“Wow,” she said. “Look at those flowers. They’re bigger than my head.”
She ran toward them, but Arrow shouted, “Stop!”
Petari’s feet sloshed in water, and she quickly stepped back again. “What? It’s just a puddle.”
“It’s deeper than it looks. It’s one of the river’s fingers.”
“It can’t be too deep. It’s got flowers growing on it.”
“Those are giant water lilies. Their stalks go down into the water at least twice as tall as me.”
Petari stepped back farther. “That deep? I can’t go across there. I can’t swim.”
He looked at her quizzically. “You can’t swim?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “There’s no need where I come from. All the pools are dried up, and any riverbed that has water in it is too polluted to go in.”
Arrow shook this horrible idea out of his head. “Don’t worry, you don’t want to swim in this water anyway. Dangerous things could be hiding under the leaves.”
“What kind of dangerous things?” Petari’s mouth curled.
“Caimans and anacondas, stuff like that.”
“Those giant snakes are in the water?” Petari stepped back even farther.
“It’s okay.” Arrow touched her arm lightly. “As long as we’re on the surface, we’ll see them before they get to us.”
Petari shook her head. “Maybe I don’t need to meet this tree. I can’t get across this water.”
“Yes, you can. We’ll go across on the lily leaves.”
“What leaves? Those leaves?” She pointed at the giant green circles on the water’s surface. “You must be kidding. Those will flip us into the water. With the anacondas!”
“No, they won’t. Come on.”
Petari didn’t move.
“Come on,” Arrow said again. “Giant water lily leaves are really strong.” He walked to the edge of the river and reached for the closest one. “And they’ve got these spikes underneath. See?” He lifted the edge so she could see. Petari stepped forward, carefully putting a finger on the tip of one of the long spikes that dripped with water.
“Wow.”
“That keeps snakes and other predators from coming up too fast from the water. And all those ribs under the leaf…” He nodded toward it, still holding up the edge. “That makes it sturdy. I’ve seen small jaguars walk on these things.”
“Really?”
Arrow nodded. “They hold better if you’re flat, though, so do like I do.” He crawled onto the surface of the leaf and lay down, looking back at her. “Get on that one,” he said, pointing at the leaf next to him.
“I don’t know.” She glanced around, probably for anacondas and jaguars. Whether he had meant to or not, Arrow had scared her.
“Come on. It’s fun.” Arrow flipped onto his back, grinning. “I might not know about books and movies, but I know about this.”
Petari smiled too, uneasily, but she smiled nevertheless. “Will you get me if I fall in?”
“Yes, but I’m going to be right next to you anyway.” He paddled his leaf closer and took hold of the edge of her leaf. “Here, give me your backpack.”
She clutched the straps. “What if you drop it?”
“I won’t. Trust me. Put it there.” He nodded to the space next to him. Petari swung her backpack off her shoulders, then gingerly placed it on the leaf by Arrow.
“Jump on.” He nodded to the leaf he was still holding for her.
Taking in a deep breath, she jumped and landed flat with a thwump. The leaf bowed a bit with the sudden weight, and Petari gave a small shriek, but just like Arrow had told her it would, the leaf stayed steady on the surface of the water. It was so large around, she could fit on it completely, without her feet dangling off the side.
“This is brill,” she said.
Arrow smiled. “Told you. Come on.”
He pulled her leaf up to another so Petari could grab it. Then he got hold of his next leaf and crawled across, being careful not to push down the edges. He pulled her backpack behind him. Petari did the same, again and again. As she crossed between leaves, she eyed the water. I could feel her pulse pound down the stalks of the lilies into the riverbed.
“I see fish,” she said.
“Yeah but keep watching the surface. Hurry.”
Arrow pushed his leaf along the water until the stalk was tight but he could capture the next leaf. He crawled on, Petari following, until they got to the other side of the river and she stepped onto solid ground again.
Petari grinned. “That was fun.”
“You should be here at night when the flowers start to smell,” Arrow said as Petari reached for her backpack. “You’ll never want to leave.” He laughed, but I was not amused. I didn’t want him giving her any ideas.
