The next morning, Rell followed someone in a dark hood down the dark hallway. The lighters, who illuminated the halls with candles every morning to give those underground some sense of a daily cycle, had yet to complete their task.
Rell's eyes had stayed open the majority of the night. Her racing mind wouldn't allow her to rest. Not when she had so much to ponder, so much to pray over.
All night long, whispered prayers poured from her parted lips. She had prayed over her unworthiness, asking the gods to make her pure for the task that lay ahead. Yet, she also focused on her faith in the choices the Menelewen Dored made. They would not choose her without being assured of her success. After all, the Key had remained safely hidden for hundreds of years. None had breached their inner sanctum.
Still, her stomach fluttered. Why her? Rell had only the most basic training. She knew how to fight and protect herself. She knew how to worship. But, Rell knew she was only an ordinary acolyte. It was then her mind would step in, and remind Rell this was what she had always wanted. To be one with the gods. To be favored by them. Perhaps, even, to be loved the way she loved them.
The guide stopped in the middle of a hall Rell knew well. She traversed it every day on her way to the kitchen. Her guide reached into the wall, turning a hidden crank. Rell knew how the buried hid their mechanized door locks underground, but she hadn
’
t been aware of this one. There was a faint creaking noise. The wall began to move inward.
The guide passed through the opening in the wall. Rell followed. A faint whiff of moisture tickled her nose. The guide lit a small torch, illuminating the mysterious tunnel. This new tunnel was carved out of the earth, veined with roots and organisms she couldn't identify. A chill crawled down her back as Rell observed the skittering bugs. They made the dirt itself appear alive, as patterns changed in the flickering light from the torch.
The door closed behind them. Rell steeled her hands in fists, and followed the guide once more. If she couldn't handle this mission, then how could she protect the Key? She needed to be strong, no matter how confused or weak she felt.
Her white slippers squished into the ground. Muck rose over the wool, coating the tops of her feet in a layer of mud. Rell’s fingers itched for clean water and a wool towel to scratch away the impurities. Surely once they arrived at their destination, she would be allowed to cleanse herself.
The hooded guide stopped before a crudely cut stairway. The ground sloped upward, and wooden planks were spaced evenly to form risers. "Ascend, Rell."
She looked into the dark hood, puzzled, but her guide's face was hidden. "Am I to go alone?"
The figure nodded, pointing up.
Rell bowed. "Thank you for bringing me here. I pledge to fulfill all of the tasks awaiting me. With the blessings of the gods, I will serve to the best of my ability."
Rell lifted one slippered foot out of the muck and onto the first riser. The light from the torch flickered on the steps. She placed one foot after the other until the torchlight was no more than a whisper at the bottom of the stairs. The rough staircase ended in another wall of dirt.
"What am I to do now?" Rell called to her guide.
The guide doused the torchlight. Rell's skin tingled. Were insects crawling on her, or was it fear? She rubbed her hands over her arms. There were no bugs, but goose bumps rose under her fingertips.
"Hello?" There was no answer in the darkness. Before she could decide whether to attempt descending the stairs, the wall in front of her opened. A bright light shone into the tunnel.
Rell threw her arm over her eyes and squinted. Someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her onto solid ground. The musty scent of dirt was exchanged for one of overpowering citrus. Rell's arm dropped, and she blinked, getting used to the brilliant lights in the room.
"Hello." A woman with short, blue hair smiled at Rell. Her ears were pierced eight times, starting at the lobe and ending at the rounded tip. "It's nice to meet you. Are you ready?"
Rell blinked a few times and looked around the room. It was unlike any she'd ever seen. The walls were bright silver. She ran her fingertips along one. It was smooth and cold, so unlike the rough-hewn walls of her home. "Where am I?"
The woman's face fell and her lips puckered. "They didn't tell you, did they?" She rolled her eyes. "They never do. I don't know why I expected them to start today. Come here, sweetie, and sit down."
