Catching my breath as the giggles slowed, Alissa wiped her cheek looking to me.
“Well, I think we both have good taste.” Alissa said and I nodded nearly moving my scraped arm in front of me, “But I have to say you look much better than I do.” Alissa said stepping back and scrutinizing my dress.
I motioned to her.
“I think it looks fantastic on you too, though.”
Alissa rolled her eyes and nodded to me.
“Thank you, but I think I like the modern black dress better.” She said and I nodded though a smile caught my lips.
“Yes, but think how easily I could find you if we were in the same dress!” I said and Alissa laughed out a breath.
“No, I wouldn’t want Keten mistaking me for you and kissing me.” Alissa said and I tried to keep a frown.
Going back into our dressing rooms I decided I was both tired and happy with the green dress.
“I think I’m done for the night, I like the green one.” I said and held the dress before me with a smile, it reminded me of open land and grass.
Walking out of my changing room, I stood in the hall as Alissa did back her hair holding the black sleek dress in her arms and leaving the door open behind her.
“Alright, let’s go then,” she said with a nod, “We don’t want to be late for dinner and to the game room.” Alissa said, yet I hardly heard her as we walked through the crowded hall as a girl came running.
Alissa and I jumped out of the way as the girl flew past and skidded to a halt before a group of chattering girls. We both stopped and looked after her as to see what could be the rush.
“What’s up, Vivian?” A girl asked, putting a hand to her friends arm and the girl, Vivian, looked up with a smile.
“You’re never going to believe this, I overheard one of the gardeners talking to the principal as he passed by in the hall.” The girl said, nearly jumping up and down as I felt my stomach drop.
“So?” The girls asked and now others had glanced over as even Alissa and I had stopped.
For me it was like watching a building crumble yet you were the one who set the charges and knew it was coming down.
“The gardener said he saw a Skyjump beast in the atrium!” The girl squealed.
The hall filled with wide eyes and a million questions and thoughts started as I too, stood wide eyed and very, very shocked but for a completely different reason.
Dinner had been nothing but talk of what the girl had said. Zac was shocked. Even as we had gotten our food I could hear how fast rumors had spread and suddenly I felt claustrophobic among so many voices saying Skyjump this or that.
By the time we sat taking turns on Left of Ladder in the game room, even the group who played pool seemed to be conversing over the subject.
“I just don’t get it.” Zac said as he placed a peg and shook his brown locks. “Why would a SkyJump be in the atrium?” He asked as Alissa placed her peg taking the lead in tonight’s game.
I wished I could slouch down in my chair and hide from it all. I knew that would look no better than becoming silent for the rest of the night so I worked just to throw something out in the open.
“Maybe it got stuck?” I asked and wished I was better at keeping a low profile like my father.
I took my move as Zac shook his head. What would my father think of me if he knew? Suddenly, the letter that was back in my room made me nervous as if he could see through it and know what I had done.
“SkyJump’s aren’t normal in the atrium let alone La’ket, or the world.” Zac said making me feel lonely.
Alissa laughed softly and shrugged,
“I mean, the only thing that it could be is that someone is a Skyjump student, right?” Alissa said, shaking her head.
I felt my neck break into a cold sweat and prayed she did not look my way. Thankfully, she didn’t as Zac put a hand through his hair.
“No, we get our scores tonight and no one is allowed in there before they know their score.” Zac said and then to my horror he added, “Unless...” and looked over to me.
Using everything my father ever told me about staying calm and not revealing who I was went through me, as I spoke keeping my voice tunt.
“What?” I asked him as Alissa nodded.
Zac looked me over and a smile crossed his lips as he laughed lightly,
“I was just thinking you are the only student able to go into the atrium yet.” He said.
I felt every emotion fall through me like I was a grate on the street left only with a shell to hold anything together.
“Yeah right, like Quil could have.” Alissa scoffed, “She was at classes all day and then slept before she got to the dress shop with me.” She said and both of them laughed as I joined in hoping beyond hope they did not catch the fear that held within me like cords of iron tightening around my lungs.
Sitting in my room on the rug where my bed had been, I felt winded and weak. All I could do was stare at the rug’s fibers and move my fingers through them and try and pull them out as I would grass.
“What have I done?” I asked myself, feeling grateful Alissa and Zac so easily trusted me.
Looking up from the rug, I questioned why they would distrust me. I told them as much truth as I could and they did know some of my truths.
No one got hurt, I considered as my head lowered. The gardener was fine and it would all blow over in a few days, I encouraged as my eyes moved and caught sight of my dress sitting on my desk and the edge of my guitar case.
I wanted to play it in this very moment and simply replay the melody of the SkyJump just to ease my mind yet I knew I couldn’t as my eyes moved from it. Searching my room, I found my bag that looked slightly dirt ridden.
Rising to my feet, I felt conflicted as I reached in, pulling out the slightly damaged letter from my father. Holding it in my grasp felt something like wanting to be hugged, but knowing you should be shunned.
