Chapter 20
The Escape
I take a quick gasp of air before crashing into the water.
The icy water shocks my skin. I don’t know why, but I didn’t expect the ocean to be so cold.
Kicking my legs as fast as I can, I part the water with my arms, realizing I have lost track of Pesh.
We cannot surface, even for a second, in order for the guards to believe that we had drowned and intentionally sought to kill ourselves.
My eyes sting from the saltwater, but I try to focus to find Pesh.
I notice him swimming toward me. He turns my way and grabs a hold of my hand.
I look for Levon, but she is not in sight.
I feel hands from behind grab onto me. I turn and realize it is her.
I smile, extremely relieved. Pesh directs us with his hands, pointing toward a direction.
We follow him and swim toward the North.
He points toward the distance, and we look at him, confused.
“T. R—” he shouts, fully submerged in the water. I strain to read his lips. “U. S. T… M—”
Trust me?
Levon seems reluctant, but I swim toward the direction of his hands…
Freezing underwater is not my preferred way to die, so I follow through with his hand signals.
I try to imagine an underwater door in my mind.
I jump through it headfirst, and I feel my head merge with a rush of flooding water.
I crash down onto a water slide. It hardly lasts for a second before I begin to fall into a dimly lit room.
I look to see water under my feet, black glass walls all around, and I hear an engine sound.
I also hear whispers, so I stand up. Glancing to the right, I see a student in a puffed-up jacket reaching out toward the doors with glasses and headphones as though monitoring the waters.
She doesn’t even turn to me. She is too focused on the outside; I think she’s trying to help Pesh and Levon navigate their way into the vessel.
“Are they gonna make it?” I ask.
“If she’s brave enough to trust!”
“Levon. Please. Please,” I mutter.
I cross my fingers, my clammy hands shaking, my fists clenched in hope and anticipation that Levon will come through.
Swoosh…
Someone falls down.
I look.
It is my sister.
It is Levon.
She turns to me.
Our eyes collide.
Like a dream.
My best friend, standing right in front of me.
I had gone through deadly tests to come to this. I had almost died for this.
And I did it.
She is really here.
I cannot believe it.
I exhale a huge sigh of relief and rush into her arms.
Finally, I can hug her. I hold onto her with my mind. I hold onto her with my soul. I hold onto her with my spirit. I hold onto her with every emotion in my core. I hold onto her with my arms, my fingers, my palms, my body, and every breath I have. I hold onto her like she is my own body.
She holds me like a shield. She squeezes me with every drop of blood in her veins. She passionately presses her palms around my skin with her soft arms, sinking into the depths of my embrace like one dives into the depths of the sea.
I open my eyes to see.
To see her.
“Levon,” I scream.
“Shantavia,” she exclaims. Tears cloud her eyes and stream down her face.
“I can’t believe you’re here. I’ve missed you every day,” I say.
“I’ve missed you every second,” she says, rubbing my hands and stroking her hands into the depths of my hair. She kisses me on the forehead, then we both turn toward the door as scuffling breaks out and someone falls.
“Where’s Pesh?” I ask.
I look, but it is not Pesh. It is Swin. He coughs, looking all around, equally confused and impressed. Next, Pesh follows without even a hint of misstep. He must be used to this.
“An invisible door. An invisible ship!” Swin rambles, intrigued, looking all around. “How on earth is this possible?”
“It’s just metamaterial cloaking,” Pesh responds.
“It’s just… he says it like it’s no big deal! Like how on earth is it this advanced? Like what? Did you like use nanowires to provide a way to hide this ship from visible light?” Swin asks, mind boggled.
“Sort of, but not exactly, because this ship will still appear invisible even across a wide range of frequencies. So, it’s just an illusion to the human eye.
The only way to go through it is to simply dive in headfirst. It only recognizes the head banged into it.
That’s when it will open for an active motion.
And only if our ship is stopped and opened can one enter,” Pesh says, looking through the glass windows and typing a password on the computerized wall to shut the doors.
The doors are locked, and the student girl begins to leave, walking toward a small, circular door on the inside.
“It’s like my Chemistry Test!” I respond.
“Yeah. You were above average in that test. No one else has ever figured that out. That’s why I told Londe I needed to kill you myself. I told him that you would find a way to escape from The Seventh Zone or create an escape because you are too smart,” Pesh says.
“And he believed you?”
“Yes. But now our mission has been complicated because of a certain human being.”
