Summary: Discovering hidden struggles and a cheeky prince.

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We followed him out of the submarine port. Once outside, my eyes were filled with amazing images. Tall clean buildings made of blue glass material took over the dome of a sky. Light hit and sparkled against them. It was as if they had captured the sun and somehow brought it down here. The roads were made of bright white pavement, and cars zoomed quietly down the streets.

The cars were unlike any cars I’ve seen before. The tinted window cars were curved on every part, and they were covered with millions of tiny scales. They came in different colors, like a smooth purple or a fiery red. There was even a clear one.

My eyes stayed up in the air, amazed by the walls of glass that grew up around me. Lydia had to grab my arm and pull me into the limousine. I downed my window as we cruised through the streets. The wind blew in my face, giving everything a surreal look. I could see the reflection of the car in the mirrored buildings we passed. Everything was so clean and organized. It was almost perfect. The only problem was that I didn’t really see any people.

However, when we passed one building, I’m sure I caught the face of a little girl pressed up against one of the clear glass walls looking at us. Her eyes were big and solemn. I think she had a very grave look on her face. It might have been my eyes playing tricks on me, but she looked very poor and almost as if she hadn’t eaten in months. I quickly put the picture out of my mind and upped my window. It seemed to me almost impossible that a place as beautiful as this could have people who were suffering like that.

As we rode out of the city area, I began to pay more attention to the limousine we were riding in. It was different from the other one.

“Why is this car so quiet?” I asked halfway to myself and halfway to the people I was riding with.

“This is an e-car,” explained Bridgett.

“A what?”

“An electric car. It runs off of light energy and batteries. We have to drive electric cars down here because the environment is so confined, and the last thing we need is a carbon monoxide problem.”

“I’ve never ridden in an electric car before,” I said, examining the interior of the car more closely. “I can’t wait until I tell my parents about this.”

“No, you can’t,” said Cheryl seriously.

“Why not? Wouldn’t my mom and dad want to know what—” 

“No. Don’t tell them anything. Don’t tell them what you’ve seen or heard.”

“But I don’t understand.”

“Lila,” cut in Lydia, “you must not tell anyone about Avila. There have been some serious problems here lately, and if word gets out to the people on the outside, we all could get into serious trouble.”

“Okay,” I said sadly.

The limo entered a dark tunnel. Blue lights lit up the tunnel, flashing in my eyes like little fireworks as we flew past them. All of these amazing things around me, and I can’t tell anyone about them.

A flash of light came at us as we exited the tunnel. I opened the window and stuck my head out. I could see the tunnel becoming smaller and smaller behind us as my hair slapped against my face. Then I turned my head and looked up the road. I could see a light blue irregular shaped building coming closer on the horizon.

I also began to see more people; many more people. They all stood on the edge of the streets, yelling angrily. They waved their fists and shouted curses at us. I put up the window. They all looked hungry and thin, just like the little girl I saw. Their faces and clothes were dirty. In this clean city, they looked out of place.

As we traveled down the road, the crowds became worse and worse. I even heard things hitting the car and people beating on it. Dr. Sterling leaned up to the driver.

“Alex, take the back way.”

“Yes, sir.”

We found ourselves going through another tunnel lit by blue lights. We drove underground, and then went up a hill that brought us out of the tunnel and into a huge garage. It housed another limo and a few other cars.

The driver drove into the empty space and put the gear in park. We all got out of the car.

“Thanks, Alex,” said Dr. Sterling, patting the driver on the back. He gave a quick nod and walked off.

“Follow me,” said the emperor, walking in the opposite direction.

We came to a clear blue glass door. On the side was a scanner. He rested his hand on it, and the scanner looked over his palm. A green light appeared on the scanner’s panel, and the doors opened.

