Isaac took a firm grip of my upper arm and said, "So, you ready?"
I took a deep breath and said, "Yep. Let's do it."
"Hang on to your stomach, you are in for a ride."
Isaac pulled us into the shadows, then, without giving me time to process what was happening, I felt this yank from my stomach backwards. Then I was turning over and over and over and around and around. It was so fun. I didn't have any real sense of my body other than what I could see, and all I saw was darkness as it zipped past my whirling self.
Then the ride was over. A second, maybe two had passed from our jump between the shadows. My feet were firm on the ground, and all I could say was, "That was totally wicked!"
Isaac laughed.
Jodi moaned. That was when I realized she was sitting within the shade of a tree line, a bit green in the face.
I turned to Isaac to ask what the deal was, but he cut me off before I could ask. "Jodi is not a fan of the jump from one realm to the other. She complains every time that it makes her sick. I'm with you, though; it's a wicked ride."
Since the realm swap wasn't any big deal to me, I moved on to Acadia. I took my first real look at the Sun Realm and realized it wasn't all that different than Earth. Brown dirt, green grass, tall trees, blue sky; it was all in all, the same.
"What's the matter?" Isaac asked.
"I guess I was expecting something different, something magical."
"Magical?" Isaac asked.
"Well we have these powers to be invisible, that is kind of like magic. I thought maybe the world would be something like that. Not just the same ole stuff, different world," I said. I was let down. I wanted flying horses and pink squirrels.
"There are some things that are different, but not really anything magical," Isaac said.
"That's not entirely true, Isaac," Jodi said. She slowly got to her feet and came over to where we were standing. "Some of the people here are different than us trackers. They can do special things that we can't."
That sounded promising. "Like what?"
"Well, some families have the gift of fire. They can start fires with their minds. Stuff like that," Jodi said.
Isaac snorted. "Uppity types. They aren't our kind."
Not our kind? "But," I said, but Jodi cut me off.
"Isaac, that's not true," Jodi said. Then she turned to me and bent over so that she could look directly into my face. "They are just like us. They are more powerful in some ways, and sometimes Isaac doesn't like that. I think we could use them to our advantage. Like King Gideon is."
I didn't know much about King Gideon other than what Isaac and Jodi had quickly told me, but he didn't sound all that great in the king material department. "How is he using them?" I had a problem with the idea of using people. Even when it was with the best of intentions, sometimes, people could take advantage of a situation. I should know.
"He's a collector," Isaac snapped before he turned away. "Enough of this crap. Let's get to camp before dark." He turned away and started to walk away through the woods.
Jodi gave a weak smile before she turned and fell into step with Isaac. The subject effectively dropped, I followed behind Jodi and continued to look around at the world of Acadia as it drifted by us.
Trees so tall, but they were brown along the edges of their branches. They didn't look all that healthy to me and I didn't know anything about trees. The ground was very dry under my feet. Little puffs of dusts stirred around my feet as I walked. "Is it the dry season or something?" I asked.
Neither of them turned to look at me, but Jodi did answer. "No, it doesn't rain in Acadia like it does on Earth. All the water comes from under the ground. It rises to the top to keep the plants fed. There are a few small streams and ponds, as well."
"Is it always this dry then?" I asked as we passed a handful of decrepit looking trees. They weren't just brown along the edges. They were entirely dead. No leaves feathered the branches. There was no color to be found on them, but for the brown turning to grey bark and branches.
Jodi and Isaac both looked at the dead trees. They knew what I was talking about. Jodi frowned, before she answered, "We don't know why it's so dry. It started to happen almost as soon as the King was killed and the Queen went missing with the child."
"Is Acadia dying?" That would just figure. I finally get there, to my real home, and it was going to die.
"No," Isaac snapped. "It's not dying. It's just a cycle the world is going through. It will get back to normal soon enough."
I closed my mouth after that. So did Jodi. We walked a little ways into the forest before we came to a small encampment. My mouth fell open and I swear it almost hit the ground.
