فصل 13

CHAPTER 13

I jerked myself from a nightmare, and my eyes popped open in the dark. I felt a moment of confusion as I took in the walls of the tree house before remembering the events of the previous day. Wow, was I stiff. Muscles I didn’t even know I had hurt with an almost impressive intensity I hadn’t known was possible. The room felt stuffy, and I eased myself off the couch and tiptoed past a sleeping Emily. It took everything I had to stifle a laugh when I noticed that Shawn was sleeping on the floor next to the bed, having obviously decided against sharing with Todd. Todd sprawled on his stomach, his hair rumpled. Both boys were snoring softly. Careful not to make a sound, I opened the door I’d seen earlier and slipped out into the night.

On the other side of the door was a small wooden deck with a rope bridge leading to the next tree house. I peered tentatively over the edge of the deck railing, but the dark forest floor was too far below to make out and my stomach flopped uncomfortably at the sight. Sliding my back down the wall of the house, I tilted my head up to take in the breathtaking expanse of stars. I’d never been outside at night before. I felt like I’d traveled to a new planet instead of to the topside of my own.

The chill of the night bit through my thin shirt, and I curled my legs up against my chest. The crisp air almost had a flavor to it compared with the recirculated air of the compound. Todd could probably tell me what tree or flower I was smelling, but to me it just smelled like topside—fresh, earthy, and alive. The soft click of a door being opened behind me made me jump guiltily. Shawn emerged, looking around frantically before rushing to the rail and peering down into the gloom. I put my hand over my mouth to cover a giggle. What did he think? That I’d decided to jump? He was turning toward the rope bridge when he spotted me. His whole posture relaxed, and he ambled over to sit down beside me and gaze up at the stars.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked. I nodded. He craned his head back, and I joined him, drinking in the night. “There are a lot more stars than I thought there would be.” “We’ve missed so much.” I murmured.

“Maybe not; maybe we just waited to start our adventure until we were ready.”

“Our adventure?” I raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“You didn’t think I was going to let my best friend get eaten without me, did you?” he chuckled. I rolled my eyes, glad the dark hid my grin. Sometimes Shawn Reilly was utterly impossible in the best possible way. Ever since he’d come into my life five years ago, I couldn’t picture it without him. Maybe that was why I’d given in when he’d followed me, because some selfish part of me wasn’t brave enough to do this alone. I’d never tell him that, of course. Instead, I dug a friendly elbow into his side.

“I thought you were all about us going back to the compound?”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I am.”

“Then why did you come with?

Shawn shrugged. “I realized that I would rather die helping my best friend on her wild adventure than end up an old man in the compound. So it was really a no-brainer.” “I’m terrified that I’m going to be responsible for getting you killed.” My voice cracked a little at the word “killed.” Shawn was quiet for a while, and the night noises whirled around us. Finally he said, “We all die eventually.” “I hope you didn’t make a mistake.” I would never say it out loud, but I was starting to worry that I’d led my best friend on a deadly wild-goose chase. The fact that Jett didn’t know of anything in the middle of Lake Michigan worried me more than I was willing to admit. Everything had happened so fast. From finding my dad’s note to escaping the compound, and Shawn tagging along. It all felt horribly overwhelming at times.

I cleared my throat. “Todd and Jett seem to think we’re crazy.”

Shawn snorted, not taking his eyes off the impressive expanse of stars twinkling overhead. “Sky, if being your best friend has taught me anything, it’s that being crazy makes life a little more interesting.” “It was plenty interesting today,” I muttered.

“A little too interesting,” Shawn agreed. We sat in silence for a minute, and then Shawn turned to look at me. “Can you tell me something?” he asked.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Be honest now,” he cautioned. “You were just being nice when you said you’d come live here. Right?” “I told you I was never going back to the compound,” I said quietly.

Shawn stiffened in surprise beside me. “You can’t really want to live in a tree without running water? Did you notice the other villagers when we met Jett? I didn’t see anyone older than forty. I have a feeling no one around here dies of old age.” “I don’t care,” I said stubbornly.

“I know you aren’t going back to North Compound, but why wouldn’t you go back to a different one?” When I didn’t say anything, he sighed. “You’ll change your mind.” I scowled. “I won’t.”

