Chapter 29
The Fall
Stuck underground in the muddy pool of suffocation, I think about the ones I love.
I think about the students in The Seventh Zone who may never see the ones they love.
I think about Pesh. I think about Londe choking Pesh’s mom.
I think about living another day to challenge my mom.
I think about my sister who will die if I do not get out of this devil’s mud.
And it was then I knew, I could not just give up on life now.
Even if I die, I will fight till my very last breath. I will fight even in my last breath.
But my fighting is not working.
It is almost like it is making it worse.
I try to think of another strategy.
The last time I felt any constricting pressure was with Pesh holding me against the wall in the physical training. When I let go, he let go. I have to try to do the same in this mud water. It makes no rational sense. But I have run out of logic. All I have in this moment is faith.
I stop struggling.
Exhaling in a sharp gasp, I let go of my body and instantly…
I feel myself plunge sideways in a sharp rush.
I fall!
Then, I land.
I land into a spurt of liquid. And instantly, water floods into the depths of my mouth. I cough to avoid choking, expectorating the water in its ocean chunks out of my mouth.
Engulfed underwater, I slow my threading, scanning the clear-blue water around me.
A swimming pool?
Glancing to the side, I notice a mud-colored door at the corner of the water. It must have been an invisible door that constricted with pressure and expanded with the reverse. Honestly, I have no clue or time to evaluate The Commons and its death traps.
I swim up from below, surfacing to indeed see a pool. And in front of me is an enormous observatory room opening up to the sky. Wow. It is like heaven! This has to be the last step! That’s what Pesh said.
I glide out of the pool and sprint into the room. It is empty, and there is a giant telescope at the end. I rush toward the end, and beside the telescope—I see a blue door.
I glance at the giant clock on the wall. I now only have 45 seconds to save Levon.
Oh my God, help me.
Hands shaking, I unzip my pocket and grab the keys, striking it into the doorknob of the blue door to open the switch room.
I enter and look at the massive space with thousands of switches all around. Catching sight of a dark area where the switches are congregated, I sprint over and turn on the light, only to reveal more switches surrounding me with no end in sight. I take a deep breath, overwhelmed.
“Blue one, blue... blue one... there are billions of blue ones.”
I suddenly begin to hear Pesh on the intercom again. “Oh my God! Shantavia, are you there? Are you hurt? Are you okay?”
“Yes! I’m here. I’m not hurt… too badly. But, Pesh, I don’t know which one. I only have 40 seconds before the fire engulfs Levon! I don’t know if I can do this!”
“Listen to your spirit. Go with your gut feeling. You just went through the Zariki. You’ve come this far, you can do this!”
I run through the blue knobs and start turning them all off. “Is that it?”
“Not yet—you’re just turning off the light sources in the city and over here, but don’t worry, keep looking, you got this!”
Oh God, help me. This is torture! My sister’s life is in my hands.
And I was smart. I was intelligent. I never failed any test in school.
Never. But this is not a test, this is death.
I am speeding through, turning the blue switches, mind racing, trying to figure out a better alternative than me throwing destiny into the hands of chance.
I stop.
I think.
Shantavia. You are smart.
I look around… a billion bouncing thoughts breaking through each other’s balance in my brain.
“Water knob, water knob, water knob… think irrationally, this is The Commons. Think collectively, not logically. Water, H20… Can’t be 20, too obvious, or two…
No, it’s two! There’s two of them. 2 and zero.
These stations are arranged like chemical structures, it’s on two opposite ends… yes, let’s try that!”
Instantaneously, I sprint to the end of one. I see a water image. I turn it on.
I dash to the other end, sweeping through with the fastest speed I possibly can, sprinting with every inch of my body toward the second knob.
It is about 300 meters in front of me.
But I am too late.
I hear fire sounds erupt through the pods.
Then, I hear it.
Levon.
Panting heavily.
And then she says, “Shantavia, you have not failed me. I love you.”