Rell followed the woman to a chair covered with a fluffy pillow. Rell sat, uncomfortable. She was used to chairs carved from wood or stone. The softness felt strange under her rump. It was almost... pleasant. Rell jumped out of the chair. "I'd rather stand."
She had come here to serve the gods. Not to sit in luxury.
The woman smiled, but her aquamarine eyes were lined with pity. "You've been brought here because it's time for you to leave the underground. I'm going to help you acclimate to your new home." She rested a hand on Rell's shoulder and squeezed.
Rell stumbled backward. "No. That's not why I'm here." She ran back to the place she’d entered the room, moving her hand over the wall, looking for the mechanism. She whirled around. "Where do you open it?"
"I don't, sweetie." The woman shrugged. "Sometimes it opens, and one of you comes out. I make you look like one of us, teach you a little about living in Hadar, and send you on your way."
Rell glared at her. "Maybe we're supposed to wait here for instructions. Maybe you've been sending people away when you should be keeping them here!"
"I thought that once, too. In fact, I was sent here myself over thirty years ago. I was a young girl like you. Naive. Eager." The woman crossed her arms over her chest. The gesture accentuated her breasts.
Rell looked away. The woman displayed her gender so casually.
"When the woman who lived here before me died, I returned. I did what I could to help the others who were sent up. Just as I'll do for you." The woman stepped closer to Rell. She reached up, pushing an escaped lock of hair behind Rell's ear. "Eventually, you'll realize it's for the best. Life underground isn't good for anyone. It's much better up here. You can learn a trade. Work a job. Make friends. Have your own place to live. You can eat whatever you want. Do whatever you want. You can even travel in the stars if you join the military!"
Rell recoiled. "I want to go home."
"Do you, really? Back to the place where you're not allowed to make your own choices? Where you're forced to do as the ruling council commands? Where you spend your days and nights worshipping gods that don't exist? After some time up here, you won't miss it. You'll be so upset you'll want to go back down and rescue your friends.” Renata paused, her head cocked to the side. “You didn't have any friends, did you?"
Rell thought of the other silent acolytes. The only meaningful conversations she'd had were with her mother. The rest of the time was spent in prayer or worship or service to the Menelewen Dored. Rell's heart ached. It couldn't be true. They hadn't just abandoned her.
The council told her she'd been chosen to protect the Key from people coming to steal it.
Suddenly, it all made sense. Yes, she'd been sent aboveground. Obviously the Menelewen Dored expected her to assimilate to this culture. How could she complete her mission without learning to live like the grounders? It was the only way to protect the Key.
Rell bit back a triumphant smile. Instead she lowered her head, attempting to appear meek. "I
’
ll accept your help. Thank you."
“I
’
m Renata, by the way. You are?”
“Rell.”
"Good. Now, let's get started with your hair." Renata reached for a sharp knife on the counter. "No one aboveground has hair down to their ankles. Yours needs to be cut. Will you let me?"
Rell's hair had never been cut. It was a precious gift from the gods. She pulled her braid over her shoulder, clutching it protectively. The tip hung down to her knees.
"Up here, no one wears their hair past the middle of the back. Any longer is seen as a declaration of religious beliefs. If people find out you're from underground, talk will start. They'll begin wondering if the old religions are real. Then there'll be talk of the Key. That's the last thing we need during this war. I promise, it won't hurt when I cut your hair. Let me show you." Renata pulled a small lock of her hair to the side, slicing through it with the knife. "See. No pain."
Rell wasn't worried about the pain. At least not physical pain. She imagined the knife slicing through her hair and severing her connection to the gods. She squeezed the braid. It was so thick her fingers could barely touch her thumb on the other side. But if the Menelewen Dored had sent her here to protect the Key, then she had to make the sacrifice. They had said all transgressions would be forgiven. It was only her hair, not her soul.
"Okay." Rell let her braid drop.
