Chapter 08: Hidden Cities 01

This city was hidden from those who were alive, like an overgrown graveyard in a desert valley; and the spirits of the dead came out of the buried places of the living, moving in and out between the empty buildings, seeing and hearing and speaking in the hearts of the living like unseen words in tongues and broken sounds and cracked smiles. In this new city, they walked among the gray buildings, past the empty places where lights burned and where the silent houses were hidden in the dark behind the stone wall.

The faces of those moving ghosts were cold and hard, like the walls of a tomb, with nothing to see or hear or cry. Some had long muzzles that spoke of fear or of harsh sorrow; others looked in sight like a child or a silly bird, with floating bright eyes that saw and heard as well as the humans could.

They did not run or make any noise; they walked along the streets in a slow manner, straight and silent. They seemed bent on seeing and hearing the new city, but they did not see many things.