Joshua and the Arrow Realm (20 page)

After being trusted with a bow and arrow, I slid along tree branches behind her as two boys with animal hide bags navigated the forest floor ahead of us.

The memory of the gaunt cretan and its hunger-stricken face pumped renewed adrenaline through my limbs.

“How do you haul the huge animals up to your tree houses?” I said.

“We don't unless we catch a big one that Artemis and her men take down and can't find,” she said glancing back at me. “Then we steal it, butcher it on the ground, and haul it up, but it's risky. We like to stick the small animals.”

“What happens if the big beasts hunt the kids down there?”

She stopped as the boys slowed down, letting them get a bit farther ahead of us, and raised an eyebrow at me as if it were obvious. “They scram and cram up here with us.”

“How will they know they're being hunted?”

“You and I. We're their eyes up here.” She swept a hand out.

“What if we don't see anything?”

“Better hope we do.” She pushed back her long knotted hair, leaving a streak of dirt behind on her cheek and turned back to our vigilant watch.

I grabbed a branch to balance on and swallowed the sawdust in my throat, wishing I could haul water instead of being the reason someone lived or died. “Has anyone … got grounded?”

I didn't think she heard me, but she stopped again and glared back. “Yeah.” Her face crumpled and she wasn't a hunter anymore, but just a kid. “The worst day of my life … after being stolen.”

The bones of the dead flashed through my head. A shiver overtook me and I asked no more questions, focusing on the deadly quiet of the empty forest. Not empty for long. Small creatures scuttled in and out of holes and around trees. My legs and back soon cramped from crouching and balancing myself on limbs with every muscle on alert. The girl let me trade with a boy on the ground for practice. My first kill was a large rabbit.

“Stick it, Joshua,” the boy whispered, his eyes glowing like two moons in the shadows of the leaves.

For a brief second, an image of firing arrows at Hekate's army alongside Bo Chez and my friends replaced the woods before me—a painful reminder of all I'd lost. My vision cleared and the rabbit's body came back into focus. I calmly put an arrow to my bow and aimed it at my prey.

Zing!
The rabbit went down with a squeal, shooting a thrill through my veins, and my partner bagged our first kill.

“Good stick, new boy,” the girl above said with an appreciative nod.

Several more rabbits were ours, along with some furry hedgehog animals and a small pig. We'd circled around to make it back to the tree houses, our dinner bags full. Tiredness ached in every muscle, but a feeling
of belonging surged in my heart, overriding exhaustion.

Our hunting paradise disappeared when the bash of a giant beast from behind in the brush drove us to swing up in the trees. We crossed the forest back to the Wild Child community, and I used the last of my strength to climb toward home.

W
e delivered dinner to the kitchen house where a crooked spit hung over a fire blazing on a massive stone in the center of the floor. Rocks had been plastered together with clay and leaves to create a primitive chimney through the roof.

“Won't Artemis or the korax see the smoke?”

The cook, a short boy about my age, gave me a tight smile. “We have a watch who scans the sky, and we have ears in the trees. We know when the queen's got it in for us. She leaves us alone most of the time. We only stick the small stuff, and that leaves the big beasts hungrier than ever. That's good for her hunt.”

Not good for the kids Artemis used as bait to hunt.

“Doesn't much matter.” The boy sighed. “She knows where we live.”

Free in your prison.

He unloaded the bags, admiring our catch. “Pot roast
tonight! We've got a new batch of potatoes and carrots from the garden house.”

Who knew kids could grow—and want to eat—their own vegetables? I guess when you don't have grown-ups around you have to be a grown-up yourself.

Dinner was a noisy event in the main tree house and the time of day for the kids to catch up.

My team boasted about my luck with a bow and arrow.

“Good mash, newbie.”

“You stuck 'em good.”

The warm feeling of belonging to something bigger than me washed away a tiny bit of the sadness over losing my friends—and never getting home again.

