Page 62 of Caged By the Ruthless Thief

“Permula, they have a thing for being over the top,” I say.

“It’s incredible. How do they do it?”

Pink streams around their dome like the rings of Saturn. Iridescent fuchsia schooling fish zip from the front of the dome around to the back. They’ve tethered glowing balls around that open like giant lotus flowers.

“I’m not sure,” Nico grunts.

“And look at that over there. What, what in the... what are those?”

I laugh. She’s wide awake now. But then she didn’t come through the agriculture center to get to the ball. Coming from Zaffiro, it’s the opposite way.

“They’re massive. I mean. How big are they?”

“That’s where we grow all of our non-seafood,” Holter explains.

“Really?”

“Yes, Belle.” Holter laughs. “Would you like a tour?”

“You’re asking the farmer’s daughter if she wants to see how you feed a massive city underwater?”

“That’s a yes?” Holter asks.

“Yes.” She leans forward, her neck craning as we round it.

“Not now,” Nico grunts.

“No, Nico. Not now. Now we have things to not talk about,” Annabelle says.

I turn in my seat to see the glare she gives him.

“You heard what we were talking about, Belle?”

“I’m sleepy, not a child. Yes, I heard what you were discussing. But I don’t mind letting us breathe in this little bubble for a while. A week.”

“A week?” Nico grumbles.

“A week. We can be nice to each other.” At least, I hope we can.

Nico’s glaring, but Holter looks like he could cut me in half. I raise my eyebrows, and he shakes his head.

“We can try.” Holter laughs and points theomadasouth, out of the agricultural area.

“Awesome.” I’m hopeful this might work out. At least they won’t kill me in my sleep for the first week.

“And what is this one?” Sunshine points.

“Vitrom. They pull out the same decor every year.” Holter angles theomada, giving Annabelle a better view of the dome.

I’ve spent some time on land in Corsica, Greece, and a few other places along the Mediterranean too. And I’ve been overwhelmed by meadows, bridges, and other things. Vitrom is like a good painting, but when you see Zaffiro, Permula, or Glyden, it’s just okay.

I’m twisted around in my seat while she’s nuzzled up against Nico. I want to catapult over the seat back to them. Nico’s holding his leg out strangely. But I’ve seen him with his clothes off. His time in the chasm caused more damage than was evident from the surface. Where his shirt is buttoned up under his Adam’s apple, you can make out a deep red scar that shoots up to his ear. It runs down his neck and side. Then there’s the gray cracked skin around his ankles and wrists, the gash on his leg. Things happened to him after he entered the tunnel. Things I want to know about but can’t ask.

“Vitrom’s dome is nice,” she says. I know she means it, but it comes out halfhearted.

Holter’s not piloting out of the way. This is the most direct route to Glyden. We pass Tinom too. While I don’t care one way or another about them, Tinom and Glyden have a rivalry that borders on hatred. None of them mention anything about the Tinom decor. It’s actually nicer than Vitrom’s, with black and gray cutouts waving around the dome like a dark moon with its constellations. We might not spend a lot of time on land, but we spent plenty of time on waves learning all about the stars.

It’s the reason why there’s such an uproar about Annabelle. We’re not human, the haters say. But we’re also not our ancestors. We’re something new.

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