by Jenn Reese
“Can we just go back to the kludge?” Calli asked. “We could tell them that you and Dash stole us back from the Silvae.”
“Odd is too smart,” Hoku said. “He thinks we can fight, but he’ll know Dash and I aren’t strong enough to win you both back ourselves. I couldn’t even beat the Silvae choking me at the camp.” He rubbed the angry red welt across his neck. “And Pocket knows our secret. With us gone, there’s no reason he wouldn’t tell the kludge everything he knows.”
“I agree,” Dash said. “Odd and Mags do not fully trust us even now. If we came back without injury and with our prizes . . . they would never take us in.”
Aluna’s tail ached. She’d been balancing on it for a while, leaning on the others when she needed to, but trying to stay upright by herself. And none of them had slept yet, not after a full day of hiking through the forest and a full night of being lifted into the treetops.
“Melody, we’re too tired to travel tonight. Will you let us sleep?” she asked. “We will know which direction we want to go in the morning.”
The old Silvae’s face twisted, and Aluna feared he might say no. But then Melody mumbled, “Bad rescue,” and began calling to his people.
“But my fathers,” Dash whispered to her. “We need —”
“We need rest,” she said firmly. “We can’t be smart if we’re too exhausted to use our brains. Tomorrow we’ll figure it all out. I promise.”
“The Dawn-bringer speaks, and I will listen,” Dash said.
Aluna sensed an odd hitch in his voice. He would do as she asked now, but for how long?
Melody led them to a cluster of webbed hammocks nestled under a massive branch. “For sleep,” he said.
“Thank you, Melody,” Aluna said wearily. “And . . . please, think about what we said.”
Calli and Dash helped her hop onto the closest hammock, but she couldn’t balance, even with their help. She fell, grateful that the thick fibers of the web were softer than their strength implied.
“Are you okay?” Calli asked.
Aluna nodded. Her hammock swayed in the breeze. “I’ll be okay if I never have to move again.”
“Not for a few hours, at least,” Calli said. She put her hand on Aluna’s shoulder, then jumped easily over to the next bed.
Dash took the hammock farthest away. He always did this, always distanced himself from them when he was upset. Or — her chest tightened — was he angry with her for making them sleep? She couldn’t blame him if he was. She’d been so furious when she’d found out that Fathom had her sister, Daphine. Hoku and Dash had argued for reason and strategy, and she’d ignored them. She’d rushed off to fight her battles by herself and almost gotten them all killed.
She’d made the right decision tonight; she just hoped Dash would be able to forgive her for it.
When Aluna awoke, she found darkness still clinging to the trees and Dash sitting a meter away, cleaning the blade of his sword. Calli and Hoku were still asleep, and at least one of them was snoring.
“I did not mean to wake you,” Dash said quietly. He was wearing his Upgrader leathers, the fake metal splint around his mechanical arm still in place.
“You didn’t,” Aluna said. She could hear her pulse echoing in her ears. She sat up and dangled her tail over the edge of her bed. “Are you going somewhere?”
“Yes,” he said. He finished wiping down his sword and hit the button that retracted the slender blade into the hilt. “I’m going back to the kludge.”
“We talked about this last night,” Aluna said. “We can’t go back. They’ll never believe you and Hoku could extract us from so many Silvae.”
Dash stowed his weapon in his satchel and secured the latch. He didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands, so he plucked a leaf from a nearby branch and began to shred it.
“They will not believe all of us could escape, but they might believe that I could,” he said. “Just me. Alone.”
Aluna swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. “You . . . want to leave us?”
He looked up at her, his dark eyes barely visible in the faint light. “No, of course I do not want to leave . . . all of you. But think about it —”
“Your fathers,” she said.
“The location of Karl Strand.”
“And Vachir.”
“And Vachir,” Dash agreed. “I could save people we both care about and perhaps finish our mission. Your plan was a good one, Aluna. I would see it to its end.”
She looked away, pretended to study the dirt and grime stuck in her fingernails. “It wasn’t a good plan if it leads to this. To us not being together. We’re stronger as a team.”