Isaac turned to me with a huge smile on his face. He made a sweeping gesture with his arm to indicate the encampment and said with robust joy, "Welcome home, Leif!"
What the hell? "This is home?" It was a dirt floored, weed covered, plastic lean-to tent- crowded camp. My hovel back on Earth was better equipped than this camp would ever be. "You've got to be kidding," I said.
The smile fell away from Isaac's mouth.
Jodi glanced from me to Isaac. Then she said, "Well, I've got some things to take care of. I'll catch you later, Leif." Before walking away she held a whispery conversation with Isaac while I stood there watching, complete with harsh hand motions and one stomped foot. She gave me a pitying look afterward, and then walked away.
Isaac watched her go. Then he took a loud breath. "Look, it's not the Ritz. I know that. We can only make it better. You know how to gather and acquire things, right? So we will use your knowledge to make this place what it should be."
I looked at the rundown camp from different eyes. Yeah, I could make it better. I knew how to do that. It would have to be a lot better if I was going to stay, though.
I nodded my head, then said, "All right."
~ * ~
Isaac led me through the camp to a grey clear plastic mess. I think it was supposed to be a lean-to tent, but it was more of a piece of plastic tossed over a branch to ward off rain type of deal. Inside the plastic, I could see a form about my size moving around. A head popped out, covered in dark, almost black, hair. "What?" the head snapped.
"Gavin," Isaac said, "get out here and meet your new roomie."
I was just as taken aback as the boy called Gavin. Roomie? I didn't share my living space with anyone. Not since I'd escaped the foster care life had I shared anything at all. Especially where I slept.
"I'm not sharing with him," Gavin said, a definite snarl in his voice. I felt the same way.
Before I could voice my own issues, Isaac snapped Gavin's head off. "Gavin! Maybe you haven't noticed, but we don't actually have a whole lot of supplies lying around. You're sharing. Got it?"
Isaac of Acadia was definitely not the happy go lucky guy from Earth. "Don't worry about it. I can make do on my own," I said, my eyes firm on Gavin's face. I didn't want to stay where I wasn't wanted. There was nothing worse than going to sleep next to someone who hated you. I'd done that before. There was always the question of whether or not you would even wake up the next day. I'd take my chances on my own.
Then there was the fact that Gavin's so-called tent was a complete wreck. I was pretty sure I could do better than that with sticks, leaves, and grass.
"No, you will make do here," Isaac decreed. He pointed at me, then he pointed at Gavin, then he walked away.
Gavin and I stared at each other for a moment, before he stuck his chin out at me and said, "I don't need no babysitter."
I snorted. "You think I do?"
"Whatever."
I looked at the mess of plastic they called a tent and decided it was not going to do. "Who put together this mess?"
He looked at the plastic with a firm frown and said, "Me."
I really took a good look at the kid. "How old are you?"
"Twelve."
I nodded. "Me, too."
He was about my size. His eyes were blue and his hair
was shaggy around his face like mine. We could have passed as brothers. I'd never had a brother, but I liked the idea of one. "Look, dude. This mess is not going to cut it for the both of us. Let's see if we can put something better together."
He could have gotten mad and offended, but he didn't. In fact, he smiled and said, "Yeah. I know."
"All right. Go find me three if you can, two at the very least, branches about the length of your arm and the thickness of it. If you can find them with forked ends that would be even better."
It was his turn to snort. "And where am I supposed to find branches like that?"
"Seriously?" I waved my arm around us and said, "This is a forest, right? Look around on the ground. Look at the branches on the trees. Just find them."
"And what are you going to be doing while I'm wandering around the forest all day?"
I didn't get annoyed at his snarky reply. It showed he had some backbone. Not much, from what I could tell, but at least something was there. "I have other supplies to try to find."
"Like what?" he asked.
"Like rope, for one. Plus I need to get this area set up for when you get back. Is that all right with you?"
