Evan

  After dinner Evan found his way back to his room as Zarg continued to slurp the rat soup. The smooth dirt door was open. He felt around the edges where he had seen Tozi open it before. It was smooth to the touch and didn’t leave any smudges on his hand like it had been packed tight to an almost stone feel. He scraped a fingernail across to see if he could get the dirt loose.

  “What are you doing?” Tozi snapped coming from the bathroom door that connected to the bedroom. “Don’t mess with it. You’ll make a mess.” She tossed a maroon shirt and a pair of brown pants down on the bed. “Here. So you don’t look like a dumb topsider.” The disgust hadn’t left her voice.

  “I’m sorry just being here is bothering you, but as soon as I find my friends, I promise I will leave and never return.”

  Tozi’s face tightened. She shook her head and was about to say something but instead spun and left back through the bathroom. “Soap and towel are in the bathroom,” is all she said once she disappeared into her room. The dirt door behind her closed up.

  Evan raised his hands in frustration. Whatever.

  He started to take his shirt off when he realized he couldn’t shut his door to the hallway. He let out a frustrated grunt and went to knock on Tozi’s door. The odd firm dirt door clanged like thick plastic. Or ceramic?

  “Tozi. Can you...close my door for me?”

  In the door he noticed tiny holes, small enough he could feel a breeze through, but not big enough he could see through. Made sense, otherwise each room would be a sealed tomb. This close to the door he noticed the faint breeze against his lips. That’s when he realized that ever since he had been down in this world, there had always been a faint breeze. The tunnels, the different rooms in the house, everywhere there was always subtle airflow. It all made sense now. Otherwise, everyone down here would suffocate. It didn’t explain where the oxygen came from, but it came from somewhere.

  The dirt door shrunk away and Tozi stood inches in front of him. “No magic either? You’re like a helpless ni?o, you know. You have a stun gun, but no ESH diamonds yourself? Not even a wafer necklace or anything?”

  Wafer necklace? Not wanting to look stupid he just replied, “No.”

  “Move,” she said, brushing past him. She quickly closed his door to the hallway and stormed back to her room. She glanced back over her shoulder. “So, I could just close you in here and you’d never get out huh?” A wicked grin crossed her face.

  Evan cocked his head. “Zarg would dig me out.”

  Her face went cross. “Goodnight ni?o.” The door closed up between them.

  Evan spent the next few days helping Tozi with her chores. From waking to sleep every day they spent their time doing a variety of tasks from watering, harvesting, or boxing mushrooms up, but mostly they shoveled shit. Rosa preferred to call it, organic substrate. But it smelled like shit and because of an unfortunate accident with an empty box, Evan knew that it also tasted like shit. Mostly tasted like shit. It had other elements of wood and sawdust that thankfully lessened the horrible shit flavor in his mouth.

  Besides that, it was fascinating learning how an underground mushroom farm worked, but fascination quickly turned to just a lot of hard work. The fact that their home was ESH, and steam powered, never became dull. The entire home ran on one ESH powered heating element in the massive kitchen boiler. It drove a small generator for lights, electrical outlets, pump for water pressure, and allowed them to cook as both a stove and oven. This made him miss Adelfried even more. He would have nerded out about all of this.

  Apparently, the hunt and collection of ESH diamonds drove the economy of the Cuāuhtli Empire which formed around the massive Chicxulub meteor impact site. The same one that wiped the dinosaurs out and reshaped the ecology of the earth for millennia to come. The blast area of the crater was the single largest source of ESH diamonds in the world. The empire had sophisticated tools and methods for finding the fine diamond powder scattered throughout the affected zone around the crater. The sweet spot due to the way diamond dust fell from the blast was within a thousand kilometers from the Yucatan Peninsula, which happened to be the rough shape of the empire.