Walking back to the rug, I sat down and crossed my legs. I sat in silence long enough that my ears gained a fuzz of blank noise before I finally went for the envelope and opened it. Pulling the letter out, I found no photo was within as I pursed my lips, glancing about as if I was to be caught and then opened and read,
“Dear Equila,
I’m sorry time has gone by so long my girl, but things are starting to become complicated. Let’s just say I’m glad I sent you to La’ket when I did.
I need you to trust me with all that is going to be below. I don’t want to frighten you but I must send this message as I feel the time is needed.
Be careful in all you do in school and don’t forget what I have taught you. Even if it’s something simple it can become the wind that creates an avalanche of consequences.
I know this will be hard. I wish to know how you did on your tests you spoke of but please wait a month at least before you send me another letter. If circumstances change I will send a letter letting you know you can send again but for now, stay vigilant of what surrounds you. Even in La’ket you must stay on guard at all times.
Until the dawn ends,
Dad”
My lips held in a frown as I reread the letter once, twice and then again.
For my father to be this worried was serious just by the way he wrote Equila, not Quil. It only made me feel worse at what I had done today, exposing the fact that a Skyjump is here.
Eyeing the letter over, I slowed as I came to the end and took in the last words written and spoke them aloud, though in a whisper while feeling weighed down by the simple statement,
“Until the dawn... Ends.” I bit my lip as I remembered the day my father told me of its meaning, it was one I would never forget.
“Quil, until the dawn ends refers to the battle long ago, it means if ever said that battle is raging and until the dawn comes; there may be no end.”
For the next two days I felt cooped up and after not seeing Keten or having him at our table for lunch I kept to myself. I told Alissa and Zac I had homework
, which in truth I needed time alone as fear for my father and the guilt of what I had done lingered. All in all, I just needed space as everyone now talked about was SkyJump’s.
Blinking to stay awake at the end of Mr. Deplen’s lesson on the hunting pattern of lions, I felt tired in a way that was more soul than body. The late nights tossing and turning since my father’s letter did have something to do with my heavy eyelids and numb feelings.
“That should be all for the day, so remember the females are the hunters of the group.” Mr. Deplen said and a boy snickered saying we already know that to which Mr. Deplen asked him to stay and had him clean up the room before he left.
Moving with the flow of students I yawned but was cut short as Lucy shot me a glare but passed me by without a word. I had to admit I was speechless and found it slightly odd she had been keeping away so easily. I honestly thought she would hunt me down and threaten me even worse than before but she almost seemed to be avoiding me.
Shaking off my thoughts, I entered Mr. Jacobsen’s class and noted how Jean stood at the front, talking with the teacher that upon thinking of my father’s letter I heavily distrusted.
Coming to my seat, I felt half asleep as Alissa whirled away from talking to Zac to look at me as I put my head to the desk.
“Did you hear?” She asked nearly jumping out of her seat.
Squinting my eyes and turning my head I looked to her.
“Hear what?” I asked assuming, at best, someone thought they found the real SkyJump in the school which the subject to my dismay had not yet subsided in the least.
Alissa looked stunned and then quickly came out of it as even Zac looked at me puzzled.
“Jack dropped out and left today.”
My head whipped up from the table, I heard an audible crack from my neck as I looked to her.
“He what?” I asked wide eyed and now completely awake.
Zac nodded from the side and we all glanced to where Jack usually sat.
“Everyone thought it was weird how he has been missing classes this week and then, even after a great grade, he just dropped out and left.” He said with a shrug.
I looked back to my desk. Maybe that was why Lucy backed off from trying to kill me, her very own attack dog had left. It sounded strange from Zac’s details.
For one moment, I considered that the timing of his leaving seemed peculiar, but I felt if the shadow was him he would have confronted me, not left.
I felt like I was drawing so many conclusions now because of my father’s letter that I thought everyone I didn’t know or trust might be someone bad.
“Isn’t it great!” Alissa said shaking my shoulder, I nodded with a good dose of relief knowing Jack was gone and now only Lucy was left.
“Class, after seeing how much interest has arisen in Skyjump’s, I feel we should have a class on them.” Mr. Jacobsen said, bringing my attention to the front of the room. “With that in mind, I brought in an expert on SkyJump’s to speak to us and I will only occasionally join in on Jean’s lesson.” Motioning to Jean beside him I felt my mouth unhinge. Beside me, even Zac and Alissa looked back and forth at one another.
“I hope you all don’t mind me stepping in for one class.” Jean said in her preppy kind tone.
Before anyone could raise their hands, Mr. Jacobsen nodded as he leaned against his desk,
“Jean is one of the few remaining Skyjump historians in the world.” Mr. Jacobson said with admiration.
I felt stunned as I looked to Jean. I remembered the way she had so easily known my names origin came to mind from the first day I came here. I had wondered how someone would know something so deep within Skyjump culture and now I had found the reason.
Mr. Jacobsen nodded to Jean and she stepped forward with an air of a teacher that felt very lively.
“First off, I would like to know what you know about SkyJumps.” Jean said and looked to the group of students to speak.
A boy raised his hand and Jean nodded to him.
