“AH HA HA HA HA!”
Delora’s eyes widened. “It’s Storma. That’s the signal!”
“Okay, everyone, get out there and make some noise.” Safa leaped from behind the rock, screaming, “Jaguars! Jaguars biting me!”
The others followed, Delora shouting, “Snakes! Gators!”
Val, Petari, and Arrow trailed after. They all screamed and shouted, jumped and hollered.
It had the desired effect. The machiners turned their way, many running out with their guns pointing at the imaginary animals. But also at the children.
Fear raked up my roots, but there was nothing I could do.
“Where are they?” Arrow whispered to Val. “What do we do now?”
Val shrugged. “They’ve got it figured out. Just keep them chasing us.” He kept the group moving forward away from the camp, pursued by the angry machiners.
Until they heard a shout.
“Fire!”
30
THE TREES WERE DRY AND WEAK FROM THE BLIGHT IN THE SOIL AND THE DECREASED RAIN. THEIR THIN BARK WAS NO ARMOR AGAINST FLAMES. THEY WERE DEVOURED QUICKLY.
The cry had come from Mora, the machiner who had first arrived in the forest with Wiser and Crankas. Arrow started running back toward the camp, followed by the other children.
When Arrow got close enough to see, he gasped. Mora was right. Flames twisted into the sky from one of the tents.
The machiners stopped chasing the children. Instead all eyes were on the fire as confusion filled the air.
Val pointed to Mora, who stood a little away from the camp and was talking into something he held up to his ear. “He’s probably calling the others back. What do we do now?”
Arrow was mesmerized by the fire. It no doubt reminded him of the day Crankas had crashed.
It pushed dread into my roots. There had been much destruction of the forest that day too, but I feared this would be worse.
A peal of laughter and slapping hands drew Arrow’s attention. Storma, Mercou, Luco, and Safa were running up to the group of herders.
“That was awesome,” Storma said. “Easy peasy to get that fire going.”
Arrow spun around. “You set that?”
“No, it sprung up by magic.” She smirked. “That’ll keep the Stilters busy for a while.”
“Don’t you think that’s extreme?” Val said. “This isn’t the Barbs.”
Storma turned on him. “They’re Stilters. We need extreme!”
“It’s okay.” Mercou smirked. “It’ll burn itself out even if they’re such dust munchers, they can’t figure out how to stop it themselves.”
“But—” Arrow glanced back as a shout pierced his words.
“There!” Most of the machiners had retreated to the camp to help with the fire, but Fratos shouted to a group with guns ready. “Get those kids!” He pointed a stubby finger at Arrow and the other children.
“Run!” Luco shouted, and the children obeyed, falling and stumbling into the forest.
Machiners pounced after them, guns aiming.
Arrow’s heart thumped harder, louder, faster with every footfall. He had been chased before, by animals quicker than these humans, but never with weapons that could stab him from afar.
He had to do what I’d taught him: trick, evade, outsmart. But how?
Delora screamed as a machiner grabbed the back of her shirt while she hid behind a tree trunk.
“Let her go!” screamed Mercou. Luco tripped the machiner, pulling Delora away.
“There’s too many of them, and they can run faster than us,” Val shouted at Arrow. “We need to climb up the trees or something.”
Arrow’s eyes had been scanning the forest. He glanced over to Val, shaking his head. “No, this way. Follow me!”
“This way!” shouted Val at the others, and the rest of the herd turned east after Arrow.
The change in direction didn’t slow the machiners. One grabbed at Arrow and narrowly missed clamping onto the end of his left arm, but Arrow’s feet pulled forward faster. Caught off guard, the machiner’s foot slipped in some sloth dung, and the woman fell to the ground. She quickly pushed herself back up and resumed the chase with the other machiners.
But they were gaining fast.
A few more steps, and the children saw sunlight and a clearing up ahead. They’d come to the southeast finger of the river, which twisted down from the north. This patch was wide but covered in water lilies.
“Yes!” shouted Petari behind Arrow.
