Chapter 21: Chapter 21 – CONNECTION

I didn’t make it very far through the Glass District before I abruptly ended up back in Toronto. The change was a bit more jarring than usual, considering how different the glass district looked to the real Toronto, and how Huang suddenly appeared beside me.

He jumped and looked around, startled. “What the…?”

“We’re back,” I said.

“That was very weird. I wasn’t even in human form before just now,” Huang said, shaking his head. “What happened? You were checking out the current, and then you disappeared again.”

I explained, and Huang nodded earnestly. “A connection in between the districts! So maybe, when demons were emerging from it, it meant they were travelling there from other districts.”

 “Why are there so many, then? There are way more currents than there are districts.”

“Well, think about it, some districts only seem to appear at certain times,” Huang said. “I didn’t have access to the Waterfront or the Underground before you got here, so maybe those currents will lead to other districts later.”

I sighed and rubbed my face. “Sure, that’s possible. But man, there were a ton of strong demons there. What do we do if those guys come after us? We wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“We’ll figure it out. We’ll work together,” Huang said. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be that easy, but it wasn’t like we had other options.

“Look,” he continued, “We should meet up soon in the real world to think of some strategies. There’s got to be a better way of exploring the currents without putting you in so much danger. Come by my apartment tomorrow, maybe.”

“Okay,” I agreed, shutting down a wave of frustration. Yeah, it wasn’t fair that I had to deal with all of this. No, that didn’t change the fact that I had to deal with it anyway, and devising a strategy ahead of time was certainly the smartest way to do that. “What time?”

We worked out a meeting time and went our separate ways. We’d emerged closer to my place than to Huang’s again, but at a bit of a distance between them, so we ended up taking the subway in different directions to get home.

On the way, I stopped for groceries. I was starting to feel like I was somewhere else, watching myself do these normal things. How could I fight for my life, almost die via harpoon stabbing, and then go stand in line to buy bread? My life was so surreal.

The next day was my last day of my Christmas vacation, and I was at least able to let myself sleep in before heading out to my meeting with Huang. It was a sunny day for January, the piles of snow gleaming under a coating of ice. Still freezing cold, but it was amazing how much a bit of sunlight helped.

I took a nearly empty subway car down toward the University, then made my way to Huang’s apartment with little trouble. I hoped he had the brainpower to come up with some ideas because I was drawing a blank.

I was buzzed in, and as I went up the elevator to his floor, my phone went off with a text. Gf is still here, but she’s heading out soon, Huang informed me.

That meant more pretending and coming up with excuses for things. I sighed.

I was surprised when she opened the door to the apartment herself, looking me over with frank curiosity. “You’re Camilo, then?” she asked.

Man, had Huang already said anything about me? Made something up for how we became friends? “Uh, yep, that’s me…”

“Hey! I’m Joanna, come in,” she said with a bright smile, opening the door and stepping back. Joanna was what I would call an ‘art student’ type, wearing vibrant, colour-coordinated clothes that contrasted the ends of her hair, which were dyed blue.

Huang appeared a moment later from the direction of the kitchen. “Hey. Coffee?”

“You’re addicted, dude,” I sighed.

“Who needs sleep when you have caffeine?” Joanna quipped, raising a travel mug. Man, college students.

“Sure… I’ll have one,” I said, mostly just to have something to do. I wasn’t really here to hang out, but we wouldn’t be able to actually talk about the Grey City until Joanna took off.

I hesitantly moved into the kitchen and saw that there was, again, a pile of textbooks all over the table. “Aren’t you on Christmas break?”

“I had some extensions for projects I had to do,” Huang said. “There’s no such thing as a break, Camilo.”

I was, again, kind of glad I never went to college. At least at the plant I worked my ass off for money. But he’d probably be better off in a few years with a degree under his belt—provided we survived that long.

“Well, I have to go to a get-together in a bit,” Joanna said, peeking her head into the kitchen. “So I’m not gonna be here much longer. I’ll take some coffee, though.”

“Almost done,” Huang said, leaning back on the counter.

“Is anyone else coming over? We don’t really have food or anything,” Joanna continued, frowning.

“It’s just the two of us, we’ll be fine,” Huang replied.

 “Suit yourself,” Joanna said with a shrug, then turned her bright smile at me. “So Camilo, what are you majoring in?”

Damn. I shot a glance to Huang, wondering if he’d said I was going to school or something. He made a subtle hand motion that I think meant for me to just tell the truth. I hoped so, anyway. “Oh, I’m not actually in school right now. Just working,” I said.

“Really! Did you take any college programs before? Where are you working? How’d you run into Joshua?”

“Just wanted to get a quick interrogation in before you left, huh?” Huang asked as I pretended my head wasn’t spinning.

“It’s called being polite.” Joanna rolled her eyes. “I’m curious, is all.”

“Er… no, I didn’t go to college, and I’m working in a snack food factory down by the lakefront.” Oh, and Huang and I met because we’re the only people able to enter another dimension.

