Paragons of Ether by Ryan Muree

Author:Ryan Muree [Muree, Ryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-06-13T16:00:00+00:00

They’d managed to get a room to share, find some dark jackets with hoods, and hid out until the next night.

“Where are we going?” Clove asked. “What does the paper say?”

“Glint,” Jahree said. “I’m assuming it’s Glint Street, but where on Glint street is the question.”

“Just look for the orange cat.” Mack, seeming amused with himself, put on his shoes. “Because that’s totally normal.”

“Nah, there’s gotta be something on the street to follow.” Jahree opened the door for them. “He said to follow the signs.”

“But we’re going to have to be sneaky, right?” Clove asked. “There’s a curfew.”

Jahree nodded. “Stick to the shadows. I’ll do what I can if we get into trouble, but we’ll just have to be careful.”

Clove took a sharp breath and swallowed. Deep in the country that hated her and Mack, in the thick of their bustling capital, after curfew with patrolling RCA units… If this is what it felt like to be Emeryss and the others the whole time they were in Ingini, she finally understood.

Jahree led them past streets and through alleys toward their destination.

All the streets had fancy names like Golden, Hope, or Dawn. It was nauseating, really.

The buildings were made mostly of stone and weren’t nearly as tall as their buildings in Ethrecity. There weren’t really any modes of transportation for them except for carts pulled by mawks, and the ether-lamps were all lit, bright and gold. No green haze. No cloudy ether fog. Just air. Just pure light.

Jahree checked around a building and motioned them to follow. “That’s Glint Street,” he whispered.

The clomping of mawks echoed ahead of them.

They pressed their backs against the cold, stone wall and waited for the RCA to pass.

“Insane,” Mack whispered.

And she agreed. Their own people weren’t even free.

Jahree waved them on, and they slipped down the street toward Glint. “Eyes open for signs.”

Big, bright beautiful posters shone through the golden haze from the ether-lamps. From the street to the rooftops, they advertised a greater life with the RCA, more land outside of Aurelis, or better food just down the street.

“What’s that?” Mack asked pointing up to a poster. “It has a letter circled.”

“R,” Jahree said. “Look for something similar.”

They scanned the posters up and down the road until Clove came across a musician’s poster with a picture of their band. The E was circled in their band name just like the R had been circled.

“Here’s an E,” Clove whispered loudly.

Jahree and Mack ran down to meet her.

“Well,” Mack said, “It’s leading in this direction.”

“Look for a V.”

They walked carefully, eying each one.

Cayn could be right here.

She ran her fingers over each paper, skimming every letter.

“V!” Mack said.

It ended at a poster advertising the RCA.

“Ready?” Worn stepped out from behind a crate. Rust-colored dust plumed around him.

He walked over, peeled back the RCA poster, pushed a wooden plank, and a false wall popped out.

They followed him inside and let the false wall close behind them.

“Keep your hoods low. And since you’re new, just listen, and I’ll explain anything you don’t understand later.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.