The Metropolis Series #2: Quinn Beyond Bounds
41. The Girl Beyond Bounds

“IF I WERE YOU, I’d cut my hair, dye it pink, and get away as far as I could.”

That was the advice Ms. Louise had given me after I told my long, dreadful story: how it was believed that I had replaced Cassandra in this timeline, how she and I both shared the power to traverse through time, how Harumi (who was once called Yukine) revealed to me what the Metropolis was, and how my life was never the same from that point on.

We sat on a table at the corner of the shop. We didn’t have any drinks and sandwiches to accompany my foreboding tale. As time had stopped, nothing would move out of its idle state, no matter how much you tried to pry it off whatever surface it was on. The coffee machines wouldn’t work, the cushions didn’t sink when we sat on them, and the knife Ms. Louise used to attack me remained suspended in mid-air.

It was like Ms. Louise and I were in the middle of some strange museum, the happenings from a few minutes ago immortalized all around us.

“I’m surprised you still hang around here,” Ms. Louise said.

“Where else could I go?” I muttered. “The Metropolis just seems to expand everywhere. Even if I replace myself beyond its boundaries again, even setting a foot on the Spanish House would be problematic.”

“Perhaps that’s why The MacGuffin found you today.”

“What?”

“As you’ve noticed, this isn’t our usual location. The MacGuffin doesn’t have a permanent address, you see. It shows itself to those who need and seek comfort, and your dilemma couldn’t be more fitting. You’re not sure what to consider yourself—a Metropolitan or an Outsider—and this is the very place where Metropolitans and Outsiders meet. I suppose that’s a more profound explanation as to why Deus Ex Machina chose to eat here today.”

She motioned toward Bree, Rachael, and Curtis, who were all frozen by the front counter.

I scoffed. “What comfort? You threw a knife at my face.”

“That was before I heard your story,” said Ms. Louise. “Sorry about that, but you shouldn’t go prancing around the streets looking like Public Enemy Number One. What if someone else was stationed here and they shot flaming arrows at you instead?”

The thought of that made me shudder. At least Ms. Louise had met me before so I could explain this whole identity mix-up with Cassandra. I left her question without a response; I wanted it to stay that way.

“I haven’t seen Cassandra lately,” I said. “And as much as I dread the answer to this, I wonder if anyone from your groups has heard from her.”

“Who wants to hear from Cassandra?” scoffed Ms. Louise. “But I understand your concerns. We aren’t at ease ourselves, either. She was this silent after her first attack on the Spanish House. She didn’t exactly disappear after that…”

And we sat there for a while, absorbing every exchanged word, hoping each piece formed a comprehensible puzzle. Silence in a still world was different. As ticking clocks had seized, so had everything else: the wind outside, the electric hums, the muffled chatters of the crowd. Everything was as dead as they could ever be.

Then, in this infinite stillness, the gears in my head began to spin. As Ms. Louise had said, I wound up here because I needed comfort of some sort. The thought had brought me back to Deus Ex Machina’s first gig, to the conversation Takahiro and I had about what he called the Girl Beyond Bounds, a corruption comparable to the violent Cassandra.

You should drop by The MacGuffin again sometime, Takahiro had said. Ms. Louise is sure to tell you everything…

But was she going to? I remembered the nervous look on Takahiro’s face at the mere mention of the girl. I wondered if Ms. Louise were any different, but in case I never found The MacGuffin again, I thought I should give it a shot.

“Hey Ms. Louise,” I began. “What do you know about the Girl Beyond Bounds?”

“Ah,” Ms. Louise mused, clearing her throat. “That’s some heavy stuff right there.”

“How so?”

“Well, there was once an apparition of a young girl in the forest. If anyone were to go too far down the banks of the River Lethe, she would be there waiting to attack, and her victims’ mutilated bodies would be found floating in bloody water.”

“Yikes.”

“No one really knows where the girl came from, but the most popular belief is that she was one of the Author’s first creations that he has long forgotten. In pure desperation to return to the Metropolis, she leaped into the Lethe on her own accord, without really knowing the consequences. Out of sheer will, however, she refused to be erased from the timelines forever, so she unleashes her despair on others.”

