Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

Interlude IV - Secrets - IV

  ...With a nice hidden door in the back, so I can leave without being noticed if anyone knocks and I don't want to deal with them. Nikki drew out the design on the paper Cinza had given her.

  "Oh, that looks fun," Ruby said. She rolled over to the edge of the bed and stuck her head out on Nikki's shoulder, peering at the notebook resting against her knees. "Secret passages? Very cool."

  "I just wish it didn't look so plain and boring." Nikki pointed out the rough square edges of her sketch. "I'm so bad at this."

  "Never fear. We can fix that when we build it." Ruby took on a dramatic tone. "Yours shall be the finest in all the Greywoods!"

  "...Greywoods? Really?"

  "Shush. I'm working on it." Ruby nudged her with her head. "Keep drawing. I want to see what you come up with."

  As Nikki tried to add more detail to the floor plan, the door swung open. They saw a vague outline through the heavy curtain that bisected the cabin—one so short, it had to be Cinza. Sure enough, her ethereal voice filled the cabin a moment later, completely unmuffled by the thick curtain.

  "We're done."

  "Are we already? I thought it was going to take another two days." The curtain swept open as Cinza walked in, her hair bright silver and her cloak rumpled and covered in dirt. Ruby tut-tutted at the sight and hopped off the bed, grabbing the hem and pulling it off her. Cinza relinquished it readily, releasing the illusion on her hair as she did and returning it to its natural brown. She looked exhausted, as she always did ever since the events in Rallsburg. Ruby shook her head in exaggerated disappointment. "Would you stop getting this so messy? I worked hard on it, you know."

  "One does as one must." Cinza dropped into her office chair, which seemed totally incongruous with the rustic decor. Even more so was the array of screens behind it, attached to several computers Nikki knew to be of surprisingly high quality. Ruby worked it into the design of the building as best she could, but there was only so much one could do to try and integrate such modern technology with the wooden cabin aesthetic. "How goes the design, Nicole?"

  Unlike everyone else, it never bothered her when Cinza used her full name. It sounded so much more elegant and profound in her voice, and the usual irritation she felt simply didn't exist. She respected every word Cinza ever spoke, always eager to listen to that ethereal mystique.

  Even so, she wasn't about to show Cinza the silly ideas she'd scribbled out. "Work in progress." Nikki quickly erased the secret passage before Cinza could spot it, but Ruby noticed.

  "Why'd you scratch it out? I really thought it was cool."

  "What did she remove?" Cinza asked, sitting up slightly with interest.

  "She wanted a secret passage out the back. Maybe so she could sneak someone in at night for some fun. We're all thinking it," Ruby added with a knowing grin.

  "Ruby, you're the only one thinking that," Nikki grumbled.

  "Not necessarily," Cinza added mildly, a faint smile creasing the edges of her lips. "I'm guessing it's not the purpose you intended though."

  "It's nothing. I didn't want it anyway."

  "You wanted a way to escape, correct?"

  I really shouldn't be surprised anymore that Cinza seems to know everything right away. "...Yeah."