Praetorian Rising, стр. 38
Camille reentered the bedroom and examined it, beginning to see where her first impressions had been completely off. She couldn't smell the pine needles through the seemingly thin pane of glass; she only smelled the sharpness of fertile soil. And the heat she'd felt wasn't emanating from the sun outside, but from the reflection panel across the room. "So, we're under the village?"
"Exactly. The reflection panel is here, so we feel more at home buried underground like gophers. It was Vesyon's idea."
"Fascinating," Camille said moving past him and back into the sterile hallway. "Look—I don't mean to be rude, but I want explanations as to why I'm here, not about whatever 'fancy' stuff Vesyon's come up with in his spare time."
Theo's full lips pulled into a frown at her demeanor. Perhaps she could've been more delicate, but her patience was rapidly dwindling. She turned around, taking his silence as either an inability or lack of desire to help her, and strode down the metal lined hallway.
"You don't even know where you're going," Theo said sharply after her.
Her pace quickened, and she rounded a sharp corner, one that led to a hallway identical to the one she'd just walked down. In fewer seconds than she cared to admit, she was lost. Every hall looked the same. Metal floors and walls with buzzing fluorescents baked bright spots of color into her pupils. The visions wouldn't stop, either—every few minutes she'd peer down at her hands and see blood everywhere, and the next minute they'd be clean. She was losing her mind.
"I really don't think this is a good idea," he said, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "You seriously need to rest."
Camille snorted. "Rest is the last thing I need or want, and I'm doing this whether you help me or not. Though without it, it will take longer." Peter had taught her plenty of useful things, but nothing to do with flirting or using her feminine wiles to manipulate a situation. She'd seen the girls in Sierra Village bat their eyelashes and toss their hair over their shoulders enough to know that it worked if executed successfully.
Trying her best to seem frail, Camille fluttered her lashes as she looked up at Theo.
"Do you have something in your eye?"
"Oh, for Ma'Nada sake!" She turned on her heel and stormed down a new hallway, one that twisted and turned to end in front of an elevator. A small circular button blinked green to the right of the doorway. She pushed it and was instantly rewarded by a rush of cold air as the metal doors slid apart.
Camille charged inside and pressed another glowing button labeled "one" inside the small space, waving at Theo as he rounded a corner and advanced toward her.
"Camille, wait, you don't know where you're going—"
The doors closed, effectively cutting the handsome man off and sending her vaulting upwards. Camille grinned with genuine glee, watching the panel of numbers light up in rapid order from fifteen to one.
Her blurry reflection split apart as the doors soundlessly opened, giving way to a quiet side alley sprinkled with early autumn snow. Crisp air swirled inside the tiny confines of her metal cage, teasing Camille's senses with the promise of home and reminding her of how far away she was from everything she loved. She set out, her boots crunching across the frost-covered ground while her eyes roved the quiet side street.
Stopping suddenly, surveying her immediate surroundings with a scrutinizing eye, she realized her predicament. She was alone in a strange village, without a clue of where to find Vesyon.
"Damn it," she cursed under her breath. Perhaps Theo had been right; she had no idea where she was or where to go.
She poked her head around a building at the end of the alleyway and saw a decrepit-looking village square and a frayed black banner boasting the three interlocking gold circles of the Romeo Village crest. A broken fountain stood in the center, one with a life-sized cement statue of a woman bathing. Snow dusted her upturned face and shoulder, but her right arm was completely missing, and she had deep gouges running up her legs that looked like bullet holes.
There was a light dusting of snow littered across the cobblestone square and a well-worn path of foot traffic from the entrances of the closest buildings, but for the most part, the village appeared almost vacant. There couldn't have been more than twenty people milling about; a blacksmith in the smoky confines of a thatched roof dwelling, a baker covered in flour rolling out fresh dough to rise, a herd of chattering women bundled up in thick shawls and coats, their full dresses and petticoats dancing in the chilly wind. It was strange and didn't fit with the sharp fluorescent hallways and stark white walls of the underground.
Camille stood out like a sore thumb, dressed in green fitted pants, a loose linen shirt, and well-worn leather vest and jacket. She wasn't dressed appropriately to be above ground, and it would only be a matter of time before someone noticed the stranger amongst the village norm.
Two men in green and white uniforms noticed Camille and began heading across the courtyard in her direction. They weren't the High King's Equestrians, and, though they didn't fit into the Romeo Village appearance either, she got the feeling they weren't exactly friendly.
The guards picked up their speed when Camille wheeled back to flee, but she wasn't going to let them catch her. She sprinted down the opposite end of the alleyway and took a sharp right onto another side street, wondering why Vesyon had even brought her here. Every building appeared