Beyond the park, the city changed from avenues and parkways to busy streets. Juele stared around her in wonder, ignoring the amused expressions of her companions. Pedestrians hurried along the sidewalks, shooting glances out of the corners of their eyes at the students, who sauntered at an easy pace, giving her lots of time to rubberneck. Traffic on the roadways was heavy. The vehicles were mostly animal-drawn or human-powered, like carriages and rickshaws, but they were interspersed with motor cars and singular conveyances of every description. Between two red sports cars with balding men at the wheels stood a black goat with a woman in green on its back. Behind her was a stone vehicle with animal skins for the roof. Its driver's bare feet stuck out below the frame. Three rows ahead Juele saw a man in silk clothes and a felt cap sitting bolt upright on a flying carpet. Behind him on the carpet, a very thin man in a double-breasted suit and eyeglasses was laughing loudly at his own jokes.
At the corners, the vehicles bunched together in impatient files, nose to tail like performing animals in the circus. At predetermined intervals, they zoomed ahead, spreading out along the length of a city block, until they bunched up again at the next corner, where cross traffic hurtled past. Juele soon learned to associate the stop and go with the antics of the signal devices. On the nearest corner, a small girl spun around on her heel. When her back was to the cars, they drove forward as fast as they could. When she faced them, they had to stop. At the next intersection, traffic was controlled by walls that rose out of the pavement and dropped to allow passage. The signals never seemed to change fast enough for the drivers, who honked and shook their fists and made winding signs with their hands. Juele's companions pulled her across an intersection while a red and green whirligig in the center showed a red panel to her side of the street. An alarming screech erupted behind her, and she jumped up on the curb to avoid being run over by a man on a huge, square vehicle that left a streak of smooth ice behind it. She never saw any traffic like this in Wandering. But this was Mnemosyne, and everything was much more intense.
The very buildings gleamed with self-importance. When she had arrived the day before, she had seen very little of Mnemosyne between the train station and the School. She'd been so focused on finding signs of the School, she had had no interest in anything else. Now her eyes and ears were wide open, and she was absorbing as much of Mnemosyne as she possibly could. The guidebook that her grandmother had given her as a going-away present said that a million people lived here. She couldn't conceive of so many people at once, but here they all seemed to be, hurrying places, changing, interacting—a mosaic of busyness.
The others lacked appreciation for the novelty. Probably most of them came from Mnemosyne in the first place. That would account for their sophistication and detachment. The students walked with an air of superiority, which seemed to be borne out in the manner people made way for them wherever they went. It was nice to be deferred to. Juele swaggered along behind her comrades as they walked in the sunlit streets, enjoying the view and the awe of the crowd. She paid just enough attention to their path so she wouldn't get lost going back.
The architecture impressed her hugely. It had changed entirely overnight from the gleaming white city she vaguely recalled seeing out of the train window, to a more bustling town of golden stone. The glass in the windows was cut and beveled to pick up every sun gleam and throw it back in a hundred directions. The stone of the walls and buildings was also cut with an artisan's hand. The multiple styles standing side by side ought to have clashed, but they didn't. Shops with ornate carvings on their walls stood beside offices of classic architecture through whose handsome wooden doors stepped men and women wearing business suits, or togas, or stovepipe trousers and crinoline skirts. It all seemed to fit together into a picture that Juele would have titled "City." Its form was its function.
Between one block and the next, Juele sensed a wave of influence passing over them. The buildings on the street became just slightly more ornate. Bronze ornaments, green with the patina of age, blossomed on the doors. Doorways grew classic-looking porticoes, and the wrought iron gates in between doorsteps twisted into more elegant patterns. The clothes of passersby altered slightly to match as well. So had the garments of the students. The others remained in their guise as fashionable young ladies and gentlemen, though now the boys wore blazers and straw boaters, and the girls were in form-fitting dresses with big shoulders, the smocks open swing coats that fell to the knees. Juele felt a breeze blow past her knees, and looked down. To her horror her clothes had become a pinafore with a white apron over it and shoes with bows. The changes drew chuckles from her companions, and the invisible audience laughed loudly at her. She was embarrassed, and annoyed with the Sleepers. Her clothes were little-girly, were they? She threw on an overlay that looked exactly like Bella's elegant outfit, not caring if it was too old for her, and stalked after her companions.
Now the whole of Mnemosyne seemed determined to show her she was too young. The buildings along the roads rose up in their foundations until the shop doors and windows all seemed to be above her eye level. Stairs were too high. She had to stand on tiptoe to see into the windows. Alabaster statues that flanked and guarded the steps leading to the entrances wore sour expressions like hall monitors. They gave her haughty glances as she went by them. Juele stared at them, very impressed. If this was just the shopping area, what must the center of government be like?
