The Metropolis Series #3: Quinn and Cassandra

CASSANDRA WAS THE SAME as she could ever be. She smiled menacingly and wore black from head to toe. She had a knife in her hands, which she twirled around in her fingers. Her weapon glinted in the darkness, sending flashes of light across the room.

“Who knew that you would fall for my trap so easily?” she taunted, bursts of laughter escaping her mouth. “All it took was a glimmer of false hope to lure the little crow in…”

Then, she began to speak in a voice that wasn’t hers. It was a voice that was once so beautiful, so comforting:

“I don’t want you to live in fear anymore. I want to help you. I’ll be waiting for you…”

My heart sank. I wanted to cry. I was so stupid.

“It was you,” I whispered, eyeing Cassandra. “You were the one who called me last night…”

Cassandra shook her head. “Tsk, tsk. How pitiful. You should have thought wisely, Quinn. But I’m not gonna lie. I was looking forward to how you’d act in this little scenario I’d set up. So, let’s say I’d purposely stolen your body. No biggie, right? But then, your parents’ worry for you had turned into anger, and why wouldn’t they be mad? You had deliberately broken their rules, and you let the fear of reproach bring you here.”

Anger boiled inside me. I’d had enough of her guilt-tripping.

“I didn’t just come here for that,” I spat.

“Aww, poor Quinn,” Cassandra mocked. “Did you think the Author could solve your problems? How much of an entitled little brat can you be? The Author has already caused so many problems for so many of her creations. Why would you be special? Why would she listen to you?”

“You started all of this, Cassandra,” I pressed. “You’ve been stealing my body from me. You’re a freak!”

“Oh,” she then cooed. “But I couldn’t have gotten here without a little help.”

She pulled out a small piece of paper from the pocket of her skirt. Even with the distance between us, I knew what she was holding.

I gasped. “Is that—?”

“Yes, Quinn. It’s the other half of the Author’s library card.”

“H—How?”

“Oh, let’s recap, shall we? You hid it under your bunk bed’s pillow just before your best friend Harumi came into the room. You think she didn’t see you? You think she wouldn’t be curious about what you’ve so conspicuously hidden from her?”

I narrowed my eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“You should have left that girl dead in the water after all she’s done. She only hung around you and your silly little friends to spy on you, and she found that Spanish boy’s part-time job quite…interesting. And alas, you blamed that lowly employee who had nothing to do with the missing records. He was put on probation and almost lost his job for something sweet little Harumi had done. She led me to the Archives, Quinn. She presented me with precious information. Most importantly, she’s been working for me all this time, and you didn’t suspect a thing…”

I couldn’t believe it. Harumi… she was my best friend, she—

“No,” I pressed. “That can’t be true. That’s ridiculous—”

“And what did you call me just now?” Cassandra began. “A freak, right?” She circled the room, getting lost in the maze of mirrors. “Well, let me remind you that I didn’t choose to be born this way. In fact, I didn’t choose to be born at all. I’ve learned that a certain someone has been having dreams of drowning in a river. Have I been slipping faint memories into her head to make things interesting? Who knows? But Rachael’s such a talented little songwriter, isn’t she? Harumi definitely knows how to find such valuable things.”

“The hell are you saying?” Julio demanded.

“Rachael’s songwriting notebook,” I whispered. “It went missing just before the Christmas party. You have it, too?”

Cassandra giggled. “That’s right. And that girl’s mind is, well, something else. I wonder what would happen if she got memories of her old life back? What would she say to you, Julio? How would she react when she finds out her past lover created a freak like me?”

Julio growled. He pulled out his knife and pointed it at Cassandra. “Leave Rachael out of this!”

“But you see, she’s the reason you’re in this predicament in the first place. Oh, Julio. Rachael thought she was so smart. She had imagined getting rid of me by jumping into the Lethe, but she was wrong. So very, very wrong. I had been fighting for my place in the Author’s world for far too many years, and I wasn’t going to let one stupid girl ruin my plans.”

Cassandra stopped just a few feet in front of us.

“You had romanced the wrong girl, Julio,” she said. “She was too selfless, too desperate. Because of her, I had come back without a body, without an identity, so I reclaimed the original name the Author had given me: Cassandra Diaz. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Better than that stupid Lucy. And it is with this name that I’m going to destroy her precious Metropolis as revenge for abandoning me. See, things have finally come full circle. Isn’t it wonderful?”

Julio let out a shaky breath and lowered his knife. “This is getting ridiculous. Why are we even listening to you? C’mon, Quinn. Let’s—”

“Whoops,” Cassandra laughed. “Who said you could leave?”

A sharp pain suddenly hit my chest. I fell to the ground and winced, letting out broken little sobs on the dusty old carpet. I could still see Cassandra in my obscure vision, and she didn’t look so dark and smudgy anymore. She looked so lively, so vivacious. The balcony’s light shone on her like a spotlight in a show she’d stolen.

Julio crouched next to me. “Cassandra, enough of this,” he urged.

