Retra knew her real interest had been in Joel.
But Suki wouldn’t let it go. ‘You’ve never had a friend? That’s impossible.’
‘There was a girl called Toola, but after my brother left and the warden came to live with us she stopped …’
‘What? Being your friend?’ Suki frowned. ‘I don’t really understand your world but not everyone from Grave is as private as you. Look at Rollo. He’s not like that. What’s it like there?’
Retra leaned back on the seat. She’d only ever thought about her world, never spoken of it to another person. Perhaps she could tell Suki. The Council can’t hear me now, she reminded herself. The warden can’t touch me.
‘Seal South is stricter than the rest of Grave. We aren’t allowed to speak to others at will. Only at certain times.’
‘That’s just plain loco,’ said Suki.
‘We’re taught that our Elders left the Old World to found a better place with stronger morals. The Old World had become depraved and without rules. The young were vicious and selfish and self-destructive. The Elders called their behaviour a sickness.’ As she spoke, the memory of her history lessons flooded back. ‘They sailed among the stars looking for the perfect place to start again but their travelling ship malfunctioned and they were forced to make their home on this world. They built Grave, and sealed it off from the native barbarians who shared the land with them. Growing walls kept the barbarians out, and over time they gave up trying to fight us and left us alone.’ Retra stopped, eyes widening. ‘I always thought that part was just a story. But now I see that there are other cultures on Grave. Maybe your people are the barbarians?’
Suki crossed her arms. ‘Well, for a start, this world is not called Grave. It’s called Stra’ha’ine. And your people sound like barbarians, not mine.’
‘I suppose so,’ allowed Retra, not wanting to upset the girl.
‘You mean, “I guess so”?’
They both smiled and the awkward moment passed.
Retra continued with her story. ‘Some of the Elders believed in firmer rules than the others. They moved to the south of the city and put up their own walls. They called them the Sealed South Walls. That’s where I’m from. That’s how we got the name.’
‘So what’s it like in Seal South?’
‘Cold,’ she said. In so many ways.
‘What about your parents?’
‘They believe in the rules. Especially my father. Mother does as he tells her. She used to read to me but he told her to stop. She used to brush my hair out at night but he said it encouraged unclean thoughts.’
‘Unclean thoughts.’ Suki smirked. ‘Why wouldn’t you want them, anyway?’
But Retra was too caught in her memories to react to Suki’s teasing. ‘After my brother left, Mother didn’t speak much. It was as if all the life went out of her.’
Suki screwed up her nose. ‘Your home sucks. Mine was just boring. Hunt, kill, skin, salt, cook, eat, clean and bury. Then start all over again. But we laugh a lot.’
‘What about Liam?’
‘Won’t be the end of the world if he doesn’t come here. I mean, that Rollo’s kind of cute.’
Retra didn’t know what to say to that, so she didn’t say anything.
When Rollo arrived at Vank the three caught the next kar on the Illi line. He sat in front of them and hung over the seat the way Krista-belle had done before, chattering to Suki about Goa and the White Wings, while the kar creaked along its cables like a tired beast.
Retra stared out, noticing how Ixion’s lights seemed a little dimmer and the dark seemed lighter. This must be what Kero meant by Early-Eve.
‘What causes the ever-night?’ she asked, interrupting them.
Rollo stopped short and stared at her. ‘The anomaly, of course.’
‘What in Stra’ is an anomaly? asked Suki.
‘The Golden Spiral. When we crossed into it on the barge, the dark came. It’s some kind of disturbance in the normal way of things. The Grave Council have been studying it for years without an answer, so they call it an anomaly. It’s just another name for something abnormal.’
‘In Stra’ha we call it the Blur. Have you ever had spots floating across your eyes when you stared at the sky?’
Rollo nodded.
‘It’s like one of those. A dark spot in front of what you see,’ she said.
‘Does that mean it’s everlasting?’ Retra wanted to know.
‘Who cares?’ said Suki. ‘It’s not like we’ll be here forever. One day we’ll be withdrawn to another place.’
Retra hunched her shoulders at that and