“Whatever. We’ll cross that bridge if we survive that long.” Shawn rubbed his hands vigorously up and down his arms in an attempt to warm them. “Want to go inside? I think you’re turning blue.” “Not yet. I’ve been inside too long.”

“Okay,” he conceded. We sat quietly for a while, looking up. I’d always appreciated that I didn’t have to fill the silences around him. Finally, we both got to our feet and crept back into the house.

“The floor?” I whispered, pointing at the still-snoring Todd.

“I don’t care. It’s better than sharing a bed.”

I rolled my eyes and crawled back onto the couch.

The next morning dawned bright through the window, and I woke up to sunlight for the first time in my life. I reflected that the last twenty-four hours had been filled with a lot of firsts, not all of them as nice as sunshine and stars.

Emily was already up and bustling around the fireplace.

“Can I help?” I whispered. She nodded and pointed to a small basin sitting on the dresser.

“Wash up, and you can go down to Myrtle’s for some eggs. She owes me.” I decided not to ask what she wanted eggs for and did as I was told. I splashed the cool water on my face and ran my fingers through my tangled curls. After rummaging around in my bag, I located my hairbrush and managed to tame the mess somewhat, then reported to Emily for instructions.

“There are bridges that connect each of our homes.” She handed me a large wooden bowl. “Myrtle is three houses down and two houses over. Tell her Emily is wanting those eggs she’s been promising, at least a half a dozen, as we have company.” I nodded and tiptoed past the sleeping boys and outside. The village was just coming to life, and I looked out across the treetops to see people opening their windows and a few already descending the ropes to the ground below. I considered the flimsy rope bridge I’d seen the night before but, vowing not to look down, I started across the first one. It pitched and wobbled, but by the time I reached Myrtle’s house, I was feeling pretty confident. I knocked on the wooden door and waited. A tall, boxy woman with wild black hair answered and peered down at me suspiciously.

“And who might you be?” she asked.

“Sky Mundy, ma’am. Emily Birch sent me to collect the eggs you owe her. A half dozen, please.” “I owe her, huh? Miss Bossy Pants wants a half dozen, now does she?” The woman grunted. This wasn’t going to be as easy as I’d expected. “Well, I haven’t gone out to the coop to collect them yet, but if you want them”—she gestured toward a small hut perched above her house with a rope ladder dangling down to her deck—“go get ‘em.” “Okay.” I gulped, wondering how exactly I was supposed to do that.

“Here.” She thrust a pair of thick leather gloves at me. “If you want to keep your fingers, you’ll need these.” She wiggled her hand at me, and with a jolt I realized two of her fingers were missing at the knuckle. I took the gloves and made my way over to the ladder, eyeballing it warily. I was about to begin climbing when I heard the creak of the rope bridge and turned to see Todd jogging toward me. The entire bridge swayed wildly, but it didn’t seem to faze him.

“Hey. What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Hey yourself. I thought I’d help. Old Myrtle can be a handful.”

“I heard that, Todd Birch!” Myrtle’s voice boomed out of her window, and I flinched. Todd just grinned. “Get those eggs collected or I’ll show you a handful,” Myrtle called. Todd plucked the wooden bowl from my arms and clambered up the ladder. I scrambled up after him.

“How many did my mom want?” Todd asked.

“Um, I’m supposed to collect a half dozen.” I gestured toward the small shack. “But I’ve never done it before.” “No problem,” he said, taking the gloves from my hands. He grabbed a bucket off a hook on the wall and ducked under the low doorway. I followed him into the gloom and almost gagged at the smell. Looking over his shoulder, I saw three large birdlike lizards sitting on nests. If I remembered correctly, their name was Rhamphorhynchus. I recalled thinking that these were especially creepy looking when we studied the different kinds of pterosaurs in school. But creepy didn’t even begin to cover it. Their beaklike jaws jutted out, showing off an impressive set of needlelike teeth as they rustled their massive webbed wings. My biology book also hadn’t bothered to mention that they smelled like the compound’s sewer. As if on cue, the one in the middle broke wind. Charming. Their huge eyes watched us warily.

“This is what you get an egg from?” I whispered.