Inside was a huge and spacious palace. It was light and airy with ceilings and walls made of blue glass. I walked over to a large oak tree that was growing from the floor up through the ceiling. There were two more trees going through the ceiling just like it. The floors were made of white marble with light blue swirls. My boots clapped against the floor as I walked over to a wall to see if it was really glass. It was cool to my fingertips and very smooth, but it seemed thicker than regular glass.

Dr. Sterling called to a servant.

“Annie, can you show these girls around the house and their rooms while I am taking care of business?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now girls, for today you may do as you wish, but tomorrow we have to get to work. We will meet in the conference room first thing in the morning.” He stifled a yawn, turned around, and walked away.

Annie gave us a crash tour of the palace. Almost everything was either made of bluish glass like material or marble. There were beautiful marble statues, marble bathtubs, sinks, even toilets, and there were marble water fountains everywhere. Bushes and beautiful blue flowers were planted in holes that were carved into the floor. I had never seen anything like it.

While Annie was showing us where things were in the kitchen, I heard voices coming from another room. I really wanted to know where they were coming from, but I didn’t want to get separated from the group either. 

Oh, whatever. I figured I could always catch back up with them later.

I snuck away from everyone else and cautiously stepped through a pair of glass doors. I found myself in another room. There was a tall marble statue of a wild horse next to a leather sofa that I could only see the back of. 

Built into the blue opaque glass wall on the other side of the room was a television screen. It showed pictures of a riot. That was where all the noise was coming from.

There were pictures of people similar to those that I saw on the street. Then the screen showed a mob that was outside of the palace right then. There was a close up of a woman who was standing on the steps of the palace entrance. She was waving her fist and leading the protests of the crowd. She was a large woman and wore thick round glasses and a blue uniform. It was Ms. Rinehart. 

My heart skipped a beat. Is she okay? Did she ever find another job? What is she doing protesting in front of the palace?

“I wish I knew what all of this is about,” I said to myself louder than I meant to.

“Who’s that?” someone asked.

I must have leaped back ten feet from the shock. I didn’t know someone was in there.

A blond head popped up over the back of the sofa. It was Dr. Sterling’s son.

“Oh, it’s just you,” he said, turning his face back away from me and returning to his hiding place on the sofa.

For some strange reason, I was actually happy to see him, and I didn’t think it would hurt to be nice and talk to him.

“So, how are you doing?” I asked, walking around the sofa so I could see his face.

“As good as a person with a mob outside of their house could be,” he replied in his arrogant, overly formal tone, keeping his eyes on the TV screen.

“Since Dr. Sterling is an emperor,” I said, still trying to continue the conversation, “does that mean he’s like a king or something?”

“Pretty much,” he replied, still not looking at me.

“So technically,” I pushed on, “you’re a prince.”

He turned his eyes away from the TV and towards me.

“I’m next in line to rule, I guess that does make me one,” he said, “but the way things are going, I don’t know if I will have that chance. This whole government could be overthrown as soon as next week.”

“What? The people can’t do that, can they?”

“Yes, they can. They did it to France during The Revolution, and you do know what they do to rulers that are overthrown, don’t you?”

I swallowed. “No, you don’t have to tell me. I already have an idea.”

“And what makes me the most outraged,” he continued with his blue eyes burning, “is that my father didn’t call on the Avila Navy or Army to control the situation. Instead he called on the Avila Service Group.”

“The Avila Service Group?”

“Yes, the ASG. You should know. You’re in it, aren’t you?”

“I don’t think so,” I replied, looking at the screen on the wall for a second. “I’m part of a group called The Five.”

When I said that, he started laughing hysterically. I didn’t get the joke.

“Didn’t anyone tell you? The Five is only a nickname for the ASG.”

What? I’m part of some government service group, and no one told me?

“I don’t know how he expects five high school girls to help him with the nation’s problems,” continued Levi, turning towards the TV. There were pictures of the mob on the screen. “What amazes me even more is that he actually chose you to be with them.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, now officially ticked off.

“I believe you heard what I said. You are not much of a member of the ASG. Those ridiculous boots and that hat—I don’t remember any changes being made to the uniform.”

