Jude’s Apartment, 8:00 p.m.

The intercom rang at the turn of the hour exactly, and Jude went over to answer it.

“Hello?”

From the receiver, he heard, “It’s Nathan!”

Jude sighed when he heard Nathan’s voice, but he opened the door all the same. Angela would be with him.

Iris, who was lying on his bed perked up. She always got excited when she was about to see Angela and completely overlooked Nathan’s presence at that moment.

About half a minute later, they heard a knock on the door.

As soon as Jude opened it, Angela rushed past him to hug Iris, while Nathan simply walked in.

“Welcome,” Jude said.

“She was really excited to see Iris. They haven’t been able to see each other as often as she’d like, probably,” Nathan replied. Nathan was fidgety, his fingers were scratching at his pants as he talked, as if trying to hold in excitement.

Jude knew what it was.

“I’m guessing you guys saw the news today?” he asked.

“YES! I mean! What really was that with the tower? Do you guys know?” Nathan’s eyes widened as he shot off questions.

Jude looked back and saw Angela and Iris lost in their own world, talking to each other and catching up on all that was happening with them. Iris was telling Angela about Jude’s new job.

“We do. Let’s just talk about that when Iris’ dad gets here. Better to do it all at once,” Jude replied. “Do you want something to drink?”

Nathan’s excitement rose, and he almost jumped when Jude told him they knew what was happening, but just as he was about to open his mouth to ask more, he thought better of it and replied, “Beer, please. If you have any.”

Jude walked over to the fridge and grabbed four cans of beer. Meanwhile, Nathan walked over to Iris to greet her and join the conversation.

When Jude walked over to hand a can of beer to each of them, Angela said, “Jude! Congratulations! The NY Public Library! That’s crazy! You just got here!”

When Angela was excited, she only really had one volume: loud. However, Jude wasn’t bothered by that. He was happier to talk about his new job than to talk about the tower.

“Yeah. I got lucky. A lot of people left New York, so the library was short staffed.”

“I bet those powers of yours helped too!” Nathan said with an almost fanatical expression.

“They… I didn’t actually have to use them. I knew the languages I was tested on already, another lucky break.”

“Right! But if you hadn’t known, it wouldn’t have mattered. That’s so cool!”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Jude replied to Nathan, who remained insistent.

“It is! Man, I can’t wait to get my own…”

Jude and Iris shared a look at that last statement, and though Angela looked uncomfortable, Nathan remained steadfast in his desire.

“Can we talk about something else? The whole tower thing really scares me,” Angela said.

“Yeah, there’ll be time for that later,” Iris replied. “What’s going on with you Angie? Any new auditions?”

Iris changed the subject immediately, and Angela proceeded to recount the auditions she had gone to, and the parts she was preparing to read for. Parts of Broadway were still functioning, but off-Broadway shows became increasingly more popular. People still wanted entertainment, but they also didn’t want to be that close to the tower. For that reason, independent productions that normally wouldn’t see a great turnout of people started to thrive, and some were even selling out.

Half as many people were living in New York now as there had been before the tower, and tourism had not returned in full. Only Newark Liberty International Airport was operational, so people had to drive into the city if they wanted to visit. There were roadblocks and checkpoints, so it was more difficult to get to New York than ever before. Still, as time passed, more and more people returned to a normal and oblivious routine. If nothing else, humanity as a group was quick to adapt to a calamity, even to the point of ignoring it altogether.

That people wanted to return to New York was a good thing for those citizens who had remained in the city. Tourism meant that new money would come into the city, and with new money came new resources for the citizenry. January and February had been great struggles for the City of New York. Had people not left to live elsewhere, there would’ve been a massive shortage of food and other supplies. For the first half of January, nobody had wanted to deliver goods to New York, and it was only after the military had set up camp that some companies had felt safe enough to reopen their delivery routes.

Stolen story; please report.

That almost immediate shortage of supplies with the appearance of the tower and the disappearance of a hundred thousand people was a big reason people took the government’s deal to get them relocated.

They talked for another half hour before the intercom rang again.

“Hello?” Jude answered.

“It’s Mr. Lee.”

“Come on up, sir!”

Jude opened the door for Mr. Lee, and again, after half a minute, there was another knock on the door.

When Jude opened it, he saw Mr. Lee across the threshold with bags of groceries in his hands.

“Let me help you with that!” Jude said.

“Thank you, son. Just put them on the counter, and I’ll cook us all something delicious.”

“Dad! You didn’t have to!” Iris protested.

“We can’t have a serious conversation on empty stomachs,” Mr. Lee replied. The old man was still trying to delay hearing what Jude and Iris wanted to say, and they both knew that. “Hello, Angela. Nathan.”

