Above World (22 page)

“When do the Equians grow their horse legs?” she asked. “Do you have a ceremony, like we do, and swallow a seed that makes them grow? Or does half a horse sprout out of you one day when you’re not expecting it?”

Dash’s brow furrowed, but only for a moment before he regained control of himself. He finished chewing a bit of jerky the Aviars had supplied them with and swallowed slowly.

“It’s not a difficult question,” she pushed.

Dash looked down at the strip of dried meat gripped in his hand. “Equians do not
grow
their horse legs,” he said. “When everything . . . goes correctly . . . they are born with them.”

She looked at his legs, legs not much different from her own.

“Was that why you were exiled?”

“I was born without a horse heart, or four hooves, or a tail. I am a mistake,” he said quietly. “I am . . . I am only half a person.”

She didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry” seemed so . . .
useless.
Dash was kicked out of his family because he was different, because he didn’t fit in. She didn’t fit in with her family, either, but they’d never make her leave — not the family nest, and certainly not the City of Shifting Tides.

“I’m sorry,” she said finally. Because, really, there was nothing better to say.

D
ASH, ALUNA, AND CALLI
were already awake when Hoku finally managed to open his eyes. Sunlight streamed through the treetops in slender rays. For a moment, he thought he’d fallen asleep atop the old broken dome back home. Light used to refract through the ocean in much the same way. He’d spent dozens of tides there, trying to figure out how the light’s path was altered when it hit the surface of the water. Zorro’s small pink tongue on his cheek washed away the memory.

“Time to wake up, sleepy-bones,” Aluna said. “Dash found some nuts and leaves for us to eat.”

“Nuts? Leaves? Are those even food?” Hoku mumbled. Then he made the mistake of trying to stand up. His legs and back felt pulverized, as if a shark had munched on him for a while then spat him back out. He tried to walk, but his legs would barely obey. The best he could manage was a slow hobble, and even that required moaning. Cutting the rhinebra’s saddle off had been a very bad idea after all.

“Can I use some of the spices that Senator Niobe gave you?” Calli asked him. She looked far too happy to be awake and stranded in the middle of a scary forest. “I think I can make something a bit more tasty from our ingredients if we can spare a few minutes.”

Aluna spat out the leaf she’d been chewing. “If you can make this stuff taste good, you’ll save my life a second time.”

Calli laughed. “Well, I’m not really that good at it, but I learned a few tricks while I was hiding in the kitchens when I was young. And besides, cooking is a lot like science.”

Hoku hobbled over, handed her the spices from his bag, and collapsed near the glowing embers of the fire. If anything could distract him from the pain, it was a certain winged girl with bright brown eyes. He watched her clean a piece of her armor and use it to toast the nuts and tubers Dash had found. She sprinkled spices on the food and hummed while she worked. Soon the sizzle and the smell had his mouth watering and everyone gathering around the fire to eat.

“This is truly amazing,” Dash said with his mouth full. “Spices are highly valued in the desert. My people would trade generously for even a small vial.”

“Let’s try the mustard tomorrow,” Hoku said, grabbing another leaf and stuffing it with nut mash. “Everything tastes better with a smear of that stuff.”

Aluna licked her fingers. “Dash and I will be on hunting-and-gathering duty if you two share the cooking.”

Hoku looked at Calli just as she looked at him. They both grinned.

“Let’s go,” Aluna said. “We have a lot of distance to cross.”

Amid groans and curses, they put out the fire, wrapped up their leftover food, and managed to get back on the rhinebra. Dash started them at a walk, but even the slow pace felt like torture. Hoku distracted himself by discussing the angle of light refraction with Calli and by teaching Zorro to balance on his hind legs.

The next few days blurred together. Physically, Hoku suffered almost every minute from the rhinebra’s unforgiving back and the soreness it created. Even so, he’d never been happier. His conversations with Calli ranged from pulleys and aerodynamics to electronics and cooking. When they set Zorro to work on water safe combinations, he and Calli had fun modifying one of his Extra Ears to work on the radio she’d brought. The radio was already stronger than the Kampii internal ear artifacts. With the added reception boost, there was no telling how far away the radio could receive a signal. They vowed to test it out as soon as they got a chance.

Hoku still hadn’t found the courage to ask about the note Calli had written in his book. Were they friends, and nothing more? Is that what she wanted? He understood his own feelings, at least. He wanted more kissing, true, but he wanted more of everything else as well. Talking, laughing, fiddling with tech . . . If he ruined all that just because he wanted something that Calli didn’t, he’d never forgive himself.

At night, they cooked and ate around their campfire. He loved the flames. Not just the flickering light, but the way it drew them together around its circumference. Fire had a gravity all its own.

He sat next to Calli, grateful that she never seemed to mind. Her hand rested on the ground just a few millimeters from his. And yet . . . those millimeters meant everything. Would he ever be brave enough to cross that distance?

They sang at night. He was surprised to find that in the Above World, Aluna’s voice was strong and true. Not refined or really beautiful, but full of passion. She sang her heart in every note. Calli’s songs were sweeter and softer, usually ballads about Aviars fighting and dying in heroic ways. He liked the love songs, too, although they almost always ended unhappily.

Dash refused to sing at first, but Aluna and Calli worked away at him until finally, after several nights, he relented. He began not with melody, but with ritual. A series of hand motions and stomping around the fire, clearly intended to be performed by someone with horse hooves. And the song, when he finally started to sing it, came low out of his throat. It had rhythm and power, but no words.

