They met Poppy and the others at a busy fast food place near the concert venue, which was a far cry from the fine dining establishments Justin frequented. Watching the way the servers churned out food didn’t inspire confidence, but it did give Tessa material for her film class. She’d taken to bringing her camera everywhere lately so that she could film snippets of Gemman life for her project. Her instructor was the only one who seemed to think Tessa’s background could actually offer something useful in observing the RUNA. Part of this included candid interviews, something her friends were more than happy to do.
“I was worried you wouldn’t come,” Poppy told her later. “Thought those provincial hang-ups would get the best of you.” As usual, though, she spoke of those “hang-ups” fondly.
Poppy was dressed like a girl Tessa had once seen on a corner while traveling by car with her family. “That girl didn’t listen to her parents,” Tessa’s mother had said ominously.
“This is going to blow your mind,” Poppy added. As the others chatted excitedly, she leaned toward Tessa and lowered her voice. “What do you think of Dennis?”
Tessa glanced across the table to where he was chatting with his sister, fresh off her suspension. “He’s okay,” whispered Tessa. “But I don’t think he’s the one for me.”
“Who needs the one?” Poppy grinned. “Nothing wrong with having fun with a guy.”
Tessa didn’t think she would ever be into the kind of “fun” that Poppy was referring to, at least not in a casual way. Maybe there was nothing more to attraction and Tessa was just deluding herself. Just like Dennis, no guy at school had really wowed her. No girl had either. She would’ve blamed it on a cultural contrast, but she’d never met anyone of interest in Panama. Poppy seemed to love a different guy every week, and Tessa feared there might just be something wrong with her.
The fact that the concert was outdoors helped with Tessa’s crowd claustrophobia. It was the music itself she had trouble with. She’d meant to preview Vital Lucidity on the stream but hadn’t gotten around to it. They caught her totally off guard and were like no band she’d ever heard before. The lyrics were indecipherable, and the background music sounded jarring and discordant. Worst of all, everything was just loud. All conversation had to be shouted, and Tessa half expected hearing loss later. Sitting outside in the spring evening was pleasant at least, and recording her friends’ enraptured faces provided more material. Rhea was a particular fan and kept going on about how much she knew about the band, all the paraphernalia she’d collected, and all the stats on their next album. It was another of those moments when Tessa was struck by how an antireligious country managed to find gods without even realizing it.
“You want some?” Poppy offered her a flask at intermission.
Tessa hesitated. One glass of wine at Leo and Dominic’s had nearly knocked her out. “I don’t know if I should.”
“There’s another one in my purse. I stole it all from my dad’s liquor cabinet—not that he’ll even notice. I swear, he drinks more than anyone else in the world.”
After living with Justin, Tessa wasn’t so sure about that.
Dennis overheard and moved to their side of the blanket, panic all over his face. “No. Absolutely not. If she goes home drunk, they’ll kill me.”
“He didn’t say anything about alcohol,” said Tessa. It surprised her that she’d suddenly feel irritated at the thought of Dennis dictating her actions. And Justin had started off the night doing it as well. I’ve been here too long, she thought. Already resisting authority. I never would’ve questioned any order back home.
“Whatever,” said Poppy, still wielding the flask. “A couple drinks won’t get her drunk.”
But by the end of the concert, Tessa was drunk.
It was a new experience, and she was surprised at how much she liked it. Maybe Justin was onto something. Her head felt pleasantly fuzzy and light, and everything was extra funny. She didn’t feel as shy as usual around the group and enjoyed putting herself into the conversation for a change.
As they walked down the street afterward, Tessa noticed that Dennis was the only sober person in their group. He kept casting nervous looks at both Tessa and the time on his ego. Justin and Mae’s presentation had apparently hit home.
They ended up in an area of the city Tessa had never seen. A large pillared building loomed up before them, with cleverly aimed spotlights adding to its powerful presence. “What is that?” she asked.
“The House of Senators,” said Rhea’s latest boyfriend. “How can you not know that?”
Embarrassed, Tessa groped for something to say that would redeem her. “The guy I’m living with knows a senator. They’re practically best friends.” Her foggy brain tried to remember the name she kept seeing in the news. “Lucian Darling.”
“Really?” asked Rhea. They all looked impressed, and Tessa swelled up with pride. “He’s gonna be consul.”
