For my de Freitas and Gomes family who made Guyana their home
1
MY END BEGAN THE DAY THE SKY TURNED RED.
WE SHOOK. WE TREMBLED. WE STARTED TO BLEED. BUT THIS WOULD BE ONLY THE START, A SMALL TASTE OF THE BATTLE TO COME. OUR QUIET WORLD HAD BEEN CHANGING, AND I COULD ONLY HOPE SOME WOULD SURVIVE.
Arrow was high above the ground when the boom sounded. Stretched out along a branch, he peered at the gecko perched on his wrist. He had been watching, narrow-eyed, as the gecko’s neck billowed then shrunk, billowed, then shrunk, its mouth wide open, waiting for its next meal to fly by. Arrow had been about to shift—a small, almost imperceptible movement—to coax the gecko’s webbed feet to scurry across his skin, over his shoulders, and down his other arm to his waiting hand. He had played the game many times before; he was good at it.
But the gecko wouldn’t be captured that day.
First came a scream that tore open the sky. Closer. Closer it came. Louder. Louder it wailed.
It silenced the forest. Focused attention. Arrow snapped taut, and the gecko jumped away, but Arrow didn’t follow. His eyes were on the glimmer of blue between the treetops and the line of black fracturing its calm.
Screech.
Crunch.
BOOM!
The forest shook. Arrow lost his footing. His hand caught a branch, his elbow hooked a tree limb. His breath shallowed.
“What was that?”
“Sit down,” I told him, as he leaned forward, peering into the brush.
“But what can make those noises?”
“Nothing for you.”
His weight shifted; his feet scrambled to the next branch down.
“Don’t go!” I told him. “It’s too dangerous.”
Lives had already flickered out. The losses had been etched in the soil. It had been quick for some; others had passed on what little they knew before their voices had disappeared.
Another boom, and great clouds of gray and red belched into the sky.
Arrow faltered. The clamor of his heart hammered through the soles of his feet.
“Stay here,” I said, sensing his itch to follow the roar, to find the source.
He listened for the intrusion, craning his neck to pluck more information out of the air. Then he lifted his heels. “I won’t be long.”
“Arrow!”
But his soles pounded across the earth, up the tree trunk, through the branches, along the lianas. Down. Up. Down. Cautious but driven forward. Until he stopped short.
The vision had already been laid out for me. South, near the mouth of the river, where the water plunged over the cliff, a flaming metal bird had crashed, punching a crater into the ground. Red-and-orange tongues twisted into the sky, trying to escape cloaks of black. The broken bird crackled and spit as the fire devoured it.
Arrow stayed back, the heat like a wall, but his eyes were wide. He had never seen fire this tall, or a metal bird up close. And he had never seen one in flames.
I wished he would return. That was not a place for a boy of only twelve rings. And I knew he wasn’t alone.
Another thud had followed the first—a smaller one, a man. He had landed hard on the scorched ground farther back from the river’s edge, a windcatcher dragging behind him. He wasn’t far from the blaze, though, and hadn’t stood since his body had crumpled onto the dirt. Most likely he’d been unconscious as he had descended. He should’ve been thankful he hadn’t gone over the edge, down with the water, onto the froth at the rocky base of the mountain. Instead he lay still, his slowed heartbeat pulsating into the soil.
The man’s arm moved, shoulder twitching against the ground.
Arrow’s toes dug beneath the forest’s carpet of leaves as he leaned forward for a closer look. He took in the burning bird, the sleeping man, and the ribbon of thick, rainbow-tinged liquid between them. Arrow had never seen the colorful liquid before, but he could see how the flames sought it out, lapped it up, hungered for its taste.
A gust blew in, and the giant red windcatcher lying near the bird bloated with air. Its bottom edge grazed the ground, soaking up the liquid, as the wind raced across the cliff. Flames picked up the scent, lunged, and caught the end of the windcatcher. The fire bit at the red fabric, swallowed inch after inch, spit out black ash as the windcatcher drifted closer to the man.
Arrow’s feet lifted, and I wanted to plead for him to stay, but I knew my words would be lost to him this far away.
