Downsiders

With most Downsiders at the Floodgate Concourse for market day, Talon believes he can give Lindsay a tour without trouble. He continually calls Lindsay “you people” and asks why Topsiders cover their arms. He doesn’t know how they can move in the dark without feeling the air. He tells Lindsay that he was “born Down”: One of his great-aunts was a “Most-Beloved.”

As they leave the High Perimeter, the sour air becomes clean. The duo enters one of the Rune Chambers, an old train station featuring a dazzling display of hieroglyphics. Every Downsider between the ages of 12 and 16 has “Tagging rotation,” where they write their dreams, experiences, and hopes.

Talon shows Lindsay more of his world. Mushrooms bloom in the Hudward Growing Caverns, Hot Springs features a river and waterfalls, old subway tokens line the ceilings and walls of Brass Junction, and Grotto of Light features tropical plants and a chandelier-like arrangement of dangling crystals. Brass Junction is for weddings and naming ceremonies, and Grotto of Light is a theater.

Robert Gunderson, Talon’s “faller,” works in the theater. Robert still needs a new name, and Lindsay suggests Michelangelo. Talon thinks she means the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but Lindsay means the Italian artist.