The Gemini Age: Book One

[6-3] Old Wounds - Part Three

    "Aww, yeah! When's the last time you felt this full?"

    "I'll tell you what I told you when you asked the same question a few minutes ago. It's been a long –"

    "A long time! But Marcus, that food! It was amazing! And it was served on plates! Real plates, made of real plate stuff!"

    "It's called ceramic. Best of all, it was on someone else's tab. We'll have to thank Councillor Wanyama when he gets back."

    The streets outside the Fairway Café buzzed with late morning business. Through every doorway, late risers darted around to grab a meal before the clock struck eleven and lunch swept breakfast off the menus of food outlets throughout the city. As he gushed, Lloyd pushed the last piece of a cinnamon swirl into his mouth, the final flurry of flaked pastry flying from his lips with a sigh of satisfaction. "Best thing I've eaten in ages, easily," he muttered through the mouthful.

    Marcus hid his hands in his pockets. "Well, don't get too used to it just yet," he said, his eyes scanning the streets around them. Though many of the buildings bore the signs of shops, cafés, and salons, he knew from experience that they only applied during business hours. Thanks to people like Lennox, if a property had a basement of adequate size, it was more likely than not that there was money to be made for those willing to put their wallets – or bodies – on the line.

    The shining wounds Marcus collected from such venues quickly sank beneath the puckered skin that closed over them, yet the phantom memories only piled higher, and his efforts to hide them grew more meticulous. Whether through disorientation or exhaustion, however, he had dropped his guard this morning. The blanket draped over him by the first few curious passes of Jade's eyes lingered even now.

    A spark of light fluttered by in the breeze, and as Marcus snapped to attention to see it, Lloyd cupped it in his hands. His eyes glowed. "Did you see that?" he grinned.

    "See what?" Though he had just seen the spark vanish into his brother's grasp, the sight had been so fleeting that Marcus questioned whether it had been there at all. The light had been a cyan colour not too dissimilar to Jade's eyes, and her close stare remained in his mind even now.

    Lloyd's grin grew as he parted his hands and admired the light within, a wisp of glitter swimming in misty radiance. Curious, Marcus reached for it, determined to feel its glow across his senses. The second the lines of his fingerprint appeared in the cyan light, however, his skin seized with shock. "How are you holding onto that? It's freezing!" he yelped as he pulled back, invisible frost gripping the joints in his arm.

    Confused, Lloyd closed his palms again and pressed the back of his hand to his face. "Suit yourself, then. I find it quite warm and comforting, for your information," he said, immune to the odd looks being paid him by passers-by. As the sun emerged through the crack between two darkening sheets of solid cloud, he looked up and pointed in the direction of a cluster of buildings. "One of those birds had this weird glow, and it dropped these all over the place."

    Marcus made tight fists and fought off the chill. "Just leave it alone. We don't need 'weird glows' giving us any more problems right now." In honesty, after feeling the sheer cold locked within its aura, just looking at the scrap of light sent chills up his spine, yet Lloyd's excitement was too infectious to taint with such an admission.

    Their walk carried them to a thoroughfare swarming with people and pigeons in equal measure. While there were plenty of places to sit, by the late morning people lost in their phones occupied most of them, with the rest dominated by people in hushed conversation with their associates. In the centre of the space, enclosed by a broad ringfence, a man in a dirt-flecked t-shirt focused on a sculpture that emerged from the ground before him, a roofless castle large enough to step inside.