Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) - By Paula Flumerfelt Page 0,11

mom talked about how beautiful and grand the gardens were and how you could only get in by invitation. It’s my life’s ambition…to do something so noteworthy that I get invited.” Vienna gave a longing sigh, her eyes far away.

The gardens…huh… Vienna seemed nice enough, but not cutthroat enough to really get noticed. At least, that was his opinion. In his experience, bullies tended to get noticed a lot more than the nice kids.

“Oh, when you get back and get settled in, you should look me up. We could have lunch together! Er, I mean…only if you want to, of course…” She bit her bottom lip in an embarrassed way, tilting her head.

Mathieu considered for a moment before he nodded. It might help to have an ally already in the city. “That’d be really cool.” The more they talked, and the closer they got to Ateri, the more he started to panic about starting over there. “So, my…brother was thinking about moving to the capital, and he asked me to think of some advice for him, ya know, to make it easier when he first gets there. Only thing is, I’m not very good at giving advice. What would you tell him?” His voice was unsure, but he tried to lie as convincingly as possible.

“Hm…” Her face became thoughtful and she tapped her nails against her leg, “I’d tell him that he needs to be tough, to not let people take advantage of him. The street urchins can be rather abrasive if you’ve never dealt with them before. Oh, and to avoid the Seventh District, because it’s kind of rough there. I don’t know, just stuff like that.”

He nodded, making mental notes for himself. “Thanks.”

Nodding, she rested her head against the window, closing her eyes.

Okay, got to be tough. This was going to be harder than he thought. He was beginning to realize that this was the stupidest thing he’d ever done. But, that thought kind of thrilled him. For once, he was doing something for him. Not because he had to or was intimidated into it; no, just because he wanted to. And that was why he was sure he could make it through this.

The bus winded down the country road, the trees and rolling hills giving way to flatter land. As they got closer to the capital, the land became more colonized land, housing complexes cropping up here and there. They were apartment style buildings, but their poor construction made them less than desirable. Mathieu supposed that was a downside of urban areas. The nicer the inner city became, the worse the surrounding areas started to seem. Compared to large, airy houses that Mathieu could see not far off, the apartments seemed cramped and almost unsanitary. He really hoped he wouldn’t need to live in an apartment.

Over the loud speaker, the driver announced that the next stop was central Ateri, District One. His heart started to pound again, nerves getting the better of him, causing his leg to bounce up and down quickly.

“Excited to be going home?” Vienna was looking at him, not seeming to find his behavior weird.

“Oh, of course I am. I’ve been away for a while. Coming back will be like starting a new life…”

Chapter

Two

Outside the window, the city was taking shape. It was rather creepy to see. It started just past the large stone fence; first, there were heavy metal structures, skeletons of what were once offices, Mathieu assumed. They looked like metallic monsters standing ominously against the sky and looking down at the world with blank eyes. Slowly those faded away, and in their place stood smaller buildings, homes. They were petite compared to those that came before, sort of like cottages made out of a white metal. Each had a nicely manicured front to it, a least one tree full of foliage. Once the houses were done, the non-businesses had their place. They were the charities and the like. Only a handful of them were in the area and they were in mismatched pairs, like the rejected socks that lost their mates to the dryers.

But then, to Mathieu’s wonderment, the bus entered through the gates of the inner city, into District One. Everything became tall and shiny. New. Flowers were in bloom everywhere: store fronts, planters that lined the center dividers in the streets, all over. Statues of previous rulers were erected around the city, cared for and well maintained. Office building with glass fronts mixed with the shorter buildings, businesses to