The Metropolis Series #3: Quinn and Cassandra
23. Monster

“WE DON’T KNOW what’s wrong, Mr. and Mrs. Vasquez…”

The scents of clean sheets and medicine wafted through my nostrils. A bright, fluorescent light shone in my eyes as I fluttered them open, my lids as heavy as lead. I turned my head slightly. Dazed, I noticed three adults standing before me: Mom, Dad, and a man I didn’t know.

Dad held Mom as she wept. His eyes looked tired, but he maintained a hardened expression as he conversed with the man.

“C’mon, doc,” he coaxed. “Is there anything else we can do?”

“We can run more tests,” the man suggested. And he listed a bunch of acronyms that made Dad look older than he was.

“It’s all right,” he replied.

The man hummed. “We’ll continue monitoring your daughter for now. If you wish to not push through with the tests, I’m afraid that there’s nothing else we can do.”

Dad sighed and nodded.

“Excuse me.” The man walked past my parents and left.

Where was I? What happened? As I asked myself these questions, I slowly became aware of the room I was in and the sensations it provided: the soft pillow under my head, medical equipment beeping and buzzing, the closeness of the concrete walls, and the city lights shining through the small windows. My body felt sore and heavy, but I lifted a hand and reached out to my parents.

“Mom… Dad…”

They turned to me immediately. Dad let out a huge sigh of relief as Mom rushed to my bedside.

“Oh, Quintana,” she sobbed. “We were so worried.” She then turned to Dad. “Antonio, get a doctor.”

Dad nodded and promptly left the room.

Mom stroked my hair and cried even more. She tried to speak, but that only brought even more tears.

“What… what happened to me?” I whispered.

“The Garcias heard Oliver by the park,” Mom explained. “They found you unconscious on the street. You’ve been asleep for two days… we didn’t know what to do.”

Two days… That was the longest I’d been out. I sunk into my sheets, trying to hide the fear from Mom.

Then, Dad arrived with the doctor, who asked how I was feeling and performed a quick checkup.

“Everything looks normal,” the doctor told my parents. “Aside from lacking oxygen on the first day, I can’t find anything wrong. However, I advise we keep her here for another day to monitor her.”

I knew what was wrong, but I couldn’t tell my parents. It was hard to fathom what their reaction would be.

Mom turned to Dad as the doctor left. “We should probably let Quintana rest for now.”

Dad nodded gravely. “Yes, we probably should.”

I sat up slightly. “No,” I told them. “Please stay with me.”

Even if I couldn’t tell them about my condition, I didn’t want to be left alone with my thoughts. I looked down at my hands. My nails were purple and my fingers were pale. The horrors that stirred beneath were clear: Cassandra was getting stronger.

Inevitably, visiting hours at the hospital came to an end, and it was time for Mom and Dad to go. Before leaving, Mom handed me my phone so I could call them whenever I wanted. After saying goodbye, I turned on my phone to find a couple of missed calls.

And they were all from Philip.

Perhaps hope wasn’t lost after all. Maybe Julio had found the Author while I was out. With my heart pounding, I rang Philip up and waited for him to answer. My throat clenched when I heard his voice on the other line.

“Quinn, where have you been?” he asked. “I’ve been calling you for days now.”

“Sorry,” I replied. “Things have been… busy.”

I didn’t want to ruin the mood by saying I’d been at the hospital.

“So…” I whispered. “The Author?”

I heard Philip swallow on the other line. “Well…”

He let out a sigh. When he didn’t speak, I got worried.

“Hello? Philip?”

Philip’s voice lowered. “I don’t know how to tell you this, Quinn, but… the address… no one’s there.”

My heart sank. “What?”

“The Spanish House tried to visit the building on the library card. That’s Sky Towers on Paradox Road. When asked about Unit 0617, the lady at the front desk just shrugged. She said that the unit has been vacant for a long time…”

Philip explained that the Spanish House didn’t give up after visiting the Author’s supposed residential building. They tried to ask about any previous tenants, but of course, Sky Towers management wouldn’t disclose such information. Then, they looked for the library that issued the card, only to find that it had been closed for years. They even instructed Philip to try calling the number, but even after countless times, there was no luck.

That was when all hope drained out of me. All those days of waiting had only led to heartache and devastation. I was exhausted. I couldn’t see straight. I wanted to scream and yell and flip the sheets of my hospital bed.

But I didn’t do any of that. Instead, I sat motionlessly and clutched my phone in my shaky hand.

“It’s okay, Philip,” I eventually said.

Philip sighed. “I’m sorry to tell you this, Quinn.”

“It’s okay,” I repeated. “Perhaps it wasn’t meant to be.”

