Isika watched his face and softened. He was hurt that Gavi had left and was worried about her.
“Block her?” she asked. “Do you think I could learn to do that?”
“You should be able to,” he responded. “People can usually learn to block any kind of magic, especially if it’s malicious. You should be able to learn how to keep yourself hidden from her, otherwise anyone who had that gift could find you at any time. You need to work on that.”
Isika hadn’t thought of it that way. Yes, if people could tell where she was just by seeking for her, it was a weakness.
Jabari was still speaking. “. . . for now we should divide into two groups. You take some people to the Karee camp. And the rest of us should go to the Dhahara and try to find Gavi and Aria.”
“So you can go and I can’t?” Isika shot at him, but her voice wasn’t really angry.
“You know why.”
Isika did. Other than her, he was the most gifted. He would be the best to find Gavi and Aria. She let her eyes drift shut as she softened into the buzz of the tree.
“Could we meet, maybe at the Karee tribe?” she asked. “Could we find each other in the wilderness so that I can know right away if she’s okay?”
“You always seem to forget that you have Keethior,” he said.
“Who would you take?”
Jabari thought for a moment. “I think Ivy, and Deto, and Brigid. We work well together. And you should have Benayeem, and Abbas, because Abbas is our key to the Karee tribe. I would tell you Gavi, but he’s not with us.”
Isika felt a sudden pang of jealousy when he listed Ivy so quickly. She frowned down at her hands, annoyed with herself. They had grown up together. But Ivy wasn’t related to Jabari and their parents could have plans for them to marry that Jabari just didn’t know about.
“What’s wrong?” Jabari asked. Isika looked up at him.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re staring at your hands like you want to kill something,” Jabari said, grinning at her.
His face transformed when he smiled like that, going from a very handsome face to a face that you only looked at if you wanted to be blinded. Isika could barely look at him. She scowled again.
“You aren’t going to tell me?” he said. “Not fair.”
“It’s just . . . never mind.”
“It’s okay, Isika,” Jabari said. “We’ll find her. If anyone can find her, Ivy can. Her gift with attracting and finding people is amazing. She’s incredible.”
Isika stared at him in disbelief. She shook her head in a sudden blaze of anger at him, at the world, at her sister. She left the tree, swinging from branch to branch until she could jump the rest of the way. Jabari scrambled down after her, landing like a cat. He put a hand on her shoulder, but let her go quickly when their magic sparked.
“We’re going to have to work on that,” he said, frowning. “I need to be able to give you a hug if I want to.”
Isika felt heat rise to her face. She couldn’t take any more—her insides were a mess of knots, so she just gave him a little wave and turned to walk away.
“Where are you going?” he shouted at her as she left.
“Sounds like we have a plan,” she called over her shoulder. “I have to get ready.” And she began to run, as if she could get away from it all—the jealousy, confusion, and especially the brilliance of his smile.
Chapter 12
In the week before the journey, Jabari dreamed every night. The days seemed to drift by in a fog, but the nights were alive with color because of the dreams. Jabari was exhausted from sleep that didn’t feel like sleep, and he could see by the lines on Isika’s face that she was tired, too. They decided to visit Lake Ayo first, with Ivram and Karah, and spend some time in the life-giving waters.
Ben’s voice was more haunting than usual during the leaving ceremony, and Jabari noticed that he sang with his eyes closed. They were all shaken. Their siblings had left without saying goodbye, and the ceremony was tearful, the goodbyes lingering and frustrating. Auntie was there, and Dawit had to remind her three times to let go of Isika when the time came. Abbas stooped and kissed Jerutha on the forehead, and Jabari couldn’t stop his eyes from darting to Isika’s face, but she was watching the Worker and the warrior who had fallen in love. She didn’t see him watching her.
Abbas was the only one who seemed cheerful as they walked down the stone road. Jabari assumed it was because he was going to see his family, without even having to leave Isika. The rest of them walked with their heads down. They needed the time at the lake. Jabari thought he understood why. It was one thing to feel like there was hard work ahead of you, hard work of seeking and pulling down walls. It was another to feel that you were going after people who shouldn’t have left in the first place, wondering if you would be betrayed.
Jabari felt that he understood Aria, who was sick and poisoned by that stupid arrow. But he couldn’t understand his brother’s choices. He would never betray the Maweel, but why did he leave without saying anything? Jabari ran the problem through his head, going over what he knew about Gavi. His mind had been circling around this for weeks, but he didn’t get any closer to an answer.
In the early afternoon, they reached the lake. The shimmering waters of Lake Ayo glimmered and Jabari felt his heart leap up. He had been coming here with his brother since he was a small boy. He remembered being small enough that his father could throw them into the water, back when his parents were happier, before there was so much conflict and so many questions.
“Jump in, everyone!” he shouted, laughing. “You need cheering up!” He received several dark looks in response. “Jump in, or I will push you in!”
He peeled off his outer clothes and ran into the water in his shorts. The cool, silvery waters rushed around him, and he ducked beneath the surface, feeling the rush of healing that came from the lake. He floated on his back and gazed at the sky, the silverwood trees fringing the lake like needles. His whole body relaxed and he felt blissfully happy.
