POV

Pulling on his hand, Molly guides Al to the side of the building landing next to the green hills.

Landing lightly, she looks around to make sure they weren’t seen and listens for any shouts or alarms but all she can hear is Al, breathing heavily. 

For a first flight it was a long way, and she feels sorry for him but is also a irritated.  She needs a Defender not the Office Boy. As soon as she thinks it, she feels a pang in her stomach and to make up for her thought, pats Al’s shoulder and tells him to rest whilst she makes sure it’s safe.

“I’ll be back in five minutes,” says Molly.

The side door opens at her touch. Dimming her light, she takes one last glance at Al sitting with his back against the wall and sneaks inside.

Shutting the door behind her, she gives her eyes time to adjust to the weak internal light.   She’s at the bottom of a grey, empty stairway, that marches up at right angles and out of sight. 

But there’s a door in front of her. Easing it open, Molly releases a cacophony of rumbling and churning and stomping noises.  The assault makes her jump and she nearly slams the door shut, but stops herself and lets it go gently. Ears ringing, she makes her way up the stairs.

Creeping up four flights, her sandals tap on the hard steps and echo up into the grey stratosphere. Finding another door, she eases it open, bracing for another on slaughter, but there’s no noise, except something. A hum and the smell here is sweet like flowers but not. She slips through, onto a corridor and walking its length notes the plaques on the doors. Her steps are more confident here because it feels like the Never-Ending Office, but just then she hears a door further down open and voices floating toward her.

Pushing through the nearest door she finds herself in an office. Listening at the door she realises the voices are coming closer and might come into this room.  Frantically she looks around for somewhere to hide and seeing another door pulls it open. But the voices pass without coming in the office and Molly breathes out unaware she’s been holding her breath.

Looking round, she finds herself in a meeting room with another door to the corridor – a way out. But there’s wall of windows, looking out at the greenery growing on the foothills.

She’s forgotten all about Al.

It’s been more than five minutes and she wonders if he’s alright.  She shouldn’t have brought him, she thinks but he knows more about the office system. Going to the window she lifts the handle and the window swings open, leaning out she sees Al at the door just about to go through.

“Up here!” she whispers.

Glowing brighter Al rises to the second floor and topples through the window. Mentally sighing, Molly can’t help but think of Gabriel.

“What about the main entrance?” asks Al, pointing with his own hand at the obvious wide doors, opened in greeting.

“Safer sneaking round the back,” says Molly pulling on his hand. Al lets her lead him to the side of the building closest to the Mountain Range. When his legs hit the floor, they wobble like they’re not really attached. He catches himself on the wall, but then stumbles forward taking great gasps of air.

“You rest,” says Molly, patting his back. “I’ll be back in five Wild minutes.”

Al hasn’t got the breath to protest. Scrapping his back against the concrete wall, Al sits down and enjoys the tingling sensation on his shoulder where Molly touched him.  Examining the hand Molly held, he can’t see anything different about it, but the feeling is definitely there. He wonders if Molly felt it too.

Sighing, he realises he’s got his breath back and wonders where Molly is. What was five minutes in the Edge of the Light? Al starts counting, but he forgets how many counts are in a minute. Time never feels quite constant here. When the Lumini were witnesses, focusing on something in the Wild made it slow down or speed up, or maybe it was them that changed pace.

It was starting to feel like forever. He stood up and started chewing on his thumb. Birds twittered in the trees and Wind sporadically rustled the leaves, distant shouts made Al twitch. Then under it all, he could hear the plop-glop-gopple-gulp, it was constant and coming from somewhere to his right. Walking a bit further down the building, his legs still feeling shaky. The green cover suddenly ended, and beyond it he could see a deep grove in the side of the mountain, like a giant gutter and down it slid a tangled mess of red tape. This close he could hear another noise, a hissing, Alesssssanda, it seemed to whisper. Both intrigued and terrified, Al took another step forward but then remembered he was waiting for Molly.  Glancing back, he can’t see her anywhere.

Where is she?

Frozen between the green shadows, where Molly left him and the sound of the Red Tape calling his name, Al closes his eyes.

Surely, it’s been five minutes, he thinks.

She’s definitely late.

He should go after her.

Maybe she’s in danger, maybe she’s been caught by the Red Tape and bound for forever. The image of Molly trapped overwhelms his fear. He turns to the door, about to yank it open, but hears a squeak from overhead and jumps back.

“Al it’s all clear. Get up here,” says Molly, leaning out an open window on the second-floor and waving.

The face of his favourite Lumini, safe and well, makes Al blaze with light and he finds it no problem to fly up to the window, even if his landing is still a bit awkward and Molly has to grab him before he falls. At least it makes her laugh.