The Metropolis Series #2: Quinn Beyond Bounds
43. The Pool

BEING IN A CAR again felt weird. The last time I ever took a trip in one somewhere, it was to the forest with Julio and Takahiro. The latter had made the assumption that Harumi was by the River Lethe, wanting to drink the water in order to restore herself.

Sadly, Takahiro was right.

I could still remember that night, the closed establishments looking eerie with their dark windows, their signs glowing obscurely in the night. But I saw none of that on the way to Curtis’ party. The Metropolis thrived as the day slowly transitioned into dusk. It was Saturday night, after all; people were meeting up with friends at restaurants, getting makeovers at salons, going shopping, and all sorts of activities to properly spend the weekend. It didn’t help that, in the car, Deus Ex Machina was singing again. I was cramped between Rachael’s vocals and Philip’s ukulele as they performed a happy little love song.

But in between verses, I thought about Harumi, and I played the What If? game all over again. What if I’d arrived by the Lethe just a little earlier? What if I’d found out who she was so that this whole mess wouldn’t happen?

Harumi would probably still be around.

It was a bad time to think about those things. I was on the way to a party; I was going to have fun, wasn’t I?

So I decided to sit back and close my eyes, allowing the sound of Deus Ex Machina’s music to drain away all my thoughts about Harumi, about the River Lethe, about the forest just outside the Metropolis…

But then, I was running, cutting through vines and branches until I found a clearing near the banks of a river. My teeth chattered as the breeze grazed my neck, but in the darkness, my eyes focused on a girl standing just a few feet away from me. Despite how close she was, she felt so far away, the distance between us only growing as I stretched out my arms. I recognized who this girl was, and instantly, I mustered all the strength to call out to her, but the cold air just felt like poison to my lungs.

“RACHAEL!” I cried, only the voice wasn’t mine.

It was Julio’s. I was seeing something from his point of view.

The girl turned around. Rachael might have looked a little younger, but her eyes were swollen, her teeth clenched from the cold. Her arms were pressed to her chest as she shivered.

“You can’t do this,” Julio’s voice continued, resonating with conviction. “Please, there has to be another way!”

No,” Rachael croaked. “What I have is dangerous. You know that.”

“I know, but we can figure it out. I—I’m sure we can.”

“Julio, unless some miracle happens, there—there is no other way we can fix this. It—it was a mistake; what we had was a mistake. So please, let me do this. Let me save you!”

Julio shook his head as he inched toward her. His legs were heavy, and his eyes stung with tears.

“No,” he hissed.

“I’m sorry…” Rachael whispered.

“NO!”

Julio’s feet sprung into the air, the cold wind whisking him to the river. But a deafening splash took over him, and when he opened his eyes, Rachael was gone.

▶▶

“We’re here,” Curtis said.

The vision dissolved and I was back inside Curtis’ car, which had come to a full stop. Philip, Bree, and the present Rachael were all coming out of the vehicle, unloading their things from the trunk.

And I just sat there. Dazed. Had I just stepped into Julio’s mind? How was that possible? Was this some new power I was supposed to learn to control? But of course, there were more pressing things worth mentioning, like how it appeared that Rachael chose to jump into the Lethe.

I knew that the Lethe could wipe away your existence if you dived into it without the Author’s consent, which only made me wonder why Rachael was still around with us. The only explanation I could provide was the simplest one: The Author had restored her at some point, and having gone from both The MacGuffin and the Spanish House, that was what everyone else seemed to believe, too.

Julio had said that Rachael was simply drawn to the waters of the river and washed up into a whole new person, but I felt like a part of that statement was false. Seeing how Julio reacted, I think he knew that there was no chance of Rachael coming back.

Let me save you, Rachael had said to him, but what could that mean? What did she have that was so dangerous that she chose to wipe off her existence?

Nevertheless, she was here with us now, climbing up the steps to Curtis’ house. The place was surrounded by a massive concrete wall that was spotlessly white, and the grass was well kept and trimmed. The first thing you’d gaze upon as you walked onto the front porch was the security camera that hovered over the front door. Then, everything else slowly registered: the ornate garden statues, the large, flowering garden, and a bench suspended on a chain—a swing. (My aunt had one of those; I always played on them as a kid.)

Anyway, I knew that my brain would go into overdrive as I entered the house—and I was right. My feet met a carpeted flooring as I was blinded by the chandelier that hung from the ceiling, and the rest was lost in a shimmering haze made of miscellaneous furniture and decorations.