"Sit." Renata motioned to the cushioned chair again.
Rell took a seat, this time settling into the plush pillows and letting her braid hang over the back of the chair. It felt wrong to be so pampered. Rell looked down at her white slippers, now brown and covered with mud.
"Hold still, Rell. I don't want to nick you." Renata held Rell's braid firmly. The knife sawed through her hair and strands dropped littering the floor with her brown hair. After the last chunk had been severed, Rell's chin fell forward.
"It feels strange, doesn't it?" Renata walked around the chair and handed Rell the long braid. "Your hair is so thick."
Rell hefted the braid in her hands. Her neck felt strangely cold. "Thank you."
"I'll get a bucket of water for you to clean yourself up. Be back soon." Renata patted Rell's shoulder, as she made her way to a door across the room. She pushed a button, and the door opened with a whoosh. Renata left, the door quickly closing behind her.
Rell brought the braid to her face, using it to wipe away the tears falling from her eyes. Her free hand swept over what was left on her head. It felt so foreign, as if it was someone else's hair. Someone else's life.
Rell closed her eyes, remembering the words the council had spoken: There are those who seek the Key. You have been chosen to protect it.
That was exactly what Rell would do. She would follow the orders given to her by the council. Perhaps others had been brought here, exiled as punishment for their apathy. She knew those acolytes existed. She'd seen it in their eyes. The cold, detached look of an unbeliever.
Rell wasn't one of them. She'd been trusted with a mission, one she would complete without fail.
She would destroy anyone who sought out the Key. She would protect the secrets of the Menelewen Dored until the day she died.
In his room, Torsten holstered his gun on his hip, letting out a long sigh. He didn't want to go on the mission. Unfortunately, he had no choice. Refusal meant possible torture from his squadron until he stepped up to his assignment. Or was accidentally ejected from a ship. That happened a few years ago, and the accidental part was still under debate.
The Key. Torsten had studied it for years as a boy, obsessed. Some believed it was an ancient relic that would protect their planet from invaders. Others hypothesized the Key was a weapon. In the years since the tablets referring to the Key were discovered, most had dismissed it as a fairy tale.
After his parents died, he'd been forced to grow up and leave fantasy behind. The grounders had reason to believe in it—the Key gave them hope for a better future. They thought it would eventually help the military win the war against the dragzhi. But they were wrong.
Mystical objects couldn't defeat the aliens who battered them. It would take more than a religious relic to win the war—if it even existed.
A song played over the intercom, lilting and slow, letting Torsten know someone was outside his door. He tapped the wall and a screen came to life. Leila tapped one foot while playing with her ponytail. She glared up at the camera. "Let me in, Tor, we need to talk."
Torsten waved his hand over the screen, and the door slid open. Leila stalked in. The door slid shut behind her. Leila paced from one end of the room to another, her right index finger twirling the end of her ponytail. It spun like a tornado, around and around, until the tip of her finger became entangled.
"What are we going to do?" Leila ripped her finger from her ponytail and pulled out the hair tie, letting her hair fall around her shoulders. "Damn hair."
Another time Torsten might have laughed. Not today. "We're going on the mission. Together." He buttoned the top of his shirt, as if he were tightening a noose around his neck. Torsten’s uniform was complete. All he had to do was leave for the briefing room, and the mission would begin.
Leila poked his chest. "You're not prepared for this, Tor. I am. If you go..." The corners of her mouth pointed down.
"If something happens to me, you're the beneficiary. You can retire if you want. You can have any life you choose. You don't have to stay in the military." Torsten could almost picture his little sister having a great life. A husband. Children.
"Don't talk like that, Tor." Leila slumped down on a chair covered in silver fabric. She pulled her feet up to the seat, wrapped her arms around her legs, and rested her chin on her knees. She looked up at him with sad eyes. "This wasn't how we were going to do it. We'd both serve. We'd both come out alive."
