The Last City by Nina D'Aleo Page B

a streak of electricity hit the building where I was living and knocked all the hats off the rotating hinge system I’d hooked up to display them. I was sleeping in bed at the time and became buried under this mountain of hats. I almost died – death by hats – unpleasant to say the least.’
    ‘I . . .’ Silho started and Eli saw she was really struggling for a response, the look in her eyes somewhere between amusement and horror. He made a mental note to try to dull down his weirdness.
    He said, ‘I ended up putting them in storage. I couldn’t bring myself to throw them away. They were his life’s work. You know what I mean?’
    She nodded and he got the feeling she really did understand, that she was someone who had lived a lot longer than her years.
    ‘But honestly,’ he continued. ‘No one is pure-blood anymore – probably not even the king, and every breed has its own violent past, even the human-breeds. Have you studied their history?’
    ‘Not so much,’ Silho replied softly. ‘I haven’t really had the chance.’
    ‘Well then, here’s a million years in a minute,’ Eli said. ‘In the Devil’s age, humans were almost extinct, so to survive they mixed magics and genetics and bred out into non-verbal animal bloodlines, which resulted in their being outcast for several thousand generations.’
    He went over an air bump and the green Khaiti diamond pendant hanging on a chain around his rear-vision mirror clinked. The sound drew Silho’s eyes to it. Eli glanced at her, checking her reaction. His religion was a somewhat archaic one and not always accepted. His gran’ma was a staunch believer and had brought him up to strictly follow the laws of the temple. Once living independently, he’d thrown it all away. Then, some year-cycles later, he’d gathered the fragments of his beliefs back together, rearranged them to his own understanding and logic and had held them close ever since. In a way, rediscovering his belief had felt like coming home, though he would still be considered an outsider by other Khaiti followers as his thoughts didn’t exactly line up with their ideology – but that was the strength of them. He had taken the ideas and made them his own, so they were unshakeable by outside forces. Diega had often teased him for his diamonds, but it had no effect on him. He wasn’t alone in his belief of Paradise waiting. Many others, of all different races, believed in variations of the same.
    Silho’s expression was neither mocking nor openly interested. Instead she said, ‘I read that green diamonds have the power to drive away creatures with dark intentions.’
    Eli nodded. ‘Once a Midnight Man tried to attack me – I held up this diamond . . .’
    ‘He fled?’ Silho said.
    ‘Yes, but only after I threw it at his head.’
    Silho’s lips curved upwards and Eli saw she was like Diega: beautiful when she was serious and stunning when she smiled. He grinned back, delighted to be finally getting a positive response.
    ‘Can I ask you a question?’ he said. ‘Today with Ev’r Keets . . .’ Silho’s smile vanished and he could see her retreating back into herself. He quickly diverted his words. ‘I just . . . I just thought it was strange. Keets literally burst out of the Murk and crash-landed into territory she knew we’d be monitoring. That’s not like her. I mean, she’s been travelling in the Murk since she was young. She knows what she’s doing and she’s powerful, but this time – she seems different, weaker. I mean, the commander even said that her body-heat signature has changed. I wonder what that means. Maybe she’s sick. Maybe I should go and see her and offer medical help. The commander wouldn’t like it, but I don’t think anyone should suffer.’
    Silho gave a slight nod and turned to look out the window.
    Eli spotted the exit to Level 502 coming quickly up ahead and veered the craft into the merging lane. They burst out of the tunnel into suburban