Chapter 382: Three of Them

We leave carrying two bags and keep going with no fixed direction until we find an enormous glass structure taking up almost a whole block.

Rhayne reads the sign.

Old Earth Conservatory.

Through the transparent walls you can see large trees and a density of green that practically doesn’t exist outdoors anymore.

"Want to go in?"

This time she doesn’t hesitate.

"Yes."

The change in environment is immediate once we’re through the entrance. The air isn’t only cooler. There’s enough humidity to stick to your skin. The smell of wet soil arrives before the first trees, and for a few seconds even I have to adjust.

The place preserves species that disappeared from entire regions after the desertification. Small watercourses run through artificial channels, surrounded by plaques explaining recycling, condensation, and reuse systems.

It’s an obscene waste of resources, and it’s also beautiful.

Rhayne slows until she stops in front of a wide leaf. She runs her fingers over the surface carefully.

"This was normal?"

"My mother says it was."

She looks around.

"Like this?"

"Maybe without a ticket and security at the door."

Rhayne smiles and we keep going along the inner trail.

Further on, the sound of water gets louder. An entire section recreates rain over a small area of tall vegetation. People go in and come out wet, some trying to protect their hair, others simply accepting it.

Rhayne stops and looks at me.

"Can you go in?"

"I think that’s the point."

She’s in before I finish.

The water catches her hair first, then the new hoodie I bought less than half an hour ago.

"Excellent use of new clothes."

Rhayne turns around.

She’s smiling.

"You’re not coming?"

"Somebody has to maintain some dignity."

"Den!"

I look at her, then at the rain.

"This is going to be sticky on the transit."

I go in anyway.

The water is cold enough to make me close my eyes for a second. Rhayne laughs at my reaction and keeps going a few steps ahead.

We stay there doing nothing useful.

Nobody is trying to kill us, no system opens in front of my eyes, there’s no OXI to manage and no creature waiting around a corner. Only water falling on us and people around enjoying an expensive reproduction of something that used to be common.

After a while I notice I’m looking at Rhayne more than at the place.

She closes her eyes and lifts her face into the rain. The smile is still there when she swallows dryly.

Then again.

Her hand goes up to her throat.

My mood changes.

"It started?"

Rhayne opens her eyes.

"What?"

I point at her neck.

She touches her own throat and only then seems to notice the gesture.

"It’s dry."

"It isn’t exactly dry."

The smile shrinks.

"Black Thirst?"

I nod.

We come out of the rain and find a bench near the walkway. Rhayne takes the water bottle out of her backpack and drinks more this time. She waits a few seconds.

"It didn’t change."

"It won’t. It’s like your first Dive."

She looks at the bottle as if it betrayed her.

"I thought water would help this time."

"Almost everyone thinks that the first time they come back."

Rhayne runs her tongue over her lips.

"It’s strange being thirsty right after standing in water."

"The universe has a very specific sense of humor."

She lets out a small laugh.

"Is it going to get worse?"

"As the counter drops, yes. Sorry, but it’s going to get unbearable."

There’s no reason to hide that from her.

Rhayne checks her own time.

"We still have more than nine hours."

"Mm-hm. What do you want to do?"

She puts the bottle away.

"Then I want to keep going."

The rest of the day happens without any planning.

We buy a frozen dessert Rhayne picks because she’s never tried the flavor. We go into a small exhibition about cities from before world unification and spend some time looking at photographs of places that today exist only in part or became uninhabitable. She seems to have always been curious about the Earth of the past.

At a kiosk, Rhayne finds a simple bracelet and decides to buy it.

When I try to pay, she pushes my hand away.

"This one is mine."

"Don’t argue. Let me give you this."

She looks at me, annoyed, but she doesn’t argue, and I don’t push.

She puts the bracelet on her own wrist and spends a few seconds adjusting the clasp, clearly pleased with a purchase that has no attribute, bonus, or function at all.