“Why are you whispering? The old girls know why we’re here.” Todd bent down to grab a small dead fish out of the bucket at his feet. In one practiced move, he tossed it against the far wall of the hut. The creatures lunged to the left, their beaks snapping. Todd leaped forward and scooped out a handful of fist-sized white balls from under two of the creatures. He carefully placed them in my bowl.

“Want to give it a go?”

“Not really,” I admitted. “That Myrtle woman was missing a few fingers.”

“Ha!” Todd laughed. “She used to scare me with that one when I was a kid. She was born without those fingers. Don’t get me wrong, these girls would take one off if you offered it, but you’d have to be really slow to lose one.” “I don’t know . . . ,” I hedged.

“Spoken like a kid who’s never had to provide for herself.” His tone had just the slightest edge of condescension. I stiffened and yanked the gloves off his hands, jamming them onto my own.

“So I just throw the fish?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Throw, grab, retreat, repeat. I was doing this at five years old,” Todd bragged. I grabbed a fish from the bucket, trying not to cringe at its slimy texture, and threw. It bounced off the wall and the creatures dove for it as I lunged. My hand closed around two warm spheres, and I threw myself backward, colliding with Todd as the disgruntled rhamphorhynchus thrashed their whiplike tails and resettled on their nests. I was so relieved that I almost didn’t notice the warm liquid running through my fingers. One of the eggs I’d grabbed had smashed, and my gloved hand was now covered in what looked like a gigantic glob of snot. I looked up at Todd in horror, and he burst out laughing.

“Smooth one, Ace. Lucky for you, we only needed one more egg. Don’t leave any yolk or shell, or Myrtle will pitch a fit.” Back outside, I scraped the sticky mess off my hand, letting it fall to the ground far below.

“This is disgusting.” I wrinkled my nose as Todd provided a few leaves to clean off the last of the gunk. “What does your mom want these for?” “You aren’t serious, are you?” he asked. “You really don’t know what eggs are for?” I sighed. “To be on the safe side, just assume I don’t know how anything works up here.” “You eat them.”

“Oh.” My stomach rolled sickeningly at the thought. “Do they fall for that trick every time?” I asked.

“They are about as bright as a log,” he said as he took the bowl from my hands and climbed down. “We’re lucky that they are one of the dumber species of dinosaur. There aren’t many of those, so we take advantage when we can.” I debated telling him that those weren’t technically dinosaurs, but I decided against it as I followed, substantially less expertly, and reclaimed the bowl.

“Thank you. I’m not sure I could have done that without your help,” I admitted grudgingly.

“Which proves Jett’s point that you and your little boyfriend aren’t built for life aboveground.” I scowled. “Okay, first of all, Shawn is my friend. Not my boyfriend. That’s just dumb. And secondly, Shawn is short, not little. If you value keeping your face arranged the way it is, I would suggest you remember that. And third, if we wanted your opinion, we would have asked for it.” I turned on my heel to stomp away, but two feet later I had to stop and proceed more cautiously across the bridge, completely ruining the effect. Todd chuckled, and suddenly he was swinging across the gap on a long rope, letting out a war whoop as he went. He landed on the tree house platform twenty feet away, turned to wink at me, and then charged off across the next bridge. “Show-off,” I muttered through gritted teeth. Careful to hold the fragile eggs steady, I followed him.

He waited for me a few bridges later, a wide grin on his face as he munched on an apple. I watched him bite into it curiously. I’d heard of apples, even tasted one in the third grade, but I’d never seen someone eat a whole one before. He saw me staring and stopped midbite.

“Hungry?” he asked, offering me the half-eaten fruit.

“A little,” I admitted. “Do you get to eat these all the time?”

“When they’re in season.” He shrugged. “There’s an old orchard not far from here. Ever since my dad died, I do most of the hunting and gathering for my mom and me. So we eat a lot of apples.” “You’re lucky,” I said.

He grimaced. “I guess. We get by. I’d rather be hunting, though. I’m a really good shot. I wasn’t joking when I said I could punch a few holes in Shawn.” “Would you really have done that?”

“Probably not. I was mad, though. Verde and I grew up together. That little squirt was just a hatchling when my dad brought her home from one of his trading missions. An old trapper he knew had found her nest, was going to mercy kill her before she starved, but my dad stepped in.” “Verde is an unusual name,” I said.