"Fine," Gavin said. He turned and stomped his way into the forest away from the camp.
I pulled down the plastic and folded it up into a more manageable size. Then I cleared out an area big enough for the tent I would be erecting. I tossed out rocks. Pulled up small seedling trees, and yanked up tuffs of grass and weeds. I'd slept on the ground many times over the last few years. I knew what I didn't want under me while I tried to sleep.
After clearing out the space for our tent, I went in search of rope. I didn't have to go far. There was a glob of it tossed to the side, half under a bush, half tangled in the branches. I shook my head at the waste. The camp didn't have much, why wouldn't they take care of what they did have. I was twelve years old and I knew that.
I spent the next several minutes trying to untangle the rope and wind it up properly. Then I sat down on the plastic and waited. Then I waited some more. Finally after what was at least an hour, Gavin made his way back.
"What the hell took you so long," I snapped at him. Then I got a good look at his face. "What happened to you?"
"Nothing," Gavin said and ducked his face so I couldn't see it. "Don't worry about it."
"That's not nothing," I insisted. "How'd you get the busted lip? Did you fall out of a tree?"
"Dude, I said it was nothing. Forget about it, all right?"
"All right," I said. I would forget about it. For now. "Let's see what you got."
Gavin handed over the three, pretty good-sized branches he'd found. "These are perfect." Gavin may have complained about going to get them, but he did a good job all the same.
I showed Gavin how to pound a branch into the ground so the forked tops faced up. He did one and I did the other. Then we laid out the plastic in between the two branches, and pounded in the last branch in the center, right through the plastic to help hold it in place. The branches were about three feet high at that point. We tied the rope in a line from each branch.
"This is perfect, Gavin. Grab that end of the plastic," I said. I picked up my end of the plastic and we pulled it over the branches and then down over the other half of the plastic. We had a rectangle to lie on and to protect us from the ground. We also had a ceiling to protect us from anything falling upon us in the night.
"When it gets cold this winter, we can adjust the branches so that we have little flaps of plastic we can tie down to protect us from the snow and wind."
"Snow? Winter?" Gavin asked. "We don't get those things here. I think I've heard of them, but I've never seen them."
"Oh, yeah. That's right," I said. "Sun Realm. It's warm here, all the time, and it doesn't rain. I got it."
Gavin smiled. "This looks awesome, man. We have the best tent in the place. How'd you learn to do this?"
Before I could answer a group of boys a bit bigger than Gavin and I sauntered over to us. "Well, well, look what we have here. My new tent is all set up for me. That was so nice of you boys."
"Your tent?" I said. "I don't think so."
"What do you want, Gordon?" Gavin asked.
Gordon, the leader of the little group of thugs said, "Isn't it obvious?"
I saw Gavin step back. He was intimidated. I didn't like it. I stepped forward so Gordon was looking at me. "No, it's not. Why don't you explain it to me."
He smirked at me. "You're new here, so maybe I should." He leaned forward till he was just a few inches away from my face then said, "This tent? It's mine."
"No, it's not," I said. Gordon didn't scare me. I certainly was not intimidated by any of his friends, either.
There was one, though, that caught my eye. He had long brown hair that looked clean. He stood loose hipped and easy in the group. The others were all stiff, hands fisted at their sides, and a bit on the un-kept side. There was something in this one boy's face, something that drew me. Then he winked at me. That's when I knew he and I were going to be friends.
"I'm taking this tent. Whether you like it or not," Gordon said.
It was my turn to smirk. I leaned in just a bit closer and said loud enough for them all to hear. "You can try."
Gordon's face turned red at the cheeks. His neck banded with tendons as anger coursed through him. His hands fisted at his sides. He prepared to attack me. He drew back slow and steady, and then he hesitated so he could toss a smile at his friends for effect.
