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Eliana nodded. Two weeks and she’d be on the mainland, where she had always wanted to be. All the humans in Hope City would be there soon enough. Sofia’s takeover was inevitable. Eliana just hoped she’d let the humans leave.
“Your cabin,” Luciano said, stopping in front of a door. “Marianella is across the hall.” He pushed the door open and turned on the lights. The cabin was spacious, with two glass doors leading out onto a balcony. Everything in the cabin looked brand-new, and the lights didn’t flicker.
“Sofia.”
Eliana jumped; it was Marianella’s voice. She turned around, and Marianella stood in the hallway alone, carrying her own suitcase.
“Yes.” Luciano smiled. “She wanted it to be a surprise.”
Marianella wiped at her eyes. “Tell her ‘thank you’ for me.”
And then she disappeared into her own cabin across the hall.
Luciano set Eliana’s suitcase on the bed.
“The ship will be departing soon,” he said. “I’m afraid I have to stay in Antarctica.”
“I know.” Eliana watched him from across the room. She didn’t want to leave him without saying good-bye.
“I’ll miss you,” she said, and she meant it, because he had been a comfort to her in these last few weeks in Antarctica.
“I’ll miss you as well.” He walked up to her and pulled something out of his jacket. It was one of the books he was always reading, slim, the cover dark blue. “I wanted to give this to you.”
Eliana stared down at the book, surprised. Yellow letters spelled out Le Petit Prince in curlicue script.
“A book,” she said stupidly.
“Yes, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I think you will like it as well.”
Eliana couldn’t take her eyes off the book. “Is it in French?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know French.”
“I think you could learn.” Luciano pressed the book into Eliana’s hand, and she wrapped her fingers around it and didn’t want to let go.
He smiled. Eliana thought how this would be the last time she’d see him smile, and she wondered if she’d find someone to share walks with on the mainland. If she’d find someone who knew how to listen. “Have a nice journey,” he said.
“I’ll try.”
They stood in a heavy silence. Neither of them moved for several moments.
And then he said, “I hope you enjoy your first real rainstorm. Perhaps when you see it, you’ll remember me.”
Something quivered inside Eliana. There was a sense of waking up. “I’m sure I will,” she said, and she knew it wouldn’t just be the first rainstorm, but all the rainstorms she’d ever encounter.
And then, like that, Luciano was gone.
Eliana sat in her room for a while, in the chair beside the window. She flipped through the book’s pages and tried to decipher the words. Some of them were similar to words she knew, but there weren’t enough of them for her to understand the story. She thought about knocking on Marianella’s door but decided that Marianella must want to be alone. Although really, Eliana knew, she wanted to be alone.
The ship engines switched on.
Eliana straightened up in her chair. The engines roared around her, a cottony white noise that created a buzzing in her head. She’d never heard anything like it.
And then the room lurched and there was a great groaning from outside, and Eliana knew they were leaving Hope City.
The realization that she would never see the city again hit her like a punch.
Eliana set the book on the bed and left the room and jogged through the corridors. The ship creaked and moaned, and Eliana was struck with the thought that she was the only human thing aboard.
The corridor opened suddenly onto an outside deck. The wind rushing over her was colder than any she’d ever experienced, and she knew she wasn’t dressed properly, but she pulled her coat more tightly around her chest. Five minutes wouldn’t kill her.
The lights of the docks twinkled in the distance. Eliana stood in the center of the deck and watched the city grow smaller. She didn’t cry. As much as she had wanted to see the city lights one last time, she didn’t feel anything but a vague sense of hope, like the city’s name came from leaving it.
And then, without warning, the sky was dotted with light.
Stars. She’d only ever seen pictures.
The ship had passed through the dome wall without Eliana realizing, and now those millions and millions of stars swirled overhead. Eliana craned her head back, her breath solidifying on the air, and stared at them in wonder. Pictures hadn’t prepared her for the enormity of the night sky, the enormity of the world beyond the dome.
And then the stars were falling, in fits and starts, drifting and scattering across the deck. No, not stars—snow.
Eliana shivered violently. Soon the cold would be too much, and she’d have to go down below and find solace in the manufactured heat. But in this moment, this last good-bye, she stood in the biting wind with her head tilted back so the snowflakes could melt on her tongue.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A whole heaping of thanks goes out to all the people who helped shaped this book into what it has become today:
My beta reader and podcast partner in crime, Alexandre Maki, who not only helped with characters and plot, but who also reminded me where adjectives go in Portuguese.
My agent, Stacia Decker, who saw me through several drafts of this book and whose feedback was, as always, excellent—without her, this book would never have gotten to the state in which you’re currently reading it.
My editor, Navah Wolfe, who helped polish the final draft to perfection.
All my writing buddies, the Space City Critters, especially Amanda Cole, Bobby Mathews, David Young, and Laura Lam, who are always there to help me through writerly rough patches. And a special shout-out to Amanda for asking an Anonymous Internet Person for some advice on Argentine culture; any mistakes are my own, not his.
And finally, a huge thanks to my parents for supporting my writing since I was a kid, and to Ross Andrews, whose support always sees me through.
About the Author
Photo by Brittany Lincoln
CASSANDRA ROSE CLARKE grew up in southern Texas and currently lives in a suburb of Houston, where she writes and teaches composition at a local college. She graduated in 2006 from the University of St. Thomas with a BA in English, and two years later she completed her master’s degree in creative writing at the University of Texas at Austin. In 2010 she attended the Clarion West Writers Workshop in Seattle, where she was a recipient of the Susan C. Petrey Clarion Scholarship Fund. Cassandra’s first adult novel, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, was a finalist for the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award, and her YA novel, The Assassin’s Curse, was nominated for YALSA’s 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults. Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons and Daily Science Fiction. Visit her at cassandraroseclarke.com.
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