Wall of Shadows

Chapter 1

 "I miss you, Rhea," I whispered from the ledge where I sat into the cool, never ending silence, a strand of my ebony hair falling into my eyes.

 I had been sitting on the roof, watching the sunset, my old jacket lying next to me— the weathered brown leather a few shades darker than my skin— catching the evening light. I absentmindedly twirled a silver dagger in one hand, and the etched-in designs seemed to glow slightly.

 I can't believe it's been almost two years...

~

 I slammed another coin on the deep cherry-wood counter. The bartender slid it back and said, "Already told you I don't take money for milk," His eyes held an amused glint as he handed me a mug, with a big fat smiley face on it.

 I rolled my eyes. "Thanks a ton," The bartender laughed, his dark eyes crinkling at the corners. "Where'd you get this anyway?"

 "It's my daughter's."

 I smiled, a bit embarrassed to be drinking from a cup belonging to a six year old. "You know, I tried the hard stuff."

 "And?"

 "I couldn't hold it in," I hid my grimace as I recalled that night. And the vomiting afterwards. Not fun. "Safer to just stick with milk," I saluted him before taking a deep swig from the mug. It was warm and fluffy. I frowned. "You didn't have to heat it."

 "Thought I might as well make it nice since that's all you ever order." He winked, before turning away and heading towards the other side of the bar.

 I sighed. The Hive was great. Easy for eavesdropping. It was an honest business too, well, as honest as an after-curfew establishment could be, and I liked Kaelem, the bartender.

 The sound of a siren blaring over the music startled me, causing me to grab for my daggers. My fingers found the comforting hilts and ran over their smooth surfaces.

 I relaxed. It was just the half-hour warning.

 All the children under eighteen in Allevan were expected to be snug in their beds, or at least inside after nine. The rest of us had until one. Supposedly, the Regulate didn't want anyone near the Wall, with good reason.

 The gargantuan penumbra of a Wall completely surrounded the city, keeping us in and everything beyond out. The thing none of us really wanted to find out was what exactly that everything included.

 There were rumors, of course, but there were so many it was hard to pick which one to believe. The only thing I could know for sure was that there was something out there.

 Then there were the people who broke curfew, which was almost everyone over twenty and a couple of people over sixteen. We were the rule breakers. The normal rule breakers. Then there were the unhinged ones... The ones in the Rising, a quickly growing group of rebels who believed in some higher meaning, willing to do insane things for their cause— to free Alpyra, our continent.

 Most people weren't that psychotic. We just wanted to have some fun. And stir up a bit of harmless trouble when things got boring. But even then, there were precautions— such as never nearing the Wall. For that we'd have to go to The Edge, a massive zone of wastelands and darkness encircling the city.

 Only those with a death wish would dare go near it.

 I laughed bitterly, and downed what was left in my mug. If only Rhea could see me now...

 What would she think? She would be disappointed, surely. I mean, she was practically the Regulate's prodigy, the golden child of the ages. And here I was, her younger sister, getting drunk on milk, of all things, after curfew and making an overall mess of myself.