Simple.
He pushed on through the prickly undergrowth, stopping in line with his best guess at where the rock was. He felt his way along like a blind man. Sticky trails of perspiration snaked on his skin at the thought of leaving the safety of the trees. He leaned back on the smooth bark commanding courage back into his legs. A couple of steps, that’s all it would take.
Sucking in a deep breath, he swung a leg towards the open space and froze. Something moved through the bushes to the right. It glowed faintly.
Panic pumped through his body. Everything else that glowed in the dark seemed intent on biting him or killing him. He pressed himself against the bark. The lights bobbed and weaved closer, staying knee-high off the ground. Kai squinted, trying to make out the shapes. The LightSuckers had glowed violent orange, but this light was different. Cold and blue at the edges with streaks of green further in, it was hardly light at all. They were closer now, twelve in all. No—thirteen. A straggler, smaller than the others, struggling to keep up.
Kai kneeled, peered through leaves, and strained to make out this new menace. He bit back a laugh.
Monkeys?
No, wait. Not animals, boys.
Hunched over and running with their knuckles in the dirt, they squabbled and pushed as they ran. The biggest, possibly the leader, spun around and smacked the two making the most noise.
He reminded Kai of a kid who’d been in his grade at St. Greg’s. Sergeant Bash. He’d been nicknamed Sergeant Bash because he stood two heads above the other boys, with his shoulders knotted and curled beneath his cotton shirt. What he had in strength, he lacked in brain cells, yet the size of his fist prevented anyone saying as much to his face. Behind his back was another story.
This boy matched Bash muscle for muscle. His attention dissolved the issue between the smaller boys and they glared at him mutinously the moment his back was turned. He had unwittingly united them in rebellion.
Fascinated in spite of himself, Kai stayed still.
Deathly silence fell over the troop as they neared the cave. They huddled together. The straggler caught up and tried to claw his way into the safety of the centre, but their ranks were closed and nobody made room for him.
By the dim light they gave off, Kai made out the outline of the rock. His rock.
The boys clambered up and found his bag and suit. The suit that was the only thing that could hide him from all the creatures that wanted to eat him or drink his blood.
In dreadful nightmare clarity, the Bash look-alike stowed Kai’s suit in the bag, swung it up, and settled it on his back.
Kai shot up and ran at them with his arms waving, “Give that back! That’s mine!”
For a split second, they stared at him with wide eyes. Then, like an explosion of pale fireworks, glowing monkeys scattered and took off at speed.
6
Kai grimaced at the fading blotch of dripped light on the sand beneath his feet. He’d been following these faint marks, his trail of jelly beans, growing further apart and dimmer with each one he found. The monkey boys had pulled away from him steadily, taking their faint light with them. Time went elastic in the gloom as he’d stumbled after them, tripping on roots and rocks until it felt as if his knees would quit from continually breaking his fall.
Maybe the boys ran as they did for a reason. He tried a few steps, doubled over, and felt his way forward with his hands. It slowed him down, but he no longer fell. It didn’t take long though, for his back to twist in a spasm of spectacular protest.
He straightened up, muscles aching. Eyes adjusting to the semi-dark, he could make out silhouetted trees off to the right, while a flat area ran off to his left. Walking was less treacherous here as he travelled along the edge of the flat. None of this made sense, but he was too tired and hungry to figure any of it out. One thing kept him focused—the letter. He had to wake up. Or get back.
It wasn’t so much the sound of footfall behind him, but the feel of another that made Kai suspect he had a stalker. He arched casually, tipping his head sideways as if stretching his neck. Towards the edge of the forest, he caught a glimmer of light in between the fat, circular leaves of the bush just a stone’s throw away. The light stopped moving the moment he looked that way. The muscles in his back had eased, but he doubled over, pretending to be in pain. Sucking a deep breath, he flung himself at the bush, grabbing wildly at the light hidden behind the leaves.
His hands closed on something skinnier than he was. Kai lifted it out from behind the bushes. It was the runt, smallest of the monkey boys. The one who’d struggled to keep up with the group as they’d arrived at the rock and stolen Kai’s bag. Smears of half-light striped the boy’s cheeks, hand-shaped glows on each arm, down his legs, as if he’d been using glow-in-the-dark finger paint on his body.
