The Universe Room
By Lyrical--Wolf
Chapter 1: Given The Slip (In More Ways than One)
I think it started in May. Yes, it must have been then—the day that all of us children at Embassy School were told to go home for the Summer Absence, that joyful day when we all looked forward to glorious weeks full of hot wet air and sunshine. I was left largely to my own devices during the Summer Absence. With no schoolmasters to keep an eye on me, and my parents preoccupied with their work, I could wander where I pleased, for the most part. On that particular summer I happened to have procured a Library slip for myself. I can’t remember now what possessed my writing teacher to give it to me; she couldn't have thought that I'd find it very helpful. I was just a mangy, half-feral thirteen-year-old girl with little desire to read anything, and so the slip was of almost no interest to me. I had stuffed it in my pocket and forgotten about it until I happened to shove a hand into that very same pocket as I left the Embassy. I pulled it out, marveling at the silver leaf glinting in the watery sunlight.
“What cha got there, girlie?” Came a voice from behind me. Trying not to look startled, I turned. A dark-faced gang of boys from the school was watching the slip in my hands hungrily. “Its just a Library slip,” I said defensively. “What would you want it for? And I have a name, you know.”
“It’s just, we ain’t ever been to the library before. We been thinking it might be a nice place to go for a liddle fun,” Said the shortest boy, who seemed to be the leader. His eyes never left the silver-plated paper.
“You think reading is fun?” I snapped. “I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“Oh, we aren’t gonna read, sweetie. We got better things to do than read, in a place so fulled up o’ shiny things,” Answered the boy with a grin. I figured he was the same age as me, maybe younger. He had no excuse to call me “sweetie.” Deciding that the situation had gotten beyond my control, I turned and began to walk away.
“Aw, come on,” They jeered. “You don’t like to read neither.”
“I do it more than you do!” I called over my shoulder, marching away, waving the paper above my head like a banner.
Of course I didn’t know then—how could I have known?—but that paper would be the thing that started it all. Without that simple little coincidence so much wouldn’t have happened. I can’t say I’m entirely pleased with how things turned out… but I haven’t gotten around to that yet.
Anyway, as I was parading away with my gilded Library slip trailing in my loose grasp, congratulating myself for avoiding a scene, there came a gust of rain-scented wind. Its greedy fingers snatched the slip away from me. Borne on the breeze it drifted upward, past the old stone buildings all crammed together beside the street, above the saplings planted by every door, like a silver butterfly taunting their upturned faces. And then it began to sink down to earth, and the chase was on. We darted after it in a shouting mob. Though the citizens of Evelbank took no notice of us as we dodged amongst them, the soldiers cast us baleful glances if we strayed too near. Some even made a grab for the slip themselves, though always it slid through their calloused fingers like mist. We shouted and shoved and clawed for several blocks. The shining silver slip was constantly in our sights, hovering just out of reach. I don’t know why I strove so hard for it. I’d like to say that it was out of desire to keep the boys from carrying out their theft, but I think it was something else—some feeling that the paper had become important, now that so many people suddenly wanted it.
All of a sudden the slip was gone. Our group dissolved into confusion. Had someone caught it? Had the wind torn it to pieces? For the first time we stopped to observe our surroundings. We were in an airy square flanked by tall cement-and-glass office buildings, Baltor Square if I remember correctly. It was a crowded place. Without our single-minded purpose we were lost in the ocean of bodies, trucks, and carts, searching the crowd in vain. The boys began to fight amongst themselves. Convinced that one of their comrades was hiding the slip, they attacked him good naturedly. I scanned the nervous faces around me. It seemed like everyone was nervous in those days, everyone accept us children.
I started. Was that a flash of silver? Thrusting my way through the throng, I followed my vision. A soft tap on my shoulder stopped me in my tracks. “You lookin’ for this?” Came a soft, lazy voice from behind me. I turned around quickly, hiding my surprise for the second time that afternoon. An older girl was leaning against a large, rusty green truck, watching me. Even now I remember that she reminded me of a resting lioness: Passive, calculating. Her narrow amber eyes scrutinized me subtly, without blinking, from a broad, tanned face framed by unkempt brown hair. She was stocky and muscular. There was something in the way she was standing... not a threat exactly, more of a challenge. And in her hand she held my Library slip.
"Yeah," I answered carefully. "I was looking for that."
"It's yours?" She asked. As she spoke a small tabby cat emerged from under the truck, leaping sinuously onto her shoulder and fixing its green eyes on me. I couldn't help noticing that its expression mirrored the girl's.
"Yes. It's mine. can I have it back?" I tried not to sound pleading.
"Those little boys wanted it pretty darn bad, too. You sure it ain't theirs?"
I almost rolled my eyes at her, but reconsidered. She could've picked me up and thrown me halfway to Hell, I was so scrawny back then. "I'm sure it isn't theirs," I verified. "They would just steal anyway, if they had it."
It was impossible to tell if she believed me. "And what're you gonna do with it? You students never read anythin' if you don't have to."
"That's none a' you business," I snapped. "Please just give me my slip."
She seemed to think for a moment, absently scratching her tabby cat's head without taking her eyes from me. "I'm feelin' charitable-like today. You're lucky," She finally said, and released the slip. It drifted across the space between us on a timely breeze. I snatched it out of the air before it could blow away once more. But before I could thank her, she strode around the corner of the truck and melted into the crowd.
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