Arrow

by Samantha M. Clark

  The other humans were picking through backpacks like the one Petari carried, worry spiking in the air. They turned at the crunch of footsteps and shot up when they saw Arrow. Petari grabbed Arrow’s hand and pulled him forward.

  “This is Arrow,” she said, smiling big. “He’s the one who—”

  But Petari didn’t have a chance to finish her sentence. Storma stepped up to Arrow as the rest of the herd flocked behind her. “So we’re not alone in this place after all. I knew it was too good to be true. Which group are you with? One of the goon squads? We don’t allow goons with us.”

  Arrow opened his mouth to speak, but Petari beat him to it. “He’s not a goon.”

  “How do you know?” Storma threw the words at Petari, then strode around Arrow, taking in every inch of him. “You don’t look like you could be hiding weapons, but I’ve been duped before.”

  Petari exhaled loudly. “He’s not hiding anything. If he wanted to hurt us, he could’ve killed us all last night while we were sleeping.”

  “Petari,” Val said, his voice a warning.

  The girl lowered her chin. “I just mean—”

  “I don’t want to hurt you,” Arrow said, barely above a whisper. Nervousness radiated from him.

  “See? Told you.” Petari straightened a little. “He’s the one who saved Ruthie. And today he helped me find all these mega things in the forest.”

  “That’s where you were today?” Anger rode on Luco’s words. “We have rules.”

  “I know. But taste this.” She dropped her backpack onto the ground and opened it, tumbling out leaves and bark, flowers and fruits. She gave Luco an acai berry.

  Luco peered at it, then glanced around at the other humans. His eyes landed on Storma, but she twisted her face as though she’d eaten something rotten.

  “Fine. Here.” Petari took the berry back and popped it into her mouth. “Mmmm.”

  Arrow chuckled nervously, which drew the eyes of the others and kept him quiet again.

  “Give me that,” Storma said, snatching another berry from Petari’s hand. She sniffed it, brought it to her lips, then, after a deliberating pause, tossed it onto her tongue and clamped down. The others watched, all eyes glued to the older girl as fear and wonder circled them. After a few long breaths, Storma swallowed and grinned. “That was amazing. Give me another.”

  The other humans quickly followed, palms out, waiting for their try. All except Val, who stood back, arms crossed, forehead furrowed.

  Luco turned to Arrow. “You found these?”

  Arrow nodded. “They’re acai berries. My favorite. You can find a lot around here, if you know where to look.”

  “They’re great. You’ve got lots of other stuff too, huh?” Luco glanced at Petari’s backpack.

  “Yep. Pretty much all the food you could want,” Petari said.

  Luco’s eyes flicked to Arrow’s arms, then up to his eyes. “How’d you lose your hand?”

  Arrow glanced down at his arrow arm, holding it up. “I was born this way.”

  “And he can climb trees and knows about plants and tracks animals. And before you ask…” Petari paused, and I wondered how many secrets she’d spill. Arrow eyed her too, nerves prickling the soil beneath his feet. Petari sucked in a breath, then said, “He found the hole a few months before us and has lived here by himself. He discovered all this stuff. Great, huh?”

  Arrow’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t understand lies. There are no lies in the forest. No lies from the plants and trees. No lies from the animals and birds. The forest lives in truth.

  I knew of lies, though. I had learned of them from the Imposters. And the hurt still ran deep.

  But here was Petari telling a lie to protect our secrets.

  “You’ve lived here alone for months?” Luco asked.

  Arrow gazed at Petari, then nodded.

  “How do we know you’re really alone and your group isn’t out there waiting to hurt us?” Storma asked, crossing her arms.

  “Arrow took me all over, and I didn’t see anyone,” Petari said. “Not even a sign of another person.”

  Storma kept her focus on Arrow. “Where were you from before? The Barbs?”

  “He can’t remember anything,” Petari said quickly. “I think he was attacked by one of the goon groups.”

  “That’s rough. I’ve been caught by them too. Last time I go to the roof of a tall building, I can tell you.” Storma’s eyes bore into Arrow, and he stiffened. “But you must be pretty smart to have figured out how to survive in here.”

