Back at their old shelter, the trio didn’t even unpack before going to see Luna.
“Lili, didn’t you say that the shelter was only one week away? We walked for almost twice as long.”
Nex faced away from the two girls, nose buried in her bag.
“I took some detours. To confuse potential pursuers,” Nex said too quickly.
Laura frowned but said nothing. Instead, she followed Liliene to where Luna was sleeping.
Liliene stood at the door to her former room, unable to step inside. Luna hadn’t moved a muscle since they left her there. A small part of her hoped that she might have shifted, like Liliene herself when she sleeps. The stiffness made it clear: this was deeper than sleeping.
“Do you want to stay in the room, Lili?” Laura asked, taking Liliene’s hand in hers. “Do you want some time with her before I… You know?”
Liliene shook her head. “I’ll go see if Nex needs help. Thank you, Laura.” She gave her weakest smile and left.
Left alone, facing the blue-haired girl, or doll, rather, Laura chewed on her lower lip. She took a few ginger steps toward Luna. For a while, she had no idea what to do or where to start, and kept staring at her.
Luna hadn’t changed at all since Laura had last seen her. She wasn’t exactly pale the way corpses were supposed to be; she was less pale than Liliene overall, though her complexion was still fair.
“Excuse me…” Laura said to no one in particular.
Her index finger brushed Luna’s lips and pulled back. They were plump and soft, yet she didn’t see any saliva.
“What am I even doing?”
She exhaled deeply to steel herself and started to examine Luna. For real this time.
The skin first, or what was exposed at the very least, then her hair. Laura even checked the nose and ears, and found nothing out of the ordinary. From outward appearances, Luna would have passed for a human, save for her hair color. And even that could change; trends had a way of becoming increasingly ridiculous.
Left with no other choice, Laura carefully started to undress Luna. Doing this to a… dead, unconscious, broken? Well, doing that to someone unresponsive made her feel like she was doing something wrong. Laura would have made a terrible undertaker; that much she was sure of.
But the more Laura removed layers from Luna, the more the feeling changed. From wrongness to wrongness, albeit a different kind. She wasn’t undressing a human; she was sure by now.
While most of her body looked normal, Luna had nipples in shape, at least, though they were the color of her skin, like someone had forgotten to paint them. Worse, below the waist, Luna was just smooth and featureless. Like Laura’s dolls (she checked).
It drove the point home: Luna truly was artificial. And it meant that Luna was far beyond anything Laura had even heard about.
Laura’s mind flashed with images of Liliene’s trusting face.
“Let me at least find something. Anything. For Lili.”
Every inch of Luna’s skin was analyzed, probed, examined under Laura’s magnifying glass. Her lack of defects was her most glaring one. She had no pores, no fine hair, and no scars.
Having found nothing, Laura turned Luna onto her stomach. Her body was so light that Laura managed to turn her by herself without much effort.
On Luna’s back was a square of taut skin. It looked pinched, like a seam, yet Laura couldn’t even slip a fingernail underneath it. When her finger brushed within the square, a weak, green glow passed along its surface. Recognizing the ‘locks’ Liliene always used to enter the shelters, Laura tried pressing her palm against it. The light turned red.
“Lili!” Laura shouted. “I think I found something!”
Liliene almost materialized in the room, quickly followed by Nex.
“Really?” Her smile was radiant. It didn’t last, as Liliene turned as soon as she saw the naked Luna. “Oh. Mama doesn’t…” Liliene peeked repeatedly, each glance a fight against propriety. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
Laura opened her mouth, but found nothing to say. She wouldn’t follow Liliene on that train of thought. She had to focus on what was important. “Yes. It looks just like the panel to open the door. Look.”
She put her hand against Luna’s back again; the light also turned red.
It clicked in Liliene’s mind. The administrator's talk, the light from her mama’s hand. She pressed her palm on the patch of skin the light came from. It stayed green. After a little pshht, the square of skin lifted, revealing a metallic cylinder underneath.
“That’s…”
Liliene instinctively reached for it, only for her hand to be slapped away by Laura.
“Don’t!” Laura recoiled, her gaze fixed on the cylinder. Her lips trembled. “I know that sign.”
On the cylinder, a yellow rectangle was drawn. Inside it were three petal-like blades, arranged around a circle.
