****
River didn't have the chance to think. The floor seemed to unfurl under her feet as she ran behind the young man to the opposite side of the room and through another section of the wall he opened by touching his hand to it like he had closed the first section. She could feel Jordan close behind her as they made their way through the wall and down a narrow hallway that was as bright and stark looking as the room they had just left.
She wanted to know where they were going but was too afraid to ask. There was a feeling of panic and urgency in the way the young man had told them to run and the pounding on the wall from where the young man had entered still drummed in her ears. They continued along the hallway and then through another wall into a darkened room.
"No. No, no, no, no, no," the young man said, running around the edge of the wall, tracing his fingers along the expanse as if looking for something.
"What is it?" Jordan asked.
The gems embedded in the young man's face pulsated brighter red as he turned to them.
"Light," he said, "There's no light. We can't get out."
"Then why'd we come in here?" River demanded.
"I didn't realize they had started turning off the activators."
He sounded frustrated and angry, and River felt a sudden wave of concern for him. She looked at Jordan. In the dim light of the room, his face looked shadowy and older than it had before they leapt from the side of the wall.
"What are the activators?" she asked.
"The walls need light to operate. The activators create the light."
Jordan glanced at River and she shrugged at him, nodding subtly. He reached in his pocket and withdrew his phone. River felt a moment of worry that it wouldn't work, but he drew his finger across the screen and the yellow light of the flashlight feature glowed from the end.
The young man stepped back, staring at the phone as if it both terrified and intrigued him.
"Will it work?" Jordan asked.
He didn't say anything, but the young man gestured at a section of the wall. Jordan stepped forward and held the phone up so that the light illuminated the section of the wall, thrusting it in front of him like a weapon. If she hadn't been so confused and afraid, River would probably have found the visual funny.
There was a moment of tense stillness before the young man reached forward and touched his hand to the wall. The wall groaned and inched open slowly. He tucked his fingers in the gap and wrenched it open further so that there was enough space that they could run through. River let out a breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding and surged forward, chasing the boys out of the room and down another hallway.
The intense, almost cutting light of the corridor was fading, disappearing behind them as they ran. River pushed harder, picking up her speed as if trying to outrun the darkness. Just as the final section of the corridor went dark, the young man threw himself forward and touched the wall, opening a section that led out of the building.
The wall slid closed behind her just as River made it out into the shadowy purple light of sunset. There was a strange buzz in the air like everything around her was electrified. It shivered through her, making her feel off balance. The young man didn't seem to notice it, but Jordan shook his head, obviously having the same uncomfortable reaction to the sound.
"Come on," the man insisted, gesturing at them as he continued to run.
There was no grass or trees as they ran. The ground beneath them felt like rubber, and all around them she could see gleaming metal buildings like the ones she saw in the image the silver liquid created across the wall. They seemed to be running behind the buildings, as if the cylindrical towers created the boundaries for a busy city.
The light around them grew dimmer as they ran, and with it, the buzzing feeling of the air softened. Out of the corner of her eye River could see the vibrancy of the buildings fading and the number of tiny, round vehicles zipping along the roads lessened. They were running through near darkness by the time the young man took a sharp turn and stepped through the wall of a tall, dull-looking building.
River and Jordan followed him, running through the wall and finally came to a stop in what looked like an abandoned warehouse. The dull, cement-encased room was a pronounced contrast to the bright light of the first building, but River found the soft shadows comforting and protective. Her legs felt suddenly weak and she sank to the floor, resting her back against one of the walls.
"You're safe now," the young man said, "They won't look here."
"Who's 'they'?" River asked.
"Who are you?" Jordan demanded, his voice nearly overlapping hers.
"My name is Geming."
River saw Jordan's eyes narrow.
"Revolution," he said in a startled whisper.
"Your name is 'Revolution'?" River asked.
Geming looked at her, his jaw set. She noticed that the gems beside his eye were no longer red.
"It's what they call me," he said matter-of-factly and something in his voice told her that she shouldn't pry any further.
"I'm River," she offered, hoping to ease the unpleasant tension that seemed to hold the three of them together while also keeping them at a distance.
"How did you get here?" Geming asked.
"We don’t even know where we are. How far from the Great Wall are we?"
A strange expression crossed Geming's face and his body noticeably stiffened.
"Farther than you could imagine."