When they finally got near to me, Arrow slowed. Calm was returning to his heartbeat, and his steps grew lighter. Curly had been with me since Arrow had gone into the village with the herd, but hearing her friend now, she swung from branch to branch until she plopped onto his shoulders.
“Curly!” he shouted, hugging her close.
Curly nuzzled his neck, then peered at Petari with an angry look.
“Hi, Curly,” the girl said cheerily.
The monkey chattered in her direction, then curled in the crook of Arrow’s shoulder again.
Arrow laughed. “She’s picky. But come…”
They rounded a tree trunk, and he beamed at Petari.
“This is the Guardian,” he said, pointing at me. “The mother tree of the forest.”
Petari held tight to the strap of her backpack as her eyes followed my trunk into the sky.
I sucked air into my leaves, plumping them up. I hadn’t met another human for many, many rings before Arrow came into the forest, and none since. I found myself nervous, questioning why I had allowed this visit, how I could have hoped it would help. Petari was a girl, a child, but still a human child of the Imposters. I didn’t know what she would think—or do.
“She’s a beaut,” the girl said, a buzz of anticipation whirling around her.
“Isn’t she wonderful?” Arrow beamed at me. “Guardian, this is Petari.”
Excitement flooded from him, and I got the urge to warn him to have caution again. This was his first time dealing with humans. He wasn’t used to being let down by them the way I was.
“Hello, Petari,” I said to her.
The girl ogled me, walked around my trunk, then turned back to Arrow.
“She said ‘hello,’ ” Arrow told her.
“She did?” Disappointment dripped from Petari as she gazed at my trunk. “I couldn’t hear anything.” She narrowed her eyes, and I could tell that the thrill she had of meeting me was fading fast. I was afraid my instincts about her were correct. I only hoped bringing her here wouldn’t prove a mistake.
“Say it again, Guardian.” Arrow patted my trunk. His smile was still broad.
“I warned you of this, Arrow. She’s from a different world, and those humans don’t know how to listen to trees. They will not help us. We’ll get them out of the forest, but first we must stop the spread of the rainbow liquid.”
“Is it worse?”
“A lot worse.”
Arrow pressed his lips together, then talked to me more quietly, as if trying to hide the words from the girl. “I’ll fix it after I’ve taken her back to the village, but she could help us. Try talking to her again.”
“All right. Once more. Hello, Petari,” I said, louder this time.
The girl looked from me to Arrow to me and back to Arrow, her face full of hope.
“Did you hear her?” Arrow asked.
Petari shook her head slowly. “Where’s her face? Maybe if I can see her mouth moving…”
“She doesn’t have a face like we do.”
“So how does she talk without a mouth?”
Arrow shrugged. “I don’t know. Not with a mouth, like us, but I can hear her just like I can hear
you.”
“Oh. It must be amazing to hear her talk.” She sounded discouraged.
“The Guardian says all animals and humans can hear, but some don’t listen, especially the humans. But the other humans that were here, a long time ago, the Forest Dwellers, some of them could hear the trees. I’m sure you’ll be able to. Maybe you need to come up to my nest. Then you’ll be able to hear her.”
“What nest?”
“That’s my home. See?” He pointed to his nest, high in my branches.
“You sleep up there? Wow.” Petari’s eyes grew wide as she peered up at the nest. “You think I’ll be able to hear her from there?”
“Sure. Come on.”
Petari watched as Arrow wrapped a liana around his wrist, then scaled my trunk to the first branch. Next he grabbed a higher branch with his hand and crooked another with the bend of his pointed arm. Curly showed off, jumping off Arrow’s shoulder and swinging from tree limb to tree limb until she chittered from the nest up above. After a few steps, Arrow looked down at Petari.
“You coming?”
Petari bit her lip. “Yeah.” Nervousness swam around her, but also pride. She didn’t want to admit she was scared.
“Use the liana first. I can help pull you up.” He reached out his hand.