  The plan was to wait a few days before heading into town just in case anyone came looking for him. Rosa wasn’t too worried since they were so far out on the edge of the kingdom. They didn’t even have a transportation wire out near their home. The remoteness of this location is why they had moved out here to begin with. They were left alone, and no one really knew where their farm was, especially the empire officials. They still had to pay extra fines for Mano and Papi’s crimes when they brought their harvest in, keeping them destitute, but they were making it as best as they could. As a farmer they would always have food, but as Evan quickly realized, every meal featured mushrooms that they had grown. Luckily, they had figured out how to turn mushrooms into almost everything from bread to handbags to pants. When he offered the expired lasagna noodles, they were eagerly prepared that evening for dinner, with, of course, mushrooms.

  The extra rats Zarg kept catching would help with their crop size and provided crucial extra food for them, especially since there were now two extra mouths, if you count Zarg as a mouth to feed. Evan never looked forward to the meals, but he did appreciate cave rat’s unique flavor.

  While Tozi had stopped being overtly mean to Evan, she still let her frustration known anytime she had to show him how to do things or worse, when she had to open or close a dirt door for him which required magic. It was like she had donated blood on his behalf. For the most part she was friendly and the long hours he had spent helping her seem to be thawing the frost between them. Regardless of all that, Evan just couldn’t help but like her. She had taken him in when he needed it the most and was always grateful whenever he helped her. It was like there were two parts inside her fighting to like and shun him. It was weird.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  She loved hearing about life topside and was genuinely interested in what he had to say. The hot-cold attitude wore on him, but overall, it was nice to be stuck down here with a cute, and most friendly girl that hung on his every word. Better than being alone in a dark tunnel.

  On the fourth morning Evan jolted awake to find Tozi looming over him. She was sitting on the bed between him and Zarg. “Come on sleepy head, time to get up. We’re going into town to see what Tia knows about your sister and friend.” She turned to Zarg and scratched his head. “Mom said you could come too as long as you behave yourself.” Her voice became sing songy and she scratched Zarg furiously under his collar. “You will, won’t you? Oh yes, you will.”

  Zarg twisted his head so she could get the right spot and grunted with delight.

  After a quick bathroom run and a piece of spongy mushroom bread with some kind of sweet jam spread across it, they were out the door. It was so close to toast and peach jelly, yet the textures and flavors were off. He decided the less he knew the better and didn’t ask for details.

  Once out the door of the house, Tozi grabbed his hand and as always, he kept as quiet as possible so no one would find their home and loot their crops or house for that matter. Going between home and farm had become one the favorite parts of his day. Her hand was soft and her grasp warm and comforting. But this morning after a few minutes she changed the grip, intertwining her fingers with his, palm to palm. She pulled him close, shoulder to shoulder. It was nice. Now, if only she wasn’t so damn mean half the time. After what felt like forever, they turned into a wider tunnel and saw the first faint glimpses of light. A faint luminous glow covered the tunnel, no brighter than starlight. This new tunnel was big enough to be a two-lane highway. There came a faint scent of something sweet, maybe floral, yet still it was deathly quiet.

  “Can you see now?” Tozi whispered.

  “Yeah,” Evan said, turning back to find Zarg a few paces behind them. “But just barely.”

  She didn’t let go of his hand, and he didn’t let go of hers. It was nice, even if it felt like playing with fire.

  After maybe another mile they turned off into a brightly lit opening as wide across as a stadium but only a few stories tall. Inside, a jumble of plants, trees, and shrubs grew under an artificial glow from the ceiling. Orange, pink, and purple flowers covered the bushes. Large stone piles marked the beginning of narrow trails that lead deeper into the greenery.

  Tozi released his hand and spread her arms wide like a showman at the wall of green. “Welcome to our forest. This is how we breathe. Well, one of the ways at least. We have these everywhere. Aren't they just amazing?”

  The dramatic change from darkness to brightly lit greenspace was breathtaking. A neon flash of orange and blue light shot by. Then a purple streak of light zipped by. After a few more flashes, Evan spotted the source, hummingbirds. Magical hummingbirds that left a fluorescent trail behind as they flew from flower to flower. The dazzle of bright lights against the vivid green was astonishing. Tozi squeaked with delight and ran up to the nearest flower. She took off a necklace which held a thin sparkly wafer on it and held it in her hand without moving. Within a few seconds, a hummingbird flew up to examine it. The deep hum of its wings made it sound like an angry bee. It brushed its beak along the wafer for a few seconds and flew off in flash.