Kai held the boy at a distance to avoid being kicked or bitten.
Runt, however, stopped squirming and regarded him with curious eyes, not a trace of fear. One leg hung limp and useless, pants shredded, dark streaks down the length of skin. Blood? He felt bones through the thin fabric, blanching at the way Runt’s eyes bulged inside his skull. The injury didn’t glow here the way Kai usually saw brokenness, but the extent of the injury was obvious even without his Affinity.
“Why are you following me?”
Runt cocked his head to the side but said nothing.
Kai tried again, slower this time. “What is your name?” Following his instincts, he put the boy down and settled onto his haunches bringing his face level. “Do you speak English?” Kai was starting to feel a bit silly.
Runt maintained eye contact, a dirty scraggle of a boy. His hair hung in a thick mass of knots on either side of his skinny face, and his eyes glowed luminous in the gloom. His mouth, however, stayed shut in a tight line.
This was going nowhere fast. Each second of standstill lost Kai more ground and thinned his chances at getting his bag and his suit back. “I’ve got to go. Go find your mom. Take a bath. You need it.” Turning his attention back to the faded spot, he had to walk around Runt to pick up the trail.
For every step he took, Runt took three. The little scrap was determined to follow him, limping along.
Kai swung around waving his arms, “Shoo! Go!”
Runt held his ground. A smile crept across his face, mouth wide, a hammock hooked on his ears. Despite Kai’s efforts, he wouldn’t go.
Kai resisted the urge to scream and shake the boy, scare him into not following. Yet the strongest urge inside him was to grin back. Messed up. This is so messed up.
Grabbing Runt by the shoulder, he swung him in the opposite direction. “Go find your mom. Leave me alone.”
Runt tripped and fell on his damaged leg. His eyes flashed defiance, but he struggled back up, folded his arms across his chest and didn’t leave. The faintest hint of moisture hung as a crystal on the edge of his lashes.
Something tugged at Kai’s insides. You know what it’s like to not belong. “OK, kid. Come on. You’d better keep up.”
They fell into an easy rhythm of hunting for light spots and walking. Runt matched his pace, speeding up or slowing down as needed. They were making progress.
Kai worried it was still too slow. His ears sharpened and twice the whir of LightSucker wings gave them enough warning to hide from a flying swarm. The added responsibility for his tag-a-long weighed him down. Kai told himself the kid was no concern of his. If trouble hit, it would be each one for himself. But that didn’t stop him shooting out a protective hand every time the boy’s foot slipped.
Kai had no idea how long they’d been walking, but judging by his aching feet, it had been too long. Without morning or nightfall, it could have been hours or days that he’d been stuck in this nowhere-ness.
Finding a smooth rock, he sat and gingerly rubbed life back into his toes. Barefoot hiking was not something he’d recommend.
Runt sat opposite, watching every move with a frown on his face.
Kai gave up on his foot massage. T
hey were sore with or without his help. “Do you understand me when I talk to you?”
Runt half-shrugged, then nodded.
“Can you talk?”
Runt sighed as if bored with all these questions. Instead of answering, he dug in his pocket and brought out a small leather bag. He untied the string and tipped the contents onto the ground. He scratched through, pushing aside a glowing bottle, a flat oval milky-white stone, a feather. Finally, he picked up an object that fit in the palm of his hand; a stick of black charcoal. Concentrating hard, he placed it carefully between two fingers, knelt close to Kai pulling the neck of his shirt aside and drew on his chest. With a grin that rivalled the brightness of the sun, he admired his handiwork and nodded approval. He scooped up all his treasures and packed them back into the bag.
“You just drew on me.”
Runt’s chuckle bubbled out of him.
“What did you draw?” No matter how hard he pushed his chin down into his chest, he couldn’t make out what the boy had done. “What for? Are you nuts?”
“Ladybug.” Runt poked him in the chest. “You like Ladybug.”
