Chapter 53: 53 Dreamers Often Lie, Part One

Angharad woke when Sophie came back in. What did it matter? It wasn't like her getting out of bed late would make any difference to how quickly they'd find a way out of Zapville.

When she finally made her way out of the room, she had no specific plans for what she wanted to do, beyond the vague idea of exploring the parts of Zapville that had previously been hidden away. She certainly hadn't planned for Jin to grab her by the elbow and pull her in the direction of the cafeteria.

"You have to meet my superior," he said.

She swivelled to follow so she wouldn't tumble over from the force of his pull. "Okay, I guess we're doing that. Why are you so weird about this stuff?"

"It's complicated." But he favoured her with that classic scowl of his that said it wasn't really complicated, he just didn't want to explain and found it annoying that she asked. He was completely transparent.

He stopped them just before a table in the middle of the room at which sat two women: one pale, with vaguely caramel coloured hair in a sensible, if clearly somewhat grown out, blunt bob, eyes a slate grey, and wearing a truly horrendous pink floral blazer that Angharad could not believe anyone ever actually thought was a good idea; the other a golden-skinned brunette with a messy shag haircut, wearing a yellow t-shirt. She had zero clue just from looking at them which one had power over Jin, not least because he stood there, not speaking, until they both looked up.

"One of your starlings is here to bother you, Mnemosyne," said the one not wearing the horrendous blazer. So that meant Mnemosyne had to be (A) the person who thought that blazer was a good idea and (B) Jin's boss.

Angharad could roll with that.

"Were you planning to introduce me to your friend, Jin?" Mnemosyne asked.

Jin immediately let go of Angharad's arm and fumbled his way through a salute, as if he'd just remembered he was supposed to do that. Angharad tried really hard not to laugh.

"Sir, this is..." But he trailed off when he looked at the other woman sitting at the table.

"Ah, it seems it's time for me to make my escape," that woman said, and stood to go.

"We'll continue this discussion later, Maria," Mnemosyne said. She turned to wave her friend goodbye and then turned back to look at them, eyebrows raised.

Beyond them, Angharad noticed Josephine and her girlfriend laughing about something with Gemma and Mac. Josephine bumped Eleanor with her shoulder and Eleanor's face went flat as she leaned away. But then she smiled again, and leaned back toward Josephine. That seemed like progress, at least. Angharad didn't want all her interfering to be for nothing.

Jin shoved Angharad into a chair and then sat next to her, posture stiff. Angharad reminded herself to focus on the woman in front of her.

"This is Angharad," he said. "She's really smart. We've been trying to investigate everything here so we can figure out how to get out of here."

Angharad felt herself being sized up by Mnemosyne's gaze and tried to look as friendly and charming as possible. Was it working? Probably not.

"Your secret girlfriend, perhaps?" Mnemosyne asked.

"No. I'm pretty sure Angharad is a lesbian," he said.

"I mean, I'm still bisexual," Angharad said. "It's just that boys are gross."

"I've heard all sorts of rumours about you," Mnemosyne said.

"Already?" Angharad squeaked. Angharad felt like she was being scrutinised even harder.

"Do you want to hear our information or not?" Jin asked.

"Maria and I already have the lay of the land but if you've discovered something useful then, by all means, let me know later tonight when I have time to talk to you and Ms Moon," Mnemosyne said.

"I've already told Freya everything," Jin said.

"Yes, that's why we never let you know confidential information." It was obviously an insult but Mnemosyne looked kind of amused, maybe in a fond way? Angharad got the impression this was a familiar routine for them.

"Fine, we're going," Jin said.

He got up and dragged Angharad up by the elbow again.

"Okay, I guess we're doing this, too," Angharad said.

She went with his momentum because he clearly had a plan. And that was better than looking back to check if people were watching her leave the room.

"You know, you can just say 'follow me'," she said.

"Oh," he said, and let go of her arm.

He kept walking in the direction of the other end of Zapville. At least that probably meant he wanted to investigate and wasn't being bossy for no good reason.

He stopped walking. "I should have let her think you were my girlfriend. Then it would be easier to hide, you know, that thing."

"No, that's a bad plan," she said.

"I could go back and tell her we are secretly together."

"Okay, like, there is zero percent chance she'll believe that after you told her I was a lesbian."

"But you said you weren't." She gave him as unimpressed a look as she could manage. "Okay, fine, then you should pretend to be Freya's girlfriend. That works."

