The train stopped. Una and Rowan helped Lily down off the top of the train and brought her aboveground while Breakfast and Tristan stayed and went shopping around the station.
“We have to get you out of the city quickly. Cast a glamour before anyone recognizes you,” Rowan said urgently. Lily did as he said as they melted into the foot traffic lining the city streets.
Lily noticed that Una was staring up at the soaring architecture. It was the first time she’d seen a city in this world, and the scale was overwhelming.
Baltimore wasn’t quite as big as Salem, but it was still New York City tall and compact. Yet it didn’t look or feel like any city in Una and Lily’s world. Vegetation spilled off every rooftop and terrace, and greenhouses dotted every block. Huge spiraling lattices, called greentowers, soared up into the sky, dwarfing even the tallest skyscrapers.
Rowan quickly explained to Una that vertical farming had become a necessity inside the Thirteen Cities after the Woven took over all the arable land outside the walls. All the structures needed to support vegetation or the people would starve to death inside their walls. The architecture made sense, maybe more sense than the way cities were constructed in Lily’s world, but it was still strange to Una’s eyes.
And then there were the tame Woven, called guardians, which were chained to the bottom of the greentowers to guard the precious food they supported. Una stared at the guardians, as unsettled as Lily had been when she first saw them. They looked like a combination of dog, bear, and tiger, but Lily thought that the eyes were different. They seemed intelligent—almost human. Lily looked at one of the guardians, and she could have sworn it was looking back at her like it was thinking.
As they hurried through the crowded streets, Una kept catching herself staring at everything like a hick. Lily could see her struggling to act casually.
“Yeah, those are weird-looking cars,” Una said under her breath as one of the sleek, futuristic automobiles hummed past.
“They call them elepods. They’re electric cars, basically,” Lily said.
“Okay. I can deal with that,” Una said, keeping it together. “But what the hell is that?”
She pointed up into the sky where a winged creature darted and spun. Lily had seen a few of them in Salem, but they seemed more popular here in Baltimore. They looked like tiny dragons, and Lily knew only rich people could afford them.
“That’s a pet drake,” Rowan said in an offhand way. “The big drakes are grown by the Covens to defend the air space over the Thirteen Cities from flying Woven. They’re useful. But the little ones are just pains in the asses for everyone except their owners. Nasty little biters.”
“Then why do people get them?” Una asked. “Apart from the fact that they’re gorgeous.”
Rowan shrugged. “To prove they can afford to pay for the license the Covens require to own one. Even tame Woven are taken very seriously, and every one is meticulously documented.”
“That makes sense,” Una said, her eyes still glued to the little drakes.
“In Salem they’re considered too flashy by most,” Rowan added distastefully. Lily could tell he didn’t like them. Rowan didn’t trust any of the Woven, not even the supposedly tame ones.
“Where do they grow them?” Una asked, staring at the jewel-like creatures with open envy.
“They’re grown in the Stacks, like all of the bio-assets the Covens provide the cities,” Rowan replied. He suddenly frowned, ending the conversation. They were coming to the city gates, which were surrounded by guards. “Lily. Hide two of your willstones,” he whispered.
Lily did as he said and saw his eyes unfocus in the telltale sign of mindspeak. Lily looked up at the colossal wall surrounding Baltimore, and understood. Once they went through those gates, they wouldn’t be able to contact Tristan and Breakfast.