Thud, thud, thud, and Arrow was next to the man. His hand grabbed the back of the man’s shirt; his arm hooked under the man’s armpit. He pulled, pulled, heels digging into the dirt. The man was heavy, his body a sloth. A tug, and the man moved—but the flaming windcatcher followed. It was still tethered to his back.
Arrow’s pulse quickened. He tugged on the ropes, and one came loose. A metal claw at its end had opened and set it free. Arrow found a lever that opened the other claw, then threw the ropes to the side. He heaved harder, all his weight pushing down on the earth until he gained traction. Finally he pulled the man away. The windcatcher writhed and twisted in the air as the flames devoured it, until all that was left was black dust.
With the man out of danger, Arrow laid him on the ground. The man stirred, a groan rising up from his throat.
Arrow raced back, back, back to the safety of the trees as I whispered a thank-you.
The man started to wake, pushing himself up. But his shoulders slumped, and he collapsed again.
I wished for Arrow to leave, to come home, but he waited, heart drumming onto the silt. He peered from around a trunk, watching the man, willing him to stand, to walk away from the waves of heat radiating off the still-burning metal bird.
Until the fire jumped.
Arrow saw flames inch closer across the thin line of rainbow-tinged liquid. Saw them reach for the man. Saw them leap.
He called out, but it was too late.
The man’s scream echoed into the blackened clouds above. He jumped up, swatting at the flames tearing at his boot. His eyes caught the river and he ran for the bank, swung his legs into the fast-rushing water. The fire was doused in the fray, but the man had to pull himself out of the river before he was swept away.
Cradling his burnt foot, the man squinted at his metal bird as the bones sighed into the crater. His eyes narrowed at the ropes unclasped from his back and lying scorched on the ground.
He glanced around quickly, and Arrow slunk out of sight, finally retreating back, back, back to me.
Night had begun to descend by the time he got home. Heart wild, Arrow breathed deeply as he climbed to his nest of palm leaves tied between my branches. “He’s like me,” he whispered. “But bigger. Much bigger.”
“Older,” I told him. “He’s a man.”
“A man,” Arrow repeated. “Where did he come from?”
“I felt his machine from the north,” I said. “The outside world.”
“What’s he doing here?” Arrow’s breath was quick as he settled on the branches but not from his climb.
“You should sleep, Arrow.”
“Sleep? How can I sleep now?” His voice was exasperated. “There’s another one like me in the forest.”
Cradling his chin in his right hand and the tip of his arrow arm, where it ended at his wrist, he gazed at the star starting to blink above and smiled.
2
TO THE SOUTH, ROOTS CURLED AWAY FROM THE DAMAGED SOIL OF THE BURNT CIRCLE. BUT THE FOREST HAD BEEN HURTING IN OTHER AREAS TOO. SOMETHING HAD BEEN BREAKING US APART, SLOWLY, SLOWLY, SLOWLY, UNTIL WE COULD NO LONGER KEEP IT AT BAY.
As night fell, so did the flames. Soon only embers glowed on the carcass of the metal bird, as the man sat on the ground and watched. Finally he slumped over, his body heavy with exhaustion.
&nb
sp; The rainforest relaxed. A little.
But with the sun rose the fear. In all except the boy.
“Stay, Arrow,” I told him as he hurried down my branches.
The boy’s excitement had grown with the sun’s light. He was filled with curiosity.
But I knew the danger of that.
“I’ve got an idea,” he said, jumping to the leafy floor. “Maybe the man is here for a reason. Maybe he’s here to help.”
“That’s not why he’s here, Arrow.”
“You don’t know.”
“His metal bird fell from the sky. The curtain is failing, and he came through a hole in it. There was no purpose behind it. It was a mistake.”
Arrow’s eyes twitched from me to the direction of the man and back. “But he might know something. Maybe I can learn from him.”
“You won’t—”
But he was off, threading through the trunks.
“Arrow,” I called, but the boy didn’t turn back. “Don’t let him see you!”
