The Metropolis Series #2: Quinn Beyond Bounds
21. Viviana

THE HOUSE’S INTERIOR reminded me of a horror flick. The floors creaked, the halls were narrow and dim, a faint orange light stood lonesome at the end of the corridor, and the dark wooden doors against the white walls looked like tunnels that plunged into the void. I had lost count of how many miniature chandeliers we had passed, but the number of times they swung along to the floor shaking below was something that dangled overhead.

One time in the foyer. Two times on the west wing staircase. And another on the third floor…

I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The halls had no windows. I wanted to see what was going on out there. Where were all these explosions coming from? Was anyone hurt? Would everyone be okay…?

But then another question came to mind, something that had gotten me to fiddle with my fingers and looks uneasily from side to side. When under attack, don’t people usually evacuate?

“Don’t worry, guys,” Viv said. “The explosions shouldn’t bother you. The Spanish House can repair itself from damages.”

Takahiro gave me a look like he was not sure he heard that right. I sympathized with him.

A self-regenerating house. That was new.

“You can’t be serious, right?” Takahiro asked Viv with a shaky voice.

“Of course,” Viv replied with confidence. “The Spanish House can withstand even the strongest typhoons…”

“Typhoons aren’t explosions.”

“Relax, Takahiro. You gotta admit that this house is in tiptop shape despite all it’s been through.”

Because if things were to go wrong, I could just rewind time. Sure, my confidence in my powers had wavered when Cassandra appeared in the forest, but I shouldn’t get my hopes down.

I can do it, I told myself. I can do it again.

“I guess we could stay the night,” I then suggested.

Takahiro’s eyes widened. “Whoa, Quinn, you can’t be serious.”

I stroked my chin and hummed. “Unless you know a way through these dangerous woods back to the Metropolis, we’re pretty much stuck here until the coast’s all clear.”

He sighed. “Looks like we’re hopeless.”

Viv first led Takahiro to his room. Its walls were as white as the halls. A little window opened up to a view of the night sky as iron grills streaked across it. The furniture was mostly made out of wood and capiz shells: the closet, the bedside table, the mirror, and finally, the bed frame. They all looked like they had been carved intricately. A ceiling fan hung overhead, providing ventilation to the room.

“Good night, Takahiro!” I said.

Takahiro looked like he was about to have a heart attack. “Whoa, you’re not leaving me, aren’t you?”

“You can’t expect two girls to share a room with you.” Viv looked at him with disdain. “How shameful.”

And Viv shut the door as Takahiro grumbled to himself. I was hesitant about leaving him, but he should learn how to face his fears on his own—just like I should.

My living quarters for the night, located a few paces down the hall, looked precisely like Takahiro’s. However, this one seemed like it had been previously occupied. There were pieces of jewelry on the bedside table: a few beaded bracelets, some necklaces, and a pair of hair clips. There was a cardboard box filled with books, and a worn acoustic guitar sat next to it, collecting dust. The instrument was a giveaway. This was—

“Rachael’s room…” I mouthed.

Viv nodded. “Sorry, this is the only vacant girl’s room we have. We even began assigning roommates due to the lack of space. The Author has too many female characters.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” I said, though it was a little awkward stepping into a rival’s former territory. The floorboards creaked underneath, almost like the room itself wasn’t welcoming me.

I proceeded to the little window and looked outside, seeing if I could replace the source of the explosions. Unfortunately, the view offered nothing that could answer the pressing questions I had. All I saw were kids scaling the perimeter of the mansion. They had various weapons in hand from bayonets, to spears, and to halberds. They looked just as confused and scared by the explosions as I was.

Viv approached me gingerly, lightly closing the door behind her. “There are some clean clothes in the closet,” she said. “Even a St. John’s uniform for tomorrow morning. There are also some showers at the end of the hall… if you want.”

She was about to leave, but I called her back. When I first met Viv, I was about to get clobbered in the hands of a zombie in the middle of a city park. She saved me from that, but afterward, she would always give me a stink eye, calling me Cassandra. However, during the attack at the alleyway, Viv displayed no evidence of hostility toward me. In fact, when she found me by the abandoned bus station, she actually cried out to me, begging for help.

I was thoroughly confused.

“Do you still think that Cassandra and I are one and the same?” I asked her.

She tensed up. Despite the bow in her hair, she looked too serious for an eleven-year-old. It brought me back to the vision where I had seen her as a little child, all bouncy and giggly. The war made her grow up too fast.

It was evident in the way she looked at me that she was thinking whether or not I was a friend or an enemy.

“Kuya was able to convince me otherwise,” she said. It was hard to read the tone of her voice. She didn’t expand on that statement, but I had my guesses that Julio told her of the time he was at the River Lethe, waiting to push me into the waters just in case anything went wrong.

“Besides,” Viv continued. “You’re here. Cassandra’s there. Nobody can be in two places at once. Cassandra may be scary, but I know she isn’t a god. For one thing, she was one of us, though Kuya must have told you that story already…”

I pursed my lips. “Yeah, he has, actually…”

Then, my curiosity began to get the best of me. Viv was someone who had known Cassandra before she had gone, well, crazy. Even though Julio’s statements about her depression sufficed, I still wanted to get another perspective.

“How was she like?” I asked. “Cassandra, I mean.”

Viv sighed, taking a seat at the edge of Rachael’s old bed—which I would be sleeping in tonight—with her back toward me.

“Insanity’s no stranger to this house,” she began. “People say that Cassandra’s case was the worst. She was so silent, isolating herself from most of us. In fact, I don’t even remember hearing her voice. There was this one girl, though, Yukine, who always talked to her, but even she got pushed away. It wasn’t long before Cassandra eventually turned into a monster, and soon after that, Yukine escaped…”

As her voice trailed off, she remained eerily still. An explosion rattled the house once again, and even that didn’t get her to stir.

I leaned against the wall, shifting my weight uneasily on the cold stone. “What about your brother? How is he doing?”

Viv appeared to flinch, but I wasn’t entirely sure.

“I—I’ve seen him better,” she stammered, “but he’s pulling himself up just fine… ever since that incident with—well, Rachael… then last night happened.”

She turned to face me, her expression forlorn. She may have been knocked cold to see how Rachael and Julio’s battle had ended, but she had seen how it began. She had witnessed how her brother refused to fight, even though his life was already on the line.

Her voice shook as she spoke. “I’m just afraid that the grief will one day get the best of him. Ever since Rachael fell into the Lethe, Kuya had become a new person; I don’t know who he is anymore…”

“But he cares for you,” I pressed. “I saw you guys at the park; he looked so worried about you.”

Viv appeared to look around the room, staring at the box of books and the old guitar. “I actually owe it to Rachael for bringing me closer to Kuya. Before she came along, he and I were always so distant.”

I understood the distant part, but Rachael bringing them together? I was intrigued. “How so?”

Another vision projected on the walls, flickering like a movie. Julio looked about sixteen, flustered by how Viv bounced and giggled around him, making little hearts with her hands. No voices came out from their mouths, and their steps were silent.

“I noticed how he was always so shy around her,” Viv explained, “and it wasn’t long before I began teasing him about it. I knew he liked her. She made him happy, and more approachable, too, so I couldn’t let something like that pass.”

I nodded, understanding completely. “So what did you do?”

“I decided to play cupid…”

▶▶