“He said it would hurt the land, and it did. Crops took a hit. The caligosubi became poor, which sparked uprisings.”
I knew our history as well as Remo. “Which were all squashed by the wariff. Your grandfather.”
“Under Linus’s orders.”
“Just because he was following orders doesn’t make it any less his fault. He gassed hundreds of men and women. Shut them in cupolas.” Nima referred to them as the cage of nightmares. She would know since Gregor confined her into one to punish her after she’d been brought to Neverra. Even though for years, she hadn’t wanted to speak of her experience inside, I finally forced her to tell me about it. I wanted to know how she’d survived when so many hadn’t. “Probably shipped a bunch of them in here.”
Unsurprisingly, Remo stayed mute on the subject as we climbed. He knew where I stood; I knew where he stood.
The second floor of the calimbor wasn’t as fancy and modern as the apartments ground-dwellers now occupied in real Neverra, but it was nonetheless homey with its assortment of pale wooden furniture set against the same shade of turquoise as the shop. Iridescent seashells in all shapes and sizes decorated the walls of the bathroom. The sink was a ruffled clam and the bath shimmered as though made of crushed mother-of-pearl. I twisted the tap but didn’t hold my breath for running water.
When it gushed through the pipes, I exhaled a gasp and cupped a hand to gather some to drink.
“I can’t decide if you’re fearless or clueless.” Remo leaned against the doorframe, arms tied in a loose knot.
I drank whatever didn’t slide through my fingers. When I didn’t puff out of existence, I went for a refill. I used some to wash my face and rinse the blood off my ear. The scrape had already scabbed over. Mikos tongues were thankfully more sandpaper than cheese grater. I picked up a turquoise towel embroidered with conchs and patted myself dry.
“You might survive without food but not without water, Remo.” There was no mirror in the bathroom, not that I truly wanted a glimpse of my face.
When I tucked the towel on the side of the sink, Remo pushed off the doorframe and walked to the still gushing water. I half expected him to turn off the tap and stride right back out, but he leaned over and placed his lips directly underneath it. I searched the bathroom for a container in case the pipes ran dry but abandoned my search because we’d undoubtedly be forced out of this world and into a new one by the time that happened.
I went back toward the window and surveyed the land carpeted with mist. “You think the snakes were the torment part of this world, and now we’re safe?” I asked Remo as he came to stand beside me.
“No. In every cell, there’s been two disruptive factors. In the first one, there was no food and everything was fake except the wolves.”
“And my apple.”
He slanted me a look. “And your apple. In the skyscraper city, there were deceptions and then the earthquake. In the inn, there was the peach pie and then the tornado.”
“Do you think it’s a way to chase us to the next world and keep up the torture?”
He bobbed his head noncommittally.
What would happen if we stayed on the train without hopping out? Would it take us to the next world without inflicting any horror and pain? And then I wondered about something else . . . “What do you think happens if we stay after the second event? Do you think the cell quiets and rebuilds?”
“I don’t know.”
“And what about the apple? You saw the red one downstairs? It’s in every world.”
“Yeah, I noticed it, but I have no clue what it does.”
“Maybe we should try eating it.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t.”
“What if it’s our ticket out of here?”
“What if it’s a trigger?”
“For what?”
“Who knows? A third form of torture.” He returned his gaze to the wisps of mist glittering like stardust under the white sky. “My gut says to steer clear of it. Think you can do that?”
Even though I wasn’t a fan of his cynicism, I nodded.
“Good. Now, what would you like to do?”
“Crawl into that bed over there and hide until someone breaks us out of here.”
“By someone, you mean me?”
“No. I mean someone back home.”
Remo’s gaze flicked to the sky as though on the lookout for a flitting liberator, then to the tree across from us.