Chapter 19Lydia looked over New Athens and nearly cringed.
She stood in the kitchenette of their suite, as far from the balcony as she could get.
The sight of the city packing the bowl-like valley nine stories below caused her heart to thunder and her breath to rasp. Her skin crawled and grew clammy, the fine, cilia-like hair on her arms prickling.
Melanctha's standing on that very same balcony, leaning against it, and looking as if she were going to pitch over the side to the street below, didn't help.
Lydia forced herself to sit in a chair, and when that didn't assuage her panic very much, she turned her chair to face the other direction.
Her back to the window, she was finally able to relax somewhat, her heart slowing and her breathing becoming easier.
“Not a comforting sight, eh?
