The City Of Death

Before Skye Disappeared- Part Two

Skye was woken by a knocking at the door. She groaned and buried her head into the pillow, dreading the moment she'd look at the clock and have to calculate how much time she had left before she had to get up and get ready for work. When she looked out the window, she saw that it was still dark and the lampposts were still dim. That didn't really mean anything. It could be three hours until she had to get ready for work, or three minutes.

There was another knock at the door, and she groggily looked at the clock. It was just past midnight. She pushed herself out of bed and before she went to the front door, she put her ear up to the door of Macy's room. She couldn't hear any sound but her sister's slow and steady breathing. Good. The knock hadn't woken her up. With that relief, she went to the front door, ready to give the person on the other side a piece of her mind. She didn't like being woken up early, and she for damn sure didn't like something threatening to wake Macy up early.

"Are you crazy?" she asked in a whisper when she opened the door, not giving the Citizen on the other side a chance to speak. "I have a four-year-old in the other room that's having trouble adjusting to school, and if you had woken her up-!"

"Skye?" the Citizen cut her off, and she took a deep breath. No need to get worked up. If she got worked up, she might yell, and that would wake her sister up. Macy liked the daycare and the Childminder who watched her, but when it was time for her to go to school, she struggled. It had been a few months, and while Macy was smart as a whip and excelled academically, that was as far as it got. She often came home crying because she didn't like the Teacher and missed the Childminder she'd gotten used to. She would scream every morning that she didn't want to go to school. It was a nightmare. "Newscaster Skye?"

"Yeah, that's me. Now, what do you want?"

"You have a message from Salvia Street." Skye stopped in her tracks. She hadn't noticed before, but now that she looked, the armband the Citizen wore marked him as a Messenger. A young one, at that. He looked to be her age, maybe even younger. But a message from Salvia Street? That could only mean one thing.

"What's the message?" she asked, and the Messenger's eyebrows furrowed. Either he was trying to remember the message, or he was confused about it. Skye guessed it was the latter.

"The King of Versailles needs to meet with you."

"Did this 'King Of Versailles' say what time?"

"Normal time, normal place," the Messenger told her, and she nodded. "What does that mean, anyway?"

"What does what mean?" Skye asked, inwardly groaning. If they were going to send her that message, they could have at least chosen a Messenger that knew what it meant. A Messenger that was on their side. Now she'd have to come up with some excuse so this one didn't get suspicious and report her. She'd gone for four years without making anyone overly suspicious. Rumors had flown about her being a traitor, that much was true, but she had explained most of those away. Only a few still doubted her, Cassie's mother being one of them.

"The message. King of Versailles? That makes no sense," the Messenger responded, and Skye smiled softly.

"You said it was from Salvia Street, right?"

"Yeah. An Invalid came up to me and told me to give the message to you," the Messenger clarified.

"Well, there you go. Just another Invalid spouting some drugged-up nonsense. I'm a popular face in the City. Probably the unknowing star of some fantasy of theirs," Skye explained, and the Messenger nodded. She was getting better at acting. That was good, considering her job as a Newscaster and her other position. Her ability to act and think of an excuse on the spot were valuable assets. In time, she'd only get better.