“It’s Italian for green. My mom is one hundred percent Italian; that’s rare. My dad had no clue what he was. My mom called him a mutt.” “So does that make you a half mutt?”

“I guess. I never really thought about it.”

“How long ago did your dad die?” I asked.

“Two years,” he said. “Trading mission gone wrong. All Jett and the search party found was a smear of blood and his bow. It’s my bow now.” “I’m sorry,” I said.

He shrugged. “Why? You aren’t the one who ate him. Besides, we always knew that what he did was dangerous. Traveling back and forth from village to village. Mom always gave him this big sloppy kiss when he was leaving on a trip. Like she’d never see him again. It used to gross me out, ya know? But I don’t think it would anymore.” “I know what you mean.”

Todd nodded, and headed across the last bridge. We made it back into the tree house with all the eggs intact, and I opened the door cautiously, not wanting to wake up Shawn, but he was already up and dressed. The green tunic he wore made his blond hair stand out in startling contrast.

“Just in time.” Emily smiled as she scooped the bowl of eggs out of my arms. “I was worried you’d gotten lost.” “I was just giving her an egg-gathering lesson,” Todd said, smirking. “She was a natural.” I stuck my tongue out at him, biting back a grin as I wandered over to stand next to Emily by the fireplace. The bulge of muscle on her arms and shoulders was apparent even through the tunic she was wearing. She was used to a life of hard work. I watched skeptically as she banged each egg roughly on the edge of her pan to crack it. They just looked too much like snot to be edible.

Once the blankets on the couch were folded, I looked around for my body armor. Emily saw and motioned with her hand toward the dresser.

“Since you’re going to trade that thing, don’t bother with putting it back on, dear. I got you something more decent to wear from one of our neighbors with a daughter your size. Just step behind the curtain there and throw them on.” Behind the curtain, I found a pair of tight brown leggings and a forest-green tunic, more fitted than the boys’ but similar. I felt the tunic’s unfamiliar softness. After years of coarse fabrics, this was a luxury I could get used to. I shrugged into the clothes and neatly folded my scratchy gray leggings and shirt and put them in my pack. When I came back around the curtain, Emily was serving the boys their eggs. Todd dug in immediately, but Shawn looked down at the fluffy yellow mixture apprehensively.

I sat down beside him, eyeing my own plate with suspicion, but I picked up my fork and took a bite despite my qualms about where this particular delicacy had come from. The flavor was unlike anything I had ever tasted. I smiled reassuringly at Shawn. “Go with it,” I murmured. He did. When we were finished, I helped Emily clear the table.

“I’m glad you liked the eggs,” she smiled. “Todd told me these were your first.”

“They were wonderful. Thank you for letting us stay the night, and feeding us . . .” I trailed off, feeling very indebted to these strangers. “We appreciate your kindness.” “My pleasure.” Emily waved us off. “No trouble at all. It’s nice to see new faces.” At that moment, Verde came scampering up to the table and sat back on her haunches. Todd flipped her a chunk of egg, and she chuckled happily. He picked up the body armor I’d set on the table, and wrinkled his nose as he held it up to the light. “We’ll need to trade these for a bow and knife for each of you. Minimum. Knowing how to use them would be even better. I could give you basic training if you wanted. In a month I could have you shooting straight.” “Nope.” I shook my head. “Not going to happen. I need to get to Lake Michigan, and I need to get there fast.” “She’s in a big hurry to get eaten,” Shawn said conspiratorially, winking at Emily. Emily didn’t smile.

“Getting eaten isn’t funny around here,” she said quietly, taking the boys’ empty plates. Shawn’s ears burned red. I felt sorry for him. There was no way he could have known that Todd’s dad had been eaten only two years ago.

Todd bounded to his feet. “Let’s go.”

“Why don’t you take them to see Roderick first,” Emily said. “I think he’d like a look at their map, and he might be able to tell them the best route to Lake Michigan.” “Why didn’t I think of that?” Todd said. “Mom, it’s easy to see where I get my brains from.” He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and turned to us. “Roderick first, then the trading post.”