There was a slight pause before Ms. Louise spoke again. “How did you replace out about the Girl Beyond Bounds, by the way?”

“Takahiro mentioned it to me once,” I said. “We were talking about corruption, and he brought the girl up. He said you would tell me all about it.”

“I see.” Ms. Louise nodded solemnly. She looked past me and to Deus Ex Machina by the front counter. “I think that will be all. Thank you for enlightening me, but I think it’s time to unfreeze your friends.”

“Oh!” I jumped in my seat. I was so immersed in the conversation that I had forgotten about Deus Ex Machina being there. “Right, you should go behind the counter again. They might wonder how you went all the way here when you were over there.”

“Right, and you should lay low, Quinn. Try taking my advice.”

She walked briskly toward the counter as I resumed my spot behind Rachael and Curtis.

“I don’t think pink is my color,” I muttered.

Once Ms. Louise and I were back in position, I concentrated and restored time to its course. Strangely, nobody asked about the flying knife; it just whipped past Curtis and Rachael, sticking to the wall across the counter. For safety precautions, I pulled out a hair tie and pulled my hair up into a bun, hoping it would be enough to differentiate me from Cassandra.

Perhaps, with the exception of Ms. Louise’s advice to lay low, there was a chance for things to go back to the way they were. I didn’t mind the visit to The MacGuffin; I was relieved that I got to talk to someone about how Cassandra’s absence bothered me, even when I thought I didn’t need to. Also, hearing about the Girl Beyond Bounds intrigued me; even though it was just a story, I couldn’t help but wonder about violent cases of corruption and what causes them. They couldn’t just happen randomly, couldn’t they?

In other words, eating out with Deus Ex Machina was quite delightful—and dangerous. At the end of the meal, they spun the bottle to see who’d pay the bill. When it landed on Curtis, Bree decided to add an extra triple-scoop sundae to the order at the last minute. Curtis said goodbye to three days worth of allowance.

What was interesting, however, was that Rachael ordered a milkshake and banana bread, food associated with her former lover, Julio. That couldn’t just be a coincidence, for sure. Ms. Louise’s expression remained vivid in my mind, the shock in her eyes was too conspicuous to be forgotten. What were the odds, after all?

Later on, when everything was quiet and settled, I saw Julio again that night, but as a character in my dream. He was sitting on a bed in a room with white walls and small windows streaked with grills. He wore a white shirt, his arms without scars, and standing by the foot of his bed was Cassandra in a little black nightdress.

The bliss I’d felt without her was over.

“Do you know who I am?” Cassandra whispered, the sweetness in her voice taking me aback. I then realized that the dream was a flashback, showing a time when Cassandra still belonged to the Spanish House—

Before she attacked it.

“What are you talking about?” Julio asked, chuckling. “You’re Cassandra, right?”

“But there’s something more to me, isn’t there?” Cassandra looked down at her palms. “I can feel it.”

“Now, look who’s feeling so special. If there’s something so unique about you, then why did the Author throw you out?”

Perhaps back then, the concept of scary girls felt so far away for Julio that he had the guts to strike a nerve.

Cassandra clenched her firsts, lifting her head up slowly. “What… did you say?”

“I’m just saying,” Julio said blankly, leaning against his pillow. “You’re here with the rest of us. There’s nothing wrong with that, though, but if you wanna go to the Metropolis—”

“I didn’t say I wanted to go there,” Cassandra hissed.

“Okay, okay…” Julio raised his hands defensively.

Cassandra appeared to stare at him for a while, tilting her head. For a while, she actually looked like a normal girl, her eyes shrouded in innocence.

“You… you really don’t know who I am?”

Julio groaned. “If there’s something you want to tell me, just say it.”

“You’ll see…” she snarled. “Someday…”

And just like that, the dream faded. I woke up the next day with my forehead covered in sweat, clouds covering the morning sky.