The Moon Dwellers (45 page)

The water closes in around me and I am
t
ransported into the belly of my childhood nightmares
.
Falling down the well; thrashing in the water; sinking into oblivion; no way out.
It has
been a long time sin
ce I’ve
felt scared of
water.
Growing up, my dad
forced me to conquer my fear, taught me to swim.
Slowly, I grew to love the feeling of water rushing around my body.
No!
There i
s
no well—not this time.
I can
escape this nightmare.

Ignoring the pain
and bad memories
, I kick
upwards.
Once, twice, thrice: finally
breaking the surface.
I want to scream with pain, but I ho
ld it inside me, trying to get through it by punching the water with my uninjured arm.

I look up and realize I am
still directly below the tunnel entra
nce.
By kicking hard, I manage
to get far enough
away from the landing zone that I wo
n’t accidentally break someone’s fall with my head.

I see Elsey jump.
Her launch is more timid than mine was
, but
is far more effective.
She drops
feet first in a perfect pencil dive, barely making a splash as she cut
s
throug
h the water.
Although I watch
closely in case
she needs help, I’m not
worried about her; lik
e me, El
is a strong
swimmer, and clearly a better jumper.
A few seconds later she bobs up, smiling, like it i
s just a normal day
down
at the swimming hole.

“That was
glorious, wasn’t it?” Elsey says
, swimming over.

“Not the
word I would choose,” I mumble
, rubbing my shoulder
while treading water using only
my feet.

Seconds la
ter, Tawni’s white hair whooshes from above as she executes
the perfect swan dive that I’
d imagined f
or myself.
“Just great,” I say
, my shoulder hurting wo
rse than ever.
Or perhaps it is my pride.
It i
s definitely one or the other.

At least I did better than C
ole, whose big dark body flails down from above like he i
s being attacked by an angry horde of
flapping bats
.
In the m
eantime Tawni has resurfaced, so we all have a good laugh when Cole creates
a liquid mountain
upon smacking
into the water.

My laughter does
n’t last l
ong, however, as a minute passes and Cole has
yet to reach the surface.
Even under the dim glow provided by the overhead
cavern lights, the water looks
as black as oil.

I squeal as something grabs me, pulling me under.
I kick away from my attacker and co
me up
sp
l
uttering.
Tawni and Elsey a
re laughing.

“What the hell was that?” I say
.

A deep voice
from behind me says
, “That
was for laughing at me.”
It’
s Cole.

“How’d you even know I was laughing?
You were under
water.”

“I just knew,” Cole says
, a twinkle in his dark eyes.

“Well, what about them?” I say
, motioning at the other two.
“They laughed
,
too.”

“You
were laughing harder,” Cole says
, his face as serious as stone.

I sha
k
e
my head.
“
Rivet could be right behind us, we shouldn’t be messing around.
We’d better keep moving.”

If
Rivet and his new gang of men a
re in the tunnel above us, we nev
er see them, which suits me just fine.
I hope I
never
see
his evil mug ever again.

It feels
strange being in a moon dwe
ller city again.
Although we’
ve
only been out of sub
chapter 14
for a few days, it’s the longest I’ve
ever been away from the
place.
I know I shouldn’t be nostalgic bu
t I am.
Maybe subchapter 14
has
n’t been particularly kind t
o me as of late, but I still have
a ton of happy memories there, before everything got so messed up.

The other
weird thing
is that we a
re
just passing through.
It feels
like after such a long, hard journey through the
Lonely Caverns
, we should stay a
while, see the sights, try the local fare—I don’t know, something.
But that is not an option.
We a
re wanted criminals, our faces known acro
ss all the Tri-Realms.
There a
re probably p
lenty of moon dwellers who will
b
e willing to help us, but we have no idea who we can
trust.
Someone pretending to be our friend could turn us in a second later, seeking a reward.

We a
re
dripping wet,
traveling on the outskirts of town, trying to decide
what to do next, when Cole says
, “This place hasn’t been bombed, has it?”

We can’t see much from where we are, so I stop
, trying to remember the view from abo
ve the waterfall.
The city had
looked pretty amazing, and definitely intact, a far cry from the smoldering wreckage of our subchapter.

“I don’t think so,” I say
.

“I hope they stop
that dreadful
bombing soon,” Elsey says
.