  “I am smart.” Arrow smiled.

  “So what, you want to be part of our group? Is that why you helped us?” Storma leaned back, straightening to her full height. “People don’t give something unless they get something else in return.”

  “I made a deal that if he showed me the medicines in the forest”—Petari gulped—“we’d leave.”

  An uproar came from the herd. Arrow watched intently as the children shouted, “I’m not leaving.” “He can’t make us go.” “Who made him king of the trees?” “I like it here.” And Petari answered, “He said it’s dangerous to stay, but I wasn’t really going to leave. We don’t let danger stop us.” That got cheers from the group, until Petari continued, “I just needed his help to get more medicine for Ruthie.”

  Just as I’d suspected. I hoped Arrow had another plan to make them go, but perhaps he had other ideas now that he’d heard about the magic.

  “It doesn’t matter anyway, because I’ve changed my mind,” Arrow said. His voice was still hesitant but stronger. “I’ll help you stay and show you how to be safe, but I do want something.”

  “What’s that?” Luco asked.

  “I want to go to the Stilts.”

  That was his plan. My roots ached to think of my boy going to the dry outside world, but if he could find their magic and bring some back, we’d be able to save the forest. Hide once again, maybe forever.

  Confusion squirmed from the herd.

  “Why do you want to go there?” Storma asked, an edge to her voice.

  “He wants to see the movies. I told him about them,” Petari said, then added, “I told you he doesn’t remember anything about where he was from.”

  Arrow didn’t offer an alternative answer, and Storma turned to Luco.

  “Let’s huddle,” he said, then began to walk away from the group. The rest of the herd followed him, until Storma pointed to Petari.

  “Not you. You stay and keep an eye on him. And if he runs off or does anything I don’t like, you’ll be sleeping out here tonight. Got it?”

  Petari nodded quickly. “Got it.”

  The herd gathered a few feet away and talked in hushed tones. The beetle that was sending me the images and sounds wasn’t close enough to hear.

  Petari turned to Arrow. “Sorry we got caught. And sorry about me not really planning to leave. It’s just…” Her eyes fell to the ground. “You don’t know what it’s like in the Barbs. It’s not nice like here. There’s not much food. And there’re lots of people who will hurt you. I know you think it’s dangerous here, but the Barbs are called ‘the Barbs’ for a reason. It’s like living with barbed wire.”

  “What’s that?”

  Petari grinned. “You don’t know anything, do you?”

  “Yes, I do, just what’s in the forest.”

  Petari nudged Arrow with her elbow, making him look at her quizzically. “I’m kidding. You don’t want to know what barbed wire is. It’s prickly, and it hurts.”

  “Oh, like the stinging tree,” Arrow said. “You don’t want to get tangled in the stinging tree. It hurts for moons.”

  Petari raised her eyebrows at the word “moons,” then leaned in closer. “Tell me where you really come from.”

  Arrow frowned. “I told you. I grew up in the forest with the monkeys and the Guardian.”

  “But this Guardian person, it’s not really a tree with a trunk and leaves and stuff, right?”

  Arrow nodded, alt
hough his eyes narrowed. He didn’t like her tone, and neither did I. “Yes. She’s the mother tree.”

  Petari glanced at the rest of the herd, who were still in a group talking. Before she could speak again, Arrow interrupted her.

  “The Guardian is the mother tree for the entire forest. She talks to us, keeps us together, and protects everything inside.”

  “But—”

  “Okay.” Luco’s loud voice broke into their conversation. The herd had separated and were crowding around Petari and Arrow again. Petari swallowed back the rest of her sentence.

  “We’ve made our decision,” Luco continued. “You can stay with us, as long as you help us with these medicines and food from the forest.”

  Petari grinned.

  “What about the Stilts?” Arrow asked, anxiety building beneath him.

  Luco glanced back at Storma.

  “We’ll try to get you in,” Storma said, a strange smile on her face.

  Arrow was pleased, warm happiness surrounding him. But I wasn’t sure. I had seen that same smile on the Imposters, and it wasn’t good.