“Maybe there were a few changes they decided to make without daring to consult you,” I replied heatedly. “And your stupid jerkish attitude shows that you’re not much of a prince.”

I spun around and stomped out of the room. Why did I even waste my time talking to him? 

Enough questions for now. I had to find everyone else. I wasn’t gone too long, so they didn’t get too far away. I found them standing in front of a glass elevator.

“This elevator will take you to the second floor where your rooms are located,” said Annie with a smile. She pushed the up button, and it lit up blue. The doors of the elevator opened.

“Follow me,” she said.

We all followed her into the elevator. The doors closed behind us, and we began to go up. I pressed my face against the glass. The fountains and flowers looked amazing from above.

Lydia leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Lila, where were you?”

“Nowhere important,” I replied.

Once upstairs, Annie took us to the conference room where we would meet in the morning. It is very similar to the Avila room at Omni, except it is a little bigger. The noise of the crowd was the loudest in this room because it is around the front of the palace.

As we left the room, the crowd noise began to fade. I was glad that our rooms were located around the back. We came to a hallway with five opaque blue glass doors in a row with our names printed on them. Annie pulled five cards out from her pockets.

“These are your rooms,” she said. “Your things should already be in your rooms. If anything is missing, let me know. Here are your keys.”

She handed each of us a plastic card.

“Each of your rooms has a computer port area with a printer and a professional-grade digital camera. You each also have your own private bathroom with shower. Any questions?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Okay,” she said, clapping her hands. “If you need help with anything, just dial zero on the phone in your room, and someone will be up to assist you.”

I slid the card in the lock. The blue doors flew open. I walked in, and they closed automatically behind me. 

I found myself in a huge spacious room. The floor was made out of marble. In the middle of the room was a tall marble water fountain. In the corner was a round bed with a long blue silk canopy over it. The bed was piled up high with pillows and blankets. On the other side of the room was a huge sliding glass door. I pulled the blinds away and opened it. Outside there was a balcony that hung over the vast green garden. The grass covered the ground like a blanket, and tropical flowers grew everywhere. They reminded me of the ones in the mural that we painted: us, we, The Five, the ASG.

I closed the glass doors slowly and turned back to my room. I saw all the bags I brought in a corner by the desk with the computer port.

I should have checked to see if I had everything, but I didn’t feel like it. I didn’t feel like doing anything. I took off my hat and laid it on the bed. I laid down on the circular bed. It was a waterbed. The pillow bounced as I settled in on the top of the covers. It felt so good. The bed comforted my mind a little.

There were so many secrets. So many things that I should have known, but didn’t. They could have told me that Dr. Sterling was actually an emperor. They could have told me what the group was really about, but instead they hid everything from me. I trusted Cheryl, Bridgett, Lydia, and Linzie. I trusted Dr. Sterling from the very beginning. Now I didn’t know who I could trust. I can’t depend on people that hide things from me.

I felt betrayed. Tears began to fall from my eyes. Nothing is as it seems. I just want to go home and get back to my life. I want to see my parents and my friends. I want to go back to Bridgman. At least they didn’t hide things from you there.

I heard a light knock at the door.

“Who is it?” I asked, sitting up the best I could on my waterbed.

“It’s me, Lydia.”

I quickly wiped the tears from my face and sniffed.

“Come in.”

The doors opened, and Lydia stepped in.

“Lila, all of us are going to go to a few places in the city. Do you want to come?”

“No, thanks,” I said, laying back on the bed. Lydia didn’t ask what was wrong. She already knew.

“Lila, I understand if you’re upset with us—”

“Why didn’t you tell me anything?” I said point blank, sitting back up. 

“Why didn’t you tell me that Dr. Sterling is an emperor or that The Five does more than community service? Why didn’t you tell me that I’m actually part of the ASG?”

“Who told you about the ASG?”

