Morning comes faster than it ever has.
My eyes blink open slowly, lids heavy. I’m alone in the bed. Through the walls of the magic tent, I can see the sky pinkening in the horizon. At once, everything comes back to me. The ecstasy of the night spent with my gods, tangled with the anxiety of what awaits us today.
I’m going back home. Back to the prison I only barely managed to escape.
I climb out of bed, pulling on my dress and splashing some water on my face. My bones are weary, but my blood runs fast, spiked with adrenaline. In the shared area, Zev and Alin are already up, dressed, and ready, armed with shiny, metallic objects I’ve never seen before, frightening in their simplicity.
“Put these on,” Zev says without so much as a good morning, handing me a pair of boots. They look plain and not particularly walkable, but when I pull them on they fit perfectly, and while the material is soft and comfortable on the inside, I can feel the protective roughness of the exterior. Zev hands me a jacket, which looks to be made from the same textile. “This too.”
“When are we going in?” I ask nervously, shrugging the jacket on over my shoulders.
“As soon as we’re ready,” Alin replies, handing me a mug of his breakfast gruel. Usually I find the flavor warm and comforting, but today I gulp it down tastelessly.
Zev returns with a small beige case, which he opens and removes two thin, silvery rings. Taking my left hand, he slips the first onto my middle finger.
“If we get separated and you need to speak with us, use this,” he explains, releasing my hand. I glance down at the ring, but it looks completely inconspicuous. “Just hold your hand up to your face, like this.”
Zev demonstrates, holding his own left hand up to his cheek. He nods at me to try, so I do.
Jubilee, can you hear me? I startle at the low sound of Zev’s voice, which seems to nearly vibrate through my skin, rattling around in my skull. The question repeats, and I nod.
“Yes, I can,” I say, and Zev nods, apparently satisfied with the functionality of this piece of equipment.
“Now this one,” he says, taking my right hand and slipping the second ring onto that middle finger. “This one is in case anyone tries to harm you. Just hold this hand up at them, like so.”
He demonstrates, thrusting his right hand into the air defensively. I go to mimic the action, and he quickly stops me.
“Careful where you point that thing, it’s a weapon that can stun even a Krinar, should any of the Seven decide to make a surprise appearance.”
“Here, try this,” Alin chimes in, grabbing an apple and tossing it up into the air, away from all three of us.
Feeling a bit silly, I flatten my right palm and thrust it at the apple as it arcs through the air. There’s no beam of light, no spark of gunpowder, but the apple bursts into a mist of sweet juice, showering down onto the ground silently. Even the usually invisible tent wall behind it seems to be hit, the point of impact shimmering dark gray for a second before returning to its normal state.
“Oh!” I gasp and shy back from my own hand, tightening my palm into a fist, then quickly releasing it at the thought of accidentally pulverizing my own hand.
“Don’t worry,” Alin says, catching my suddenly weaponized hand and wrapping it up in his big palm. “You can’t hurt yourself with it, and it will only knock out a human, nothing they can’t recover from. Apples better fear you, though.”
I grin at him, but Zev is in no mood for jokes.
“Be careful with it, regardless,” he says, standing purposefully. “It’s not a toy. Use only in case of emergency.”
“Alright,” I say, shoving both hands into my jacket pockets for safekeeping. “I understand.”
“Let’s go,” Zev says, striding out of the tent. Alin and I follow. As we exit, I see the walls and amenities of what has been my home for the past few days shimmer and dematerialize around me. Zev explained this to me, the generation and destruction of their nanotechnology. Now that this tent won’t be needed any longer, it will disappear, permanently. If we need another, the two gods can create a new one, exactly the same as this one, but wholly different. If all goes well, though, we’ll never return to this place. I feel a twinge in my gut as I turn back to watch the tent come apart, bit by bit. This was my first taste of freedom, the place where I learned to let go of my old chains and inhibitions. The place where I began to fall for my two gods.
I turn away and take long steps to keep up with Zev and Alin’s purposeful strides. What’s gone is gone, and I won’t mourn the end of this brief reprise in the desert. No matter what happens today, tomorrow will be a new beginning.