Then, I hung up. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep my composure. When the call went dead, I lost it almost immediately. I buried my face in my hands and wept, hoping my muffled sobs wouldn’t bother the passing doctors and nurses in the hallways. I was mad at myself for believing we would find the Author that easily. I was so naive, so gullible—

So hopeful.

I had cried myself dry of any emotions, so I just sat on my bed and stared at the night sky. It was hard to tell how much time had passed alone in my hospital room, and for the most part, I didn’t care. I wasn’t in the mood for anything.

A nurse came into my room later that night to adjust the position of my bed. She was surprised to see me awake, so she asked me if I was comfortable. I said yes, but the response was automatic. She asked me if I needed anything, and I immediately said no. I had turned irritable, but I tried to hide it. The nurse could try, but she wouldn’t be able to bring me the only two things wanted: For everything to be fixed, or for everything to be over.

I had probably fallen asleep after the nurse left. When I looked out the window, a faint light peeked over the city skyline. In an hour or so, the sun would rise. I was surprised that I was able to sleep for an adequate amount of time—hell, surprised to have gotten any sleep at all. But sleeping only seemed to make my body feel heavier. My eyes itched (probably from the crying) and my head hurt a little (also probably from the crying). There was a glass of water on my bedside table, which I took and drank. I felt better somehow, but little did I know my mood was about to turn around completely.

It began when something crashed into my window with a thud. I gasped. I ignored it for a while and put down the glass of water, but once I did so, another thud greeted the glass. And another. And another. They moved too fast. I wasn’t able to see what they were until one of them got stuck in the gap where the window opened.

I couldn’t believe it. A paper airplane had landed on my window.

Slowly, I climbed out of the hospital bed. I opened the window and grabbed the plane. I unfolded it, only to find that it was blank. I sighed as another airplane flew through the open window and landed on my feet. I unfolded that, too. Also empty.

I wondered what was going on. If the planes were from Julio, why would he send me blank ones? As I thought about that, many more planes flew in, covering the smooth, polished tile of my hospital room. As they tickled my bare feet, my neck craned toward the window, waiting to see how many more would arrive, but eventually, they stopped coming in.

And a dove flew in instead.

I held my breath as it transformed into a boy before me.

“Quinn. There you are…”

I gasped, processing the idea that Julio was in my hospital room miles away from the Metropolis. Then, without thinking, I threw my arms around him and buried my face into his shoulder. Then, he brought his arms around my waist, pulling me even closer.

“H—How did you get here?” I stammered. “How did you find me?”

“The planes,” Julio replied. “When Philip told me you weren’t answering his calls, I got worried. I figured that since my last plane got to you, I thought I’d send one and follow it. When I’d lose it, I’d just send another until I’d find you.”

I laughed and cried at the same time. I didn’t think that Julio would go to such lengths to find me, but the idea made my heart so full that it would probably burst.

“What happened to you?” Julio then asked, pulling away. When he looked at me, I saw the gravity in his eyes and the lines on his face. “What are you doing in a hospital?”

I sat on the side of my bed and sighed. I told him about how I had passed out while walking my dog, Oliver. When the neighbors found me, my parents took me to the hospital, and I didn’t wake up for another two days.

“Two days?” Julio mouthed, taking a seat by my bedside. “What did the doctors say?”

“They couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me,” I said gravely. “But I know this condition isn’t medical at all, it’s—”

“Cassandra,” he whispered. “That’s what it is.”

I nodded, tears welling in my eyes. “Julio, two days is the longest I’ve been out. What if she wins this? What if—”

“Quinn, don’t say that,” he said.

“But—”

“I won’t let that happen.” He grabbed my hands.

“But—but what can we do? She’s cunning. She’s hard to catch—”

“I know. And I don’t want to be reminded of that. I’ve been chasing her down for the past few months, and I never got to her. She injured many of my friends. She possessed my sister. She murdered my second in command. And now, she’s getting to you, too. I act all tough like I know what I’m doing, but in reality, I’m a failure. I’ve let so many people down…”

I hung my head low and sighed. We were talking about Cassandra. I couldn’t think of a better time to open this up:

“You… let me down when you lied to me,” I whispered. I looked into his eyes and gripped his hands. “Why, Julio? Why didn’t you tell me about the Girl from the very beginning?”

Julio let out a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, Quinn. I’m so, so sorry…” He hung his head low and wouldn’t look at me. “I did this to you…”

“Did what?” I asked him. “What did you—”

My thoughts interrupted me. They transported me back to Curtis’ party where Mackenzie sat bleeding on the floor. I remembered the words she’d said before she died, and they never sounded so clear:

Y—you and Rachael… Cassandra’s the Girl Beyond Bounds… isn’t she…?