“Well,” I began to explain a little apprehensively, “when I walked off I ran into Levi…”

“Enough said. Lila, we didn’t want to tell you because we didn’t know how you would handle it.”

“If I join a group, a club, or whatever, don’t you think it’s right for me to know what I’m in for?”

“Yes, you are entitled to know something.” She quietly sat down next to me on the bed. We looked at each other.

“We were afraid that if we told you everything, you wouldn’t want to be part of the ASG. We desperately needed you, and we didn’t want to run you away by complicating things.”

“You wouldn’t have been complicating anything!” I shot back. “I should have left when Cheryl took the ring.”

“No, Lila. We need you. Emperor Sterling needs you. He needs all of us. If we don’t do something, it could cost him his life. Please help us, Lila.”

I turned my face away from her and picked at one of the pillows. Although I didn’t want to, I just knew. I had to trust her.

“Okay. Fine.”

“Thanks,” said Lydia, slowly getting up off the bed and back to her feet. “We better hurry down stairs. Everyone’s waiting for us.”

I got up and set my hat on my head. Then I followed her.

Cheryl hopped behind the wheel, and we all rode back to the major city section of Avila. Tall glistening buildings graced the streets. We passed by an open plaza lined with stores.

“It’s the outdoor mall,” said Cheryl, looking out the window but trying to keep her eyes on the road at the same time. “I haven’t been there for so long. We should stop and see what they have.”

“Cheryl, please don’t stop,” begged Bridgett.

“Yeah, we’ll have other times to go there,” added Linzie.

“Okay,” said Cheryl, giving in but disappointed. “Let’s go where we first planned.”

I didn’t know where we were going, but it surprised me that a person who is always talking about duties and what we were supposed to do is trying to get out of a job. If Cheryl is trying to get out of where we are going, it must not be a good place.

We drove up to one of the blue high-rise buildings and parked on the side of the street. The building shined in the light. We all stepped out of the car and walked through the glass doors.

Inside was completely different. 

It seems like a building that looks amazing on the outside should be amazing on the inside, but instead of glittering marble floors and fountains, I found dark and dirty walls  and a floor that looked like a million people had trampled through it. We were in an apartment building. It resembled one of the low-income projects. Everything was trashed.

Bridgett wanted to go to the second floor, but we couldn’t take the elevator since it was out of order. We ended up taking the stairs. We climbed up the rickety metal stairs in the cramped stairwell. Each step shook as I put my booted foot down on it.

Soon we came to the second floor. It was another cramped hallway with doors on each side. The floor was carpeted and covered with stains. The hall had a musty smell. The light blue paint on the doors was peeling. One door had a large hole in the place of a doorknob.

We came to a door with the number thirty-five on it. Bridgett went up to the door and knocked on it. I felt the uneasy feeling of being at a place I wasn’t sure that I should be at.

I became even more anxious when I heard a shrill voice yell, “Who is it?”

“It’s me, Bridgett!”

The door flew open revealing a skinny stubble faced man with a pair of glasses on the end of his nose. When he saw her, a huge smile came on his face, and he started hugging her in the hallway.

“Bridgett, it’s you!”

“Glad to be home, Dad,” she replied, hugging him back.

Then a lady came running out of the apartment and started hugging Bridgett. Her father rejoined, and then everyone was hugging everyone. Cheryl, Linzie, Lydia, and I had to move to the side since the hall was so narrow. Tears began to pour from Bridgett’s mother’s face and stain her soft cheeks.

These humble people are Bridgett’s parents? They were far away from the aristocratic Mercedes Benz owning parents that I thought girls that go to Omni High would have. Then I began to feel embarrassed.

When they came to my house, I was worried that they wouldn’t like me when they found out that my family has very little money. Now I wonder what I was worried about. At least I live in a house with my own room, and it’s clean. Bridgett’s parents don’t have any of that.

After all the hugging, Mister and Misses Waters invited us inside. There was very little furniture; only a coffee table, an old sofa, and a small black and white television set.

