James lay in his bed, trying to absorb something from some of the books Seli had given them.
He flipped the cover page over, which had a picture of a man on with an offensive gun in his hand as he stood dramatically on a stone, staring out into the horizon. The man was called William Axar, as inscribed on the stone below him. He seemed to have been a great Guardian, but there was nothing on him in any of Seli’s books, just quick references here and there.
James flipped it to where he left off, Chapter Six, where Seli herself had scribbled in little notes on a paper and slipped it in.
He read:
The sky and atmosphere In Nemo city is dependent on Nemo’s character, if he’s happy or feeling jubilant, the sky would be clear and sometimes sunny. If he felt angry, maybe thunderstorms or tornadoes et cetera. And sad, rain or drought or something of those sorts.
What about drunk? James thought.
The cells call this world the Inside, and the human world the Outside. … the Heart and the Brain have been like opposing allies throughout the Inside’s history, both claiming to be the best Guardian Organ there is in the world-Inside world, of course. I personally think the Heart is the Greatest Organ.
James smiled and rolled his eyes. He, Leo and Seli had argued over this multiple of times. Leo and James said that the Brain was the most powerful Organ, especially when it came to Guardians, and Seli would always resist and say the Heart was actually the best and the Brain was just like, back-up cops. Sometimes they would even call Rognard to join in, and he would always shrug and not answer. Leo had once said the Stomach was the most important Organ. Food was important.
James went back to the notes.
This feud dates back to the late…
Date. Something in James memory paused at the word date. It sounded pretty important, whatever it was. James thought hard, but nothing came. He shrugged and continued.
In 1942, deep one night…
Night. Six. Stomach. Restaurant. It all came back to him now. Cornie had said he should meet her at Rotwika Restaurant at six. James checked the wall clock in his room. It was seven thirty.
He had to show up, even if he was like an hour and thirty minutes late. He scrambled up from the bed, put on some jeans, perfumed himself briefly, put on his sneakers and virtually run out of the room.
Seli was in the sitting room writing more about Nemo City and the Inside world. She seemed to deeply understand this Inside thing very well.
James sped past her. She looked up with a curious scowl. “James,” she called. “Where’re you going?”
But James barely stopped.
“Can’t talk,” he said. “Your notes are great, by the way, you should write a book.”
And he vanished into the streets.
If he would have cared to look, he would have noticed that Rognard’s car was absent from the parking lot.