But the other children screamed.
“I hope that’s shallow, because none of us can swim,” Luco shouted.
“You don’t have to,” Petari said.
“Get onto the lilies,” called Arrow.
“What? Are you kidding?” Storma slowed her running, glancing around. “We need a place to hide!”
“Trust me.” Arrow pushed Safa onto the nearest one. The lily swayed but stayed afloat with the surprised girl lying on top.
“Get back here!” “Stop!” called the machiners, but the remaining children pushed ahead toward the swampy finger.
“Move forward,” Arrow said to Safa. “Get on,” he said to Mercou.
The boy hesitated, fear in his eyes. Petari stormed past him and jumped onto a lily of her own, keeping her injured hand high in the air.
“Come on,” she shouted. “It’s easy. Just watch out for gators and snakes.”
“What?!” Safa searched the water around her in alarm.
“Just stay above the surface.” Petari moved across the lily to the next, then the next, beckoning the others on.
The machiners were almost to the finger now, and Arrow was helping Val and Delora get onto the lilies.
“How is this going to stop them?” Luco pointed at the machiners.
“Go. You’ll see,” Arrow said, helping Val.
Luco reached out to the closest lily tentatively. “Are you sure this will hold Storma and me? We’re bigger than you.”
“It’ll hold, but spread out your weight,” Arrow said.
Luco shook his head but followed Arrow’s instructions. Slowly he moved from lily to lily, almost tipping into the murky water when his knee pushed too hard on the edge of one of the lilies, but Val caught him. Storma went next.
Arrow was the last to get onto the lilies, and almost all of the children had crawled safely to the other side with the help of Val.
“A little water won’t stop us,” Fratos said.
“Don’t go in there,” Arrow shouted from his lily near the other side of the river. “Caimans and anacondas are under the surface. They’ll kill you.”
The machiners glanced at one another. Then the woman who had powered the beetle machine, Oxsen, said, “Just do what they’re doing.”
She began to crawl onto the nearest lily. Arrow stayed, watching.
“Don’t!” he shouted as one of the men reached out for another lily. “That’s a very bad idea.”
“You know what’s a very bad idea?” Oxsen said, shifting her weight onto the lily. “Messing with our equipment and—AAAHHH!”
The lily beneath her buckled, sending her tumbling under the water.
“Oxsen!” Fratos shouted. He turned to help her, but his momentum was already moving toward a lily, and he fell right through.
On the far side of the finger, the children laughed. Arrow didn’t. He kept moving over the lilies until he got to the other side. When he looked back, the rest of the machiners were trying to pull Oxsen and Fratos out of the water.
SPLASH.
A black caiman as long as Fratos was tall sped toward them. Its maw was open. Sharp teeth glinted in the sunlight.
“Go!” Arrow motioned for the children to head west, away from the water.
Behind them, shouts and screams and BANGs rang out, but the children didn’t look back. They followed Arrow past the water, leaving excitement and dread along their path.
“That was great,” Petari said, running up to Arrow. She kept he
r injured hand tight against her belly.
“What were those things?” Luco glanced back, but trees covered his view.
“Giant water lilies,” Arrow said. “They’re strong enough to hold us, but they can’t hold a caiman. I figured they probably couldn’t hold a grown-up human either.”
“Glad you were right,” murmured Storma.
“This way.” Arrow pointed to a wide tree that bent over a narrow part of the water. He trod over the trunk, then jumped off on the other side. The others followed him quickly. “We can get back to the camp from here.”
“Why do you want to go back there?” Safa scrunched up her nose.
“To make sure they leave, of course,” Petari said.
Arrow nodded, trying to hurry the others. “We can stay hidden this way, but—”
“We’re not going back to the camp.” Storma pulled Arrow to a stop. “You need to take us to that cave. Our little distraction will have pulled all the Stilters to the camp now. We need to get to the cave so we can get the gems for ourselves.”
“What?” Arrow’s eyes widened. “You didn’t say anything about taking the Shimmer.”
