Twelve

It was surprisingly hassle free making it through the Pearl Eds streets undetected. Every time I got the feeling that someone was checking me out because they thought I looked familiar, figuring out where they had seen my face before, I kept my head down. Considering the wanted posters were all over the place, walking these roads was a breeze. Nobody really took any notice of us.

I made sure to constantly keep Miles in my sight. He was a fast mover and I didn't want to lose him, he seemed to be the key that would allow me to find my way to The Coal Jailhouse.

The Rubies world had been bright and vivid. The Diamonds Generation creepy and haunting. The Emeralds magic and charming. But walking through Pearl Eds was nothing but beige and boring. I had spent eighteen years in this world and had only seen my school and the tiny tents that were our solitary homes. But taking in this world now, I realised there had never been all that much to see in the first place.

I passed vast grey school buildings and the occasional shop for supplies. Every where I looked, people were wearing beige. There were no trees or anything pretty to look at. Just buildings and never ending streets.

After about an hours walk, I saw hundreds of tents in rows appear, making me shudder. Seeing these solemn white tents reminded of a time when I was lonely. It took me back to a place where I had never met Mel or Popkins, or even Drew and Maisie. I deliberately kept the thought of Jamie out of my head. Thinking of him, of what we had shared last night, was too much pain to for me to handle right now. The only way I could deal with Jamie was to convince myself he didn't exist. Otherwise I would never make it.

Another hour passed before eventually, I saw Miles disappear into his tent. I gave it a few minutes and made sure to check all around me before following him in. His tent was exactly the same as mine had been, the same as every Pearl Eds student called their home. A bed and a chest of drawers to house any belongings and that was it. Each row of tents had their own communal bathroom area which you were only allowed to enter one at a time so as not to interact with anyone. Everything in this generation had been done with the mind to keep students apart from each other at all times.

Miles was huddled awkwardly at the top of his bed, his large frame nearly taking over it all. I sat timidly at the foot, looking at the floor.

"Nobody saw you come in, right?"

"No. It was all clear."

He nodded.

"Good. There is a train in about half hour. The track is only a five minute walk away if we cut through a forbidden route that I'm technically not supposed to know about. So we jump on the Pearl Express, then we will be in what I call the wasteland. Authorities live around these empty parts and I have no doubt it will be hard to get through. I have no idea how long it will take us to get to The Coal Jailhouse from there, I have only ever made it as far as the train journey. But that's where you having a wand comes in handy."

I gave a small grunt to show I was listening, and partly to show that I didn't really care. I just wanted to find Popkins and bring him home, safe.

Miles shifted on the bed, I could tell he had been looking at me ever since I walked in, but I refused to acknowledge him.

"Have you ever been on The Pearl Express, Cassie?"

I shook my head, still looking at the floor.

"Ah, it's great fun. It's half commuter train, half cargo. We will have to climb on at the cargo end. If we just hold on to one of the ladders through the outskirts of this part of the world, then we can go and sit up on the roof for the rest of the journey. The train doesn't go too fast. Gets a bit chilly up there but it's quite fun actually."

I sighed, unable to stop the ball of pent up fury I was feeling.

"Yes. It sounds just great actually. In fact, this is the life I imagined after graduating. Belonging to a forbidden world, making friends and losing them all, being on the authorities most wanted list and climbing on a train to sit on the roof with an overly cocky, never even graduated, know it all boy from Pearl Eds to rescue one of the most kind hearted people in all the worlds combined from the most awful and torturous prison. It's perfect."

I glanced at Miles, who was now studying his hands. It was hard to be certain, but I was sure I saw a look of hurt flash across his face. I shook my head and sighed again.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have insulted you, that wasn't fair."

He shrugged easily and met my eyes. There was something in them that I still couldn't put my finger on.

"If you want to vent, go ahead. I can handle a pint-sized fiery brunette running her mouth off. But it won't change your situation."

"I said I'm sorry and I meant it. What's your story Miles? Who are you trying to save?"

His eyes widened at my question. He went back to looking at his hands again.

"It's a closed subject."

I had a feeling he would say that.

"OK, then let's talk about something else. How come you were able to change my outfit with my wand back in the alleyway. Only Emeralds can use wands in their own generation. Sapphires can use magic in any of the gens...so...."

He grinned now, hopping off the bed.