“I do not! I mean...they’re OK I guess, but—” Words failed him. “—they’re not special. I like stick insects more.” He rubbed a hand across his charcoal tattoo, and his fingers came away sooty. “Or something cool like a tarantula. What were you thinking? And you’re speaking now. That’s good. Talk to me. Explain.” Kai planted his face in his hands, willing himself to wake up.
Runt placed a hand over Kai’s heart, over his bug drawing, “Save me. Save us.”
“But, you see, I haven’t. And when the moment arrives, I probably won’t. I’m not like that. If you think I am, you’re wrong.” He stood up, pulling away from the boy’s hand.
Runt shrugged, pocketed his charcoal, brushed his hands clean on his T-shirt and began drawing with his fingers in the sand at their feet. Circle after circle, until there was a small army. He grabbed Kai’s hands and began dancing on top of the circles, brushing them out with the souls of his bare feet.
“Ladybug wins.” He winked at Kai.
Great. Now I’m a bug. Not just any bug, but a ladybug. A circle-killing ladybug. Don’t I feel special.
This place was wearing him down. No point arguing, better to find the next glowing splodge.
Runt watched him hunt for glowing drips, eyes clear beneath long lashes. His dirty face lit up each time Kai found one. He scouted ahead, finding the splashes for Kai. If he’d had a tail, it probably would have been wagging. Soon, he began picking up speed, as though he realized finding the splashes was only a means to an end. He didn’t need the trail, he seemed to know where the monkey boys were.
They reached a ridge.
Runt froze. He became anxious—hanging back, pulling at Kai’s leg.
Kai sank behind a rocky outcrop and peered beyond, trying to make out what it was he saw. The darkness deepened ahead—not the empty darkness of a void, but rather that of space filled with bark, leaves, rough platforms, and climbing monkey boys.
Bash crouched on a second level platform, hovering over Kai’s bag and snarling at any who dared come closer.
~*~
Evazee watched the steady drops falling inside the drip bag.
A nurse padded in on silent feet. She reached up and adjusted the flow, lessening the amount of morphine. Pulling back an eyelid, she flicked her torch across his pupils. “Your boy?”
Evazee shrugged and blushed, not able to lie but not keen to be kicked out. Sister Carla Brownlee, according to her shiny name tag, must have drawn her own conclusions, as she smiled and let Evazee stay. The nurse pulled the curtains open in the ward, letting sunlight flood in.
“How bad is he?” Evazee asked.
“Hard to tell at this point. We’ve done what we can. Now we wait and see.”
Eva nodded, fixing her eyes on his face, not trusting herself to speak. She crumpled her T-shirt between her fingers. Awkward.
“You can talk to him. It will help. And you can call me Carla.”
Eva forced a smile. This was getting worse.
Carla turned back to her patient to stick a thermometer underneath his tongue. She checked her watch, tapping her foot in impatience. The cupboard door stood ajar and she pushed it with her foot to close it, but it popped straight open again. She bent down to move whatever was in the way. Faded denims fell out. She threw them into the cupboard and slammed it shut before they could escape again. “Do you know where to find his family? We haven’t been able to contact anyone.”
Eva shook her head, avoiding Carla’s eyes.
With a brief squeeze of her shoulder, Carla left.
The cupboard door popped open again, spilling the denims on the floor. Eva sighed, picked them up to put them away. Something crinkled. Her hand slipped into the back pocket and she pulled out a folded letter, creased and worn. It sat in her palm as light as a snowflake.
A clattering at the door and Carla was back.
Eva panicked. She shoved the letter into her pocket, stowed his jeans, and shut the door. It closed with a satisfying click. What am I doing?
~*~
The sores on Kai’s neck and arms had swollen to tight welts, each one a circle of weeping flesh, framed by a hard, crusty ridge. The dull ache nauseated him. Pressing his back into the smooth, purple bark of a tree, he let go. Wave after wave of emotion washed over him. Like a kid stuck at summer camp, he just wanted to go home.
His eyes burned from peering into the darkness, muscles knotted with the tension of not knowing when and how to make his move.
Runt snored softly at his feet, a long leaf pulled over him as a blanket, his injured leg tucked inside. This kid could sleep anywhere.
