“Our houses are small but well designed.” Belle began explaining how everything doubled as something else. “This couch holds storage space and as you can see, the staircase can be moved to offer extra seating in the kitchen.
“What kitchen?” I asked and gaped as Belle rearranged what had looked like a living room space with an entertainment center. It was like a magic trick the way she pulled, turned, and pushed furniture around until there was a small but functional kitchen.
“Our architects are skilled at making every bit of space count. By the way, this is the light channel that Victor was talking about.” Belle pointed to a round window in her ceiling. “Mirrors help the sun’s reflection reach us all the way down here on the third level, but it’s not the same as being above the ground.”
I rubbed her back and the others gave her a sympathetic smile, but Belle wasn’t looking for our pity, and swung her arm.
“And behind that door by the entrance is my bedroom. Feel free to take a look.”
She hadn’t exaggerated when she claimed that my bathroom was bigger than her bedroom. It held a single bed, a nightstand, and a closet for her clothes.
“It’s cute,” Freya said with a smile. “I love the picture. Did you paint that?”
Above Belle’s bed hung a large painting of mountains, trees, and a gorgeous waterfall.
“Looks like the Northlands,” Indiana remarked.
“It is. I was inspired after my last visit.” Belle threw the pad she always carried onto her bed and went to pick up a wristband from a drawer in her closet. “Let me see if I can reach Banni.”
It was cramped with all of us in Belle’s bedroom, so the others followed her out. Looking down at the pad on her bed, I saw a drawing so beautiful that I picked the pad up and whistled.
“Wow.” It was the cabin from Alaska with the snow, trees, and lake out front. Swiping, I saw another drawing of the snowball fight with the kids from the experimental school.
Fascination and curiosity made me scroll through her drawings. I loved every one of her sharp observations from this summit. Curious, I searched for older drawings and found that scrolling through them gave me insight into her life. Babies that were crying, smiling, or sleeping. Friends who were laughing, eating, and sunbathing. A few self-portraits that didn’t do her beauty justice. I realized that while some people had diaries, Belle had dated sketches going back ten years. I found the ones from the first summit that we held in the Northlands back in 2456 when she had been fourteen. Mostly it was sketches of trees, flowers, dogs, and birds. As I scrolled on, drawings of people appeared. There was one of Freya whispering with Khan in the garden like they were plotting something ingenious. Another drawing showed Aubri sparring with me in a fight ring. Then there was one of me sitting in the grass bare-chested followed by yet another drawing of me competing in arm wrestling with Thor. My pulse spiked from counting – of the nineteen sketches Belle had made during her first summit in the Northlands, six had me in them. Jumping through each year’s summits, I saw the same pattern. Each year there were more drawings of me than any of the others. From last year’s summit here in Old Europe, I was in eight out of her fourteen sketches.
“Are you coming?”
I looked up to see Indiana in the doorway.
“We’re waiting for you outside.” His gaze fell to the pad in my hands. “What are you doing?”
Looking out the window, I saw Freya, Aubri, and Belle talking. “She has a ton of drawings of me.”
“Huh?” He walked closer and snatched the pad from me. “She’s good.”
“I know. Check this out.” I showed Indiana one of Belle’s latest drawings of him walking with Aubri on his shoulders with the both of them laughing.
“Hey, that was a few days ago. It was colder than a witch’s titty and my young grasshopper talked me into carrying her. We were laughing because she teased me that she farted just to see what I would do.” Indiana chuckled.
“Stop calling my sister yours, and she’s not a fucking grasshopper.”
“Easy.” Indiana placed his hand on my shoulder. “You know I would never hurt her.”
“I trust that you would never do it deliberately, but Aubri has enough scars to prove that none of us have ever been able to protect her from herself.”
A knock on the window made us turn to see Freya waving at us. “Come on. Belle is taking us to meet one of the Explorers that she talked about. The one who’s called Banni.”
CHAPTER 25
Banni
Belle
As soon as we got up above ground the others greedily filled their lungs with fresh air.
“We’re meeting Banni at the Exploration Headquarters, it’s a twenty-minute walk from here,” I said and pointed in the direction we were going.
“I’m not seeing any drones.” Indiana leaned his head back to do a full spin.
“That’s because everything is walkable. It won’t take you more than an hour to cross the entire country if you keep a brisk pace. The drones we use here are for emergencies and transportation of goods. We private citizens can use hover boards, but they’re expensive so most of us rely on our strong legs.”
“That’s one way to stay fit,” Mason remarked before Freya commented, “It makes sense since you’re moving just as much vertically as you are horizontally. It’s so weird that a place no bigger than our largest city is considered a country.”
Walking down the main street our group was constantly stopped by curious people, so I led them into a less trafficked area. Mason fell into step beside me. “Do you think you could say goodbye to this place and live with me in the Northlands?”
I raised my gaze to meet his. “If it means that I can keep my child, yes.”
“What if there wasn’t a child?”
I thought about my answer. “At this point your question is hypothetical, Mason.” Looking over my shoulder I saw that Freya, Aubri, and Indiana had stopped in front of a store window, pointing and talking.
The street was narrow and quiet with no one close. Mason seemed uninterested in the others and moved closer to me. “Belle, I know I said we should wait until we’re back in the Northlands, but I’m dying to talk to you.”
My heart was beating fast from the urgency in his tone.
“I know you have feelings for me, Belle. I see it in your eyes when you’re not hiding from me.”
“Hiding? I’m right here.”
“I didn’t mean literally, but emotionally. I see how you light up when I enter a room, and I feel our connection here.” Mason placed a hand on his chest.
That familiar pressure of emotions that wanted out made me swallow them down.
“You’re doing it again,” Mason said with frustration in his voice and lifted my chin. “You have the most beautiful and expressive eyes, Belle. Why can’t you put into words what I see in them?”
He was asking the impossible of me and all I could do was keep eye contact and grab onto the front of his jacket.
Mason furrowed his brow. “Say something.”
“It’s hard,” I whispered.
He dipped his head and kissed my forehead. “I get that but try.”