“Hi, Mr. Lee,” Nathan replied. “You certainly brought a lot of stuff.” There was a tinge of annoyance in his voice. Nathan knew that the cooking would delay what he wanted to know even more.

Meanwhile, Angela walked over to Mr. Lee and hugged him, “Hi, dad.”

As soon as she had turned eighteen, Angela had left her house. She had still been a senior in high school then, and Iris had been afraid that she would have had nowhere to go and that something even worse might have happened to her. Iris had asked her dad to allow Angela to move in, and Mr. Lee had agreed. They had lived like that until both of them had gone off to their respective higher education schools, but after they had lived together for a while, Angela had asked both Mr. Lee and Iris to be able to call Mr. Lee dad.

It had been the first time in all her life that she had felt safe with an adult, and she had wanted to celebrate that. Both Iris and Mr. Lee had cried then, and Iris had jumped up and said, “Of course! You’re my sister!”

Mr. Lee had also agreed. The man who still blamed himself for the death of his wife had felt a weight come off his shoulders when he had heard Angela’s request. He had realized that he could still help people.

Angela and Iris helped Mr. Lee cook, and they reminisced about the time they lived together while doing so. Nathan and Jude made small talk as they waited, with Nathan growing increasingly more fidgety. He had gone from scratching his pants to biting his nails every so often.

An hour later, dinner was served. Because Jude’s apartment was so small, the four younger people got plates filled directly from the pots on the counter and sat on the mattress to eat. Mr. Lee ate at the small table in the apartment. They continued their conversation, not ever touching the topic of or mentioning anything related to the tower. Almost everyone had seconds. Nathan did not.

When the last person finally finished, Jude started washing the dishes. Iris and Angela couldn’t stop talking to each other and reminiscing about the past, and Mr. Lee enjoyed watching them be excited about having each other present. To him, it almost felt like they were back in high school. By contrast, Nathan got quieter as time passed.

It was around eleven when Jude finished the dishes, and as he did, silence spread across the room. Iris had kept an eye on him all the while, so she cut off the conversation with Angela midway, stood up from the mattress and walked up next to Jude.

“OK, guys,” she said. “It’s time.”

Nathan perked up eagerly, but somber expressions dawned on both Mr. Lee and Angela. None of them spoke, so Jude broke the silence.

“First, I’m sure all of you saw what happened to the tower last night, the glow and everything else that was caught on video.”

They all nodded.

“Well,” Iris continued. “We’re going back.”

Mr. Lee’s head dropped against his hands, and Angela’s eyes started to water. Nathan could not contain his smile.

“It’s not tomorrow,” Jude said. “It’ll be two weeks from now, so we have enough time to prepare. I just want to make sure that this timeline is not something that others should know, so please don’t mention it even in passing. I’m not sure even the military knows the exact date, but they should be preparing nonetheless.”

“Right. We’re fortunate that Jude has… perks for that. We know the date and the time, so we’ll meet here again that day so that when we come back, and we’ll come back, we are in the same place.”

“Now,” Jude started, “here’s the complicated part: we don’t know how many people will be taken. There’s a chance one or all of you could be pulled into the tower. If that happens, we have a plan.”

“There’s no guarantee that it’ll be like last time,” Iris said. “We don’t know if they’ll put everyone together, and if we’ll show up in that cave again. We have people who survived the first trial now, so it could be possible the tower will split people in groups. That said, if it doesn’t, you have to meet us inside. We’ll make sure all of you are safe.”

Angela curled up against Nathan’s chest and started to cry. She was scared.

“Angie,” Iris emphasized, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“But something could happen to you! And all the violence… We know most people died last time. What if it’s the same this time? Even if I don’t end up in the tower, what if you don’t come back?”

“We’ll come back,” Jude replied. His tone was serious and resolute. There was no question in his mind that they would come back.

“You don’t know that…” Angela replied meekly.

It was true that he couldn’t tell the future, but Angela’s protest was childish, and she knew it. She was just unable to control her emotions and worries at that moment.

Nathan wasn’t saying anything, but his mind was racing. He wanted to be taken. It was his chance, and Jude and Iris would protect them. He knew they were strong, stronger than the military team. The stories they had told about the tower surpassed those the military media tour had recounted. His best chance was with them.

“It’ll be OK, honey,” Nathan finally said. “Iris and Jude are strong.”

Angela continued to cry for a while longer, but Mr. Lee remained silent throughout. When Iris noticed that, she asked, “Dad?”

The older man sighed heavily, the weight of the world seemed to press against his chest.

“You have to come back,” he said. “You all have to come back.”

“I will,” Iris replied.

Angela, who had already stopped crying, looked at Mr. Lee and nodded slowly. She knew that if she got taken, panicking would be the worst thing possible, and there would be people she loved waiting for her outside.

Once they had all calmed down, and nerves had settled, Iris said, “OK. Let’s go over the plan.”