“We are an infinitely impressive team,” Dash said. “But my fathers left the desert to save me. I must do no less for them.”
Aluna put one of her dirty hands up to her forehead and closed her eyes. Everything was unraveling so fast. Their plan was ruined. Vachir separated from the group, and now Dash. Losing him felt worse than losing her legs.
“Please tell Vachir that I would have come back for her myself,” Aluna said quietly. She felt tears form in her eyes and kept her hand in place to hide them. Weak. Useless. This was not how she wanted Dash to remember her.
“I will tell her, but she already knows this,” Dash said. “She trusts you with her life.” Aluna looked up in time to see a small smile form on Dash’s face. “I know how she feels.”
“I won’t ask you not to go,” Aluna said, her voice gruff.
“I know,” Dash said. “You have honor even when you wish you did not.”
He leaned over and for one endless moment, Aluna thought he might kiss her. Tides’ teeth, she wanted to kiss him. To kiss him and hold him and never let him leave her side.
She leaned toward him and pressed her forehead against his, felt his warmth soak into her skin, let wisps of his cool hair brush against her cheeks.
“Be safe,” she whispered.
“I will if you will,” he said.
She stared into his eyes and felt the rest of the world wash away. If they saw each other again, she would kiss him. When their friends were safe, when Karl Strand was gone, when there was time for such a selfish thing.
They pulled apart slowly, as if they were fighting the tide. Aluna watched him secure his bags and smooth down his hair, pleased that he seemed as flustered as she felt. When he was finally ready, she nodded just once and he was gone.
HOKU SHOVED A PILE of acorn mash into his mouth and almost spit it back out again. Not even mustard could have saved him from the bitterness. He forced himself to swallow and took another, much smaller bite. Over their heads, Silvae moved from branch to branch, partly jumping and partly gliding on the membranes attached to their limbs. Morning sun snuck through the dense leaves and covered their platforms in dancing pinpricks of light.
“Dash will be okay,” Hoku said. “Odd likes him. Mags likes him. Tides’ teeth, even the rhinebra likes him.”
“Vachir will be happy to see him,” Aluna said. “I’m grateful she won’t be alone. That neither of them will be.”
“He didn’t even say good-bye,” Calli said. “I would have liked to wish him blue skies.”
Hoku watched Aluna blink in the sunlight, her shoulders slumped, her face emotionless. He could tell she was only half listening to them, that part of her was still with Dash. Hoku stole a glance at Calli. She stretched her left wing and plucked twigs and leaves from her feathers, and he felt like the luckiest Kampii in the world.
“We could wait for Dash to come back,” Calli said. “Or maybe follow the kludge from the treetops.”
“We’d have to watch out for Squirrel,” Hoku said. “That girl sees everything.”
“No,” Aluna said. “Odd’s kludge may not even go to Strand now that they’ve lost their prizes. We could lose valuable time by following them. If Dash and Vachir somehow manage to locate Strand, they’ll have to find a way to let us know.” She poked at the nut mash on her leaf but didn’t eat any. �
��My plan failed. We can’t keep trying to save it. It’s time for a new plan.”
Hoku frowned. Failed was not a word he heard often from Aluna, and he didn’t like it. “Let’s go to HydroTek,” he said. “Fathom must know where Karl Strand is. He’s only a brain in a box since we disassembled him, but maybe the Dome Meks and Zorro have found a way to read his thoughts by now.”
“Even if the Dome Meks get access, they probably won’t find anything,” Calli said. “Fathom was smart enough to wipe the important memories once he knew he’d been defeated. I’m guessing he uploaded them to Strand before he did it, too.”
Aluna continued staring. “HydroTek . . .”
“HydroTek has a comm room,” Hoku said. “I didn’t recognize it last time, but now I know what to look for. Maybe we can warn the Aviars and help coordinate things with the Equians and Serpenti. HydroTek would be a great base of operations for all our . . . strategies and stuff.”
“A command center,” Calli said. “Maybe Aluna could run the whole war from there!”
