Terranovus

Philon was right. The dessert was incredible. A vanilla creme brulee cooked to perfection with a gooey hazelnut brownie on the side. I was in dessert heaven.

“It’s good?” asked Philon. I nodded and used my index finger to wipe away the remaining creme brulee from the ramekin.

“Would it be rude to ask for seconds?” I asked. Philon chuckled and shook his head amused.

“For a small person, you have a very large appetite,” he said. I immediately stopped licking my finger and felt my cheeks blush to a bright tomato red. Oops.

Soon the dessert plates were cleared and tea and coffee was served with small biscuits on the side. I eyed the chocolate chip cookies tempted but placed my hands firmly underneath my thighs. I have self-control, I told myself.

“So you want to become an architect?” asked Philon, as he poured himself some peppermint tea.

“I do,” I said. “My dad is an engineer, so I suppose I got the talent from him. I love how an architect’s piece of art can remain on this Earth for decades, or sometimes even a century or two. I want to design buildings that will encourage and support our ecosystem. Terranovus is so green, I don’t understand why the Sectors aren’t too,” I explained.

“Well there’s a lack of space,” said Philon.

“True,” I said, “but there doesn’t have to be. Our buildings and skyscrapers were built quickly and with little thought of the future. They were made of such poor quality that sometimes you’ll have three or four levels completely uninhabitable, structurally unsafe. And the lack of funding prevented reusable water systems and solar panels from being installed. Did you know there are kilometres of land in the Sectors, just filled with power stations? If they had installed solar panels and wind turbines on every building, half of those power stations could have permanently be closed by now.” Philon appeared lost in thought and was rubbing his chin perplexed. My eyes wandered over to the plate of cookies and I reminded myself I had self-control.

“Do you want to go for a walk in the garden?” Philon finally asked.

“The garden?” I asked surprised.

“Yes,” he said smiling, “the garden.”

“Sure,” I said. We excused ourselves from the table and stood up. I watched Ava in the corner of my eye glare at me with fury. So I smugly smiled at her and snatched the last cookie from the table and followed Philon out of the room. Screw self-control. You only live once.

The night air was fortunately still warm but a cool breeze from the sea was slowly creeping in. I shivered as Philon and I stepped down the garden path.

“Here, have this,” said Philon and he took off his dinner jacket and wrapped it around my shoulders and arms, they were covered in goosebumps.

“Thanks,” I mumbled. Philon’s garden was nicely lit with fairy lights, placed amongst beds of flowers and bushes I didn’t know the name of. I wished I knew the name of them. We came to a stop underneath a tree that grew white soft flowers the shape of a star.

“This tree is a Magnolia tree,” said Philon, “it’s my favourite.” He reached up on his tiptoes and plucked a flower and admired it between his fingertips. “It reminds me of my mother,” he said.

I remembered what my mum told me outside the Mayor’s home.

“I’m sorry-” I began.

“Please don’t say that,” said Philon. “I hate it when people say that.” I nodded and stared at the flower he held. It was white, but also had a tint of purple to it.

“What was she like?” I asked and strolled down the garden path further. The house was nearly out of sight.

“She was kind,” Philon said, “she saw the best in people. In all people.”

“That was like my grandmother,” I said. “When a family friend died once, she told me a story to make me feel better. She said once a person dies, they become a star in the sky. I told her but there are no stars. And she insisted there were, but the pollution hid them from us. She said it was only once the world became at peace with nature again would we be able to see our loved ones.”

At this, Philon and I both looked up and admired the thousands of white dots painted in the sky. They were twinkling and shining brightly. I tried to find the constellations I read about in an article once but there were too many stars to pick any constellations out.

“I wish everyone at home could see this,” I whispered quietly. But the lottery was bogus. Only the Army had the power to decide who could or could not see the stars. My eyes flickered over to Philon who was still staring up at the stars and I glanced behind us to make sure we were definitely alone.

“I found out the land we stand on isn’t new,” I said. I watched Philon’s facial expression but he didn’t react. He didn’t say anything. I continued, “your father is the Mayor, did you know this land was not new?”

He swallowed and I saw him thinking, mulling over his answer.

“Yes,” he finally said. I thought of Tommy, of the resistance, and knew I had to take advantage of this opportunity.

“Did you play any part in killing the previous residents?” I asked. This time he turned to me and clutched my shoulders upset.

“No,” he said angrily, “don’t ever think that. How could you think that? I play no part in what my father, his friends and the Commander of the Army do.” He shook me by the shoulders, “do you understand?” I was taken aback by his outburst. He was usually so composed, so calm and hard to read.

I nodded, believing him. But I had to push him to the max. I had to know the truth, the whole truth.

“Do you know what country the Army will destroy next?” I said.

Philon’s eyes, now filled with fear, darted over to his home, which was barely visible through the bushes, and back to me.

“You shouldn’t be saying stuff like that aloud Tabitha,” he warned cooly. I scoffed at that and pushed his hands off me.

“Someone needs to,” I retorted.

“Not if you want to live,” he warned. I laughed loudly, completely losing any sense of civility.