“And he’s hot,” added Poppy. “The senator, I mean. Well, and the guy you live with too. I don’t have a problem with older guys, you know.”
“Everyone knows that,” said Rhea’s boyfriend, eliciting snickers.
They walked a few more minutes and came up on a large stone wall surrounding several city blocks. “What about this?” Tessa asked.
“The National Gardens,” Dennis told her. He looked down at his ego. “You should start heading home.”
“You need to come here in the day, when they’re open,” said a girl named Sibyl. “Awesome place to make out.”
Rhea had come to a halt and was staring at a tree farther down the wall’s side. “I heard you can get in if you climb that tree.”
The others turned on her incredulously. “That’s crazy,” said Poppy. Tessa was pretty sure it was the first time she’d ever heard her friend describe anything that way.
“No, no. My friend’s cousin told me.” Rhea pointed. “Look, it almost touches the wall. You climb it and jump over, then you’re down. It’s easy.”
“That drop isn’t easy,” said Dennis. He tugged Tessa’s arm. “Come on.”
“There’s a bench on the other side,” Rhea insisted. “You just aim and land on that.”
Even Poppy wasn’t on board. “I don’t think you could get over from the tree.”
Tessa blinked the world into focus and studied the tree in question. “No, no…you can. Look. You have to swing onto that branch off to the side, then that’ll get you up to the limb by the wall.”
Despite Cynthia’s constantly saying a prætorian wasn’t a realistic instructor, Quentin and Tessa had kept up with tree-climbing practice. Even if they’d never developed Mae’s easy skill, they’d both managed to finally get up the tree on their own.
Emboldened by that success (and the alcohol), Tessa thought Rhea’s proposal was perfectly reasonable—aside from one small flaw. “How do you get back out?”
“The inner wall is textured,” Rhea said promptly. “Get back on the bench, get a handhold, and you’re back on top to the tree.” She caught hold of Tessa’s arm. “Want to do it?”
Dennis displayed the same panic he had with Mae’s gun pointing at him. “No! You can’t. Do you seriously think it’s that easy? The whole place is rigged and monitored! You can see the guards right there.”
It was true. Scattered along the wall were gray-and-maroon-clad military, keeping watch on their surroundings. Rhea was unconcerned.
“You guys distract them. Make a big scene. We’ll go over.”
Poppy clearly was wavering between her normal impulsive instincts and a logical voice that had apparently decided to show up tonight. The former won out. “Okay. We’ll help.”
Rhea grinned at Tessa. “You in?”
“I’m in.”
“You guys!” exclaimed Dennis.
But everyone else was already in motion. Poppy led the others over to a soldier while Tessa and Rhea slinked off in the other direction. The group laughed uproariously and stumbled more than they had earlier. Tessa heard Poppy say, “Hey, mister soldier guy. Do you know where we can get some tapas around here?”
“I don’t want any fucking tapas,” said Rhea’s boyfriend. “You said we could get pie.”
“You always want pie,” said Sibyl, earning more laughter.
The soldier said something Tessa couldn’t hear, probably about how they all needed to go home. Another soldier strolled over to see what the commotion was, and Rhea shoved Tessa. “Let’s go.”
The tree didn’t have nearly as many branches as the one at home. Tessa scraped her hands trying to get ahold of the lowest one, which wasn’t as sturdy as she’d thought. Her disorientation didn’t help matters, and she nearly lost her balance twice. Still, she was pleased that she did a better job than Rhea and actually jumped to the wall first—though not without nearly falling again. She managed to hold on to the top of it as she crouched and willed the world to stop spinning. Once her rapid breathing calmed down, she moved over, and Rhea joined her.
“Fucking awesome,” said Rhea.
Tessa had to agree. The gardens spread out before them, so beautifully designed that they didn’t seem real. Hedges were trimmed to perfection, lining stone paths that wound around everything. Trees Tessa had never seen before swayed gently in the evening breeze, with beds of flowers surrounding them. She couldn’t quite make out the colors in the poor lighting. The gardens had the same kind of spotlights as the front of the senate, but they were pointed up at statues of important historical figures scattered along the path.
And just below them was Rhea’s bench.
“It’s really there,” said Tessa, not realizing until that moment that she hadn’t been sure. It didn’t look quite as high as Rhea had led her to believe.
