Ch. 34, My name is Z

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"UP! YOU GOT 5 MINUTES!"

I blinked at the sudden influx of light flooding the room full of cots. The Kaptain banged his burrowing whip against a pot over and over.

Yesterday, after the trial, I'd been separated from the group and met my first real Doctor—watching his every move with fascination. He'd cleaned my wounds with some sort of alcohol solution and then covered them with a white cream, but when I'd tried to question him he answered in a flowing language I didn't understand—a disappointment worse than when Xyla and I found a hidden stash of books written in a language no one in the Belly could read. After he left, a young girl brought me a stew with a sauce that was somehow both spicy and sweet. Then the guards brought me back into a room full of cots, dark water swirling beneath, all of the surviving men already asleep. I'd fallen asleep wondering what exactly saving men in one trial meant for the next—if I was like the Doctor, simply fixing a patient to watch them brutally murdered in the next trial.

Now, guards swarmed the room as the men around me stood and stretched. The water beneath us swirled an emerald green, lighting schools of fish flickering and swimming beneath us. Dagger stood near the door, but I didn't move to join him, distracted as I held my flesh hand up to my face, turning it over and back. The flesh was pink and soft, the wound from the fire coral was gone. Almost in panic, I touched the cut on my shoulder and forehead. Both were sore, but no longer painful, the skin healed over.

The rich food from last night churned in my stomach as I stared down at the ocean world beneath us. They have medicine to heal a wound in a single night. And meanwhile in the Belly, engineers live and die with nothing more than someone who trained from a few ancient textbooks and corpses. What other knowledge did they have that wasn't shared with the people of the Belly?

A guard shoved me toward the chain, cutting off my thoughts as I stumbled forward. Only when I stood in the center, and the Kaptain pointed to me, did I realize every eye in the room was trained on me.

"Put the girl in front," the Kaptain said. "Dagger second."

"My name is Z."

His eyes snapped to mine. "What'd you say to me?"

"My name— "

His open palm struck me so fast and hard my head whipped sideways, a sudden dull pain exploding across my cheek as the taste of blood filled my mouth.

I stood frozen, head turned in shock. He slapped me. A sudden almost hysterical need to laugh rose in my chest. The people of the Belly died with lungs painted black, no doctors to help them. My whole life I'd believed the trials were a way to find justice and redemption—but now wondered if Dagger was right. There was no redemption here. Only death. All I had left was Xyla. And he thought a slap was going to what—humble me?

"Let's try that again. What'd you say?" His spittle covered my face, but I didn't wipe it away. Instead, I swallowed blood, as the entire room watched us.

"I said, my name is Z."

In the perfect silence that followed, I wondered if I'd gone too far. Then the Kaptain's shoulders started to shake. For one insane moment I thought he was crying. No, he's laughing. He stepped back up to me, running coarse fingers down my cheek, as I tried not to flinch away.

"Well Z, this is the most men to ever make it to the next trial, which means you've made my job a lot harder. They've got something special planned for you. Stand in the middle if that's what you want. It won't matter long." He spun, powering up his burrowing whip and roared, "Let's go! NOW!"

The guards jumped into action, and I was left in the center, as the final men were chained back into the line.

"How'd you sleep Z?" Skull bent to whisper in my ear. Maybe it would have been better in the front.

"Perfect," I threw back. "I'm surprised more people don't join The Letter Trials." He laughed, and deep sinking feeling settled inside my stomach as our group passed out of the room and onto floors suspended above deep indigo blue. Even though I'd just saved all of these men's lives, even though we were all chained together again, as soon as the next trial started, we would all try to kill each other all over again...

For the first time I wondered, if the Letter Trials weren't about redemption, then what were they for? The Beast had swallowed me whole, but I won't eat your lies. The words came back to me, and without thinking I reached up to touch the ship necklace. What sort of secrets had Aliyah known? I wondered if she'd know I was a Z if she would have trusted her secrets with me.

We marched down several long, dark hallways, the water swirling with deep shadows, until we stopped before some sort of industrial-sized elevator. I wondered if this was what the Kaptain meant by making his job more complicated; usually only two people ascended to the next level, but now he had to bring an entire group of guards and prisoners. Still, the elevator was more than big enough to fit our entire group. Most in the line stood shoulders hunched, head down. Skull hummed under his breath behind me. Dagger stood straight-backed at the front of the line, unmoving. Only Lizard turned back from the front of the line and caught my eye. I stuck my tongue out at him. In response he smiled, stuck out his tongue and hissed before a guard smacked him over the head and he was forced to face forward again.

As we waited the other prisoners shuffled nervously, but the guards seemed to grow bored, congregating in small groups and talking in soft voices. Lizard turned back again to me again, but instead of hissing, he moved his head toward the far wall, tongue out, repeating the motion until I finally realized he was pointing. With his tongue. Oh Xyla, I wish you were here to laugh at how absurd this all is.

There, across from the elevator was all the only thing I could imagine he was pointing to. Inscribed on the wall in black swirling letters were the words, "SIC ITUR AD ASTRA." Before I could think of a way to ask why he'd pointed that out—tongue pointing was about the extent of my tongue speak—Kovu, the youngest guard stepped in front of me.

(So we are on to our next Letter Trial--but we've got some mysteries within the Beast to uncover first. 

Just as a refresher for those who have been reading since the beginning, Aliyah was the A that Z saved from the chute, who gave her the necklace, and asked her to return it to Androcles. 

Thanks so much for reading--I appreciate you all so much!

Best, Hannah)


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