We all sat on the sofa. Bridgett sat on the floor. Her parents sat on top of the coffee table.

“Well, it’s nice to see all of you again,” said Mrs. Waters. “But I don’t remember seeing you,” she said, turning towards me.

“Uh, yeah Mom,” said Bridgett. “This is Lila Collins. She’s a new friend of ours.”

“Nice to meet you,” her mother said, taking my hand.

“Same here.”

“So much has happened since you’ve been gone,” said Mr. Waters, first to us, and then to his daughter.

“There is less food, fewer jobs, and the crowd protests are getting worse.”

“I’ve noticed,” said Bridgett. “The Emperor should be filling us in on that more tomorrow.”

That’s a term I don’t think I’ll ever get used to. It’s hard to think of Dr. Sterling as an emperor or ruler of any type.

“I hope you can do something,” said Mrs. Waters sadly. “Because I don’t see things getting better anytime soon.”

“Well, there is no quick fix to any problem,” said Lydia, “but whatever it is, we’ll try.”

There was an uncomfortable silence. I timidly spoke up. “Why do you send Bridgett to a school that is so far away?” I asked. “Don’t they have schools down here?”

“Yes, they do have schools here,” said Bridgett’s father, “but we thought it would be better for her to go to a school on the surface, since the conditions up there are so much better, and she wouldn’t be as isolated.”

“Oh.”

“You’re not from around here, are you?”

“No, I’m not,” I said, slightly uncomfortable.

“Well,” said Mrs. Waters, standing up. “Thank you all for coming by, and please do visit more often.”

“I’ll try, Mom.”

They hugged again. Then we left the home of Bridgett. In the same complex we visited Linzie’s mom, who was also in the same condition. My ideas of the girls at Omni had been totally changed. They weren’t as elite or rich as I first thought they were. Their families have very little money; maybe even less than my family. No wonder they put so much time into helping others. Their talent and skill is all they can give.

When we got back into the car, I asked Lydia about her parents. She is an orphan. Her parents were killed in—of all things—a plane crash. It was an act of kindness on the behalf of Dr. Sterling that she was able to go to Omni. As for Cheryl, she said that at the time her mom would be at work, so it wouldn’t be any use to stop by.

As we cruised through the streets in the silent electric car, I noticed that more people were out walking than there were before. On the sidewalk I saw a group of familiar looking girls. One of them was short, and another wore glasses. The girl in the middle had long jet-black hair. It was Julie and her friends.

My mind went blank. I was in total shock as we passed by them. Then a haunting question came into my mind. My shaky voice broke through the silence.

“Am I the only person from the surface that has ever been here?”

Immediately, all heads turned towards me.

“Well, not exactly…” Bridgett started off.

“No,” said Lydia, holding her hand up to Bridgett, making her stop. “I promised her that there would be no more secrets, and this is something we shouldn’t cover up.”

I restlessly began picking at my nails.

“Yes,” she said calmly. “Lila, you are the first person that has lived on the surface to come down here in a very long time, but Dr. Sterling felt that it was necessary to get someone from the outside of our underwater community to help. So Lila, here you are.”

“All of those girls at Omni, are they all from here?”

“Quite a few of them are, but most are not. The ones that are not from here are those rich girls that people associate with Omni High. If you are from Avila, it’s like a public school because we don’t have to pay to go.”

All of a sudden I felt very alone. Once again, I was different from everyone else. This isn’t right. Why do I always have to be the odd one? I can’t spend my time complaining now. The best I can do is finish my business here and get it all over with.

Cheryl drove all of us back to the palace using the back way. The lights in the underwater dome dimmed, creating an artificial night. I settled into the comfortable round shaped bed and forgot all about the things I had gone through that day. I closed my eyes and began to dream of home.

Note to my 14-year-old self: It’s okay, mini-me. I still feel like people don’t tell me anything sometimes.

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