Abbas cried out in wonder as he stepped into the lake, and Jabari stood up.
“You’ve never been here?” he asked.
Abbas shook his head, his eyes wide. “It feels like the water is going right into me, washing out everything that has been hurting.”
“The waters of Lake Ayo find all your sadness and send it away. They help you join with the light of life,” Jabari said.
“We have a stream like this running through a grove of trees not far from our village,” Abbas said, his voice thoughtful. “It must come from here. It is only a trickle, and the most we can do is wash our hands in it. When I was a small child I used to try to lie down in it to get the feeling deep inside me. But it was never like this.” He was quiet for a moment, cupping his hands and letting water run through them. “Most of our marriages take place near the stream so the couple can bathe their hands and faces in it afterward,” he said.
On the other side of Jabari, Olumi had wrapped his long locks around his head and begun walking into the water slowly, a tiny bit at a time. He glared at Jabari as if he was reading his mind.
“Don’t you even think about it, son of Andar.”
Jabari held his hands up, all innocence, and swam away.
Ivram swam with Ivy and Karah, and they splashed each other, laughing. He grinned at them, a little in awe of how easy their relationship was. His with his parents hadn’t been like that in a long while. Isika swam up beside him, then, but when she saw where he was looking, she turned and swam away.
Something occurred to Jabari just then, a little nudge. He thought about their conversation at the tree, and his mouth fell open as he watched Isika swim away. He could barely keep his eyes on her. She was too beautiful. He had to look away. How could she not know how he felt?
Ivy? Ivy was like a sister to him. Never, never in a thousand years would Jabari ever end up with Ivy. His parents had tried to make it happen, of course. But the thing was impossible. They had
grown up together like siblings, hiding under the same tables, racing down the palace corridors, getting the same punishments, teasing Gavi mercilessly. Ivy would always be Jabari’s sister, but she would never be the woman for him.
He felt a bit desperate. There was no time now. They would separate, and Isika had this strange idea in her head. Jabari didn’t know what to do without showing too much of how he felt right before they parted ways. He wished there was some sort of ranger training for love, something that would help him understand what to do.
They swam all that afternoon, taking breaks on the shore. At one point he found himself swimming next to Isika again. He still couldn’t look at her full in the face, her braids flowing down her back, water running off her brow and cheeks. She looked like a queen. She looked like the night sky if it were to become a person; the stars were in her smile and her eyes.
He shook his head at himself. He had it bad.
He turned and shoved Benayeem under the water and before long there was a mass of wrestling bodies splashing water everywhere, until everyone crawled up onto the shore and Abbas started a fire. Karah roasted fish and they ate until they were full.
The fire leapt and crackled. The stars were brilliant against the night sky, the silverwood trees gleaming, when Ivram spoke.
“This has been long in coming,” he said. “But I believe it is time.”
He reached down and picked up Queen Azariyah’s staff from the ground beside him. He held it for a long moment, then held the queen’s staff out for Isika to take.
She stared at Ivram with large eyes, her face full of fear. Benayeem put his arm around her and Isika exchanged a look with her brother, then reached out slowly with both hands and took the staff.
As soon as it passed from Ivram’s hand to hers, the stone glowed silver in a brief, blinding flash, letting out a keening song that raised goosebumps on Jabari’s arms and legs. It settled into a hum as the light from the staff traveled up Isika’s arm and right through her until it lit up the circlet on her head.
It was a moment Jabari knew he would never forget: Isika receiving her staff and the staff responding to its true queen. It seemed to him that the staff was crying with joy. Isika shut her eyes and tears ran down her cheeks. Impulsively, Jabari went to her and put his hand on her shoulder. There was the usual spark of magic but he didn’t move away and the spark died.
Jabari felt the magic that was coursing through her and it called to the magic within him, and he felt a lightning quick inkling of what it could mean for them to fight together, to not be separated anymore. She turned and looked up at him, tears in her eyes, but it was like she couldn’t see him. She looked past him, at the stars, the staff glowing silver in her hands. They all sat in silence—Ben with his arm around Isika, Jabari standing with his hand on Isika’s shoulder and the others quiet around the fire, watching them. They stayed like that until the fire died down and they crept off to find their bedrolls.
Before he drifted off to sleep, Jabari spoke to Isika, only a little way away in her bedroll.
“I wanted to tell you something,” he said.
“Mmm?” she replied, nearly asleep.
Jabari could see her fingers draped over the staff as though she never wanted to let it go. He thought of all the things he actually wanted to say to her. He wanted to tell her that if he had his choice of anyone, he would take her with him to the Desert City. That he wished they could fight together and never be separated again, but he couldn’t say it. He told her something else instead.
“I’ve been dreaming of the red-robed man every night,” he said. “He’s always walking through a city, and at some point he takes his hood off so I can his hair—a long black braid with a gold cord tied around it. The cord beckons to me and I want to catch up to him. I walk faster and faster, but I can never quite reach him. I dream of Aria walking in the desert and I see how weary she is but she keeps going. I dream of the man again as he walks through the city. I dream of a black sky with red lights through it and then the sky is actually the floor and there are people falling over it. I have all these dreams and I don’t know what they mean.”