That was his mistake. I didn't need to prepare. I didn't need to fist my hands. I didn't need to draw back. I didn't care who saw me or what they thought of me. I simply engaged. I punched the palm of my hand into Gordon's fat mouth. Then I grabbed him by the ears, and slammed his face down onto my knee. Hard. So hard in fact that I heard and felt the crunch of his nose against my kneecap.
Gordon squealed like a baby pig and dropped to the ground. Two of the three friends surrounded him with matching looks of panic on their faces. The other, the one that caught my eye before, hadn't moved. He stood lazily at the side, and watched the short fight with a smile. Yeah, I liked him.
One of the bullies, who by then shouldered the weight of his sobbing comrade, said, "We'll be back. You're going down."
I smiled again, showed them my teeth, and said just as calmly as I had before, "You can try."
Gavin laughed outright then. I glanced at him again and his busted face. Then I put two and two together. I said nothing about it, though. I just took note of it. Gordon and his two goons hobbled away from my area and off to where I assumed their own tent stood.
One stayed behind. You can guess which one. I tilted my head to the side and looked him up and down. "You got a name?"
"Austin."
"As in Austin, Texas?" I asked. Wondering if he would even know what Texas was?
He smiled again. He sure was easy with his smiles. "Born and bred."
Really? "How long you been here?" I asked.
He shrugged and turned to leave. He did reply to my question, though. He said, "Long enough." Then he left me to my tent and Gavin. I watched him go and tried to figure him out.
I turned to Gavin and asked, "Did they do that to your face?"
I could see I'd embarrassed him, but he still answered me. "Yeah."
I shook my head and asked, "Why?"
Gavin shrugged and said, "Why not? They don't have to have a reason. I walked by. Gordon punched me. That was it."
"What about Austin? What's his deal?"
"He doesn't really have one. He hangs with Gordon now and then, but he's not really one of them."
Good. That would make it easier to bring him over to my side. I had a feeling I was going to need all the friends I could get, thanks to Gordon. "You're going to have to toughen up a bit. You can't let them bully you like that."
"I know, but I don't know how to make them stop."
I turned to look back toward where the goon squad had gone and said, "We'll
work on that."
Chapter Thirteen
Three Days Ago
Safely ensconced in my room for the night, I sat in a big, cushy, pink chair and looked out the window over the new city of Acadia. Sunny was right, the city was definitely an improvement over the old one. What was once a big open space behind the castle used for battles was now a maze of homes. Modest homes, all white in color, lined what was once a giant field of grass. There were sidewalks and small streets, cobbled in brick. There were solar lampposts on corners to light up the darkness. The lights from within the little houses spilled out into the night and added to the cheery picture before me.
I'd been gone over a year. Sunny, and I assumed Lucas, had been busy in that time. It was a beautiful city. A healthy city that showed growth instead of the dying realm it once was with King Gideon in power. Using solar power technology was ingenious on Sunny's part. The Sun Realm was definitely the land to utilize it.
I pulled my gaze away from the window and put my mind to work on coming up with a plan. I needed to be able to trust someone, but whom? I needed some help. I didn't want to admit it, but I did.
At a knock on my door, I got up to answer it, only to be engulfed in a hug strong enough to crack my bones together. "Good God, where have you been?" Gavin released his hold and took a step back.
I inspected him as he did me. His hair was short. His steel blue eyes were older, but just as welcoming. We'd grown up together, we knew each other, and I knew he was my friend. Even now, even after all this time, after all that had happened, he was still my friend. "I see they're feeding you well," I said and poked him in his hard as rock stomach.
At the end of the war, we'd all been gaunt, hollow eyed, and always hungry. I was so happy to see that Gavin was in fine form again. Judging by the muscles and the small, healthy lines on his face, he was doing well. "You look good, man."
"I can't say the same to you. You look like hell. Where have you been hiding?"
I shrugged. "Here and there. You know me."
"Yeah, I do. That's why I couldn't believe it when I heard you were here. Then when they said you were in the castle, I had to come see for myself."
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