“Oh, me! I’m sorry,” Swin responds.
“I only saved you because you said you knew about The Begon,” Pesh says.
“Right. Much appreciated. Promise you won’t be disappointed.”
“Someone’s confident,” Levon interrupts, more stern than sarcastic.
“Oh hi, nice to meet your acquaintance, I’m Swin Aldovo!” he says. He takes a bow in front of her.
Their eyes clash.
“I don’t care if they would have caught me again. But you put my little sister in danger by your little stunt. I’d stay away from me if I were you.” She walks away from him, annoyed. Levon, still protective as ever.
I give Swin a courtesy smile, then I notice him rubbing his eyes to pull out a tiny, shiny, circular thing from his ears—like invisible ear buds—because they are the exact same color as his ears. “What’s that?” I ask.
“It’s a computerized ear pod and contact lens that enables me to see details about 20 miles ahead of me. I call it 20/20 lens pod set.”
“Huh, very original,” Levon says, sarcastic.
He smiles.
“So, can you see through walls?” I ask.
“What kind of lens do you think this is? Some magical thing?” Swin says.
“Um—” I stutter.
“And you would be right. I can. Not magic though. Just science. I use crazy advanced algorithmic neuro networks to analyze signals that bounce off people’s bodies, and I can see anywhere from a person’s movement outside, and depending on how still I can focus, I can zoom into their bodies and even see invisible things that are made with a similar substance. ”
“You’re joking!” I say.
“I survived The Seventh Zone thanks to this sucker, and I found Pesh when he came here to help you. I could see and hear 20 miles ahead of me,” Swin says.
“Interesting,” Pesh responds, uninterested, unimpressed. He is too focused on the next step, so I give him my undivided attention, along with everyone else.
“So, where to next?” I ask.
Pesh leads us along a cave-like space. It is mostly dimly lit, and all we see is water and some sand for a while, until we come to a complete stop.
We look up to see what looks like aquarium glass, with fish swimming on the inside.
“This must be a huge ship!” Swin says, looking all around.
“Something like that,” Pesh responds.
“So, where is this place?” I ask.
“We’re on an underground hideaway submarine that I built over the past ten years. It’s the way of escape from The Seventh Zone to the mainland on The Commons, but we’re not going back to The Commons, we’re going into The Commoners Secret Place.”
We look at him, puzzled.
“Just follow me,” he commands.
He walks forward toward the aquarium-looking thing and enters in. We don’t see him anymore.
“It’s like the other door, except this one is visible,” I deduce. “Come on, Levon, let’s go!” I say.
Still skeptical, she tries to feel it. “It feels like glass, but it’s not,” she says.
“So, it’s an illusion… illocean of the ocean,” Swin says.
Levon looks at him, not impressed by his joke.
She eyes him, then scoffs with a light grin.
She holds my hand and we both walk through the door.
It feels like walking through any other door, but when we enter, what we see is not like any door I have ever walked through.
Swin comes in behind us and we look to see it.
The Commoners Secret Place.
There are people all around, about a hundred. They look young, in their twenties or so. They all look so full of life, the opposite of those we found in The Seventh Zone. Around them are several computers and each of them has a code in front of them, working nonstop.
“What is this?” I ask Pesh.
“The place I have been searching for all my life!” Swin looks around in awe. “Well, not all my life, just for the past year or so!” Swin completes.
Puzzled, I look at Pesh.
He comes up to us. “This is what I’ve been doing. Protecting as many Commoners as I could. Some of these people I found underwater when they were left to drown. Some, I faked their death and brought them here. The others, I helped while they were trying to escape The Seventh Zone.”
“This is the place where you guys are building The Begon right?” Swin asks.
“How do you know about that?” Pesh asks, puzzled.
“No one knows, I promise. No one in The Seventh Zone knows. It’s just…
my 20/20 lens pod set. Sometimes, I come around the place where you just took us to—and I hear things, but I haven’t been able to figure out where the voices were coming from, till today.
” Swin takes out the ear pods from his ears again to show us.
“What is this?” Pesh asks.
“I built it! I told you I was smart. Here, you can vet it if you are suspicious.”
Pesh takes the tiny ear plugs, his eyes narrowing as he feels them. “I’m not suspicious. I just need you to figure out a way to multiply this thing to go round.”
“I can’t. I took me five years just for this one, but what I can do is help you guys with The Begon.” He spins around and walks backward in a confident strut.