After a quick change in his room, Evan headed to the rooftop pool, hoping exercise would help clear his mind. The roof had a stunning panoramic view of Santa Barbara, with the Pacific to the West, mountains to the East, and a sea of terra-cotta roofs topping the Spanish architecture the area was famous for. The morning light was a canopy of gold and pink clouds beneath a sky of light blue; another perfect morning in a beautiful town.
He stripped down to a pair of black swimming trunks and dove into the water, enjoying the sensation of cool water slipping over his skin. It was a great feeling to swim outdoors with the natural world surrounding him. In his world the only bodies of water that anyone could swim in were man-made and unnatural. They were nothing more than a system generated program with an artificial environment meant to evoke the natural wonders of other worlds. The fabricated world he grew up and lived in was created by visionaries, and built on top of an otherwise dead and desolate world. It was a rare occasion to see what his home really looked like, and those with power made sure the artificiality was as convincing as any lie could be. No matter how elaborate the deception there was no comparing their fabricated world to the natural one around him there. Not many others had the opportunities he had, and he never once took it for granted.
He often escaped to other worlds, always preferring them to his own. The synthetic realities he was used to never compared to the places they copied, as if they could never quite get it right no matter how seemingly perfect they looked. Over time he recreated his memories of foreign worlds in his home space, as a way to walk through his recollections at will. They offered a fake escape when a real one was impossible. He thought he might recreate Santa Barbara, the perfect pocket of that world complete with a rooftop pool and stunning views. It would remind him of Zoe.
He saw her face in his memories, her almond shaped brown eyes and high cheek bones, waves of brown hair cascading down her shoulders. Hers was a beauty that could not be replicated. As much as he desired to stay with her he knew it would merely delay the inevitable. He was not from her world and she was not from his. Soon he would have to go back home and leave her behind.
A thought nagged at him. There was no guaranteeing she would keep herself safe, and she was right that he couldn’t follow her around waiting to catch her. He had to trust that she would remain, would keep herself alive. He had to accept not knowing what would become of her, as difficult as it may be.
His arms and legs eventually tired from swimming laps He emerged from the pool, toweled the water from his skin and walked back to his room.
He hoped she wasn’t sitting on the couch, going over everything that had happened in the previous twenty-four hours. He imagined her opening the doors and windows to let in the fresh air, breathing in the scent of the ocean and of the citrus trees that perfumed behind her house. He pictured her smiling, the sun on her face and in her hair. More than anything he wanted her to find happiness, to have a genuine reason to smile and live.
Evan stopped just short of the door, thoughts of Zoe gone. There was a difference in the atmosphere in the hallway and a prickling sensation disturbed his skin. With a casual look to his right and left he determined he was alone in the hallway. He inserted the key and reached for the door handle, only to receive a small bolt of electricity. Unhurt, he opened the door and shook out the light twinge in his hand.
A woman’s figure was silhouetted against the large window overlooking the city. He recognized her even before she turned to reveal her face.
“What are you doing here, Eva?” he asked, defenses subsided.
“I could ask you the same question, Evander,” she replied. He bristled at the sound of his full name,. She was the only one who ever called him Evander.
“You know why I’m here.” He draped the wet towel hanging around his neck on an upholstered chair and headed into the bathroom to change, leaving Eva by herself. When he emerged a few minutes later, freshly dressed and clean, she was sitting on the couch looking out the window in silence.
“It's lovely here,” she noted without looking at him. “Quite a change from home, isn’t it?” She looked at him finally, an eyebrow raised in mild amusement.
“Why are you here?” he asked, taking a seat on the edge of the bed.
Eva sat on the couch a few feet from the bed. “Your absence from Terra has been noticed. The Stratons have been asking for you.”
“Don’t you mean the Queen and King?” he asked dryly.
Eva’s lips pursed. “Yes, well Queen Kyra and King Owyn have between them an indelible curiosity. It seems the King fancies you his closest friend while the Queen just fancies you. I’ve told them I don’t know where my dear brother travels to for long stretches of time, but that I would do my best to find him and bring him home. So here I am.” She upturned her palms and smiled generously.