"Well, at least you figured that part out. Yes, I'm a Sapphire. I always knew I was. I did my own research while all the other students were believing what they were told. It's why I refused to graduate, unless they let me into my rightful world. Now let's go catch this train so you can sit on the roof with a ...what was it....'overly cocky, never even graduated...."

I cut him off by throwing his pillow at him. I didn't want to be reminded of the insults I had just hurled his way for no reason. He could have turned me in at any time and hadn't yet, so maybe I had to start being nicer to him.

We made our way to the station. It was almost deserted. I knew I wasn't the only one surprised that we had managed to climb onto a huge train completely undetected. We gripped on to the ladder at first, and eventually, as the train sped away from the grey buildings, we climbed on to the roof. Miles helped to pull me up and as he wrapped his arms around my waist, trying to steady me as I climbed, I couldn't help but feel that I was betraying Jamie somehow. I had left him in The Emeralds under a hypnosis spell, only to escape to Pearl Eds to embark on an adventure with another guy.

The scenery around us was as boring as I had expected Pearl Eds to be by now. Nothing but white, chalky, desert like fields and space surrounded us. There was nothing to look at, so I decided to suss out Miles. He was lying on his back, looking up at the sky as the train moved along, his arms as a makeshift pillow. I decided to join him. I lay my head next to his and decided that the sky was much better to look at than anything else around us. Miles looked somewhat surprised that I had joined him, but he tried to cover it.

"You might as well make yourself comfy, It's a long three hours."

I nodded, wondering how even the sky could look so dull in this generation.

"So your friends... Mel and Jamie...the others who are on the most wanted posters.... are they together? As in...a thing?"

I couldn't help but scoff. The thought of those two being together was really quite funny in my mind.

"No, of course not! They are just friends."

"Right. So that means there is something with you and Jamie then."

I flinched at the way he was able to say his name so easy. I couldn't think of him without it feeling like a knife through the chest.

"Girls and guys can just be friends you know."

I snuck a look at him as he chuckled. I liked how his dimples came out at even the slightest bit of amusement.

"Of course they can sweetheart. But the fact you haven't mentioned them at all makes me certain that something has went down. I mean...you've mentioned Popkins. Why not talk about the two that ran away with you in the first place? And more to the point....where are they now? Why aren't they helping you? So come on Miss Cassie, spill it."

I closed my eyes, wanting to look at anything other than bleak sky. Wanting to hear anything other than Miles annoying, probing questions.

"It's not just you who can have closed subjects, OK?"

"OK, I'm sorry."

It was the first time I had heard sincerity in his voice since I met him. I turned my body to face his, trying to shield out the wind, I was beginning to get cold. I was taken by surprise as he propped his arm around me, letting my head lay against his chest. He rubbed my arm gently as I lay there, listening to the wind howling as we zoomed by.

"I'm not making moves on you. I just don't think it's a wise idea to magic up any blankets or anything when we are sitting on the roof of a train full of Pearl Eds residents. I know how cold it gets up here so just...snuggle in."

Despite it all, I laughed. I could hear his heart beating at a steady rate. It was comforting.

"I appreciate it. I never thought you would be the type to use the word snuggle though." I giggled again at the thought of this tall, awkward man using such soft, sweet words. He yawned and hugged me tighter as the wind blew harder.

"There's many things you would never have thought about me, Cassie. Now get some sleep."

Surprisingly, I took his advice. I could feel him drifting off next to me and it gave me enough comfort to be able to do the same. A few hours later, I sat up with a start as the train came to a stop.

Miles was already sitting up, getting ready to climb down the ladder.

"Come on, we need to make a run for it as soon as everyone is off the train."

I nodded, noting all the beige covered people who were filing out of doors and on to the platform. Miles pointed to the vast field on the other side to where everyone was getting off. I nodded again, signalling that I understood.

It seemed like an agonisingly long wait before the coast was clear. Then, when we were sure nobody was watching, we jumped down from the train and started running. The empty, dusty field was huge, but we could see some trees lining the way down the bottom. They certainly weren't pretty trees. They had no leaves and sparse branches. Most of them looked half dead, but they would give us something to hide behind while we figured out what to do next. I had discovered in the other worlds that I could run without tiring. I hadn't known if it was a Sapphire ability or something I had picked up when injected with The Rubies serum, but seeing Miles able to run as easily as me confirmed that it was a Sapphire thing.

