The City Beneath the City

Mira fell.
She expected to hit stone.
Instead, she landed in water.
Cold water.
She surfaced, gasping.
Around her was a city.
Not a ruined city.
A living one.
Thousands of lanterns floated in the darkness above enormous buildings made of silver stone.
People walked along bridges suspended in the air.
Strange birds with glowing wings flew between towers.
And far above everything, where the sky should have been, was a giant clock.
Its hands were moving backwards.
A boy stood on the edge of the water, staring at her.
He looked about her age.
"You weren't supposed to come yet," he said.
Mira climbed out.
"Where am I?"
The boy looked toward the backwards clock.
"Below your town."
"That's impossible."
"Most things are, until they happen."
He introduced himself as Elias.
Then he told her the truth.
There was another world beneath hers.
A world that existed between yesterday and tomorrow.
And the people there had been waiting for her.
"Why?"
Elias hesitated.
"Because you're the last person who can remember her."
"Remember who?"
He looked at her sadly.
"Your mother."
Mira's stomach dropped.
"But she's dead."
"Not here."
Before Mira could respond, the great clock above them suddenly stopped.
Every lantern in the city went dark.
Elias grabbed her hand.
"We have to run."
"Why?"
A bell rang somewhere in the darkness.
Once.
Twice.
Then hundreds of voices began whispering the same word.
Mira.
Elias looked terrified.
"They found you."