Free Sentari: ICE by Trevor Booth Page A

coughed out a huge amount of water. Te’oma rushed to her aid. “What happened?” she said.
    “I don’t know,” said Te’oma.
    “Where’s Julius?” said Ariana in a panic.
    “Relax,” said Te’oma. “He’s right next to you. He just hasn’t woken up yet.”
    Ariana shivered in the cold air. Te’oma took their clothes from the raft and handed them to Ariana. “You wait here with Julius. I’ll see if I can find some bushes to make a fire,” he said.
    The night set in. The days seemed to be getting shorter. Te’oma had managed to make a small fire, around which he and Ariana sat, enjoying its welcome warmth. Julius, still asleep, lay next to them.
    “When do you think he’ll wake up?” asked Te’oma.
    “I don’t know, but I hope it’s soon,” replied Ariana.
    “Memories can sometimes keep us from seeing what is in front of us.”



Chapter 7
    Distant Memories
    At the Grand Cross Junction, centre of all transport, hundreds of people wearing stunningly colourful silk clothing, scurried in all directions – the noise was deafening.
    The building housed a massive tunnel. Immaculate gold pillars wrapped around the tunnel walls, with gorgeous coloured glass between each pillar. Large crystals hung from the roof, lighting the tunnel. Hundreds of smaller tunnels led out of the junction.
    Ethaniol walked with purpose through the busy crowd. He was Grand Chancellor of the council, a man of class, a man so well presented that every hair on his head was in its place. His son, Julius, walked three steps behind him. Julius was terrified of his father.
    Ethaniol walked past a line of people. A glass dome with a mirror-like surface sat upon a pair of crystal tracks. Two guards in full armour, with large staffs, stood next to the dome.
    “Get in,” said Ethaniol.
    One of the guards tapped the glass of the dome. It started to ripple like a drop of rain in water. Then, from nothing, a small hole appeared in the side of the dome. It rippled outwards until the hole was big enough for a person.
    Julius got into the dome. Inside was a plush, burgundy leather couch that wrapped around the sides. The walls were dark grey. Julius and Ethaniol sat down on the couch. The opening in the dome quickly disappeared and everything went quiet. The grey walls became transparent and the junction came into view, distorted only by the tiniest of water blurs.
    “How old are you, Julius?” Ethaniol would always start a lecture by asking a question he already knew the answer to.
    “You know how old I am, Father,” replied Julius.
    “How old are you?” demanded Ethaniol.
    “Nineteen, Father,” replied Julius dejectedly.
    “Hmmm,” said Ethaniol. He never had to say much to get his point across.
    The dome began to move, bursting out of the junction and speeding down a dark tunnel at an incredible rate. The rapid motion did not seem to affect Julius and Ethaniol.
    Faster and faster, the dome travelled along the tracks. The tunnel outside was just a dark blur. Soon, the tunnel walls turned to glass and the depths of the ocean were visible through it. The tunnel wove its way around the bottom of the ocean. Thousands of fish, stingrays, and sharks the size of houses swam around the glass passage, oblivious to their presence. They were so far down that the surface of the water could barely be seen above them.
    Julius looked up longingly toward the surface and wondered what it was like up there.
    “Stop gazing up into nothing and focus on the here and now,” snapped Ethaniol. Julius looked down at the floor, dejected. “Your mother tells me that you have been seeing Jade,” he said.
    “Yes,” replied Julius, terrified that he was going to tell him to stop.
    “She is a fine young lady, Julius. Make sure you treat her well,” said Ethaniol. He could always surprise Julius when he least expected it but there was always a self-serving purpose behind his episodes of goodwill. “You represent our house in everything you do,”