I sprinted down the next street, weaving through a stream of people that thickened as I pushed on. I was too afraid of breaking my momentum to stop and look back, but I couldn’t hear Thomas behind me anymore.
Something was happening up ahead. There was a huge crowd of people assembling in what looked like it might’ve once been a park, though the only greenery that remained were the weeds that poked up out of vast stretches of dead brown grass.
I plunged into the throng, shoving my way past men and women of varying ages. Some of them were carrying toddlers on their shoulders, or clutching the hands of older children. As the crowd grew denser, I was forced to slow down, and I started to notice things. The body language of the people was decidedly negative; their faces were angry, their voices, which had congealed into a singular noise like the thrum of an insect swarm, were tense and strained. Many of them were carrying signs or banners, and as I glanced up ahead I found I could read one. It said: WE SERVE NO GOVERNMENT.
I felt as though I’d been doused with freezing cold water. The hairs on my arms stood up despite the heat, and I felt a new layer of fear descend on me—fear of the unknown. Thomas scared me, there was no denying it, but at least with him I had some idea of what I was dealing with, or thought I did. But these strangers seemed even more threatening, though I didn’t know why they were so riled up; that was the most frightening thing of all.
Someone tapped my shoulder, and I whipped around, expecting to see Thomas. But it was just a young guy, in his twenties, maybe even college age, trying to get through.
“I want to stand as close to the stage as possible!” he shouted above the churning cry of the agitated horde. I glanced behind him, but couldn’t see Thomas anywhere. “There’s a rumor the Monad’s going to show.”
“What’s going on?” I asked. What was a Monad? Was that a person? What kind of a name was that for a human being? And yet I felt like I’d heard it before. Where, though? Where would I have ever heard that word? I couldn’t bring myself to ask the guy. Instead, I posed a different question. “Why are all these people here?’
“It’s a rally,” he said, narrowing his eyes.
“I can see that. What for?” I must’ve looked strange to him, with the hood of my sweatshirt cinched so tightly it covered my face, especially given how warm it was. I pushed the hood back and brushed the hair out of my eyes.
“Are you kidding?” he asked in astonishment. “It’s a Libertas rally.”
“Oh, of course,” I said with a hesitant smile. The guy was looking at me more closely now. “Good luck getting up there.” I nodded at the large stage that had been erected in the center of the park. It was draped in forest-green banners; they all sported a common symbol, a pattern of ten gold stars stitched in the shape of an equilateral triangle.
I started to work my way through the crowd again, hoping to leave the guy behind, but he put his hand on my shoulder and held me back. I jerked out of his grip and turned to face him.
“Hey,” he said, pointing at me. We were so close, his finger almost touched my nose. “You know, you look a hell of a lot like—”
I caught a glimpse of Thomas over the young man’s shoulder. “I’m not. I have to go.”
I wrenched away and kept moving, ducking my head low to keep from being seen. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally broke through the last wall of bodies on the north side of the park. A voice began booming through the loudspeakers, but I couldn’t locate them in the scrum. It was as if the voice was coming, godlike, from the sky.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the voice said. It was deep and masculine, strong but musical in tone—the kind of voice that could command an army with a word. “This is the Monad. I regret that I could not join you today, my brothers and sisters, in your homes and in your cities, but I deliver unto you this message. You all know why we’re here today. You all know of the injustice we have suffered under the tyrant rule of this declining monarchy. You all know of the promise that comes with revolution. The promise of liberty. The promise of freedom. The promise of choice. Our ancestors lived under the oppressive rule of a foreign royal for centuries, before the fathers of the First Revolution raised an army against them, and yet their true and solemn purpose was hijacked by thieves and traitors, a man that would crown himself king. And now, today, his inbred, worthless spawn sits on a throne while we—the people of this once-great nation—bleed and toil for his benefit. The king and his advisers say that the only way to make peace with Farnham is to force two teenagers into marriage, but the true path to peace is overthrowing both monarchies and forming one republic, of the people, by the people, and for the people!”
The furious hum of voices swelled to a roar. People teemed around me on every side, pressing forward to rush the empty stage. Someone shoved me and I took a step back, grinding the toes of a nearby protester under my heel.
“Hey!” he shrieked. I turned to apologize and he got a good look at my face.
“It’s you,” he whispered. Then, louder, “It’s her! It’s the princess!”
Princess? I thought in a panic. What the hell was he talking about? I was no princess! Then I remembered what Thomas had said back in the basement. Your face is a little bit more familiar to the average person. People were turning and staring, and I suddenly felt very exposed. They thought I was someone else.
Someone they hated.
As I scanned the scene, I saw, for the first time, clumps of armed men dressed in black. They were carrying military assault rifles and patrolling the perimeter in groups of two or three. One of them noticed me, and we locked eyes. He pointed me out to another guard, and instinct took over. I began to run again, sprinting as fast as my legs could take me.
NINE
Trapped, trapped, trapped. The word echoed through my head, banishing any other thought as I ran past shops and homes and cars and people who turned to look at me with unabashed curiosity. I was going too fast to tell if anyone else had recognized me, but I really hoped no one had.
For a while, I didn’t even look to see where I was going—I didn’t know the city anyway, so what was the point? Then it occurred to me how dumb that was—I was in Chicago. The Aurora version of Chicago, but still, it was possible there were similarities, that there was something I could use to orient myself. The Sears Tower, the enduring symbol of the city on Earth, had to be around somewhere.
I scanned the tops of the buildings, trying to locate the singular silhouette of the landmark and navigate by it. There were other skyscrapers, everywhere in fact, huge ones that disappeared into the clouds that had started to gather, including what looked to be an enormous campanile rising in the distance, but I couldn’t find what I was looking for. The Sears Tower didn’t seem to exist in this version of Chicago; perhaps it had never been built. I knew its shape so well, there was no way I’d ever miss it, or mistake it for something else. I was completely adrift in this unrecognizable world.
My home wasn’t here. It didn’t matter which way I went or how fast I ran.
But I kept running. I passed several of the press boards Thomas had mentioned earlier; none of them, to my relief, were showing my picture, or his, although I could see now why he’d feared the possibility. The boards were like giant TVs, broadcasting silent news reports and advertisements in an eye-straining array of bright, dazzling colors. There was one every few blocks or so, mounted on the sides of buildings and rooftops, big as billboards. If someone had put my picture up, it would’ve been seen by almost everyone in the city in minutes, maybe less.