My warnings wouldn’t keep Arrow away from the circle of blackened ground and the man who lay asleep in its middle. At least Arrow held caution close to his heart. He perched high in the branches, nestled with the monkeys, all eyes peering down at the strange man in the colorful clothes below.
Even charred and dirty, the man showed off the colors of the birds. His legs were as blue as parrot wings, his torso as yellow as a kiskadee’s belly, and on his chest was a marking of some kind, a spray of lines fanning upward like the crown of the stinkbird.
He slept most of the day, his body as still as a waiting caiman, until the sun was directly overhead—then the man sat straight up and screamed. His “AAAAHHHH” echoed through the treetops, scavenged by the mimicking birds. But the man didn’t notice. He cradled his burnt foot, rocking back and forth as his bottom dug into the ground.
Arrow tensed with each of the man’s shivers, as though the pain were his own. His toes gripped the branch beneath him, and he leaned as close as he could without falling or being noticed.
After a while, the man’s shudders ceased. The soil shifted as he rose up on his one good foot. Hobbling, he made it to a rivulet where the water escaped the drag of the cliff. The man pulled at his clothes, crying out again as the crusty material exposed red and yellow welts on his skin. Then, taking deep breaths, he dipped his foot into the cool water and quickly drew it out again.
The palm of Arrow’s right hand pressed into the bark, but he heeded my words. He didn’t leave his hiding place; instead he quieted the chittering monkeys around him. Arrow watched as the man ripped a strip from the bottom of his shirt and wrapped it around his injured foot. He watched as the man struggled to stand, prodded at the charred bones of his dead bird with a stick, then shook his head in disgust. And he watched as the man peered at the green around him, holding his belly to stifle its growls.
Arrow stayed until dusk, and I waited for his footsteps to head my way. Instead they thumped quickly to the east and west, stopping then starting, getting heavier with each pause.
Finally they journeyed back toward the man.
“Don’t let him see you,” I whispered again, wishing he could hear from that distance. Hoping he’d remember.
Arrow stopped short of approaching. He crouched behind the shrubs inland from the river’s edge. His wild heartbeat pulsed from his soles as he leaned forward for a better look. This close, Arrow could see the new hair growing on the man’s jawline, the muscles flexed under his kiskadee shirt, and the glint of metal that peered out from his belt. It all made Arrow pause longer, and that quick ticking of his heart let me know his curiosity was growing.
The man was seated now, his injured leg stretched out against the ground, the other heel digging a ditch of worry in the ash. His eyes shifted between his dead bird, the green trees, and the water that rushed past him to the edge of the cliff. Shift, shift, shift.
Arrow couldn’t feel the man’s consternation. He only saw the need.
Sliding from his hiding place, Arrow scurried from trunk to trunk until he was gazing at the man’s back.
His heart skipped in anticipation. He sucked in a breath, then stepped out into the sun.
A loud chitter came from the trees as the monkeys protested, their concern mirroring my own. But when the man turned in their direction, he faced away from Arrow. My smart boy.
Arrow’s footsteps were light, but slow—too slow for my liking—and got dangerously close. I waited—wondering, hoping—as his padding stopped. He laid down the bounty he had collected, then ran silently back to the safety of the trees. His right hand grabbed branches and his left elbow hooked around tree limbs as Arrow pulled himself up to a high spot where he could spy while hidden. He exhaled and steadied himself, his left arm hugging his body tight to the trunk. Then he quieted the others, took a deep breath, and whistled, bright and melodic, like a bird.
The sound tugged at the man’s attention, but he didn’t turn around. Arrow whistled again, longer this time. Then I felt the ash under the man stir. His fingertips dug into the burnt dirt as he glanced around, curious, cautious, fearful. Until he saw what Arrow had left.
Slowly, the man stood on his good foot, limped to the gift, and dragged it back to where he felt safe. As he bit into the fruit, his eyes searched the branches.
Arrow stayed hidden, watching, watching, watching. I wished he’d come back to me.
Finally the man collapsed back onto the ground. Arrow stood, worry spilling from him. But the man wasn’t dead, only asleep. Arrow must’ve seen this too; warmth seeped into the bark around him as his worry lessened and happiness grew. As the sun dropped lower, he started back home, the young monkeys hanging off him with excitement.