Everything changed slightly as the group went along, shifting to accommodate the crowds. The sidewalks widened or narrowed, according to the influence exerted either by the pedestrians or the shops themselves. One massive store occupied an entire city block. Pillars rose from the pavement to its grand roof where flags flew in the breeze. A street with few shops on it changed so that it looked trendy and the shops were exclusive boutiques, isolated stores enhancing the glamour, however imagined, of their emptiness by making it seem as though exclusivity was their purpose. On the side streets, small shops opened out from the sidewalk, more inviting and friendly. She felt far more comfortable in the little places operated by one or two employees. Still, she followed her hosts through the posh stores, giggling when the others made comments about the displays or the clothing that "townies" were wearing, or Sleepers protect them, the tourists. The students' smocks set them apart in an important way from the townsfolk, sort of above and separate, as if they were walking within a great glass bubble that nothing outside could penetrate. Juele started to enjoy the stares and admiration. She was, after all, part of the elite. If they were admiring the clique, they were admiring her.
Juele turned her nose up with her companions' at the sight of a woman, badly dressed and ill-prepared, running along after a smartly turned out man in a suit. She must have been after him for a job, because he kept dandling a slip of green paper just out of her reach. Juele felt sorry for her, as she clearly needed it. Juele was grateful that such a thing wouldn't happen to her. Illusions were always in demand. She had talent, and she would learn to use it even better than she already knew how.
Following close behind in Bella's footsteps, Juele managed to jump up the marble steps before they grew taller than her legs could manage. The group sauntered into a dimly lit boutique. The walls were painted a chic, in-between pinkish-grayish-brownish color that Juele couldn't find a name for. Very little merchandise was on display, a sure sign that this was an exclusive emporium. Juele studied the one dress, two sweaters, two necklaces, and one pair of shoes arrayed on pedestals about the shop as if they were fine art. She rather liked the dress, although the price tag shocked her. Two hundred chickens, for a simple linen frock! The shoes cost even more. Juele was almost afraid to look at the necklaces, even when they stretched and twisted attractively in their display case like a pair of cats in the sun.
"What junk," Daline said under her breath to her friends. The group stopped looking at once, and swept out. Only Juele smiled at the proprietress.
Daline repeated her comment in store after store, haughtily dismissing everything on offer. But Juele saw no junk. To her, it all glittered and glowed. She hoped she'd never forget the moment of awe she felt at seeing so many beautiful and well designed things. She wished she could be as casual as her companions were over the wonders of the capital city. Instead, she felt she was one of the rubes gawking in the shop windows of whom the clique made fun.
The very most exclusive stores had dark glass windows, difficult to see through, making one think there was something to be sought after behind them. One of them had obscured its windows so much that Juele could see herself reflected as if in a mirror. She shaded her eyes, trying to see in. Bella stalked right by it, taking Juele by the arm as she passed.
"Too uninteresting, dear. What are they hiding?"
"Hiding? Oh." Juele hadn't thought of it that way. She and Bella walked off a few paces. As if in desperation that its audience was going away, the window cleared. A single dress was on display, a gaudy orange tea gown with fluff around the hems and wrists. This time, Juele felt as if she could snub the shop herself. What a ridiculous rag!
The others were also experts at debunking the mystery of some very elegant-seeming goods. Tanner in particular was top-notch at spotting the sorts of illusion used to enhance their appearance.
"Do you see that bag hanging on the hook?" he asked Juele, peering out of the corner of his eye toward it. Juele tried to look at it without turning her head.
"Yes," she whispered.
"Looks like leather, eh?"
"Yes."
"Old shoelaces, I assure you. Someone just combined the stuff. Shoelaces'll hold things in, tie 'em up, hold 'em together, like a bag's supposed to do. They got an illusionist to put a fancy overlay on it so you can't tell it was never leather before."
And once he'd explained it, it was easy to see what he was talking about. If something hadn't been handcrafted from pure, new dreamstuff into the very best design, Tanner seemed to know. She began to tell the truth from illusions, where badly done enhancements were made, especially the join between the material used and the overlay. In another scantily furnished boutique, Juele picked up a sweater, and her hand automatically went to the place where the illusion making it look like angora was the weakest.
Bella gave her a knowing nod. "There, you see? It should be in a seconds bin, not costing real money."
"Young ladies," said the shop owner, a statuesque woman with pince-nez glasses, drawing herself up furiously until she looked like the eagle on top of the flagpole, "this is a first-class establishment."
"Yes, with economy-class goods," Bella said, in a bored voice calculated to infuriate, and just loud enough that the customers across the shop looked up at the sound. The owner pointed at the door.
"Get out of here at once."
"I am a customer," Bella said, surprised.
"Not here, you are not, you impertinent minx," the woman said. Just for a moment, Bella's elegant outfit slipped a bit, and Juele spotted the broadcloth smock under the cashmere. "How dare you say things like that in my shop! Go away. Now! Before I summon the police."
"We were leaving anyway," Cal said, taking Bella's arm. Bella shook him off and stalked out with her head high.
"Don't come back," the woman's voice hissed as she shut the door behind them. Bella was angry because the woman had used influence to nudge her out physically.