The coffee machine finished percolating and Joanna swept in to steal some in her travel mug.

“Well, have fun, then. Gotta run.” She shot us another smile and, after grabbing a few more things around the house and slinging a purse over her shoulder, disappeared.

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Huang sighed as the door shut behind her. “Sorry about that, I thought she would be gone already.”

“No need to be sorry. She seems nice,” I said, accepting the coffee he handed me and pushing a few psychology textbooks out of my way. Seemed like this was going to be a habit for us.

“I was hoping to avoid this so I wouldn’t have to lie to her about anything,” Huang admitted.

 “How have you been living with your girlfriend and managing to keep the whole Grey City thing a secret for a full seven months?”

“What other choice do I have?” he said. “No one would believe this, not even her. It sounds delusional.”

“But… surely she must have caught on that something was off,” I said. “Or did you only start living together recently…?”

“We’ve been dating for a couple of years now,” Huang said. “So… yeah, she knows something is off. She assumes it’s some kind of mental health thing.”

We sat in silence for a bit. He was right, it wasn’t like we had much of a choice but to lie to our families. I had to wonder—would the Grey City plague us for a few years, a shorter time, or for our whole lives? There was no way to know. Another thing for Leviathan to avoid answering when I next saw him.

I shook my head. “Well. We should get to the matter at hand.”

“You’re right,” Huang said. He pulled out his Grey City notebook, which at least told me he was feeling more like himself. Notes and strategies. “Alright, so. Our next goal is to figure out what is going on with those currents, and we need a safer way to do that.”

Sitting here in the real world, far away from the visceral danger of the Grey City, brought such a different perspective that a thought occurred to me. “You’ve probably at least considered this… but what if we left?”

He raised an eyebrow. “After what you just told me? That leaving means the demons cross over to this world?”

I grimaced. “Listen… we don’t know that for sure. Leviathan could have been lying. He has every reason to.”

“What if he isn’t, though?” Huang asked quietly.

“What if he is?” I demanded. “We’re risking our lives for something we shouldn’t give two shits about. Who cares if the demons tear the Grey City apart? I sure don’t.”

“… You want to risk it.”

I leaned forward onto the table, rubbing my forehead. “Yeah. No. I don’t know. I just don’t know how much longer I can deal with this shit.”

“What other choice to we have?” Huang asked me. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not willing to risk the demons crossing over into this world, no matter how remote the chance is. ”

My heart sank. I knew he was right; there wasn’t a way out, but some part of me had still been hoping for an easy solution.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Fine,” I sighed.

“Maybe if we can get more information, Camilo,” he said, leaning back and crossing his arms. “If we’re able to prove Leviathan is lying and the demons wont cross over, then I’ll consider leaving. But until that time, I refuse to risk it.”

I grunted, then brought us back to the reason for our meeting. “So. The currents.”

“Maybe exploring those will get us more answers,” Huang suggested. “Either way, it’s a tricky business. Looks like there are a lot of really strong demons in there, and since it’s underwater, I’m not really going to be able to follow you.”

“The Gargoyle can’t swim underwater?” I asked.

“It can swim on the surface, but it’s too light and clumsy when it dives. I’d be easy pickings for anything down there with real swimming ability. Can’t breathe underwater like you can, either.” He paused. “Plus, it seems like the currents are a way to travel between districts. So while you’re exploring them, you could end up anywhere in the Grey City.”

“Sounds about right,” I said.

“Why don’t I use the sentry tower?”

I frowned. It had been a while since we’d been there; I had almost forgotten about the tower and it’s strange, overwhelming energy. “To, uh…?”

“I can use it to track you. We won’t be able to actually communicate, but it’s better than me hanging out at the Waterfront with no idea of what’s going on.”

“That could work,” I agreed. “Maybe I can find out more about the currents by following them to different places… and if you can see where I go, then you can fly over to me for backup if it’s needed.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Huang said.

“I got pretty badly hurt in that fight with the giant hermit crabs, though,” I pointed out. “Might have to give the Leviathan time to heal.”

“The Gargoyle should be back to full capacity soon, at least,” Huang said. “We should try to be more cautious, if we can. If we both end up too injured to fight…”

We’d gotten this far, but it felt like we were always balancing on a knife’s edge, all too ready to plunge into disaster with a misstep. I stared down at my coffee. “This is exhausting.”

“Tell me about it,” Huang sighed. “I know it’s only been a few weeks for you but it does, weirdly, get easier. You get used to it. You can get used to anything.”

Despite his issues, I had a feeling I knew why the Grey City had chosen Huang to defend it. Against all odds, he did somehow seem used to this insanity. He didn’t just try to survive and protect his own ass, he was driven to keep searching, keep striving to understand. He was actually willing to give the Grey City the benefit of the doubt and accept his appointment as some kind of Knight.

And me? I was too much of a coward to risk being responsible for demons crossing over, but if the Grey City offered me a way out, I intended to take it. Looking at Huang leaning against his kitchen counter, at peace with his fucked-up reality, I wasn’t sure that he would do the same.

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