“Hurry,” I whispered. I knew what was coming, had felt the vibrations in the air.
Too quickly a noise reverberated in the sky, a loud tum, tum, tum twisted over a whine. Arrow tensed as his eyes turned up.
“Don’t go!” I screamed uselessly to the boy. “Come back!”
Arrow took off south again. The farther he got, the louder the Tum Tum Tum became. He was still far from where the metal bird had crashed, but he knew the noise was coming from there. He raced toward it, not bothering to hide. As he ran forward, the birds and monkeys fled back, but Arrow continued on, his feet barely touching the ground.
Finally he neared the Burnt Circle, and Arrow fell to his knees.
The sky was filled with a metal creature that looked different from the first. This one was bulbous, like a giant tree frog, held aloft by spinning arms over its head. It hovered above the ground, about half the height of the nearest tree. And below its insect-like legs was the man, curled up with his arm protecting his face.
“NO!” Arrow shouted. He didn’t know what kind of monster loomed like that in the sky. It was so big and so close to the man, it looked like it would crush him. Arrow tried to stand so he could help, but wind from the spinning arms shoved him back onto the dead leaves.
The man must have heard Arrow’s cry, because he twisted, his elbow piercing the dirt. His tense body told me he had seen the boy this time.
The metal frog rose into the air, and with it went the man. Ropes were tied around his chest and connected to the inside of the airborne beast. Another man peered out of a gaping hole in the creature’s side. He hoisted up the rope until the kiskadee-clothed man was swallowed up.
Higher and higher the beast rose, leaving behind a cloud of leaves, dust, and ash picked up by the swirling wind. Then its nose tilted down and the metal frog sped away.
Arrow stood, his feet unsteady as the dust settled around and on top of him. He watched the whirling giant roar across the sky until it disappeared, sadness seeping from his soles. For the loss of this new human, I understood, this new possibility.
“This isn’t the end,” I whispered, wishing I could pull him close. “They’ll be back.”
3
IT STARTED IN THE SOIL. EARTHWORMS SLOWED, LOST THEIR APPETITE, ST
OPPED EATING. THEY WERE DYING.
SO TOO THE BACTERIA AND MITES. DEAD. DISSOLVED. GONE.
“You should not have helped him.” I didn’t like how stern my words to Arrow were, but he needed to understand the dangers. “You cannot trust humans.”
It was late, dark, but Arrow was not friendly with sleep. He was perched in his nest, mouth open as he moved back and forth trying to catch the few raindrops that dripped from the sky.
“I’m human, and you trust me.”
Curly swung into Arrow’s nest, chattering, and the boy welcomed the small monkey onto his lap.
“You are different,” I said. “You grew up here, like the Forest Dwellers from rings ago. That man is not one of us. He’s not from here. We cannot trust him to protect us.”
“But I’m not from here either. Not really.”
“The forest has been your home for as long as you can remember. You are not one of those humans now. You are part of us, Arrow.”
Arrow wiped the water from his brow, and his consternation soaked into my branches. He wasn’t convinced of my words. The pull of a long-forgotten past still had a grip on him.
“I’m just saying that we don’t know anything about the man,” Arrow said. “He could be like me. He might be nice. He’s bigger and…” Arrow looked at the ends of his arms, his right with a hand that stroked Curly’s black fur, his left pointed at the wrist like an arrow. “The man might know how to mend the Anima because—”
“He won’t.”
“He might. He had that machine. He knows things we don’t.”
“Arrow, machines don’t bring up the magic. Only those from the earth can do that. The humans from outside don’t even know what the Anima is. The Forest Dwellers tried to teach about it. The Imposters were the ones who called it ‘magic,’ but they sneered the word as though it weren’t real. No, we must mend the Anima, our magic, on our own. We have to dig deep.” I hoped he could hear the urgency in my words as much as I felt it in my roots.
Arrow shook his head, dropping his hand from Curly’s back. “You keep saying that, but I’ve tried, and it hasn’t worked. There has to be more to it.”
Arrow Page 1