Hoku saw Aluna’s face twitch, but she smoothed it over quickly. Losing Vachir, losing Dash, losing the last few weeks of work on their plan . . . Of course she needed time to recover from all of that. But he knew her. The sooner they could get her mind out of the past and focused on moving forward again, the sooner Aluna the Dawn-bringer would be back and ready to lead them.
“What do you think, Aluna?” Calli asked. “Should we go to HydroTek?”
“That’s where we said we’d meet if something went wrong,” Hoku added. “If Dash and Vachir need to find us, that’s where they’ll look.”
Aluna nodded.
Hoku wiped his hands on his pants and stood up. “I’ll tell the Silvae to take us to the ocean, to the west. I’m sure they’re eager to get rid of us.”
“Are you ever going to take off that metal plate?” Aluna asked. “You’re not an Upgrader anymore.”
Hoku froze, as surprised that Aluna had decided to speak as by her words. His hand went to his face. He could have taken off the faceplate last night, when they’d agreed not to return to the kludge. Or this morning, when Aluna had told them about Dash. Or . . . he could take it off now.
“Let me find Melody first,” he mumbled, and headed off before Aluna or Calli could say anything.
Barnacles. Why was he clinging to a piece of metal that didn’t even do anything? Maybe he should have taken Mags up on her offer and gotten the real thing. Some tech embedded in his flesh that would let him analyze heat patterns or see great distances like Calli, or monitor his blood so he could tell if he’d been poisoned.
The Silvae collected water in thick leaves and carved wooden bowls they hung from the branches. Hoku found one, drank, then stared at the water as the ripples faded. He felt under the edge of his shirt and unhooked the collar’s binding. He rubbed his throat and wiped away the grime that had collected on his breathing shell.
“Look at that,” he muttered. “Still a Kampii.”
He pried off the faceplate next, grimacing at the extraordinarily pale skin underneath, visible even in the tiny patch of bowl water. One side of his face was rough and gritty from weeks of traveling with the Upgraders, while the other side felt smooth and soft. It seemed impossible that both sides belonged to the same person, and inconceivable that the person was him.
Hoku cleaned his Upgrader parts in the basin and stored them in his pack, then went to find Melody. But the old Silvae would not speak to him; he merely pointed one long, twiggy finger at a young Silvae female and said, “Flicker, go.”
Flicker looked like a sapling, tall and thin with smooth, unwrinkled skin the color of dry sand. She wore leafy twigs at her shoulders and atop her head, almost like armor. Hoku liked her immediately, though he didn’t know why.
“Come,” Flicker said, and joined Hoku in one graceful stride. “I will show you how to pack your things for tree jumping.”
Hoku followed her as best he could, and Flicker did her best to slow down and match his pace, although it clearly annoyed her.
“You speak our language very well,” Hoku said. “Do you practice it?”
She smiled and said, “Later.”
Flicker was brisk but efficient. She helped Aluna stand and fasten her pack without a single word about Aluna’s tail and how difficult it was going to make their trip. She modified Calli’s pack to fasten around her waist instead of her back, to accommodate her wings. She even managed to smile and tell Hoku he’d done a good job with his things.
Neither Aluna nor Calli commented on Hoku’s face now that he’d removed the faceplate, and he was grateful.
Finally, Flicker pronounced them ready to depart. She whistled four different phrases and four Silvae dropped from the trees to join them. Flicker pointed and said, “Thistle, Blade, Petal, Brook. Now, we go.”
Hoku had expected a farewell ceremony, or at least a good-bye from Melody, but there was nothing. They may have been rescued in triumph, but they certainly weren’t leaving that way.
He’d wanted to talk to Flicker as soon as they left the Silvae tree city, but the travel itself required his full concentration. His hands slid over rough bark. Tiny branches whipped his cheeks and tried to blind him. A Silvae had been assigned to help each of them navigate the larger jumps between trees, but it was still terrifying. One misstep and he’d be plunging to his hideously painful death.
They traveled for hours until Flicker called for a break. Hoku was grateful for it, but anxious, too. They couldn’t have covered more than a few kilometers at most, which meant they had some long, terrible days ahead of them.
“Ow,” Calli said, wrapping another cloth bandage around her hand. “I thought the skin on my palms would last longer.”