I leaned closer toward him, hoping to meet his eyes. “It was you and Rachael, wasn’t it?” I asked softly. “You brought the Girl back…”

At that, Julio slowly lifted his head and nodded. “Yeah,” he said. He let go of my hands. “And it’s the biggest mistake of my life…”

Ever since the party, I’d had my suspicions. I started putting the pieces together until they made sense, the last piece being the visit to the Archives when Mr. Simon confirmed the origins of the Girl.

The Girl Beyond Bounds is back because somebody couldn’t control themselves, he’d said. Somebody didn’t listen…

Now that I knew the truth, I didn’t know what to say. At first, I was angry, but the feeling subsided when I found remorse on Julio’s face. I figured it was too early for me to react and pass my judgments.

“What happened?” I decided to ask.

Julio placed his elbows on his knees, tapping his foot on the floor. “So… we got intimate toward the end of our relationship.”

“What do you mean by intimate?”

Julio’s eyes widened. His lip quivered, and his face was frozen in shock. “Are you serious? You’re old, Quinn. You know what happened.”

I cleared my throat. “So you mean… you guys had sex?”

Julio winced at my statement. It made me want to retract what I’d said, but before I could do so, he lowered his head and sighed.

“I thought things were going well between us,” he whispered. “We were comfortable, and things were going our way. But one day, Rachael got mad at me without warning. Talking didn’t work. We fought a lot. She spent more time alone, locked inside her room.

“Ms. Louise was the first to realize what was wrong. The last Girl was from her generation. It’s the same story, beginning with two stupid ass kids who thought they knew everything about love. She saw all the signs. She got Rachael to talk after finding her vomiting in the bathroom at The MacGuffin. Rachael said she knew about the Girl and the mistake we’d made. It scared her.

“Then, it was my turn to find The MacGuffin. If Ms. Louise weren’t real with me, I wouldn’t have known about the Girl and what Rachael was dealing with. Then, Rachael finally told me the truth about us, about her… She ran for the woods. I caught up with her and found her by the banks of the Lethe. She believed she was saving me, saving everyone. By jumping, she was getting rid of our mistake before it could grow up to be dangerous. There was no question about it. We had created the next Girl Beyond Bounds…”

So that was what it was. I had the same vision on the way to Curtis’ party, and for a while, I didn’t understand it. Why did Rachael jump into the Lethe? What was she protecting Julio from?

Some poor girl knew about the consequences of bearing a child in this standstill a little too late, Mr. Simon had said. I imagine she had gotten rid of the child one way or another, but the consciousness of the Girl had already been formed.

“Julio,” I said, sighing. “I—”

Tears welled from Julio’s eyes. He broke into a sob as he buried his face in his hands. His shoulders shook. I reached out to comfort him, but it was no use.

“It’s all my fault,” he cried. “I lost Rachael because I was stupid. She was willing to give up her identity and everything we had for a mistake I made. And now, Cassandra’s winning because of me. You’re dealing with this bullshit because of me. I brought a fucking monster into this world, Quinn. How can I live with that every damn day?”

He leaned into my bed and sobbed on the sheets. I brought an arm around him and stroked his back. We stayed that way for a while. He needed it. He needed to let everything out.

“Julio,” I said. “I’m not blaming you for what’s happening to me. I’m not blaming you for anything.”

Julio said nothing. He continued to cry.

“You know, I admire you, actually,” I added. “I don’t like what happened, but you’re now leading the front lines. You’re owning up to your mistakes. Not a lot of people still do that.”

Finally, Julio looked up. His hair was disheveled, and his face was a mess, but he smiled at me amidst the tears.

“Thank you, Quinn,” he said. “Thank you.”

I held his hand one more time. “If only the Author were here. All of this would be over.”

Julio sighed. “So you heard…”

“I called Philip as soon as I noticed the missed calls on my phone.”

Julio entwined his fingers in mine. “What would you do? If this were all over?”

That was a good question. What would I do?

“I’d probably be more honest with people,” I said. “I couldn’t talk about the Metropolis because I’d corrupt them, but I’m tired of lying. I wanna be more open about what I feel.”

“Well, if everything were okay,” Julio began, “there would be no reason to lie anymore.”

I nodded. “How about you? What would you do?”

“I don’t know, really. Chaos has become my life now.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be. You’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah. Maybe I’ll write songs again? I don’t know. We’ll see.”

Julio let go of my hand. “I’d better go. Thanks for listening to me.”

“No problem,” I replied. “Thanks for the visit.”

He looked at me once more before turning into a dove and disappearing through the window. Alone in my room, I imagined a world without Cassandra, without the Author’s absence causing people distress. Who would Julio be if he weren’t leading the front lines? What would he be doing if he weren’t fighting Cassandra? For some reason, I pictured him as a college freshman, hanging around nearby convenience stores writing sentimental songs for indie rock bands. Maybe he’d even find love again.

Whoever he’d be, I wished to meet him one day.

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