When we got to the trees, we made sure that nobody had seen us or followed us, then we sat down. I took my wand out, staring at it.

"Now what?"

I looked at Miles expectantly.

"Well now comes the tricky part. I don't know my way from here. There are authorities houses everywhere once we are out of these fields. Say a spell. Get a map. Anything..."

I frowned, then swished my wand.

"Give us a map to The Coal Jailhouse."

I waited for something to happen. I caught Miles biting his lip, trying to hold back the laughter.

"I thought you had just been to The Emeralds since you've been on the run? At least...that's where the last most wanted poster had you marked at. You have to make the spell rhyme. You should know this." He reached over and took the wand from my hand, then held it up in the air. "The Coal Jailhouse with it's toxic air, please kind wand, will you take us there?"

I gasped as Miles grabbed on to me, feeling a sudden whoosh of air underneath us as we rose up. We kept going higher and higher, the air swirling around us so fiercely that I couldn't talk. Just as I thought we couldn't possibly go any higher, a huge flash lit up the sky and we were dropped down to earth with a thud.

It was the smell I noticed first as I stood up, brushing the horrible white grass and dust off from my clothes. It smelt like fire. Like something was badly burning. I tried to block out the conversation I had had with Jamie once about his years of torture. About how they had put him through hell in many different ways, fire and being burned one of them. I closed my eyes as I remembered the deep scars running along his torso as we laid together just last night. Marks on him from the hands of these monsters. I wanted to believe that the smell was just a nasty coincidence, but I knew it was to do with something bad going on inside.

I opened my eyes, grabbing on to Miles arm as I looked around me. The huge building was like nothing I had ever seen. It was completely black, with little slits for windows dotted sparsely. I had never seen a building so dark in all my life. It was as though it had been victim to a fire one day, but they had left it standing there. Like a burnt out, creepy terror chamber for those inside. Even the barbed metal fence surrounding the building was black. I reached out to touch it, flinching when I realised it felt like hot coals, reminding me of the time my Ruby Necklace burnt my hand.

'The Coal Jailhouse' was plastered in grey letters at the top of the building. I jumped as I heard a scream from inside. Miles pulled me towards him. He acted more fearless than me, but I knew his heart was thundering and that his mouth was dry as he tried to swallow, taking in the sight before him.

The longer we stared, the more screams we heard. Both of us seemed unable to move, unsure of what came next. I knew that I would rather be sent to live life in The Diamonds Generation for eternity than have to enter this building, but I also knew I had no choice.

I looked up at Miles who had a vice like grip around my shoulders, not wanting to let me go.

"Are you OK?"

My voice was barely a whisper. His blue eyes were watery, he looked like he was going to cry at any minute.

He opened his mouth to talk. The closed it again, shaking his head. I gave him time to get himself together.

"I...I can't believe this place. I can't believe that she's...she's in there. They've got her...I can't...I...."

I stood on tiptoe, wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug. It was the least I could do after he had comforted me so much on this journey.

"Who? Who do they have Miles?"

He stared unblinkingly at the building of horror in front of us.

"My girlfriend. I have to save her. That...that might have been her screaming just then. Cassie, we need to get in there. We need to go, now."

His voice was becoming more frantic with every word. I cupped his face with my hands in a bid to get him to calm down.

"It's alright Miles, we will find her. Let's just figure out how to do this, OK?"

He nodded mutely, then grabbed me in a hug. I hugged him back, more determined than ever to come out of this hell hole with not only Popkins at my side, but Miles and his girlfriend as well. I didn't know where all this confidence had come from. I guessed that now I was here, I would have no choice but to do what I came here for. It would all be OK.

I stepped apart from Miles and smiled at him, appearing braver than I actually felt. He rewarded me with a smile full of dimples and I knew that he was thinking the same thing as me. That we could do this.

"Well, this looks cosy."

My mouth fell open as Miles looked behind me, then back at me in shock. My legs turned to jelly and my heart started hammering almost out of my chest. I held on to Miles as I spun around, seeing a furious Jamie standing there, his arms folded across his chest.

"Jamie, I..." I reached out for him, not knowing what to say.

He looked as gorgeous as he always had, but there was a bitterness there. A hard front. It was like he was my Jamie, but not.

"Forget it Cassie, I don't want to hear it. I've come for Popkins. It's the right thing to do."

I watched helplessly as he turned his back on me, searching for a way into The Coal Jailhouse.