CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"And who are you?" The checker asked lazily. In front of her was a young girl, with short hair that was covering her eyes. She was leaning her elbows against the counter and looking at the cashier.

"My name is Heli." The girl, Heli, said. The cashier raised an eyebrow. "And what do you want with me?" The girl paused for a minute and then said, "I want to be an elder." Now the cashier laughed. Until the child held out her hand. 

A white string sparkled against the grey. 

"...Come right this way." The cashier said solemnly. 

Heli, although with some suspicion, followed her through a long series of winding corridors. All the doors were painted white without any lettering or stamps, although even if there was some, it would have had to be the same white as the door, and thus useless. Finally, the cashier stopped to take her into a door, what looked like a dusty wardrobe or closet, and handed her the same long dark hood that elders wore, along with a candle. Heli took both of them from her cashier slowly and put the hood on with a swish of fabric. The hood was dusty and worn, so Heli rubbed her nose and tried not to sneeze as dust rained. Her hair was still hanging over her eyes, for the benefit of the cashier if no one else, and her disguise would most likely fall under some suspicion if it was aroused. 

"Your first test is to take other people's strings. Do that, and we'll give you the official rank of elder." The cashier said to her, closing the door to the closet and locking it tight with a jingle of mist-white keys. Heli stopped for a minute, then looked at the candle. 

The cashier had never told her who to kill. 

Heli walked through the grey layer. With her new access to resources over the four years she had helped the officer, she had been able to buy some scrap metal and screws to repair the lift she had originally used to escape the black layer. It was still hand-drawn, but she was used to it now and had tied a large bag of rocks to the handle to help weigh down the lever. It now didn't take all the life out of her hands to use the lift in going up and down, and it was even better that it was seemingly forgotten by everyone else. 

As she neared the small opening in the boards that led to the grey layer and out of her small elevator, she glanced at the familiar cobble-stone grey houses, grey fur coats, and grey suits that seemed to be all the rage. 

Getting to her feet, she covered the gap with a large grey metal sheet and walked in the opposite direction. The dark hood, about 5 sizes too big for Heli's skinny body, covered her eyes and hair perfectly, but among the shades of grey, she stuck out like a sore thumb. People glanced at her in surprise, then at the candle in her hand, and gave her respectful nods of waves before continuing along their business. 

Her speed increased, footsteps schooling down the road, Heli bound the strings of the cloak tighter and flurried down the street.