When he had finished, no one spoke. Hoku stole a glance at Aluna and saw that her eyes were wet. He looked away quickly. Then, without even thinking about it, he reached out and took Calli’s hand. Her fingers wrapped around his hand immediately, as if they’d been waiting all night for the chance. His heart thundered in his chest, but he didn’t dare look at her. He stared at the fire, pretending to be mesmerized, when all he could think about was how warm and light her hand felt in his.

He fell asleep each night listening to Aluna and Dash on watch. The truth was, they mostly sat together in silence. Sometimes they’d talk about hunting rabbits and squirrels, but since neither of them could walk easily, those plans never amounted to much. Aluna filled Dash in on the Upgrader attack at Skyfeather’s Landing, and they debated strategies for handling their enemies with greater efficiency. Hoku found the conversations boring, the perfect way to lull himself to sleep at night despite all the excitement.

On the seventh day of travel, the trees thinned. More sunlight speared through the branches as they rode, and the rhinebra was able to galumph in straighter lines.

“We made good distance,” Dash said. “I would have bet both sand and sky that the Upgraders would have caught us by now.”

“Will we reach the shoreline soon?” Aluna asked.

Dash shrugged. He seemed more comfortable with her questions now, although she could still catch him off guard with her enthusiasm. Hoku knew the feeling.

Not long after, the trees thinned even more, and they spied gold and blue through the green and brown trunks.

“Sand!” Aluna yelled. “Ocean!”

Hoku grinned at Aluna and they both cheered. Calli cheered, too, in support.

The rhinebra hurtled toward shore. Dirt changed to sand, and blue once again filled the sky. They were finally free from all that suffocating foliage. Hoku heard the waves crash against the beach and laughed. It was like hearing his heartbeat after weeks of silence. He wanted to leap from the rhinebra’s back, flop into the water, and dive down as deep as he could go. He wanted to feel the water around him like a hug.

And if he hadn’t been wearing his satchel strapped across his back, and if it hadn’t been full of books, he would have jumped in right then. As he started to remove it, he heard Calli gasp.

“Over there!” Aluna yelled, pointing up the shore.

Hoku followed her gaze, and the wave of joy swelling inside him dissolved into now-familiar fear.

“Six of them,” Dash said. “And two flying devices. They must have been waiting for us. That is why they did not follow. I should have anticipated this!”

“We can’t handle eight,” Aluna said. “Four maybe, but not eight.”

Hoku could hear fear creeping into her voice, and it scared him.

A cry went up among the Upgraders. Six huge beasts — two rhinebras and four massive insects — thundered toward them, with the two dragonfliers in the lead. They were far away, but moving fast.

“Into the ocean,” Hoku said. “Now!”

“But —”

“He’s right,” Aluna said. “It’s our only hope.”

Dash kicked the rhinebra, hard, and the huge animal lumbered into a gallop, straight into the waves.

W
HEN THE FIRST
drop of salt water touched her lips, Aluna shivered. The taste unleashed a flood of feelings inside her. It was as if the ocean itself were speaking to her:
You never should have left. You never should have abandoned the sea.

The Upgraders charged down the beach toward them. Dash urged the rhinebra forward, but the creature refused to go farther into the water. Dash raised his voice and yelled something in a stange language. The rhinebra bucked.

There was nothing to grab. Aluna flew into the air and, a second later, smacked full force into a cresting wave. The initial sting along her legs and back dissolved quickly into pain. Hoku plunged headfirst into the same wave and surfaced with a sputter. Calli floated above them, flapping her wings.

“Help!” a distant voice called.

“Dash!” Aluna yelled. He must have landed on the other side of the rhinebra. “His arm,” she said to Hoku. “He can’t swim!”

“I’ll get him!” Calli called. She flew just above the whitecaps and hovered over Dash’s location. He grabbed for her leg, but with only one good hand, he couldn’t hold on when she tried to pull him out. “I’m not strong enough,” she cried. “I don’t have him!”

“On my way!” Aluna dove under the water and started to swim. On her second stroke, she took a deep breath.

Cold seawater poured into her mouth and nose. It should have filled her throat and lungs easily and helped balance in the surrounding water pressure, allowing her breathing shell to deliver all the oxygen she needed to her body.

But of course her breathing shell was gone. Instead of relaxing, her body fought for air, and she choked. It felt as if an icy hand were reaching down her throat and trying to rip out her lungs. She gagged and more water rushed into her mouth. She kicked for the surface, her hands scrabbling along her neck.

The world turned black. The icy hand made a fist in her breathing passage. Someone had put rocks in her chest. She was sinking, sinking. She thrashed her arms and legs. Air! She needed air!

A hand grabbed her by the back of her shirt and yanked her up. Her face breached the water’s surface. She coughed and breathed, and coughed some more. The sun burned her eyes.

“Calm down,” Hoku said. “Take it slow.”

“Necklace —” she managed, sputtering.

“I know,” he said. His hand was still on her, helping her to hold her head above the water.

She took in one mouthful of air and then another. Her eyes focused on Hoku. On the freckles on his cheeks. On the paleness of his skin. On the firm, worried line of his mouth. Her mind began to recover from its panic.

She gulped air and nodded. “I’m okay.”