Coulisse

He looked at me, then looked back to the end of the alley. He seemed to be thinking, about what, I didn’t know.

“Yes,” he slowly said. “Yes, it’s me. And you’re you.”

“I’m me . . .,” I said, dazed. It was like he didn’t remember me at all. “Cyan, it’s me; Nil.”

Cyan’s head whipped around and his sharp eyes caught mine. “I know who you are. What I’d like to know is why everyone thought you were dead.”

Dead? What was this guy talking about? I wasn’t dead.

“I . . . I don’t know why people said that. I’m perfectly alive.” I looked and my scraped hands, thinking hard.

“They said . . . that you had starved, that you hadn’t gotten to the music in time.” He looked back at me.

“They?”

Cyan glanced down at his feet and took a deep breath. “The guys that caught Nix. I escaped their facility, and They haven’t rested in their search for me, or the rest of us. They said that They had you in captivity, and wanted to see how long you could last without music. Your supposed death was an accident, according to them.”

“I was never there, Cyan. No one ever captured me.”

“They probably wanted everyone to think that you were dead, so that they’d give up on the one person that could get all us out of this.”

“Me? How could I get everyone like us out of this mess?”

“Please.” He shot me a sideways glance. “We all have ups and downs. Your down is that you feed on music and only music. But, your up is . . . well, you don’t know what that is yet, do you?”

I shook my head.

“Then it has yet to be discovered. And whatever it is, it’ll be strong enough to overthrow Them.”

“That’s great and all, but can we seriously think that I can save us. Come on, Cyan. I’m the lousiest person in the world when it comes to rescues.”

“If They’re so afraid of you, then I wouldn’t bet on it.”

“Whatever.” I sighed and looked up at the sky. By now, the stars were starting to disappear, and the sun was starting to rise. I could no longer hear the beating of the chopper’s blade with my advanced hearing, so I assumed it was safe. Next to me, Cyan was also observing his surroundings.

“Let’s go,” he muttered, and we were off. He weaved through the shadows, trying to conceal himself the best he could, which was pretty good. There were almost no cars on the road, but every time one passed, I tensed up. Yeah, I get paranoid as hell sometimes, especially when I’ve just fed.

We kept going, until we reached the edge of town. I was confused as to why we were here, and where we were going. But I knew better than to ask.

Cyan led me to the graveyard. I looked at him, but he had his eyes closed, still walking. What was most amazing was that he never once tripped over a headstone. I followed in bewilderment, starting to question what was really going on. Then, abruptly, he stopped and looked down at a grave.

“Is there a room down there or something?” I asked.

Cyan shot me a look. “Come now. You know me better than that.” He shook his head and stood back. His eyes closed, and strange words floated from his mouth. For a moment, nothing was happening. Then, the edges of the tombstone started to give off a strange, dark radiance. The glowing grew rapidly, and Cyan’s eyes finally fluttered open.

With utter silence, he approached the headstone and got down on all fours. He paused, then crawled into the stone, and he melted into it like it was water.

“C-Cyan?” I whispered. No answer came. I warily got down on my knees and slowly inched towards the stone. I touched the stone, and it melted around my finger with a cool feeling to it. With one deep breath, I pushed myself into the stone.

I was dropped into a swirling madness of blue and black. Looking down, I saw no end to this fall. I tried to scream, but my voice seemed to be gone. I squeezed my eyes shut, then everything stopped. I was no longer falling. Now, I was laying on a cold ground.

Voices swarmed around my head.

“That’s her?” a female voice said.

“Yes.” That one . . . that was Cyan.

“I thought she was dead,” a male voice said.

“So did I,” said Cyan. A warm hand touched my shoulder and lightly shook me. “Hey, Nil. You alright?”

I opened my eyes and sat up, to see three faces staring at me, one of which was Cyan. The others were two people I recognized, but just couldn’t put names on.

“Nil, can you hear me?” Cyan asked.

I looked at him and tried to speak, but nothing came. Instead, I nodded my head, then gave Cyan a questioning gaze.

“You’re probably just in aftershock of going through zones. It’s completely normal; happened the first time with me too.”

My shoulders relaxed, and I took a better look of where I was. It was some sort of apartment, but there were no windows, and the lights were dimmed.

The apartment walls rumbled, and I thought any second they were going to cave in. But the rumbling soon stopped and everything was still. Though, the rumbling had left my chest feel like it was caving in, and a feeling of dread washing through my body.

“What the heck was that?!” I hissed, my eyes widening.

“Well, she snapped out of it pretty quickly,” the male murmured. Now that my eyes had adjusted to the dimness, I could see that his hair was bleach-blonde, almost white, sticking up just like Nix’s had . . . His eyes were a piercing blue, just staring me down.

The girl was about my age, maybe a few years older than me. Her hair was a dark brown, flowing and extravagant. Her eyes held a wise and sly look that almost scared me.

Then Cyan . . . his black-blue hair and grey eyes. I remembered him best, because I’d been around him before this. I’d been around him before Nix had been caught.

All of us wore dark clothes that made it hard to see the rest of our bodies in such dim light. We were all strange people, sitting in a strange room, at an unknown (and possibly strange) location. Which reminded me. . . .

“Anyone care to tell where we are? Or why the walls just shook.” I narrowed my eyes that all of them, staring them down until someone answered.

“We’re underground, near the metro station,” Cyan said. “The train probably just past us. It does that now and then.”

I gave him a look, slowly nodding. “Alright . . . well, that’s great and all, but why are we here?”

“Well, we have to protect you from Them until your miraculous power shows up,” the woman said. Her voice was amazingly calm and sly, almost as much as her eyes.

“And to avert suspicion that you’re really you, we’re going to have to alter you appearance,” Cyan said. “Or, in other words, cut your hair.”

“Yeah, you have too much of it anyways,” the man said.

“Oh, thanks . . . whatever your name is,” I said.

“It’s Griffin,” he said, then jerked a thumb at the woman. “And this is Lynette.”

“I’ll be the one cutting your hair,” she said. “Follow me.”

Lynette got up and walked across the room a gracefully and lightly. She reminded me of a deer, her frame being beautiful but almost fragile, and her steps being light and meaningful.

I got up and followed her, my boots clunking. I, on the other hand, was like a maimed wolf; awkward and strange. I didn’t have a beautiful frame or voice. I wasn’t tall or anything like that. I secretly burned with jealousy on the inside.