The Border Part Eight by Amy Cross Page B

figure, not even looking it in the eye before blasting it. Once he’d checked that there was nothing else around, he headed to the door in the corner and kicked it open, and then he began to make his way down to the Border’s twenty-first level.
    All he knew was that he had no intention of stopping until he reached the bottom.

Epilogue
     
    Twelve years later
     
    “No, you’re a dumbass,” Lucy replied, before taking a sip from her milkshake. Fixing her cousin with a frown, she slowly raised her middle finger in his direction.
    “Oh, you’re gonna be so popular when you get to college,” Stuart replied with a grin. “Everyone’s gonna love you.”
    Rolling her eyes, Lucy looked across the diner for a moment. A damp Saturday morning had turned into a rainy lunchtime, with a downpour during the afternoon, and now finally darkness had fallen and brought a wet evening; it wasn’t raining anymore, but there were puddles all across the parking lot, reflecting the bright lights of the nearby stores. Still, there was no place she’d rather be, especially since she’d be leaving Bowley in less than a day’s time, heading off for her first semester at college on the west coast. She was scared, sure, and she knew she’d miss life in Bowley; at the same time, she wanted a little excitement, a little adventure, and she knew she had to go somewhere big and lively for that.
    Bowley was the kind of safe, boring town where nothing ever happened.
    As her cousins Stuart and Oliver continued to talk, Lucy turned and looked over her shoulder. She’d knew she’d miss the regulars at the diner, especially the ones she never talked to but who nevertheless were a constant presence. There was the new owner, who’d really turned the place around and made it the center of Bowley’s resurgence; there was Daniel, the editor of the local paper and a guy on whom Lucy had enjoyed a little crush, even though she knew he was too old for her; there was even Mrs. Cook, the town widow. After a moment, however, she spotted old Alex Gordon sitting in the far corner, staring with haunted eyes at his coffee. He’d never been the same since the stroke, and his wife’s death a few years earlier had left him a somber, desperately sad figure. There was something about Alex that always gave Lucy a chill, and she knew she wouldn’t miss seeing him around.
    She turned and looked out the window, and suddenly she spotted a familiar figure hurrying past, heading toward the dark office buildings.
    “Hey,” she said, leaning over and tapping Stuart’s shoulder. “Isn’t that your Mom?”
    Stuart glanced at the window. “So?”
    “So where’s she going so late?”
    He shrugged.
    “Mom’s an asshole,” Oliver added, with his arm around his girlfriend’s waist. “Ever since Alex retired and she took his job, she thinks she’s all that.”
    Ignoring her cousins, Lucy got to her feet and carried her milkshake to the door. She stepped out onto the steps and watched as the dark figure got further and further away, and then she thought for a moment about the date, and then finally she realized.
    “She’s going to see him ,” she whispered.
    Hurrying down the steps, she made her way across the dark parking lot, taking care to avoid the puddles of rainwater. When she got to the far side, she could see Jane slipping through the shadows in front of the office building, and she thought for a moment to call out to her aunt before realizing that there’d be no point; she’d asked Jane so many times about what was really happening beneath the streets of Bowley, and every time she’d been fobbed off with a non-answer. Now, on her very last night in town before heading off to her new life, she figured she needed to be a little sneakier, so she finished the last of her milkshake, tossed the cup into a nearby trashcan, and then hurried after Jane, while making sure to keep far enough back that she wouldn’t be spotted.
    A few minutes later, she watched as