“I can do it,” she said. Stubborn, this one. But a few more tries, and she was in my branches, sitting next to Arrow’s nest. She brushed her fingertips across the leaves.
“What is this?”
“Curly and I weaved it from hemp leaves. They’re really strong. And it’s very comfortable. Try it.” He motioned for her to step inside.
“Are you sure it won’t fall?”
“Here.” He tumbled into the nest, then jumped and rolled. When she was laughing, Arrow climbed back onto the branch and beckoned for her to try.
Petari poked the nest with her finger, then grabbed the material and shook it. Pressing her lips together, she took in a deep breath, then she slid off her branch into Arrow’s nest.
“Mmmm.” She was stiff at first, but then snuggled in. “You’re right, this is comfy.” She peered over the side. “And you can see a lot up here.” She gasped. “What’s that?” She pointed and Arrow’s eyes followed.
He laughed. “That’s Hanger. He’s a sloth. He likes to—”
“Hang?”
Arrow nodded. “Yep, upside down. He’s funny. But don’t worry, he’s perfectly safe. And look at this.”
He showed her the arrow in my bark. “I didn’t understand what an arrow was, so the Guardian told me what to carve. I thought it would hurt her, but she said only for a moment. She said anytime I didn’t know who I was, I could look at this. Right, Guardian?”
“That’s right,” I said.
“Talk to Petari again, Guardian,” he instructed.
Petari gazed at him expectantly, then looked at my trunk once more as though hoping a mouth would open up.
“One more time, Arrow. Then we must give up and stop the rainbow liquid.” I reached out to the girl. “Hello, Petari. Welcome to the forest.”
Arrow watched the girl, and the girl watched Arrow.
“Well?” he said.
Petari’s eyes dropped and she climbed out of his nest. “I should go.” She started back to the ground.
Arrow climbed down after her. “Are you okay?”
Petari jumped from the liana to the ground, then swung her backpack onto her shoulder.
She gazed up at Arrow, sorrow written in her eyes. “The Guardian is really nice. But…” She paused, her fingertips carefully touching my bark. “Arrow, I wanted to believe. I really did. But trees don’t talk or bring babies to a forest or help them grow up.”
My roots curled. Just as I had suspected, she was too closed to listen. Sad for one so young.
Arrow didn’t seem sad, though. A thread of anger wormed out of him. “This one did.” He hopped onto a low branch.
Petari looked back up at the boy. “Arrow…” Her voice was soft, kind at least. “This tree isn’t talking to you and didn’t bring you in here. It’s impossible.”
Arrow’s anger grew thicker. “No, it’s not. The Guardian takes care of me.”
Petari sighed. “I don’t know how you got into the forest, and maybe you really don’t remember. It doesn’t matter. What counts is that you learned all that brill stuff on your own.”
“I’m not alone!” His anger grew into rage, twisting around the air between them.
“Arrow, most humans won’t believe,” I reminded him. “Even when it’s the truth, even if they heard my voice, they’d think it was something else, a trick or imagination.”
He grabbed the liana, jumped to the ground, then turned to me. “Can you show her?”
Behind him, Petari looked down and shuffled her feet. I could guess the thoughts in her head, that Arrow had been in the forest without other humans for too long, that he was hearing voices that weren’t there, that he needed help.
“I’d have to use some of the Anima,” I told Arrow. “We have to protect what’s left.”
He leaned his head against my bark. “I know,” he whispered, “but I’m going to need help to get the magic, and she’s the only one I think will help me.”
“Arrow…,” I began, not sure what to do.
A long breath rolled out, and when nothing happened, the boy slowly turned back to Petari. “She’s weak,” he said.
Petari nodded. “Yeah. Sure. Look, I love your nest and everything, and this adventure has been brill, but I should get back.”
She hoisted her backpack higher on her shoulder, stepped away, then stepped again.
Sadness drained from Arrow, and I suspected it wasn’t just because he wanted her help to get the magic. He wanted her to believe him. He wanted to share me with her.