“So are we just going to pretend the Army isn’t planning to kill millions of others humans anytime soon? Isn’t planning to scorch children alive as we speak?” I argued. Philon stepped forward and glared at me.

“Don’t do this. Not here. Not in my father’s home,” he warned.

“I don’t give a crap about your Dad. I’m not scared of him,” I said and stepped forward too so we were millimetres apart.

“You should Tilly. You need to stay out of this. Don’t stress about it. I’ll take care of it,” he said. I gazed into his clear blue eyes, a deep clear blue that was incredibly rare to see these days living, and wondered if I should trust him.

Suddenly someone called his name from the Drawing Room patio and seconds later my mum’s voice echoed down the garden calling my name too. Philon sighed and looked at me sincerely.

“Trust me,” he said, “I’ll take care of it.” Then he walked off and left me standing in the dark. I turned around, confused, and watched him make his way back through the garden path and up to the house. What did he mean? Take care of what? I set off after him and caught up just as he made it to the patio. My mum was looking at me worried, and next to her my dad was glaring at Philon with a million daggers in his eyes.

Philon turned to the butler who was standing near the glass sliding doors, “sorry for keeping you waiting, Jaideep.”

“Sir,” said the man, “your father urgently requires your presence in his office.” Philon nodded and straightened his jacket then turned to my parents.

“I apologise for showing your daughter our garden without your permission. Over dinner, she told me she loved Magnolia trees but had never seen one before, so I took her into our garden to show her ours. I apologise, Mr McKinley, I should have asked for permission first,” he said. I glared at Philon, my anger levels now rising through the roof, I wasn’t some animal that requires permission to walk it!

“You’re quite forgiven,” said my dad stiffly, and my mum leaned forward.

“Please thank your father for this wonderful evening, Philon. But I think it’s best if we head home now,” she said.

“You’re most welcome,” he said, then excused himself and walked out of the room.

My dad turned to me with a stern expression on his face but my mum bounced between us and wrapped an arm around me.

“Hasn’t it been such a lovely evening?” she said chirpily. “Paul, why don’t you call a car and Tabitha, dear, would you mind getting out coats from the closet?”

“Sure,” I said and ducked out of the room as quickly as possible. Thank goodness for mothers, I thought.

In the hallway, I glanced down and tried to remember which door held a jacket closet behind it. Taking a wild guess it was the third one to the left, I opened it and saw our jackets hanging. Breathing a sigh of relief, I thanked my sixth sense and took them off the hook and shut the door. I turned but paused at the sound of voices coming from a room next to me. It was marked “private” on a silver plaque. The door was ajar slightly. I glanced around to make sure no one else was in the hallway and tiptoed forward to hear better.

“We’re ready, Sir. Everything is prepared and the missiles have been loaded,” said a voice I didn’t recognise.

“Excellent Sergeant,” said the Major, “and the Commander of the Army, when does he arrive?”

“Tomorrow morning, Sir,” said the Sergeant.

“Perfect, let’s prepare the launch tomorrow evening. Just as the sun sets,” said Volkov. My heart lurched and I felt as though I couldn’t breathe. Missiles? Launch? Attack? My heart dropped with realisation - they were going to destroy another land. Tomorrow. I looked down at my Ingo and knew I had to inform the resistance as soon as possible.

“And Philon, what’s the status on their communications?” asked Volkov.

“They’re ready to be taken down, Father. I can disable all the communication towers and satellites at the touch of a button. The Sectors won’t know what’s coming and the residents of other lands will be clueless.”

I gasped and immediately backed away. The Sectors? The Sectors were next? My Sectors? And Philon ... that bastard ... he knew! He lied to me. I marched back to the Drawing Room.

“Mum, Dad, we’re going. Now,” I said. My parents turned to me startled and Mum apologised to another mother she had been talking to.

“Tabitha, don’t be rude,” she gasped

“I don’t feel well. I think I’m going to throw up,” I said truthfully. Her anger turned to sympathy.

“Was it something you ate? Do you need to use the bathroom?” she asked.

“No, I just want to go home,” I said. My parents bid farewell to the other parents and I ignored the stares from the other kids, right now I couldn’t care less what they thought. I turned to the front door and opened it.

“Ah, McKinley’s leaving so soon?” Mayor Volkov asked. I spun around and saw Philon and the Mayor standing in the hallway.

“Unfortunately Tabitha isn’t feeling well,” explained Dad.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” said Volkov, “I hope it wasn’t the food.” Everybody turned to me.

“I don’t think so,” I said, “I’ve been feeling on and off all day.”

“Ah, well I hope you feel well soon,” Volkov replied. I managed a half smile and avoided Philon gaze. We walked out of the doorway and towards the driverless car waiting for us.

“Tilly, wait!” called out Philon and he ran quickly to catch up with us. I had already opened the car door and I spun around and glared at him.

“Don’t speak to me,” I spat at him. He looked at me horrified and the realisation hit him. Guilt spread across his face.

“Please let me explain-” he started.

“Don’t!” I replied and climbed into the car.