Kai braced himself and stepped out from behind the covering of the tree to face Bash. Clean light washed over him, dim and wavering, but brightening like a small sun rising at his feet. The air in front of him shimmered, bending invisible into visible, shifting until it settled into a familiar form.
Zee was back.
Not in her PJ’s, but in a white uniform of sorts, shining her brightness directly between him and the boys. He pulled her in behind the trunk where he’d been hiding, but it was too late.
With a mad scurry, the tree stood deserted, vacant ropes swinging slowly back and forth, the only sign there’d been anybody up there.
“Well that’s just perfect!” he hissed. “Why do you keep doing that?”
“Why are you yelling at me? I’m trying to help you.”
He was still whispering, “Your timing is off. Seriously off. How do you do that anyway? Freaks me out.”
“What is on your chest?” She poked at the smudgy ladybug.
“He draws.”
Zee leaned in close, squinting, “Is that a ladybug?”
“Apparently he draws quite well.”
“You are so weird.”
“Some kid gets it in his head to draw a ladybug on me, and I’m the weird one?”
She frowned and changed the subject, deliberately loud, “Have you got your suit back? The scroll?”
“If you hadn’t shown up right now, I could have said yes.” He could tell his words stung.
Zee pulled away from him, stepped without looking, and tripped over Runt. She came down hard, breaking her fall on Runt’s damaged leg.
Runt flew up, bellowing. Just as suddenly, he swallowed hard and hushed, but enormous tears rolled down his cheeks.
Zee blushed to the roots of her hair. Her compassion welled and she eased herself in next to Runt, a gentle arm around thin, shaking shoulders. Puffy sleepiness lingered on his face. Zee’s fingers flew over dirty skin, feeling bones and squeezing for telltale signs of trauma.
“We need to get to the healing stream. Otherwise I don’t think this leg…” Her eyes caught Kai’s.
“What got him?”
“Too dirty to tell. Here.” She lifted the boy. “I won’t manage.”
Kai took Runt, settled him between his
shoulders, where his bag should have been. It would have been too, if not for Zee. Questions burned in his mind…where do you go? What makes you come back? Where am I? He knew she wouldn’t answer, so the thoughts stayed in his head like buzzing hornets.
Zee led the way past the deserted tree, skirting the edge of the forest.
Kai had grown up hungry. There had never been enough food to match his metabolism, so his body lacked the protein to build muscles of any significance. Being tall didn’t help much either. Yet Runt was so light, Kai walked easily carrying him.
They travelled quickly by the light that shone out of Zee, no tripping or falling. The landscape shifted. The flats to the left rose gradually to form a wall of rock twice Kai’s height.
Runt nodded off, Kai felt a shift in his weight, the heavy drape of a body at rest.
“The river is close now.” Zee pointed ahead.
A glow rose up ahead, lighting the curled roots of the trees in shifting patterns. Kai heard the river before he saw it. As it flowed, it made music, tinkling and sparkling. As they got closer, the river’s light mingled with Zee’s. She stood on the bank, a footstep away from the edge. The emerald water responded to Zee, flashing brilliance in reflection of her own light. The stream ran to and from further than the eye could see in either direction, shining as if lit up with its own electricity. The colour seemed familiar.
Zee hunted along the edge, back and forth, muttering as if she’d lost something. Finding a shallow pool that caught the flow from the river in a swirling whirl, she waved Kai over.
“Zee, who are these boys?”
She unhooked Runt from Kai’s back. Transferring his weight against her body, she let him slide down to the smooth rock. “Orphans. They live in HalfLight. They have no understanding of LifeLight so they try to create light for themselves. It doesn’t work.”
Runt sat blinking, legs stretched out, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
Zee helped Runt remove the tattered layers of clothing until he was left in his smalls. He looked the same age as the kids in 1st Class at St. Gregory’s, which would make him six or seven years old. Zee lowered herself into the water, not concerned at getting her clothes wet. She held her arms out, face flushed with light from inside and out, so radiant and beautiful that Kai had trouble breathing just looking at her.
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