Torsten knelt on the floor next to the chair and rested a hand on Leila's shoulder. "I'm not dead, yet. Maybe I'll make it back from this mission."
Leila rolled her eyes. "We both know you can't shoot. You're not fast, so it'll be hard for you to dive out of the way of enemy fire. Tor, this is a death sentence."
"Maybe there won't be any enemy fire." Torsten stood, pulling down on his tunic. He'd grown too fast, and the quartermaster had yet to issue him a new uniform. The hem always rode up. It was too short in some places and too wide in others. It was as if he was wearing another defender’s uniform. "They're sending me with you as a scholar. It'll be your job to protect me."
Tears formed in the corners of Leila’s eyes. "How am I supposed to protect you when I couldn't protect our parents? I already failed once, Tor. I can't do it again. I can't be responsible for losing you, too."
Torsten reached for Leila's hands, pulling her out of the chair. She collapsed against him. He wrapped his arms around her heaving back as she wet his shirt with her tears. "It wasn't your fault, Lei." He hadn't called her that in years. She'd demanded he stop when she turned eleven, even though he had still allowed her to call him Tor. "You couldn't have saved them. You were just a little kid."
Torsten squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to remember that night. He and Leila had hidden under the bed, clutching hands, until it was over. His heart raced as he remembered the feet standing next to the bed. Torsten tortured himself for years, wondering if he could have stopped the intruders who’d killed his parents, but he now knew the truth: if he’d tried, there would have been four corpses instead of two. He and Leila survived only because the intruders didn’t know they were there.
Leila sniffled, then stepped back. She ran her fingers under her eyes, wiping away the tears and her smeared makeup. "Sometimes, I think about what would have happened if I was this age, instead of ten."
"Don't," Torsten said. He straightened his tunic again. "It doesn't do any good."
Leila nodded, holding her head high. "Then we'll face this together. And, you're right, I probably won't have to protect you. We'll end up drinking and playing dice with grounders for a while. In the meantime, the military will win back the space they lost to the dragzhi."
"I think that will be the case, too." Torsten led Leila to his door. "I'll meet you in the briefing room in twenty minutes. Go back to your room and clean up. Better yet, take all the makeup off. The commander won't appreciate it. You know you're not supposed to wear it in uniform."
Leila's eyes grew wide. "You don't know?"
"Know what?" Torsten asked.
"Mellok told me we'll likely be disguised as grounders. We need to fit in if we're to discover any of their secrets. I was practicing with makeup so I could look more like them. I might even be allowed to dye my hair. I'm thinking purple."
Torsten laughed. Leila had wanted purple hair since she knew how to talk. Their parents had said she could dye it when she turned twelve, but after they died and the kids joined the military, Leila had to keep her hair regulation length and her natural color. "I didn't know. I hope, for your sake Mellok is right."
"You could do with some new clothes, too, Tor. None of yours fit anymore." Leila tugged down on his tunic this time.
"I’ve been waiting until the commander notices and forces me to buy new ones." Uniforms came out of the defenders’ monthly stipends. Torsten had hidden away as much of his pay as he could without drawing suspicion. Most defenders spent all of their money, whether it was on entertainment or guns or clothes, but Torsten planned to serve his time and escape to a life of his own making as soon as possible. Then when Leila graduated, he'd give her some of his savings to help her get started. He would love it if she'd choose to move wherever he did, but he knew his little sister. She needed a far more exciting life than he did, and he would never keep her from it. As long as she was happy, he was, too.
Leila waved her hand over the screen. The door slid open while a simple tune played. "I'll see you soon, Tor." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Torsten on the cheek. "I care about you. I just don't want to see you get hurt."
"I know, Lei. I know." He patted her on the head.
Leila swatted his hand. "Don't call me Lei. I told you, I'm too old."
"Of course you are. Now, go." Torsten shooed his sister down the hall. After she rounded the bend, he stepped back into his room, letting the door close behind him.