The Belly of the Beast

Ch. 39, The Serpent's Bloom

My fingers seemed to move in slow motion as I pushed the steering wheel and it clicked sideways. At the same time, on the side of the ship, a tiny paneling shifted back. All traces of homesickness evaporated, as I spun the steering wheel and a tiny, hidden compartment, no bigger than the tip of my pinkie finger, opened on the side of the ship. A tiny piece of paper was jammed into the space.

My heart thundered as I detached my pinkie finger and used it to carefully pry the paper free. Unfolded it was no bigger than the length of a finger, with one jagged edge and the other a right corner, as if it had been torn from the edge of a piece of paper. I stood, and held the paper up to the glare of the single light bulb.

My secrets lie in the forgotten tomb,

Past the first Adam and Eve,

Beneath the serpent's bloom.

Sapere aude.

The words buzzed in my brain, light and fizzy, like the time Xyla and I had stolen champagne from a group of drunk guards. Till now I'd assumed the necklace was sentimental, that Androcles was a long-lost lover, or a parent or loved one. But this message changed everything. It meant the woman in the Chute, Aliyah, had died trying to get this message to Androcles.

I read the words again, lingering on Sapere aude. I suddenly wished Kovu was here— because those words looked an awful lot like Latin. Maybe they were the motto to a certain level— a level with some sort of forgotten tomb? I pulled the light and then laid down in the darkness, puzzling over the words and why someone from the Top, someone who lived in paradise, would risk their life for this message...

If she really wanted to give this message to Androcles, why hadn't she just walked right up to him and told him? Unless the Top wasn't a paradise. So many of the stories of the other levels had already proved false, yet the stories of the Top weren't rumors, they were fact. The Top was a paradise where no one went hungry, everyone was happy, and you lived your life on the sweat and blood of those below... Yet somehow, an A had ended up in the Chute, the very bottom of the Beast, with this message. It made no sense.

The forgotten tomb. There were no tombs on the Belly. The bodies were all burned— could the Incinerator be the tomb? But it was hardly forgotten.

By the thin light of white from beneath the door, I replaced the tiny scroll, closed the compartment, and then tucked the necklace back against my chest. The words of the riddle tangled in my head as I closed my eyes.

Exhaustion swept over. Out of instinct, I detached and extended the knife on my middle finger, holding it ready. Just in case.

Sleep overtook me, my thoughts safe with Xyla as my anchor. Remember those riddles from that book you loved Xy? The one about the small man and the ring that made you invisible... and the egg... You were always so much better at them than me...