cacophony of voices and sounds that emanated from the bustling streets of Asphalt City sounded like discordant melodies. Swirling dust devils danced around dilapidated buildings, their contorted forms a testament to the ravages of time and the relentless onslaught of change.

Amidst this desolation, humanity clung tenaciously to life. Shadowy figures darted through the narrow alleyways, their movements as fluid and ephemeral as the ink-black tendrils of smoke that kept snaking upward from the pavement underfoot.

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