Chapter 4#

   Bluren felt as if every five minutes her heart went from being frozen, to being on fire. That morning, she had hurried with her work. While doing this, she had almost cut her hand with the knife. Emi scolded her, and told her to slow down. Bluren wasn't sure when she would be back, so she told Emi, who said it was alright if her and Ciri handled the shop for the day. Bluren obeyed, but it was difficult.

   At about 10 A.M. Bluren hung up her apron and set out into the cold world outside. The gears of her bike seemed to be harder to push on that particular day. Her arms and legs were rigid, and not just bacause if the cold. When she rode into the clearing before the masters gate, she saw With relieve that Tara was waiting with her heavy mailbag slung across her shoulder. Tara saw Bluren too, and grinned. Bluren found it difficult to smile herself, so she only waved. "What do you think they will do?" She asked nervously, and for nearly the tenth time. Tara grabbed Bluren's shoulders and held her at arms length. "Bluren" she said "I honest-to-goodness don't know what's going to happen when you walk through that door. All I know is that your one of the smartest people I know. I have confidence that you and be able to deal with whatever they throw at you, and I will be there to help."  

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   The doors to the Masters head quarters were huge and made of dark oak wood and were coverd with tiny elaborate carvings. Bluren hadn't seen anything like it, they were beautiful, but could easily crush her flat. There were no handles or door bells, like the ones on other official buildings in The Beach, so she knocked as loud as she could. Her knuckles hurt from rapping the hard wood. It was another cold day, so she wrapped her blue shawl tighter and stamped her boot clad feet to keep them from growing numb.

   She looked back at the gate. Tara had gone. Tara used the special secret entrance for employees, and was probably already inside. Twenty more seconds. She knocked again, harder this time, fingers stinging. Now there was rustling inside. A small piece of the wood door flew up, and a pair of eyes as cold as stone stared out at her. Startled by this, Bluren began to introduce herself, but the slit in the door closed again with a snap. Bluren was about to be offended, when she heard a chorus of clicking and sliding coming from the other side of the door. Blot after bolt was unlocked and the door opened with a mechanical buzz.

   At the door was a small girl, so little she was probably schooling age. She wore the purple Masters uniform on top of an immaculately clean white dress. Her hair was dark and short, slightly spiked, like Bethany's was on her vanishing day. Her eyes were an unnaturally dark blue. "Bluren Steelman?" The little girl asked in a surprisingly authoriave tone, as she put out her hand to collect some kind of proof. Bluren nodded, and then handed over the Masters letter. The little girl took it daintily and sent it down a chute in the wall, "Most likely leading to somewhere important." Bluren thought. Bluren lifted her head to look up and her heart nearly skipped a beat.

   The ceiling was transparent, and Bluren could see people walking on top. Seven giant chandeliers hung from the celing as well. The floors were shining marble, and the room was warm and smelled of cider and baked bread and all things good. Bluren and the girl were alone in a great entry room, about thirty times bigger then Bluren's house. At the far end of the room there was a wall will a series of chutes leading straight up. "Follow me, please." The girl said lightly. They walked to one of the chutes, and the girl expertly typed a long numberd code into a pad on the wall. Bluren looked around her some more. The rooms advanced technology was expertly hidden or blended around the room, so the feeling of walking into a palace was still there.

   The tube was made of glass. As they went up, it Bluren thought it was like being in a jar that got tossed in the air, but smoothly and controlled. In a matter of seconds, they had stopped. The doors opened and the girl once again took the lead. There were people everywhere, rushing to and fro purposefully. Ages of these people ranged from about seven to about eighteen or nineteen. This surprised Bluren, because people that old were rarely seen. Folks usually got their vanishing notices before sixteen or seventeen. Bluren had thought about when her own would come, and when she did she always got that squeezy feeling inside. Bethany wouldn't want it, she knew that, so she decided that at all costs she would try to stay as invisible as possible, in case that would keep the Masters attention off her. That plan was apparently a failure.

   They waded through the children passing through,to two double doors, not unlike the ones Bluren entered in. The girl typed the code into the pad again and the doors slowly opened. The girl smiled-was it with pity?- an said "Go on in. He has been waiting to see you."