“Stop saying stuff like that,” said Max. “You’ll blow our cover.”

They grabbed an outdoor table by a café and ordered two coffees.

The next phase of the plan was to hang out near the wall and wait until one of the tower-zone garbage trucks emerged and then to follow it to see where it went.

A waiter brought them two mugs of coffee.

Casey and Max thanked the man and each took a sip, keeping an eye on the wall ahead of them.

“I know you told me to stop saying this,” said Casey. “But it’s so weird. I’ve seen this wall all my life and yet I’ve never seen what it looks like on the other side?”

“And?”

“It looks exactly same,” she said with a smile.

Growing up, Max had always been so fearful about the world beyond the wall. It was a world of mystery, where magical beings and demons lived. No one fully understood it completely, but it was a place walled off from the rest of the world, because it was simply too dangerous. The monsters and even the climbers were a threat to the balance of the world order.

“I was always taught to be fearful of the tower-zone,” laughed Max.

“Interesting,” said Casey. “We were taught the opposite, about all the brilliant advancements that existed in the tower-zone that the rest of the world lacked. Manatech, healing magic, and more. We were meant to feel bad for those who weren’t allowed to live on our side of the wall, but part of me always thought that was hogwash, you know? So what if we had manatech and magic? Everyone else beyond the wall could go on a holiday to Hawaii or Paris and explore the world. Meanwhile, those in the tower-zone were not allowed to leave. Or, at least, not easily.”

“I guess the grass is always greener on the other side, wherever that may be,” said Max. “All I wanted was to get closer to the tower-zone and the tower itself. To its magic. To its power.”

“Well, you’ve really taken in the tower-zone Kool-Aid haven’t you then?” said Casey. “This might be the furthest vacation I ever get in this world, so don’t ruin it while it lasts.”

Max couldn’t ruin it, even if he tried, for at that very moment, an armored garbage truck emerged from the tower gates.

They no longer had any time to waste.

Max put some money down on the table, probably more than the coffees actually were, but they had to move quickly.

The cash was the same money he’d brought in with him on his first day in the tower-zone.

Casey hailed a yellow cab and the two student climbers jumped in the back seat.

“Will you follow that truck, mister?” asked Max.

The cab driver took in the fact that it was coming from the tower-zone.