I had told Arrow he could bring her. I had been curious about this human who made Arrow smile. Was it possible that she was different from the Imposters? It was hard to believe she or any of these humans could be. But what if Arrow was right, and she was key to fixing our Anima with the magic in the Stilts? I didn’t like depending on a human from outside, but we were running out of options. Perhaps it was worth a small amount of Anima to open up to her.
Steadying myself, I dug deep and pulled a drop of magic from the earth.
Petari’s feet halted. Her mouth gaped open. Her breath left.
16
EAST OF THE RIVER, A BRANCH OF THE SAPODILLA TREE, LADEN WITH FRUIT, BLISTERED IN THE WIND AND CRUMBLED INTO DUST. HOWLER MONKEYS CRIED OUT, THEN WENT TO SEARCH FOR MORE.
Orchids sprouted and bloomed in the arms of the trees ahead of Petari. Fungi glowed yellow and pink and purple and blue on the ground. Beneath her the earth shook, and thick roots twirled upward, toward the sky.
I couldn’t keep it for long, only a few seconds, but she saw.
“What was that?” she asked, as the flowers died out, the light dissipated, and the roots fell under the soil once more.
“I told you.” Arrow grinned.
“But that wasn’t there just now.” Petari dropped her backpack and glanced around. Her eyes were as wide as passion fruit blossoms. “Flowers don’t bloom that quickly. And that glowing stuff…”
“That was fungi.”
“Yeah, the fungi. So many colors. And the roots…”
“The Guardian’s not as strong as she used to be,” Arrow said. “But I can tell she likes you. The orchids were a special touch.”
Petari smiled. “Tell her I like her, too.”
“She knows. I told you, she knows everything that happens in the forest.”
Petari turned to Arrow. “I’m sorry I said—”
He waved his arm. “Now you know.” He turned back to me, hugged my trunk, and whispered, “Thank you.” I felt the warmth of gratitude radiate from within him.
Looking at Petari now, he couldn’t keep back his smile. “Will you help me get to the Stilts?”
“I don’t know why you want to leave here.�
� Petari twirled around. Her eyes were seeing the forest in a new way. “I liked it before, but now…”
“I told you,” Arrow said. “The Guardian is weak. She needs help, and I think the help is in the Stilts.”
“You do? Why?”
Arrow nodded. “All the things you talked about. If the people in the Stilts can do all those things, they must have ways of helping the forest.”
Petari frowned. “I don’t know. They don’t have many trees, but…” She glanced around her as if she could still see the Anima working. “I’ll do whatever I can to help you.”
Arrow beamed, relief spilling out around him. “Thank you. I’ll take you back to the village now. You can make the plan like Luco talked about. I have to do something in the forest, but when I get back, we’ll go to the Stilts. Okay?”
“Okay.” Petari picked up her backpack. “What do you have to do?”
Arrow didn’t waste time explaining about the rainbow liquid. Instead he said, “Just something for the Guardian. I won’t be long. Come on, we don’t want to lose sunlight. We’ll be back soon, Guardian.” Arrow smiled at me and whispered, “I’m going to fix everything.” He started walking. “Curly, you coming?”
The monkey chattered but swung down and plopped onto the ground beside them.
Petari gazed at where the orchids had been as she murmured, “They were there, then they were gone.” The thrill of seeing the Anima still swarmed around her. I must admit, I liked it. I hoped she would prove me wrong about being cautious.
During their journey back to the herd, they collected food as Petari had promised, but her mind wasn’t on it. She talked excitedly about what she had seen.
“I’ve never seen flowers like that.
“The colors were so bright.
“Those roots just lifted out of the soil!
“We have to show the others.”
Arrow laughed. “We will, as soon as the Guardian is better.”
When Arrow and Petari arrived at the tree barrier to the village, Curly chattered nervously and jumped from Arrow’s shoulder to a branch.
“The humans will like you,” Arrow said, but Curly didn’t agree. She shook her fist at the boy and stayed put.
Petari stifled a giggle, but Arrow sighed. “Fine. Stay here, but I’m going to help Petari take this food in.”
Arrow Page 12