Maybe that’s why I like seeing her like this.

Later we find a public platform built on top of a commercial complex. It isn’t the tallest structure in Rusthaven, but it’s high enough to show the capital’s entire contrast.

The central region shines below us, full of glass, trees, traffic, and light. Further out, the city starts changing. The vegetation disappears, the buildings get smaller, and dust takes over the spaces money stopped protecting.

We buy something to drink and sit near the glass barrier.

Rhayne is quieter now. The Thirst shows up in the gaps of the conversation. She swallows more often, takes small sips even knowing they don’t work, and touches her throat now and then.

Even so, she looks happy.

"Today was good," she says.

I look at her.

"That was the idea."

"Even with this."

She touches her neck.

"The Black Thirst wasn’t included in the package."

"You should ask for a refund."

"From you?"

"Maybe from fate."

Rhayne smiles and goes back to looking at the city.

We spend a while in silence before she speaks again.

"Den."

"Hm?"

"When we come back again... can we come here again?"

The way she says it catches my attention.

She used "when," not "if."

"Of course."

She nods and doesn’t ask for any promise beyond that, but I treat it as one anyway.

Rusthaven changes when it gets dark.

The facades take on more color, holographic ads push out over the sidewalks, and the flow of the streets shifts from offices toward restaurants, shopping, and night transit. We walk side by side carrying the bags while I look up the fastest line home on my phone.

Rhayne is talking about something she saw at the conservatory when the conversation simply stops.

She keeps walking normally, but she doesn’t finish the sentence.

It takes me two steps to notice.

"What is it?"

Rhayne keeps her eyes forward.

"Don’t look back."

I don’t change pace.

"What?"

"Keep walking."

Her voice stays low and calm. Arthur definitely did a good job teaching that girl.

"How long?"

"I don’t know yet. The man in the gray jacket was near the conservatory exit."

I find a shop window on our right and use the reflection instead of turning my head.

"Could be a coincidence."

"Could be."

From her tone, there’s more.

"And?"

"A woman who was near the clothing store showed up again when we left the exhibition. I thought it was strange, but I wasn’t sure. Then she disappeared and the man came back."

Now I pay more attention to the glass. We aren’t talking about someone walking behind us for a few streets.

If Rhayne is right, two different people have appeared at separate points along our route. For all that I came from another life, that kind of thing only gets noticed with specific training, and Rhayne was good at it.

"Is there anyone else?"

"Maybe a third. I couldn’t confirm."

We keep walking.

In the reflection of the next window I finally make out the man. Adult, ordinary clothes, phone in hand, comfortable distance. He isn’t looking directly at us, which only makes him more interesting.

I slow down almost imperceptibly.

A few seconds later, he slows too.

"Now I’m sure," I say.

Rhayne keeps looking straight ahead.

"So am I."

We turn onto a busier avenue. The man doesn’t come immediately after us, and for a few seconds it seems like we lost him.

Then a woman crosses the street in front of us and continues in the same direction.

I don’t recognize her.

Rhayne does.

"That’s her."

"From the store?"

"Yes."

There isn’t much margin left for coincidence.

They’re alternating.

Someone decided to track our movements through Rusthaven without letting the same person stay behind us long enough to draw attention.

Rhayne grips one of the bags more firmly.

"What do we do?"

I keep walking like we’re only looking for transit.

"First we find out how many there are."

She looks at the next window and, for an instant, I see a small smile appear.

It isn’t happiness.

It’s familiarity.

Arthur spent years teaching Rhayne to live in exactly this kind of situation.

"Three," she says a few seconds later. "Now I’m sure."

I look at the reflection without showing any reaction.

The man in the gray jacket reappears further back while the woman stays on the other side of the avenue. Near a lit newsstand, a third person looks far too interested in their own phone.

The afternoon is over.

So is the outing.

And now the problem in front of us doesn’t belong to the past. Someone in Rusthaven is following us.