“
Me
,
too, El
.
Me
,
too.
”

“
I’m simply famished,” Elsey says
.

I’
ve
been ignoring my hunger for three days now, but suddenly at the thought
of food, my stomach constricts, groans, twists
up.

“I could eat,” Cole says, opening his pack.
It seems like he i
s always hungry.

“N
ot that stuff again,” Elsey says
.
Despite her overdramatic description of t
he food in the orphanage, she i
s already growing tired of our canned beans.

“We could all
use some real food,” Tawni notes
.

“Sure, let’s just waltz into town
, looking like we crawled out of a sewer
, pop into a café, shove a fistful of Nailins at the owner, and walk out with a bunch of f
ood,
”
I say
.

“For your information, I was thinking of something
a bit more discre
et
,” Tawni says
.

I sense
the slightest hint of
anger in Tawni’s voice, which is unlike her.
If she starts
getting mad at my mispl
aced, ill-timed sarcasm, this i
s going to turn
into a long trip.
Perhaps it i
s time to take a risk—for all our benefit.

“I could go
steal som
e loaves of bread,” Cole offers
.
“I’m good at that.”

To be honest, I’m shocked.
Now that I kno
w the true story—that there was no bread, onl
y heartache and pain—I can’t believe he can
stil
l make such a joke.
To me it’
s more proof
of his strength.
That he can be such a happy, funny,
good person, after all he’
s been through, i
s si
mply incredible.
I even manage
to laugh at
his joke—because I know he wants
me to.

Tawni smirks
, quickly snapping out of her rare bad mood.
“I was thinking more like we wait until nightfall, sneak into the city, and have Elsey pa
y someone to get us some food.”

“Why Elsey?” I ask
.

“Because her face will be less like
ly to be recognized,” Tawni says
, shrugging.
“I’m sure she’s been on the news, too, but she’s not a wanted criminal.”

“I don’t know…” I say
.

“I’ll do it,” Elsey says.
When I frown, she says
, “I can do this, Adele.
I know I can.
Please let me help.”

I ta
k
e a deep breath.
It mak
e
s sense and I’m
tired of beans
,
too.
“Okay.
On one condition: that we stay close by in case you have any trouble.”

“
Yes, yes, of course,” Elsey says
, wavi
ng me off as if my suggestion i
s the most obvious thing in the world.

T
he cavern returns
to its natural
shade of black as night fa
ll
s and the lights a
re extinguis
hed.
The street lights remain
on, but barely cast enough light to highlight the roads.
We wait
patiently
in the dark, slowly drying out, until we are sure it is safe.
Although I am
anxious to
keep moving, I actually enjoy the break, and use
it as a chance to
speak to
Elsey.

“Are you okay, El
?” I ask
.
Cole and Tawni have
walked away, on a mission to find the least conspicuous way into the city.

“I am now,” Else
y
says
.

“But before?”

“I tried to be optimistic, like
F
a
ther always taught us,” she says
, wrinkling her button nose.
“But I was depressed sometimes.
If it wasn’t for Ranna I would have felt so alone, I don’t know what I would have done.”

“Tried to run away?”

“Maybe.”
Elsey looks
at me with a seriousness that i
s far older than her age.
“Do you miss
M
other and
F
ather?”

“Of course, El
.”

“Oh, so do I.
So much I can hardly breathe sometimes.”

“We’ll find them,” I say
, making
a promise I intend
to keep.

“
I’m so glad you made friends, Adele.
How long have
you known Cole and Tawni?”

After h
earing how tough things were
for her, the last thing I want to do i
s depress her with my sad story in the Pen
, and
how, until a few days ago, I’
d felt even more alone than her
.
But I also ca
n’t lie to my sister—never could.
“I’ve known them a little while.”

“And Tristan?
I know you told me the story, but have you really only been
interested
in him for a few days?”

“That’s the tr
uth,” I say
, feeling silly.

“That’s so romantic,” Elsey says
.
“Oh, Adele.
I
really think you tw
o will make a cute couple!”

Now I really feel
silly.
A couple?
If…and that i
s a big
if
…
Tristan i
s still alive, I’
ll
never see him again.
And if (there you go, another wild, impossible
if
) I ever see him again, I doubt
very much that
I’
ll
stand out
from his other more vocal, more attractive female fans.