Darkness came on fast, and after cleaning up, everyone headed off to bed where they slept two to a house. At the door, a kid handed each group a jar from a cabinet. Every jar had a different shape scavenged from those tossed on the forest floor in a Wilds Lands hunt or from risky treks into the Perimeter Lands, I guessed, and when shaken, they turned on like flashlights. Up close, tiny bugs swirled around in each one, like glow sticks.

Ash gestured for me to come with her, and I followed her across planks through the forest canopy, holding tight to the netted rope. The sky meadow unfolded before me, filled with dancing fireflies as the kids weaved between trees toward bed. One by one, the lights disappeared until the only light was our own and the moon bathed us in its orange glow. It painted glittery dew stars on the swaying leaves that swept back and forth like waves lapping at a dark shore.

Ash brought me to a small cabin next to hers and set me up on a wooden slat cot padded with fresh leaves. The other items in the room were a rough-made table with a
jagged slice of a mirror hanging over it, a stool, a jug, and a pot. All found, no doubt, from a treasure hunt.

“The leaves will keep you warm, but this is better.” She threw an animal hide on my bed. “The weather's changing. Cold and snow are coming.”

I'd never thought of it snowing here. Did they have seasons like on Earth? It made me think of Christmas with Bo Chez. How we'd cut down our tree and carry it home in the snow, then come in to warm up by the woodstove in the kitchen with hot chocolate. As a young kid, we'd make monster shaped sugar cookies and I'd bite off their heads. Monsters weren't real then.

“I have to go to a leader meeting. There's water in the jug if you get thirsty. Will you be okay alone?”

The small room was not much bigger than my bathroom back home, and I nodded as Ash pointed at the pot. “The bathroom. If you have to go, you know. Otherwise, feel free to pee outside off the tree. Everyone's up for the night. Be careful. You can get confused in the dark. I'd hate to find you grounded on the forest floor when I check on you before bed.”

Yeah, me too.

She flicked an animal skin down to cover the one window. “It's our coziest house, good for one. The boy who last lived here liked it.” Her head fell and reflected next to mine in the cracked mirror. Even in the green light, I could see her dirty dishwater hair next to my dirty blond nearly matched. We could be family saying good night to each other. Had the boy who'd once slept here been like a brother to Ash? I didn't ask. Shaking the lantern, she promised me a few more hours of light with it, saying she could navigate these treetops blindfolded, then she left.

The room seemed cold without her, and for a brief moment, she felt like a big sister. Would I ever get the chance to meet my real big brother? I tucked myself under the blanket, my big feet barely covered. No matter how I tried, there was no escaping my thoughts. Was I doing the right thing? I pulled out Leandro's journal and read it by the crackling green lantern glow.

My Homeland

Journal Entry 57 on Nostos

By Leandro of the Arrow Realm

As of late, Artemis is suspicious of me. I sense it. She looks at me strangely and sends me off on lowly duties the new guards should do. I pray to the gods that the boy accepts Ash's plea to return to Nostos, can prove he is the Oracle, and lead our world into a new era.

If Artemis discovers my plan to thwart her, will I live to see my family or Joshua again? Strange how my one adventure with this mixed mortal boy could be so much more vivid in my mind than the memory of my wife and son who drive my purpose. My ruminations overwhelm me.

Joshua is a boy whose loyal, sturdy heart is more courageous than most soldiers I've met. He showed me what true sacrifice is by risking everything to not merely save his friend, but all the mortal slaves in the Lost Realm.

If I ever find my son, I wish with all my heart for him to be like this boy—and that I can dare be as good a father to him as he is a son. However, I fear the seed of cynicism and hate has festered too long in my soul to be of any good to anyone.

I hope Joshua proves me wrong … if I live to see the day.

“You were good enough for me,” I whispered to myself.

I understood about not being any good to anyone.

My thoughts chipped at my heart and loneliness swept over me. A bittersweet ache melted inside. Carrying Leandro's journal kept him alive—as the good man he'd once been. I held his words to my chest, never wanting to forget.