Cassandra grinned, spreading her arms open like a presenter on stage. “Why should I stop now when the show’s just begun?”

Julio lunged. From his pocket, he pulled out a small vial and aimed to splash Cassandra with its contents. It was his vessel of Lethe water, which had proven to be effective against monsters. Julio had explained to me that Lethe water was the only thing that could ultimately destroy Cassandra. For a split second, there was a shimmer of hope as the water flew through the air, but unfortunately, Cassandra was quick to dodge it. She ran through the mirrors again with Julio in hot pursuit.

There was no telling how many mirrors there were, but they created so many corners and blind spots that catching Cassandra in that tiny room felt impossible. Meanwhile, the pain I felt in my chest made its way to my head, burning just behind my eyes. But I couldn’t give up, nor should I close my eyes and succumb to this madness. I held out a hand, wincing at the light from the balcony.

“Rewind time,” I whispered to myself. “Rewind time, Quinn…”

But it was hard to concentrate. As I tried to manifest my powers, I could hear Julio’s and Cassandra’s voices amidst the mirrors, and ignoring them didn’t seem to be an option. It was on that day that I learned something important about myself, and I still think about how things would have been different if I had known a little bit sooner.

“Leave Quinn alone, Cassandra,” Julio demanded. “What do you even want from her?”

“Oh, it’s a long story,” Cassandra said. “But perhaps I could tell you.”

“Then tell me now.”

A crash sounded off on the other side of the room.

“Quinn wasn’t the first person I tried to steal a body from,” Cassandra began. “I had robbed the identities of all sorts of pathetic losers, but they didn’t feel, well, fit the vision I had for myself. Quinn, however, was different. I didn’t even expect much from a small girl like her. I thought that she was just a toy I could play with until she’d break, but with her, I felt powerful. A brand-new reality had opened up to me. And why do you think that is?”

“I have no time for your riddles, Cassandra,” Julio said.

“Oh, but it’s so obvious! Anyway, I’ll keep things nice and simple for you. You know this big and mighty Author you both have been searching for? Well, you’ve been looking at the wrong places. She’s been with you all along.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Cassandra chuckled. “How blind can you be? The powers, the time travel, hell, she even brought her dead roommate back to life. Are you just going to pass those off as normal?”

Julio’s heavy breaths echoed across the room. “No,” he panted. “You can’t mean—”

“Just last month, you talked about the Author’s manifestation possibly lingering around the Metropolis,” Cassandra began. “Well, look no further. In this godforsaken place, I was the one who found her. I was the one who figured it out. Quinn Vasquez holds evidence of the Author’s powers, the very abilities that tried to get rid of me all those years ago. And I’m finally going to take them for myself…”

“No!”

I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My vision was hazy, but I noticed how pale my skin was and how dark my eyes had gotten. I had avoided mirrors because I didn’t want to face the truth. I didn’t want a reminder that Cassandra and I were reflections of ourselves, but now, in the many mirrors that faced me, I saw myself tired, powerless, and alone.

Was the Author supposed to look like that?

Footsteps filled the room, swimming through my ears as the sounds threatened to drown me. But just as I thought I was going to close my eyes, I saw Cassandra run toward the balcony with Julio right behind her. I crawled on my elbows, mustering all of my strength to reach them, but I knew it was a lost cause. I was withering away, and it would only be a matter of time before I would sink into darkness.

On the balcony, Cassandra pointed her knife at Julio, causing the latter to stop dead in his tracks.

“What?” Cassandra asked. “What else do you plan to do? Don’t you see? I’ve already won. The Author’s manifestation is powerless.”

“You haven’t won, Cassandra,” Julio said. “I’m still here, and I’ll protect her even if it’s the last thing I do.”

“Do you even hear yourself? You want to protect her from someone you’ve created, someone who wasn’t even supposed to exist. If it weren’t for you, Quinn wouldn’t have to deal with all of this. You were the one who brought her all this pain.”

“Shut up—”

Julio looked like he was about to throw the vial at her, but Cassandra knocked it out of his hands. It fell over the balcony and onto the streets, never to be seen again.

“You know,” Cassandra said. “I’ve been ungrateful to you.”

Julio’s eyes widened, his hands shaking with rage.

“You have brought me into this world, right?” Cassandra told him. “So you have given me a chance to build it the way I wanted. Without you, I never would have fulfilled my dreams like this. So, thank you, daddy.”

Julio pointed his knife at her. “Don’t call me that!”

“You have suffered enough from the guilt. Let me ease it for you to return the favor…”

Cassandra lunged, swinging her knife as Julio dodged, tipping over the rails. Just before he could lose his balance, he transformed into a dove and flew straight for Cassandra, his wings spreading like the majestic being I knew he could be.

But Cassandra knew what her next move should be. She threw her knife, and it pierced straight into the dove’s chest. Spots of red streaked the clear, afternoon sky. If I weren’t so weak, I would have screamed, but I could only watch as the bird lost its flight, plummeting to the ground below.