Wattys shortlist 2021. One morning the sun rises a few hours early, striking levitating skyscrapers in Soliara ahead of schedule. People in the streets stop to look up at the sky and then down at their watches. Most of them, puzzled but disbelieving...
Nova expected the elevator to soar past the roof of the main building, out into the open air about Ilan Potestas's solarium, into the night sky for a view of starlit Invernali before entering the soaring penthouse from below, but instead it stopped on the fifth floor. In the second before the doors opened Nova glimpsed the penthouse falling from where it had hung for over a century and crashing on top of the rest of Potestas Tower, crushing the solarium, its flower gardens, benches and fountains — and then what? Would the building hold, or would all of it crumble to the ground? How long did Cristo say they had before Justin Marius took down the dial in Soliara and Potestas Tower lost its connection to magic?
The elevator door opened and Cristo sped out of it as if half-determined to leave her behind. She sped after him down a hallway she knew well from her time working in Potestas Tower — it was warmly and brightly lit, marble floored, large windowed on one side, and it led to the open concept offices where Nova managed the boss's public relations.
It was a perfect space to be appropriated for the orchestration of a cross-temporal rebellion. Through a pair of glass doors that were still willing to open themselves as Cristo and Nova approached, the office space was not at all how Nova had left it.
The cubicles had been removed and the desks pulled together in the center of the room to better facilitate collaboration. Maps, charts and plans covered them in a chaos Nova hoped was organized. Dozens of men and women stood at or sat on the desks, speaking or yelling to one another — most of them standing and yelling. Nova noticed a number of sets of blueprints, some of buildings she didn't recognize, but also to Constellation, the gnomon in Soliara — and Potestas Tower itself, presumably to hypothesize what would become of it when the power was cut, just as Nova had been wondering. It said something though that the building hadn't been evacuated yet.
Cristo strode through the main office without stopping, and a few revolutionaries who had seen him dropped everything and gaped with open mouths. Nova kept on his heels. No one seemed as surprised to see her — but they did seem to know her. A few gave a vague smile of welcome or a wave once they recovered from the shock that Cristo was back. She smiled in return as if she knew them, but the faces were unfamiliar.
When they reached the far corner office, they did stop, and Cristo even hesitated for as much as two seconds before his half a mind to knock won over the half a mind that said not to, and he rapped hard on the door.
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Thank you for reading this short update. Another is on its way <3