Isika watched him in the darkness. Slowly she reached out her hand and he reached out too and touched just the ends of her fingers. They fell asleep like that and Jabari dreamed of water and trees and Isika’s laughter.
Chapter 13
“We’ll split up at the Hadem village,” Jabari announced the next morning, poring over his crumbling map. It was late in the morning, after the tears and blessing of farewell with Ivram and Karah, after they and the rangers that had accompanied them left to return to the city.
“Hadem?” Isika asked. “Why is your map so old, anyway? Don’t you have one in better condition than that?”
He glanced up at her. “No,” he said. “This is my traveling map. It is well traveled.”
“It looks like you use it for a blanket,” Ivy chimed in. Deto snorted.
“Why the hostility?” Jabari asked. “Is it because I mentioned the fact that we have to split up again? You will be deprived of my company, Isika. I’m sorry about that. I truly am.”
“Please deprive me also,” Ivy said. “I want to be deprived!”
Deto stood and stretched, smiling down at Ivy. She was taller than him by an inch or so, but since she was sitting, Jabari saw, Deto could look down at her fondly. He shot a glance at Isika to see if she noticed the looks the two were giving each other, and was startled to find that she was standing right next to him. He jumped and she looked puzzled.
“What?” she said.
“You move like a cat,” he said.
“I completely stomped over here,” she said. “You’re just too involved in being nosy about Ivy and Deto.”
“Well, she is like my sister,” Jabari said, watching her. She smiled and looked away. Good. Jabari hoped he had put that fear to rest.
He wished he could figure out how Deto had managed to convince Ivy that they should be more than friends. The last he knew, Ivy had pledged to live her whole life as an unmarried ranger.
Deto walked over to join them at the map. His hair was long and black like Abbas’s, but where Abbas’s was slightly curly and braided in many braids, with feathers and beads wrapped in it, Deto’s was straight as silk and in one long braid. His long eyes glinted as he looked at Jabari.
“What?” he asked.
“We need to talk, my friend,” Jabari told him. “But anyhow. We’re all getting distracted. Abbas and Olumi have agreed . . .” He glanced up at them and Abbas nodded. Olumi wasn’t paying attention but staring off into the distance. He always looked a bit squinty outside the library. Jabari still wasn’t sure about the wisdom of bringing the old librarian with them, but he’d been doing fairly well so far. “. . . they have agreed that the Hadem village is an excellent place for us to stop for a rest, as well as the last possible place that we can separate without making either of our journeys too much longer.” He pointed at the village on the map. “And,” he added, “we can see if they have heard anything about these Karee disappearances.”
“Who are the Hadem again?” Isika asked.
“They look like me,” Brigid said, in her soft voice. “Like Workers. But they are our allies.”
“Where do they come from?” Isika asked. “How did they get to be our allies?”
Olumi hopped on one foot and gave an odd little bark of laughter. “This is a long story and I can tell you all about it. But it will take time. Shall we walk and talk? My bones are tired from standing still.”
“Can you talk loudly enough that we can all hear?” Jabari asked, rolling up the map and tying it.
“Of course,” Olumi said. “Have you never read the book on projecting your voice?”
“I can’t say that I have,” Jabari said. “But I’ll take your word for it. Let’s pack up and go,” he said. “We have two more days of walking. Hopefully that will be enough time for your stories.”
“It might be,” Olumi sa
id cryptically.
Jabari rolled his belongings into his pack and tightened the ties. He muttered a few words over the fire to douse it, and looked around. Their group was big and clumsy and he knew he should have separated them before now, especially since they really needed to find Aria and Gavi. He knew the reason he hadn’t was because of Isika, and he didn’t even really feel that badly about it, but they needed to make good time today. He swung his pack onto his shoulders, wrapped his ser around his head to protect it from the sun, and with a nod at the others, began to walk down the nearby path.
They were still in the fields of Maween, not yet having reached the scrubby landscape that came before the desert. They would follow the river to the Hadem, and then head northeast into the great desert.
The path was wide and they fell into an easy formation. Olumi walked at the back because he said it was easier to project that way, but it was hard for them to reach a consistent pace. Olumi was the shortest among them by far and had trouble keeping up. Abbas was the tallest, then Jabari, a few fingers width shorter than Abbas. Olumi didn’t really walk, either. He ran-walked a few steps, then hopped. Jabari had to hide a smile when he watched the unlikely traveler. He preferred for Olumi to walk ahead of them, so they could adjust their pace for him.
Ah, he wanted to run. His muscles were itching for it. When they separated, he and Deto and Ivy would run and he could shake off the tension that had been following him for weeks.
Isika walked ahead with Brigid and Abbas. Jabari noticed the graceful bend of her neck for what felt like the thousandth time. He would never have guessed that he would find necks so interesting. Had he ever seen a beautiful person before he saw Isika? Everyone else seemed covered with a dusty film, just eyes and teeth and ears, where on her, everything came together into perfection.
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