Sadie shook her head as Baz flicked through the pages. Etta used to doodle in class when they were still at North Valley together, but they'd just been anime eyes and cat faces. She'd improved at an incredible pace after she'd joined ArtSoc. Once again, the whole thing seemed so unfair, that she'd disappear just as she was really starting to grow into herself.
One of the drawings in the sketchbook grabbed her attention. "Wait," Sadie said, before Baz could turn the page.
It was a picture of a concrete compound, surrounded by a rusted chain-link fence. An electricity pylon snaked long wires overhead, silhouetted against the brilliant daylight. The place looked disused: metal barrels and debris scattered across the floor, and the only building — a two-storey warehouse off to the side — had shuttered windows daubed with graffiti.
And the place was overgrown. Plants burst through the cracks in the concrete and the holes in the windows of the building, snaked up the fence and coiled between bars of the pylon.
Sadie looked closer and her blood ran cold. She knew these plants, the silvery leaves and iridescent petals, the clusters of violet flowers snaking down the walls. They were the same as the ones dying in her pocket, the ones colonising her apartment, painted on the wall in Gerrard Street—
"Holy shit," Sadie muttered.
"What?" Baz said again. His dark eyes flicked from her to the picture and back again, visibly irritated at being left out of the loop. "What's happening?"
It was the exact question Sadie was longing to ask. She'd thought the plants were her small secret, a strange pocket phenomenon just for her. But suddenly it seemed like everyone was in on it. Avel, Casper — even Etta. She felt like she was at the centre of some great conspiracy, if only she could connect the dots.
Come on, Sadie. Think. Casper had written about the plants. But he'd claimed they came from Eseran, the fantasy world he'd made up. So this picture — was this Eseran as well? The place was real?
Sadie shook her head.She'd recognised every other place Etta had drawn. They were definitely places in the city. Staring hard at the sketchbook, Sadie realised the scene seemed familiar as well.
She glanced at Baz. "Do you know where this is?"
Baz still seemed a little put out. But he narrowed his eyes at the sketch, like he did when he was concentrating.
"Looks like the old radio tower," he said finally. "You know, out in the washlands."
A quick google confirmed he was right. Sadie sat back on the bed, brow furrowed in thought. Etta must have taken some inspiration from Casper's work, like Avel, and incorporated it into her sketches.
But none of the other pictures Etta had drawn had those flowers in. What was it about that place in particular?
She shook her head and muttered, "I just don't get it."
"Damn it, Sadie." Baz folded his arms. "Are you doing this on purpose or what?"
"Doing what?"
"Being all mysterious and shit." He held up the sketchbook. "What's the deal with this picture?"
"There's no deal," Sadie said. "How long d'you think it would it take to get there?"
Baz typed something on his phone. "Three and a half hours."
"Three and a what?"
But he wasn't even exaggerating. The route involved taking a train across the city, then two buses, and finally an hour and a half long trek through the countryside. "Why is it so far away?" Sadie griped.
Baz shrugged. "'Cause they built it out in the sticks for some reason."
"Can't we just take a taxi here and walk it?" Sadie zoomed in on the road running behind the field the radio tower was in. "That's way faster."
Baz grinned. "Juuuust one problem." He took her phone and returned it with a list of taxi fares.
"I can't afford that," Sadie said. "What are we gonna do?"
"Hmm. My mum doesn't drive..." He glanced at Sadie. "I'm assuming you're still not talking to your parents..." He sat up and snapped his fingers. "Wait. We know a guy with a car."
"Uh, we do?"
"You don't remember?" Baz said, getting to his feet. "Come on. If we leave now we might be able to catch him."