After everything, the herd had lived up to my expectations for them. I had so hoped they wouldn’t.
Storma laughed. “You think we’re fighting your battles for charity?”
“Or care what happens to a bunch of boring trees?” It was Safa’s turn to chuckle.
My roots curled in anger.
“You want the gems?” Val’s voice held disbelief.
At least some of the herders had changed.
“They’re not boring trees.” Arrow’s words filled with rage. “You haven’t listened to what we’ve told you.”
Petari stepped between them. “They listened all right. They just didn’t believe us. But you believed the part about the treasure, right?” She spat out the word “treasure” as she glared at Storma with narrowed eyes.
“If there’s something here that’s good enough for Fenix, it’s good enough for us,” Luco said. “Jom will get us a brill price for this stuff. With any luck, we’ll get enough to pay for a place in the Stilts. A place all our own.”
“We can live like the rich people for once.” Storma smirked. “But don’t worry, I’ll take you and Val with me.”
“I don’t want to live in the Stilts.” Petari’s teeth were gritted. “I want to live here.”
“Fine. Don’t come,” Safa said. “Just show us the cave.”
“Arrow, look!” Val pointed to the sky. Gray clouds of smoke billowed over the canopy, but they weren’t at the Fenix camp anymore.
“The fire.” Delora’s eyes grew wide. “It’s spreading.”
Mercou shook his head, but fear sparked from him. “It can’t be. I made sure.”
Arrow ran as fast as he could back to the Burnt Circle, the other children close behind. They didn’t worry about hiding now. No one was looking for them anymore.
All eyes were on the flames.
The fire had spread to the other tents and attacked the boxes and equipment the machiners had brought. Mora had a tube that sprayed foam on the flames, but it was barely taming them. Other machiners filled buckets from the river, but the fire was too big.
“Why is it spreading so fast?” Petari said.
“It shouldn’t be,” Mercou said. “It was supposed to put itself out. Damage all their stuff so they’d leave, then put itself out.”
“It’s dry,” Val said. “And windy. If they don’t get it under control soon, they’re going to be in trouble.”
“The rainbow liquid was all around there.” Arrow’s words were quiet. “This whole place burned when Crankas crashed. He almost died. His leg caught fire. He left, but the rainbow liquid stayed.”
“Rainbow liquid?” Delora asked.
“Oil. He’s talking about oil.” Mercou’s voice shook. “Where was the oil, Arrow? Where?”
“Everywhere,” Arrow said. “They dug it out, but…”
“What if they missed some?” Petari asked.
No one answered her. They watched the burning camp, fear soaking the ground they stood on. It filled my roots, too. The root network was alive with warnings, but what could we do?
“You think—” Val didn’t have time to get the words out before the fire jumped to the table where he’d been tied up.
“They’re not putting it out.” Panic pricked Arrow’s voice.
“This is ridiculous,” Storma said. “They’ll put the fire out. But we’ve got to get to the cave.” She turned to Luco and Safa, her eyes screaming, Come on.
“That’s right,” Luco said. “Tell us where the cave is. We’ll do all the hard work to get the gems out.”
“No more fighting for food,” said Safa. “No more sleeping on the floor. No more—”
Her dream was interrupted with a loud BOOM.
Flames rocketed into the sky from the far end of the camp.
Arrow and the herd ducked behind the trees. The machiners flattened on the ground.
BOOM.
A ball of fire surrounded the beetle monster.
BOOM.
A barrel at the front of the camp went up in flames.
“Gas cans,” Val said, his hand in front of his mouth. “The fire caught the gas cans.”
Storma backed up a few steps. “I didn’t know they had gas cans.”
“Of course they’d have gas there,” Val said. “How do you think they’re running the copter and machines?”
“I just…” Storma’s mouth stayed open, but no more words were released.
“It was supposed to go out,” Mercou repeated. “It was supposed to go out.”
