On the outskirts of the city, there was a tall dark tower made of concrete. It was supposed to be an office building on par with those crowding the downtown, but with cheaper rent and more parking space. However, its construction was never finished -- the company responsible for building the tower went bankrupt, and the owner of the land it was built on never resold it, hopelessly waiting for an opportune moment to recoup their losses. As years passed, the chances of continuing the construction became slim, and the price of this lot of land, marked with the unfinished monstrosity, never rose. Almost a decade later, it was still abandoned, looming over its surroundings like a grey ziggurat. The tower was protected with a rusty wire fence, but getting in and out was no problem for local kids, street artists... and wayward wraiths.
I found the familiar spot where the links of the chain fence were torn from their support beams and pulled on the cold wire, making an opening wide enough for Mickey to crawl through. Making sure that no one was around to see us, I followed him and headed for the tower, scanning the area with my Ability.
’What is this place?’
I looked up.
’A monument to someone’s stupidity. It has been like this since I was in middle school.’
’But why are we here?’
’To get money.’
Inside the tower, the air was damp and stale. With no lighting, it was filled with deep shadows and lines of stark light falling from the empty windows. It was also filled with trash, dust and fading signs of vagrant squatters that had used the tower as their temporary shelter throughout the years. I guided Mickey to the nearest stairwell and used my Ability to light our way.
’We’re going all the way up. Pace yourself.’
After twenty stories or so we were both wheezing, but Mickey was fairing much worse than I. After all, I still didn’t know for how long he was on the run before coming to ask for my help, or what he had gone through. We made a short stop to catch our breath.
’Oh crap. Fuck. I’m beat, Matt. How high are we going to climb?’
Inwardly, I cursed too.
’Pretty high. Just... think about it as cardio.’
He looked at me with a hurt expression.
’To hell with such cardio! These stairs are going to kill me!’
I smiled.
’Yeah, in retrospect, I should have put my stash somewhere closer to the ground. On the bright side, no one is going to be insane enough to go all the way to the top of the tower and get a chance to find it. Right?’
After several minutes, we continued forward. Our ascent was long and arduous, and by the end of it, I was no better than Mickey. What’s worse, my Ability became unstable, and we had to climb the last few floors in almost complete darkness.
At the last finished floor of the tower, a strong wind was blowing through the whole structure, filling it with a pleasant chill. I limped through the maze of concrete hallways, finally stopping at the entrance to a big office space. There were no windows, only pale light coming from the empty doorway. Construction materials were chaotically lying here and there, making it feel claustrophobic.
’We’re here.’
Mickey fell on the floor, dead tired. I sat down near one of the walls and carefully removed a plastic panel, revealing a black plastic bag behind it. Inside, there were several stacks of cash and a fake passport.
The cash, ten thousand dollars or so, was a drop in the ocean of what one would need to escape from the PA, but it took me years and years to gather it. A long series of low-paying jobs with abysmal hours, constantly living on the edge of poverty and refusing myself all the things that people of my age were accustomed to, and yet this was everything I managed to save -- not counting the large sum I spent to acquire the passport. I opened it and looked at my slightly younger self in the photo, complete with a fake name that smelled of another, better life. It took me a lot to get this thing. I never even thought that one day I’ll have to smuggle somebody else across the border instead of myself. Before I met Claire and Mickey, there wasn’t really anyone else in my life, and so I never thought about anyone except for myself.
The passport was useless now. I would have gladly traded it for a few bottles of water.
’Matt. What’s up with this money? Why do you have a secret stash?’
I sighed and sat down near Mickey.
’To escape from the PA. I mean, call me paranoid, but I always knew that one day I might get in trouble with the Protectors. So I spent some time and effort to get myself ready for... something like this.’
I wasn’t going to tell him about my ruse of pretending to be a weak wraith and all its implications. There wasn’t really a reason to keep this secret from him now, but I just did it out of habit. Some semblance of normalcy was better than complete chaos, at least.
’Ha! I shouldn’t be surprised, knowing what a control freak you are.’
He laughed, but then the smile slowly drained from his pale face. He silently stared at me with deep, morbid pain in his eyes.
’I’m sorry, Matt. I know I had no right to pull you into this shit. I’m so sorry.’
I shook my head.
’Don’t be. You didn’t pull me into anything. I could have turned you away at the coffee shop, but I didn’t. That was my choice, and I would do it again. I got into this situation myself.’
My voice was strangely relaxed.
’You might not know this, but after... after I gave up my mother to the PA, I swore that I would never do something like that again. And after everything Zero had told me, that promise only got heavier.’
’But...’
I turned to him and looked him in the eyes.
’There is no "but", Mickey. This is just how things are. With or without you, I would have ended up in this room sooner or later. So don’t beat yourself up. It’s a useless emotion. Right now, you have to concentrate on one thing, and one thing only. There is only one thing you must do.’
I took a deep breath before continuing.
’Survive.’
The word echoed in the dark room, disappearing in the shadows. The silence hung between us. After seeing that he understood me, I slowly nodded.
’Good. Now tell me everything that happened...’