I looked at everyone in the group. Rachael and Philip appeared to react less to the house. They might have been here before. Bree, on the other hand, reacted the most. She would often catch her eye on different things, going, “You have one of these? Pfft, how tacky.” Then, she would push a few of their buttons to see what they did, feigning disinterest, but her supposed scoffs sounded more like hums of approval to me.

Curtis then called us over to a pair of glass doors. He stepped outside, and we all followed into a patio where beach umbrellas and party tables surrounded a large pool, and in my head, I imagined a bunch of teenagers just hopping around to loud music with drink stains on their swimsuits.

That would be us in a few hours, but in the meantime, we enjoyed the tranquility of the poolside under the setting sun, watching the waters in the cool, gentle breeze. The place was quiet—except for the faint Christmas music from next door and Philip screaming as he took off his shirt and jumped into the pool.

“Philip!” Bree called, stifling a laugh. “What the hell? Get back here!”

She had taken off her shirt, revealing her swimsuit.

Philip burst his head from the water, his teeth obviously chattering. “I—it’s c—c—cold…”

“Ha, you dummy!” Bree taunted. “That’s what you get for going into the water without—”

Her statement was preempted by a shriek that escaped her mouth—caused by Rachael pushing her into the pool.

“Welcome back, Bree!” she said.

Bree didn’t look happy when she burst out of the water. “Rachael, you’re so dead!”

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Rachael said, dusting off her hands.

Her victory was cut short when Bree retaliated with a huge splash of water in her direction.

“Hey!” Rachael groaned.

Bree began to swim around. Unlike Philip, she didn’t seem bothered by the water’s temperature.

“C’mon, it’s fun!” she beckoned.

Rachael scoffed. “Okay, fine! I’ll be right there.”

She took off her outer garment, leaving her in a petite little swimsuit, but it was at this moment that Curtis decided to jump in, as well, unintentionally splashing some water at Rachael and making her shriek.

“Again?” Rachael snarled. “Seriously?”

“C’mon, Rache!” Philip called. He didn’t look so bothered by the cold water anymore. “You’re gonna get in the pool, anyway. So what’s the problem?”

Rachael had her back toward me so I couldn’t see her expression. Regardless, I saw how she was just staring at the water beneath her, standing motionless at the edge of the pool.

Everyone in the water began looking at her with concern.

“What’s wrong, Rachael?” Curtis then asked.

Rachael didn’t answer. Instead, she trotted away from the poolside and slumped into a nearby chair, grabbing her phone from her bag.

“I’ll go in later,” she said.

Everyone else shrugged. Perhaps they were used to Rachael’s mood swings, but I was actually relieved that Rachael wasn’t swimming. I realized that I didn’t have the intention to get into the water and that I was fine watching from the sides. With Rachael on her phone in the corner, I wasn’t the odd one out.

And then, Bree Leonard kept calling me into the water.

“Hey, Ms. Manager,” she called. “Why don’t you join us?”

“Um… no,” I stammered. “I really shouldn’t—”

“Booooo!” Bree bellowed.

“Bree!” Philip chided.

“Oh, come on, Vasquez…” Bree began swimming around again. She reminded me of a dolphin. “It’s gonna be fuuuun.”

Curtis swam toward me, propping his elbows on the edge of the pool. “Please excuse our bassist. She likes to get things done by”—he cupped a hand over his mouth and smiled cheekily—“pulling a few strings.”

Bree choked on some of the pool water. “Was that another pun, Stevenson?”

Curtis smirked. “Maybeeee…”

I couldn’t help but smile to myself. His puns were always a source of total ambivalence to me; I was torn between replaceing them annoying… and replaceing them oddly funny. However, I didn’t realize that Rachael was glaring daggers at me from afar.

“Just get into the pool,” she said.

I could definitely see that she didn’t like the friendly advances her boyfriend was making toward me.

I cleared my throat. “Okay.”

The coaxing from those in the pool hasn’t died down, either; it only intensified with my growing hesitation. I didn’t understand where these feelings were coming from, though. There must have been a reason why the waters were making me nervous, but then, I remembered feeling uncomfortable wearing a swimsuit.

So maybe that was the reason.

Perhaps this wasn’t the time to overthink. I had come all the way here, haven’t I? I kept telling myself that I was going to have fun that day despite what I learned about the Girl Beyond Bounds, despite those visions I had of Julio. For now, those worries were far away, and they were going to stay that way.

So while the party was yet to be crowded, while there were only a few people to see me, I closed my eyes, stripped to my swimsuit, and jumped into the pool.