  Tozi smiled at Evan. “Do you have buzz birds topside?” She handed her necklace over to Evan. “Here, you try. They’re attracted to the ESH diamond dust in the pendant.”

  “Uh, we call them hummingbirds.” Evan took the necklace. Crap, would this even work with him drawing all the magic out of it? Hopefully he wouldn’t drain her necklace or damage it somehow. He didn’t think it would because he had handled the Root many times and it was fine. He held his hand out like she had and didn’t move.

  Tozi watched as Evan stood motionless for almost a minute when she started laughing. “I guess they don’t like your topsider stink.”

  Evan said in a low voice, “You’re not supposed to call me that. Remember?”

  Tozi rolled her eyes. “Fine, your stink, primo.” She snatched her necklace back and started down a trail deeper into the forest.

  Evan felt a sense of excitement surge as Zarg started to zip in and out of the bushes and jumped into the air trying to snatch a buzz bird. “No!” Evan shouted. “Leave them alone.”

  Zarg’s big eyes seemed to grow as he stared at Evan and whimpered.

  “No, don’t try that puppy dog routine with me. You can’t eat a bird. There’s not much meat on them anyway. It would be a waste of your time.”

  Zarg froze as buzz bird flitted above him and landed on his nose.

  Evan could feel the excitement in Zarg starting to build. “Don’t! Just give him a sniff. Be nice. He won’t hurt you.”

  Zarg, being the good boy he was, remained like a statue. He inhaled deeply, taking in the bird’s scent and started to wag his tail in exhilaration. The bird’s wings flitted as Zarg sniffed it but didn’t move. It was enjoying Zarg’s ESH just as much as a flower.

  Tozi wrapped her hand around Evan’s arm. “Who’s a good boy?”

  “Hmph,” Evan grunted. “He was almost a very bad boy. But he seems to like them now. I think it’s their scent.”

  “Come on.” Tozi tugged Evan’s arm. “We still have a ways to go.”

  Evan breathed deeply, filling his lungs with extra fresh air. For the first time in a while, maybe things were going to be okay. Maybe it was all going to work out. Maybe, just maybe he’d find Kae and Nina, and they’d all make it out alive.

  While continuing down the path they passed a group of women dressed in a similar mushroom leather material as the clothes Evan had been provided, only it appeared coarser and all brown with no decoration. They tended to the garden removing dead plant material and bundling it up. Tozi touched her forehead and heart as she passed. Evan waved and said “Hi.”

  “Don’t,” Tozi said quietly, nudging Evan along. You’re not supposed to talk to slaves. They’ll get in trouble.

  “Oh sorry,” Evan said waving again.

  “Is this what happened to your brother and dad?”

  Tozi made eye contact as she continued down the path. “No, slaves who tend the garden have it easy. We don’t know where they are or what they are doing. That’s part of the punishment. People enslaved for worse crimes like speaking against the emperor are usually made to mine for diamonds or build tunnels or one of the many other hazardous jobs.”

  After a while longer they came into a clearing divided by a meandering creek where an overweight man without a shirt napped under a tree a few paces off the creek. Lying next to him on the ground, a jaguar mask scowled back at them. He had a long wooden stick that sparkled on its edges attached to his belt.

  Tozi kicked his foot. “Hey!”

  He didn’t move.

  Tozi spat on the man. “Pedote.”

  Evan instinctively reached out grab Tozi’s arm to prevent her from doing what? What was going on. “Hey. What are you doing?”

  She stopped and continued towards the fork in the path. “This is our town drunk, and our only police officer, but usually he’s asleep in the station. Never mind him. Come on.”

  A few small groups of people walked down footpaths in either direction following the creek. Their clothes featured lots of bright reds, greens, and blues. The whole scene felt relatively common to what you might find in a small town, almost idyllic, until he spotted the two grey clad Sovs marching down the path towards them.