"How dare she insult me like that, her and her tatty goods?" Bella grew toweringly tall with rage, and she looked positively formidable. Her nails grew out into talons, and her brows drew down in the middle and shot off into black points at the outer tips. Batlike wings grew out of her back, right through the smock. Juele was alarmed at her transformation. The others, indignant about their friend's treatment, had grown and changed, too, but not nearly as tall or as furious looking.
A large beetle with red eyes appeared by Juele's ear. Alarmed, she shooed it away. Buzzing loudly, it flew over her head and landed on Erbatu's shoulder. The girl's hand sprang to the place where it had landed, then her eyes turned the same color as the beetle's.
"This place needs renovating," Erbatu said. Her red eyes glowed. "It's ugly. There should be more beauty here." The bug flew from one student to another, biting each one in turn.
"A little something for contrast," said Colm, his light eyes blank expanses of brilliant blue-white light that shaded at once to crimson.
"Yes," Sondra hissed. "We'll improve this pathetically designed city. If they don't appreciate us now, they will in a moment."
"Wait, it was only one person being rude," Juele said, trailing along in alarm.
"A microcosm of the whole mundane city," Cal said, lisping a little around the fangs that grew out of his mouth. "She said it, but they're all thinking it!"
"That should go, for a start," said Daline, pointing at a stop sign. "It interrupts the flow of the natural energies here." She held up her hands, forming light, and suddenly, the stop sign was gone, concealed in a illusion of transparency. Cars and carriages, and especially bicycles, suddenly went into confusion at the intersection, as their guidance was removed. Horns blared, horses screamed, and Juele cringed as she heard the sound of metal hitting metal. Two bicycles, front fenders locked together, limped to the curb as their riders began to unfold card cases and exchange documents. Juele was alarmed at so many people trying to get through the same small space at once. But as this was the Dreamland, and the townsfolk adapted very quickly. One man got out of his car and ran into the middle of the street. He held his hands straight out from the shoulders, and everybody stopped dead, including, involuntarily, the students. The man beckoned to one lane of traffic, holding the other at bay with his free hand. His clothes slowly altered to a traffic cop's uniform as he directed first one lane of traffic, then another, safely through the intersection. Pedestrian traffic resumed, too, and streams of people flowed toward the students, broke around them like waves around a rock.
"Form follows function," one of the boys said, automatically. The older girls grimaced at him.
"But why?" Erbatu asked, petulantly. "Form should be attractive, whether or not it suits the specific function. Look at this!"
The nearest lamppost shimmered as she wove an image around it. Juele watched, fascinated. Erbatu was a most advanced student. Though light still came out of it, the lamp became a huge pink bunny rabbit.
"Stop that!" A woman coming out of a store rushed up to confront them. Her round eyes were all but popping out of her pale face in shock. "You evil children! How dare you pervert the Sleepers' will? That's not a proper source of light!"
"So what?" Erbatu asked, insouciantly, examining her pointed fingernails.
"You change that back at once!" the woman insisted.
"No," Daline said. "Tch, tch, how pedestrian you townies all are." The students behind her folded their arms.
The woman threw up her hands. She looked around, then hurried away. She called back over her shoulder as she went. "You are evil! Perverted!"
But we're not! Juele wanted to say to her. Nothing's been changed, really. Even the stop sign is still there. "It's just an illusion," she called after the woman. "It'll wear off soon."
"Pathetic," Tanner sneered. "You have to explain it to them." The others grinned slyly and walked on. Juele followed, feeling troubled. Bella and Daline were walking at the head of the line. Juele ran up to them. Their red eyes regarded her.
"Shouldn't we tell that woman it will be all right?" Juele asked, cocking a thumb back over her shoulder.
"Who?" Bella asked, though clearly she didn't care. "There's no one here."
"That woman. She thinks you used influence on that sign!"
"Why should you care what a townie thinks?" Tanner asked, with a sneer. "Or are you . . . just auditing? You're not really a student?"
Juele cringed. "I'm a student," she said, very boldly, bracing herself for the attack.
"Well, then?" Tanner said in a very mild voice, raising an eyebrow. "Do you always reveal what's behind an illusion?"
"Um, no," Juele said, after a moment's thought. She felt as if she was getting out of her depth with them again, but Tanner gave her a brilliant smile.
"Of course you wouldn't," he said. "Of course not." Erbatu jostled his arm and winked. Juele relaxed, just a little.
She trotted along with them, hating herself for being so fearful. She cringed every time one of the clique looked at her, wondering if she would have to withstand a fresh assault of their insults and arrogance. They were clever. There was an art in the way they were playing with her. They never hurt her so much that she felt as if she ought to turn back and return to the school on her own. They knew she wanted to belong, and it made her vulnerable to all their teasing. Juele summoned up all her meager resources of influence, not to change her outward appearance, but to thicken her skin against verbal barbs. They're harmless, she told herself. Just words. But she knew it wasn't true. Like influence, words could destroy. To belong, she had to do what they did.
Seeing her resolve waver, the red-eyed beetle landed on her shoulder and buzzed in her ear.