  “Let’s get food on,” Luco commanded. “I’m famished. Rosaman and Delora, you’re on food duty. See what you can do with Petari’s haul.”

  The boy and girl grabbed the berries and nuts Petari had collected.

  Petari beamed with pride, but Arrow gazed at the sky and looked worried. The treetops were darkening. The sun would soon say good night.

  “What’s wrong?” Petari whispered to him.

  “I’ve stayed too long. There’s more danger in the forest at night. You can’t see the predators until it’s too late, and I still have to get home.”

  “Arrow, Luco and Storma just said you can stay with us. That means you can sleep here.”

  Arrow’s eyes roamed the herd, then peered at the tree barrier south of the village. Fear and sadness dripped from his soles, but he knew this was his only option now.

  For the first night since I had brought him into the forest, Arrow would not sleep within my branches. I felt his absence deep within my roots. I didn’t trust that these humans would care for him. My only solace was that they needed him.

  But I could not deny the sliver of warmth that had begun to swirl around the boy. He had always been curious about his kind, and so far, he seemed to like what he saw.

  I could only hope he wouldn’t be proven wrong.

  14

  DEEP IN A SWAMP TO THE NORTH, A FROG HOPPED ACROSS THE SURFACE OF A GIANT WATER LILY, UNTIL ITS BACK LEGS LANDED IN WATER. THE FROG STRUGGLED AND STRUGGLED, THEN PULLED ITS BACKSIDE UP AND HOPPED AWAY. A RIP HAD OPENED IN THE LILY. IT GREW AND GREW, TEARING THE LEAF INTO TINY PIECES THAT SILENTLY SLIPPED BELOW THE WATER.

  With Arrow’s help, the human herd feasted that night on a meal of camu camu berries, nuts, soursop, mangoes, aguaje, acai berries, and bananas. But there was not a moment of silent enjoyment. Each chew was interrupted with another question for Arrow.

  “What kinds of animals live here?”

  “Are there flowers?”

  “You’ve really drunk that water?”

  “And you’re not dead?”

  “What other kinds of animals live here?”

  As each question was thrown out, Petari served it up with an introduction of the inquisitor.

  “That’s Delora. She’s on food duty with Rosaman.” She pointed at each of the children as she identified them. “That’s Safa. She’s older. She joined the group long before us. She’s one of the scouts, which is what I want to be. That’s…”

  Arrow gazed from face to face, a nervous energy sinking deep into the ground at his feet. But the more he answered their questions and talked about the forest, the more his fear began to dissipate. When Petari brought the baby, Arrow gave her a big smile. Ruthie’s skin was getting better.

  His shoulders dropped when he saw her arm, which was no longer covered and now boasted a chubby hand at the end. For a breath, sadness etched into the soil beneath him—sadness that he was still alone, still different. But Arrow’s smile grew even bigger when Petari put the baby in his arms and she gurgled.

  The only human who stayed away was Val. He kept on the outskirts of the group, never close enough to join in, but always near enough to hear.

  Soon the feast they had foraged ran out, but Delora brought out a backpack with food stuffed into metal tubes called “cans,” bars slid from skins called “wrappers,” and water and other drinks poured from bottles called “plastic.”

  “Not too much,” Luco said. “That’s got to last.”

  The herd devoured what they opened, sharing the insides between them and Arrow, then tossing the cans and wrappers and plastics into the grasses and tree lines near them. Just like the Imposters. My roots stiffened.

  Arrow didn’t seem to trust the food that had been squeezed into containers. He sniffed at something called “peaches in syrup” before taking a bigger piece. Storma and Val watched him closely.

  While Arrow and Petari told stories about their day—like when Petari had tried to pick up a stick before it slithered off—Storma broke off from the group, sidling up to the sulking Val.

  “You’re not much of a fan, are you?” she said quietly.

  Val’s jaw stiffened. “I don’t trust him. We’d been scavenging that rock wall for months and never saw that hole. How did he find it? And how’d he figure out all this stuff so quickly?”

  Storma nodded slowly. “He is too good to be true, isn’t he?”