"Please, I only officially met her, like, three days ago. What, am I supposed to pretend it was love at first sight?"

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"Why not?"

She called him an idiot under her breath. He didn't seem to notice.

The conversation improved when Freya appeared, feet bouncing as she walked. A change moved over Jin's face like he was watching the sun rise and reveal the beauty of the world. Angharad had no idea how they'd ever hid anything.

"We were just talking about you," Angharad said, as soon as Freya got close enough to hear.

"Oh, were you?" Freya asked.

Jin nodded. "You should kiss Angharad so that no one thinks either of you are dating me."

"Ooh, you want to watch me kiss a pretty girl. That sounds like an excellent plan," Freya said.

"You're both completely nuts. On what planet is that a remotely reasonable plan?" Angharad asked.

Freya tilted her head to the side and tapped her cheek. "Hmm, reasonable, no. But, fun? Yes."

Freya stepped closer, slid her arms around Angharad, and dipped her. Angharad's hands flew to Freya's shoulders by instinct. Up close, Freya's eyelashes seemed miles long. It was just a small kiss, barely more than a brief press of lips, and then Freya pulled her back upright.

"Not bad," Freya said.

Angharad fixed her hair with careful fingers. "I mean, I can do better than that. I was just surprised. But, you know, whatever."

"I need to go to the bathroom," Jin said, and walked away. It was difficult not to laugh.

"Okay, now that the boring boy is gone I'm going to show you my side of Zapville," Freya said, bouncing forward. "It is cute that he called it Zapville."

That same warmth she'd seen lighting up Jin's face spread through Freya's, mouth widening slow, eyes dropping down like the pleasure Freya felt thinking of Jin was between her and her feet. Then she looked back like she needed to check that Angharad was keeping up.

Angharad kept her pace even. "You know, to keep things even, next time I'm going to need to watch you kiss him instead."

Apparently even someone as playful as Freya could blush.

As they moved across Zapville, the mood got more serious. The buildings were sombre and grey, but for one red brick building – quite possibly the largest.

Freya pushed open the corrugated iron door, and inside it looked like a classic, dilapidated high school gymnasium. The floor squeaked under their feet. People that Angharad had never met moved throughout the building, unfamiliar faces a strange feeling after two months of seeing the same 27 persons.

"There are showers at the other end, and an office with a few microwaves. Milo's responsible for the chore roster on the door." Freya pointed to each in turn with efficient motions.

Angharad followed Freya through another door out of the building.

"We didn't have anything as exciting as the kitchen with robot waiters on your side, but there's a shed with a large freezer full of pre-packaged meals," Freya said.

"So you all just used the microwaves?"

Freya nodded. "In shifts."

Closer to the new end of Zapville, by the further fizzing end of the barrier, lay a bunch of random factory equipment. Piles of large steel tubes. A large and sad looking industrial trolley cart.

"Why would Zapville need a metal press?" Angharad asked.

Freya looked over the field of industrial equipment, her mouth a thin line. "I'm still trying to figure that out."

*

In the afternoon Angharad walked back alone.

In the middle place that used to be the dead zone between camps a bunch of people looked through the remaining wreckage under the supervision of Dr Yeoh, who kept looking at a clipboard and then pointing a finger at things. Some tall guy took off his shirt.

Angharad had no intention of volunteering to help.

Josephine stood at the door to their dormitory building, her eyes dark. Angharad felt unsettled, still thinking of that metal press, those large steel tubes like some strange kind of threat.

Josephine looked away, so Angharad did, too, looked off into the white distance of the hallway. At her feet on the rough beige and brown carpet as she carefully stepped around Josephine so no parts of their bodies would touch. She heard the recognisable heavy step of Josephine's feet behind her and didn't look. Because they were totally normal friends, right? And totally normal friends could walk together in silence without ever looking at each other without it being weird.

Josephine grabbed her elbow, and it was nothing like the way it felt when Jin and Freya grabbed her there earlier to move her around.

Angharad brought her hands up to push away when Josephine pulled, but by the time she made contact with Josephine's shirt Josephine had already slammed her against the wall where anyone could see. Josephine kissed her mouth open, hot and wet. Angharad trembled against the wall. Couldn't stop herself kissing back.

Josephine stumbled away with a mumbled apology.

Angharad leaned against the wall until her breathing evened out. Then straightened her body out like nothing had happened and walked into her room.

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