“It can be found in certain ruins. And whoever put the signs there meant them as warnings. The scholars who worked on artifacts carrying that sign fell terribly ill. It’s in every book about ruins and artifacts.”
Liliene frowned. Part of her wanted to ignore the warning, rip the sign off, and try something. And that’s probably why she wasn’t the one studying it. But running into a barrier after a single step was… frustrating.
Laura dug out a pen and some paper from her bag to start drawing.
“I’ll sketch it from a few different angles.”
At Laura’s insistence, Nex and Liliene left the room. Laura tried her best to omit no details of the intricate mess of cables, various metal pieces, and signs drawn and written around the cylinder. She wasn’t sure how to close the exposed part, but the compartment slid right back inside Luna’s back with nothing more than a gentle press.
“Did you get something?” Lili asked, hope written all over her face.
Nothing at all. It’s all well beyond me. It would be the truth. She also couldn’t admit that to Liliene, not when she was looking at her like that.
“I… I need to study and do some research first.”
Laura could only hope she wasn’t lying.
Then, they debated staying the night here, but Liliene’s feelings on the matter were written all over her face. They spartanized the journey to the capital, sleeping outside and avoiding the road whenever possible. It was, according to Nex, why they had yet to run into a single settlement.
After days of wild trudging through thick vegetation, they were finally closing in on the capital, the Holy City of Rocamadour. It was hard to miss, built all around a cliff carved by the river meandering below, crowned by a cathedral that dominated the landscape; it was as breathtaking as it was oppressive. A white bastion in a sea of green.
They came from the riverside; the forest around them was natural and unexploited, which was peculiar for a patch of land so close to the city.
“You remember the plan, Lili?” Laura asked when the stone bridge came into view.
“Yes. Don’t worry. I’ve read lots of adventures. I know how noble ladies act.”
Liliene gave a confident smile, put the necklace around her neck, then set it to pink. Nex, in turn, slid her shawl over her head.
It was all part of an ongoing plan, one of those plans that were smarter in people’s heads than in reality. If she always wore outlandish eye colors, maybe people wouldn’t bat an eye if she lost her necklace. Not that she planned to, but better be safe. Get faster updates on novelping.com.
Compared to her books, in which there was always a crowd entering the cities, it was rather calm. The bridge was mostly empty, save for two men fishing in silence.
Liliene filled her lungs and walked straighter, holding her parasol nonchalantly against her shoulder.
The guards, obviously, stopped them.
“Name, occupation, purpose of your visit,” said one of the two guards, barely looking up from his card game on the table.
“Laura Messer. Student. I’m going to enroll at the Delving Academy and Artifacts Conservatory.”
“Ah. ‘Nother one,” said the other one, looking up from his game to quickly study Laura.
“Liliene Von Dunkel. Same,” she said, supporting her assets with her free arm. “And this is my servant, Nex.”
“Alright,” said the first one, standing up languidly. “Let’s check those bags.”
Liliene snatched her bag away from the man’s hands.
“You will do no such thing. Or I’ll have you flayed, peasants! Don’t you know who I am?”
Behind her, Nex groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose hard enough to hurt, her other hand discreetly reaching for her concealed sword.
“Ah,” the other guard sighed. “Let it go. Do they look like smugglers to you?”
“I don’t know. What do smugglers look like?” the first guard asked.
The other guard gestured vaguely at the group of three women, carrying barely any baggage.
“Not that.” He quickly grew disinterested. “Please proceed, Ma Dame,” he added with a roll of his eyes.
When they were out of view and earshot, a hand slapped the back of Liliene’s head.
“Pull that again, and I’ll have you flayed,” Nex said, exasperated.
Liliene turned to look at her, eyes wide and teary.
“Why?”
Laura, a few paces ahead, sagged as if all strength had left her body and braced herself against the nearest wall.
“I thought I was going to die,” she breathed.
She turned to face Liliene and put both of her hands on the other girl’s shoulders.
“Lili. We’re going to study.”
“I know. We’re entering an Academy.”
“No. I mean, we’re going to study. For you. You’ll give yourself away within a day if we don’t do something.”
What had she even done wrong? Her acting was quite good, if she had to say so herself.