“At least you didn’t almost poke yourself in the eye three times,” Hoku grumbled. “I should have left my faceplate on. I would be less of a danger to myself.”
He looked over at Aluna. She’d managed to keep up with everyone for the first few kilometers, using her strong arms to swing from branch to branch and swinging her tail to keep up her momentum. But some of the gaps required them to jump with their legs or to shimmy around tree trunks, and she’d had to let the Silvae help her. Now she sat on a branch and stared to the west toward the sea.
“Want some food, Aluna? Calli dosed my mash with some magic spice and it doesn’t taste as bad now. Almost good, even.” Hoku walked over and held out a small pile of acorn goop stuck to a leaf.
Aluna pulled herself back from wherever her mind was and smiled. She took the leaf and nibbled some mash. “Mmm. You work miracles, Calli.”
“She does, doesn’t she?” Hoku said. “She’d make a good cook if she weren’t already a brilliant scientist and the future leader of her people.”
Calli sighed. “Some days ‘cook’ sounds a lot more appealing.”
The Silvae busied themselves with gathering more supplies and trilling little songs, and then Flicker joined them. She moved with such ease, like a Kampii underwater.
“You travel well,” Flicker said. “We expected more complaining.”
“We’re just good at hiding it,” Calli said.
“Do not push yourselves past recovery,” Flicker said easily. “Our saplings often dislocate their shoulders when they first learn to swing between trees. One must respect one’s limits.”
“Why don’t you talk like Melody?” Hoku asked, hoping it wasn’t a rude question.
Flicker squatted, her knobby knees sticking out to both sides. “Melody speaks of Harmony as if we are all of one mind and purpose, but it is not so. Many of us — mostly in younger generations — see value in understanding the world outside Song.”
Hoku expected Aluna to perk up at Flicker’s words, but she was still sitting motionless, her gaze distant, her shoulders slumped.
“Are there any among you who would stand with us against Strand?” Calli asked.
“We want to know more,” Flicker said. “The four I have brought with us can b
e trusted. Tell us what there is to know, and we will spread the word. Some have been looking for a chance to leave Song, even though Melody has forbidden it. A purpose might give them the strength to defy him.”
“We’ll tell you everything we can,” Hoku said.
Flicker nodded. “Not here. We are too close to Melody and Song’s Heart. But there will be time on our journey when your bodies refuse to work. We will hear your stories then. Right now, we must make more distance. Finish your meals and prepare.” She stood up and leaped into the trees.
“Did you hear that, Aluna? Maybe there’s a chance to salvage something good from all of this,” Hoku said, then instantly regretted his words. He didn’t want to keep reminding Aluna that her plan had failed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean —”
“No, you’re right, Hoku,” Aluna said. She seemed to wake up from her daze. Her eyes seemed troubled but sharp. “Things haven’t gone how we wanted, or how I said they would.” She paused, wet her lips, swallowed. “Back in the desert, Khan Tayan called me Dawn-bringer. She said I would lead us to a new world, and you may have even believed her. Tides’ teeth, even I believed her that night.”
She ran her hand through her short hair. “You agreed because you trusted me. You all thought I knew what I was doing. But I don’t. I keep making mistakes. I keep taking chances and losing. I didn’t even beat Scorch in the Thunder Trials. I failed. If it hadn’t been for all of you and the other Equians, the desert would be lost.”
Hoku wanted her to be angry. He wanted to see that familiar rage roil up inside of her and propel her into action. Instead, she seemed . . . tired.
“I don’t know what I’m saying,” Aluna said with a little laugh. “What it comes down to is this: I don’t want to lead anymore. Not you, not Calli, not Dash, not even myself. If don’t trust myself, I can’t ask anyone else to trust me, either. I’m sorry.”
TRAVELING THROUGH THE TREETOPS required all of Aluna’s focus. Except for the incessant birdcalls, her grunting as she grasped for branches, and an occasional snide comment from Hoku, their group moved in silence. Even so, Aluna knew that something was wrong. Her speech last night had broken something between her and Hoku and Calli. . . . She just didn’t know what.