The machiners ran around, more frantic than ants without a trail, but their efforts to put out the flames weren’t working. The fire roared larger. The wind pushed it farther.
“YOU!” Crankas pounded over to the group, face red with anger. “What did you do? Why did you do this?”
He turned to Arrow, shaking his head. “We were going to build something amazing here. We were going to save this forest.”
“You weren’t going to save it,” Arrow shouted. “You were going to tear it apart to make money. You are the reason it was dying in the first place. You! Fenix! The chemicals you leach into the soil. You’re killing this forest. You!”
Rage emanated from the boy, more than I’d ever seen.
“Crankas!” Wiser’s voice called from the camp. “We’re not going to get this under control. We’ve got to bail.”
“We can’t leave.” Crankas watched the flames as he hurried across the path. “I’ve invested so much. All the plans. We don’t have the gems.”
Wiser shook her head. “We’re not going to have our lives unless we go now. We can come back when the fire’s down.” She turned to the other machiners. “Get in the helicopter fast! Before the fire gets too close.”
Crankas surveyed his camp. Metal monsters red with flame. Fabric huts devoured to dust. Glowing lights melted into dull discs.
“Now, Crankas, or I swear I’ll leave you,” Wiser shouted.
The two ran to the metal bullfrog. Other machiners were already inside. The arms on top began to spin as the last of the machiners ran out of the forest.
“Let’s get out of here.” Wiser pushed Crankas into the bullfrog. With all the machiners inside, the blades turned faster and faster.
Wind tousled the flames devouring the camp. Some were snuffed out. But others fought back. The fire rose up, caught the wind, and jumped again, this time to the trees.
Then again, to the bushes across the raked path.
Then again, to the trees farther in.
The metal bullfrog rose out of reach of the flames.
The children watched as it lifted higher and higher into the sky, then sped off toward the Stilts.
The machiners were safe, but the fire kept growing. The wind from the arms of the bullfrog had given the flames energy. They wanted more.
Sparks flew across
the path to where the children stood.
Burst into flames that caught the dry leaves.
Spread into fires that devoured bushes and trees.
Petari screamed. Arrow pulled her clear of the heat.
“This way,” Arrow shouted. The children ran, ran, ran toward the river. They were farther from the flames, but the fire was growing.
I felt the losses.
The lack of rain had left the forest dry.
The downed leaves provided kindling.
The hungry flames devoured it all.
In the soil, bushes and trees took to their roots to say their goodbyes, passing on their knowledge to others through the network of fungi. Above, animals fled north. Birds winged high in the sky. All the residents of the forest tried to get away from the bite of the flames.
But the trees were stuck.
“It’s burning the forest,” Arrow cried. He turned on Storma, Luco, and Mercou. “Look what you’ve done. Look at it!”
Tears filled Mercou’s eyes. “I set it to go out quickly. I didn’t know it was going to spread.”
Luco’s shoulders dropped. “It was supposed to draw them back from the cave. That’s all. Just clear the way for us.”
“It’s Fenix’s fault.” Storma glared at the burning camp. “They couldn’t even put out a stupid fire. Then they left like cowards. It’s their fault it got this big. Not mine. It’s their—”
“No!” Arrow collapsed on the ground. “It’s my fault. I should’ve never trusted you or the machiners. I should’ve listened to the Guardian. I should’ve fixed the magic myself. I should’ve found a way to protect the forest. I should’ve—”
“Arrow!” Petari and Val had run off to the north, tracking the flames’ hungry path. Now they dashed back to the others. “ARROW!”
Arrow turned. “What?”
Petari pointed. “The fire is spreading toward the Guardian!”
31
THE ROOT NETWORK LIT UP WITH DYING TREES AND BUSHES PASSING ON THEIR NUTRIENTS AND KNOWLEDGE, BUT THE FUNGI THAT CONNECTED US WAS PATCHY.
Arrow sprang up, turning toward the kapok trees.
“We can’t use the vines,” Val said. “They might be burning farther down.”
Arrow Page 23