Legacy to Zero

9: A Misplaced, Forgotten Key

Harlow

I lifted my hands above my head, facing my hips forward and keeping them in line with the carpet. Facing the window from the ceiling of River's house, the trees pointed upside down. The sky shone ruby red, changing places with the flattened grass near the edges.

My head still spun when I tried to make sense of it. I changed poses, getting my heels closer to the wall as I approached the floor. Letting out a breath, I slowly kicked up, so that I was in a handstand.

I stayed there for a bit, watching the leaves sway. The clouds breezed past underneath the sliver of sunshine.

Getting back to my feet, I tightened my ponytail, swiping the stray pieces near the front. Remainders of bangs that I'd gotten when I was maybe eight that had refused to grow out.

"I can get you a mat if you want one," River said from somewhere behind me.

I turned to face her. She perched on the windowsill, her frame outlined in a bubble of overlaying colour. Fragments of the wall behind her distorted, like broken glass refracting the same image, each from a different angle. It was gone before I could figure out what it was.

"I thought I wasn't staying long."

"It's never very smart to stay in one place." She looked at me. "And it's been pretty quiet lately. I have a feeling we should start now and save ourselves a headache."

Start now. What, does she really think we can just go get one?

"I've been meaning to look at the timeline, anyway," I said.

River's brows pulled together. "Where did that come from?"

"Well." I stopped, making my way back to the living room on the ground. It was more like a stagger—the floor kept swaying like it had become an entity, capsizing me back and forth while I fought it to walk straight. But I was going to get used to it. I had to. "I think we should start by going over when I saw Aeris and everything afterward."

Much faster than me, River slipped back to my side and pinched her fingers together, closing the gap to the ceiling. "Right, you said there were a few hours of blank space."

"There has to be," I repeated, not for the first time since I'd taken her through the story. In my mind, the stretch between seeing Aeris at Midnight Moon and finding she was gone was a thousand infinities. It just didn't line up.

"I wanted to start with something a bit more... dramatic," River said with a small groan, opening Luna on her phone and forfeiting it to me. "It's a burner. Just in case one day, the Tetra learns about cell towers."

"A burner?"

She sighed. "Wow. Okay. So two years away from the Rift obviously wasn't enough for you to watch bad detective movies. Just don't worry about it."

I grumbled under my breath as I took it. Apparently, Lars' efforts to teach me about the outer-cities had been an utter waste, given that he'd never taught me what to do if I got accused of poisoning someone.

A pressure formed at the base of my throat. I pushed myself against River's coach, pressing my hands against the fluffy white blanket crumpled over it. Traced my nails over the pattern, a dotted line making curves like a mountain range—a riverbank. With one hand, I tugged it over my legs and sighed heavily.