  So much suspicion. I wasn’t surprised. This herd had come from that outside world of unfeeling metal and stone. But I worried for Arrow. I hoped he’d be safe. I hoped he’d be able to protect himself from them and their ways. Petari seemed different, open to adventure and new possibilities. That’s what had brought them all to the forest in the first place. But the older ones…

  I never understood why imagination and belief dwindled the more rings a human had lived through. It was as though with each passing moon, they turned from sponge to rock.

  Storma turned to Val. “You and I will keep an eye on him. Yeah?”

  Val nodded.

  A sneer flitted across Storma’s mouth, and she patted Val on the shoulder as though the two had just made some secret pact, before she joined the others.

  I didn’t like how that sounded.

  Arrow was oblivious to their suspicion. He seemed to enjoy the rapt attention of the rest of the herd.

  When the questions died out, Arrow jumped on the opportunity to find out more about the magic. Good boy. “How far is this Stilts place?”

  “It’s a hike,” Luco said, wiping his mouth. “You have to go through the Barbs. Then there’s the Moat.”

  “That’s what we call the dead land between the Barbs and the Stilts,” Safa said. “I’m surprised you don’t remember. It’s not like anyone can forget that area.” She gave a hollow laugh.

  Petari gave Arrow a sideways glance, perhaps noting his confused expression. “It’s a place where no one lives, not even many animals.”

  “It’s supposed to keep the scum like us out,” Safa said, tearing into something they called “a fruit bar.” “But that never stopped us.” She grinned.

  “The whole place is designed to keep us out.” Luco turned to Arrow. “After the Moat, then there are the tunnels. We call the city ‘the Stilts’ because it’s built on stilts, high up so no one can get to it.”

  “So they can look down on all us common folk.” Safa’s words rode on an edge as sharp as caiman teeth.

  “Actually, it was built like that to maximize resources in as small an area as possible,” said Mercou. He leaned forward so everyone could hear. “It was an interesting design cho—”

  “No one cares, science boy,” Safa said. She laughed, but quickly stopped when she saw Luco glaring at her.

  He turned back to Arrow. “The point is, the city is built high up. And underneath it run a bunch of tunnels. That’s where the workers enter and move around. That’s whe
re we get in.”

  “Can we go tomorrow?” Arrow asked.

  Luco shook his head. “It’s heavily guarded. I’ve got connections, but it takes planning. We’ve got to meet them tomorrow for a supplies handover, so I’ll see about getting you in.”

  Relief flooded the soil around Arrow. This was a good sign. If we could get the magic back in a few moons, we’d be able to hide again before more humans found us.

  Petari presented Arrow with a can of pink contents. “You’ve got to try this.”

  He scrunched up his nose. “What is it?”

  “Spam. I don’t know what it’s made of. Some kind of ham, I think. Try it.”

  He pinched off a small piece and put it into his mouth. Still scrunching his nose, he chewed, chewed, chewed, then swallowed. I waited for him to ask what this “ham” was, a word I thought I had heard before but couldn’t place. Arrow didn’t ask, though. He gave a small smile and nod, trying to make these herders believe he was like them.

  Petari grinned. “Brill, huh?” She took the can from him, pinched a piece for herself, then handed the can to Mercou.

  “Has anyone ever been in the Stilts? I mean like really inside?” Delora pushed back her brown kingfisher-feather hair.

  A murmur of “no”s and “only the tunnels” went through the herd.

  “I heard that everyone’s wishes come true there,” Delora said.

  “I heard you can get any kind of food you want,” Rosaman said.

  “I heard—”

  “I’ve been in the Stilts,” Storma said.

  “You have?” Delora’s eyes lit up.

  “Before my mom died, she took me. She was doing a delivery there.”

  “What was it like?” Delora asked.

  “It was even more beautiful than you can imagine.” Storma smiled, a wistful look on her face as though she were seeing it in front of her now. “Everything was clean. All these shiny glass buildings. And there were gold statues in the streets.”

  Arrow placed his hand on his belly. Thick, bitter pain began to twist from him.

  “And the smells,” Storma continued. “The whole place smelled like flowers and baked cookies and all the best smells.”