“One was in the atrium.” He said slyly, and the class tried to contain its laughter.
Jean, unlike Mr. Jacobsen who hushed the students, nodded to him.
“Yes.. that does seem to be the rumor, but what else might you know?” She asked with a glint of intellect in her eyes that suddenly made me realize how smart she might be about my kind.
A girl raised her hand and with another nod Jean waited for her reply.
“They can turn into beasts like on the SkyJump flag, and gloves. They can SkyJump incredibly well because, well they are what SkyJumping’s named after.” She said sheepishly as the class again grinned but held back any laughter as Jean nodded admiringly.
“Very good. I see we may know more than simply a rumor...” Jean said with an air that made me wonder why she wasn’t a teacher.
“Aren’t SkyJumps just rumors nowadays?” A boy called out and Mr. Jacobsen yelled at the boy though, again Jean seemed pleased with the question.
“Some believe they are.” Jean said and then with a sly smile of her own she looked over the class and slightly caught the fact that I was in this class though her eyes moved on, I knew she had taken in that I was here. “But with the abilities they have, and their own abilities that most do not know about, who is to say if they, like the Earthen Brethren are truly no more?” She asked and now the whole class was intently listening.
Another girl raised her hand and Jean nodded to her.
“What other abilities do they have besides turning into a creature and SkyJumping?” The girl on the front row asked.
Jean nodded and a smile crossed her lips.
“I’m glad you asked,” she looked over and nodded to Mr. Jacobsen who turned down the glow of the floating blobs and made them become the goop of a screen he always used. “Going back before the war may give you the answer.” Jean said and the screen suddenly showed a land free of anything.
For a moment I felt confused because it looked a lot like the land the school was on, but with a mountain and a small forest. A rocky looking wall making a middle land on the map with three lands on either side of it.
“In the SkyJump retelling they tell only the war and not much before, or even after, is explained.” Jean looked completely at ease telling this as if she loved it. “Before the war, Skyjump’s were known as peaceful, but they were not only known for their advanced skills with climbing but some of their other abilities included a second vision if you will.” She said and the class seemed to tilt their heads at the idea.
I knew what she was talking about as my last feeling of being watched made chills run down my spine.
“You may ask what this second vision is. In the old texts of Mages who studied the SkyJumps, they speak of a way that SkyJumps knew if an enemy was watching them.” Jean said nodding.
The class seemed to be completely held by her words as though interested in what she knew.
“SkyJumps were also a very secluded people. They may have been numbered in thousands but their common attitude was one that liked having time to their self.” Jean said and I almost nodded and stopped myself as I realized that would not be a good idea.
A moment passed when another girl raised her hand before me and Jean nodded to her seeming excited to hear and answer another question.
“So, do SkyJumps really turn into animals? I know that’s what was in the atrium and it reared but do SkyJumps have control?” The girl asked, the end of her question feeling like she did not understand the idea at all.
Jean nodded and Mr. Jacobsen put up a very beautiful painting of a Skyjump in beast form rearing. Had I not done what I had in the atrium, I would have wanted to run and do the same. Now I was so scared of being caught I would rather tie myself to my seat than run.
“Yes, they most certainly do. In the stories they are nearly considered a sacred beast because the mix of horse and elk. Rarely, have their antlers been found and are often revered for the stark white color and the beast they belonged to of course.” Jean said
with a smile.
For some reason my stomach turned at the thought of a SkyJump antler on display. It was like losing a baby tooth to me and the world wanting to see or touch it.
I tried to suppress my shiver at the thought but only did so halfheartedly.
“We don’t know much about SkyJumps once in their beast form, but we know they can make conscious decisions because it is still the person within the creature. That is why most SkyJump researchers conclude that SkyJump’s could wear some clothing and still change back with it because they are using a form of magic, not just shifting into a creature.” Jean said, and though I felt suddenly very technical about myself I had to agree I was impressed with her knowledge.
Jean continued to touch on subjects from what SkyJump’s were said to eat, to how SkyJump’s spent hours climbing to hone their skills at the very thing they were known for, Skyjumping.
“Now, before I blabber on until the bell rings I have one thing I did want to touch on after the battle about the SkyJumps.” Jean said, nodding to the class who was now eagerly riveted to the assistant principal’s every word.
Nodding to Mr. Jacobsen he turned the screen back to the landscape for Jean.
“After the battle, the Mages wanted the SkyJumps to have their own land. The Mages feared the notion that if a Mage and Skyjump were to marry and have children, the offspring of both could be the start of another war between the three great races, because the Earthen Brethren would see them siding against them.” She said.
I felt slightly out of balance at the idea I was something dangerous. I wasn’t a bad person and I didn’t want to be. The way the ideas always spoke about what I was made me fear for what they really thought.
“So the SkyJumps were given a land that is here.” She motioned to the top right spot of land after the mountain. “This place was protected by the Mages and was made secret to this day. No one knows where the land is or where the original mountain where the battle took place is, though this is the only map we have of the location.”
Sky Jump Page 31