Exhaustion drove the memories away and the sounds of the forest night swept around the cabin in the trees. Owls screeched and birds trilled to one another, and one by one the kids called out goodnight. My lantern's bugs flitted about and the whisper of their wings carried me to sleep until Ash broke through my doze.

Her silhouette filled the tiny window. “I can stay for a while if you want.”

I nodded and closed my eyes again.

Comforted she was there, sleep drew me back in when she said, “You don't belong here, Joshua.”

I pretended to be asleep.

“You're destined for bigger things. To change worlds. Make a difference. You can't go runabout from destiny. No matter how much you want to.”

I remained silent, tears forcing their way under my lids.

“I know you're still awake, Joshua.”

She was a new friend who'd saved me; she deserved a response. “I'm destined for nothing. I couldn't save my friends who'd once saved me.” I rolled over and slid Leandro's journal back in my pocket where it kept the memories from crushing me.

“Everyone deserves a second chance,” Ash said. “Maybe your friends will get one. Maybe you will. I did by surviving the stick and I have a new family now. Maybe someday I'll runabout to Earth, but that life for me is gone. My home is here. One for the many.”

“That's what I want.”

“You still have one waiting for you back home. It's not too late for you.” I'd told Charlie something similar before he'd run off and now I was doing the same thing.

I didn't answer so she went on. “You can stay with us for now, but soon you'll understand where you need to be, and it isn't with us. Family is where you call home and this isn't it.” Her voice sounded harsh, but she had to be wrong. If I didn't belong with them, then where? “Give yourself a second chance to make things right. I gave Oak a second chance when I cured him and his wife.”

“But Oak's wife is dead and he could be too!”

“I won't believe Oak is dead unless I see his body. The point is, I gave second chances to people who needed them. If you are who some believe you are then you can free everyone.” Her blunt words cracked open my tears full force. She was right. Guilt consumed me.
One for the many
. My motto for life if I accepted the role of Oracle, and I would finally belong. I might not live long as the Oracle, but how could I live with myself if I ignored helping free all the stolen kids?

“Nothing is ever as it seems here,” Ash said in a softer
tone from the shadows. “Neither are people.”

She was right about that.

“Not all Nostos people are evil … I used to be friends with Livia, Queen Artemis's daughter, when I worked in the castle.”

“How?”

“I was assigned to serve her when I got sold here. She was younger than me, but we'd play together when her mother wasn't around. Mostly hide-and-seek. We'd hide from each other in the castle walls.” She laughed at the memory. “Hidden tunnels run between the rooms and hallways. Anyway, Liv had the rare, ancient power to turn into animals and she turned into all sorts of them to hide. A mouse. A squirrel. A bird. All she did was will it.” She sighed. “She wanted us both to be birds and fly away together …”

I wanted the same. “What happened?”

“It all ended. Liv's grandmother, the queen mother, discovered our friendship and threw me in the hunting pit.”

“That's how you got here.”

“Yes.” She spoke in a stony voice. “It's hard to believe.”

“Believe what?”

“Liv's dead. A hunting accident. The queen mother took her hunting. She'd often take Liv out hunting, something Artemis couldn't do. One day they got trapped in a ring of cretans.” She rubbed a thumb to her trembling bottom lip. “Only their bones were found.”

Grounded into mash for good. Artemis lost her mother and daughter all in one day. I almost felt sorry for her.

“Liv wanted her mother to free all the children. It was our plan.” She sighed again. “Silly to think two kids
could change the world.”

Silly. Yeah
. The same thing once occurred to me.

“People change, Joshua, and you can't ever really know someone.”

Yeah, everyone I knew.

Like Leandro. He'd risked his life to save me.

Like Apollo. Who once lost faith.

Like Charlie. Who vaped those guards in the Lost Realm to save us.
It's not our day to die
, he'd said then. Could it be now?

Ash whispered goodnight and went off to her own house and bed. Soon, I drifted off to sleep and dreamt of my bedroom on Earth where nothing could hurt me. The safety of home covered me as thick as the quilt on my bed. All too soon it faded to black and cold crept over my body, leaving me with a lonely ache gnawing at my insides.