He didn’t say anything, but his hand reached out and took hers.
The sounds of the Kalidahs trailed off in different directions, and finally there was silence.
“I can’t tell if the illusions are still there. It’s too far away,” Brink said.
“Then we’d better get down into the trench,” Zerie replied. “The sun is up now, so we have to hurry before anything can see us. I’ll build a shelter from jungle plants and we’ll be safe.”
“You’re right, we’d better go before they come back,” Brink agreed. “But remember what the Glass Cat said—we’ll never be safe.”
.13.
Vashti was waiting for them at the bottom of the trench. This one was wider than the last, so Zerie couldn’t see the boundary line where the jungle met the desert until they’d walked south for a few minutes.
“I thought we could set up camp near the line,” Vashti said. “You can grow all the trees and vines into a sort of fort, Zerie, and then tonight we can sneak out right over the line and get up the far side as soon as possible.”
“How are we going to get up it?” Brink asked as Zerie began to age the trees and vines.
She concentrated on making the trees as big as possible, knowing the bow-vines wouldn’t get much longer. But if she took the young vines and aged them to their full length, Vashti would be able to weave them together into a roof.
“I don’t know,” Vashti answered. “I still have the vine rope, and I can make more. But that doesn’t help us unless somebody can climb up the wall on the desert side.”
“It’s all just sand and dirt, though. How can we climb with no plants to hang on to?” Brink said. “That wall has to be fifty feet high!”
“I’m hoping the Glass Cat shows up. I can’t think of any other way to get out of this trench,” Vashti replied. “She can climb anything! She’s a cat!”
“These trees are as tall as they’re going to get,” Zerie announced, her voice tired. “I aged all the vines I could see so they’re as long as they can be.”
“Okay. I’ll take the first watch since you two are tired from using your talents,” Vashti said, not looking Zerie in the eye. “I’ll weave the bow-vines together to make more of a shelter so the Kalidahs can’t see us from above.”
She reached for the nearest vine, tugging to free it from the tree it was wrapped around. “Ugh. I hate when bow-vines get knotted,” she said. “It won’t come loose.”
“I’ll help.” Brink grabbed the vine and pulled along with Vashti. This time the vine came slithering down from the trunk—and with it came a Kalidah.
Vashti screamed.
The beast roared, baring its teeth, and now that it was light out, Zerie could see that there were two rows of teeth in the tigerlike mouth. The Kalidah landed on the ground on all fours and snarled at them, advancing toward them very slowly.
“What do we do? What do we do?” Vashti cried.
“Find a weapon,” Zerie said. “Anything you can use!”
“Sticks!” Brink grabbed a branch and yanked on it until it snapped off the gum tree.
The Kalidah stood on its hind legs, rising up to its full bear height. It was taller than any of them, and Zerie felt rooted to the ground in terror.
Run, a voice in her mind told her. Use your talent and run fast.
Zerie grabbed Brink’s hand to take him with her. But she couldn’t get to Vashti because the Kalidah was in between them. The fear made Zerie’s brain feel sluggish. She was so scared, she wasn’t even sure her magic would work.
“How would we get up the wall, anyway?” Brink said, as if he knew what Zerie was thinking.
“Make another illusion,” she told him.
“I can’t. I’m trying, but it won’t work.” Brink shoved the tree branch into her hands and grabbed for another one.
The Kalidah growled again and swiped at Vashti, its razor-sharp claws coming within an inch of her face. Vashti jerked backward and stumbled against a tree trunk. “Help me! Zerie, do something!”
“Hey! Hey, nasty Kalidah! Come this way!” Zerie yelled. She waved her arms and jumped around, trying to get the monster’s attention. When its eyes fixed on her, though, she had no idea what to do. The Kalidah turned and advanced on her and Brink, its teeth dripping saliva and a low growl in its throat.
Zerie gripped the tree branch tightly and swung it like a club, whacking the beast in the side. It roared, grabbed the branch with its paw, and tore it out of Zerie’s hands.
The momentum threw Zerie to the ground and she lay there, stunned. She’d never felt anything so strong before. One swipe of the Kalidah’s massive arm could kill her.
“Run, Zerie, move fast,” Brink said from somewhere above her. Zerie couldn’t focus. She thought about moving, but nothing happened.
The Kalidah roared, raising its arm. Zerie rolled onto her back and watched as the claws came rushing down at her.
“No!” Brink threw himself on top of Zerie, swinging another tree branch at the beast.
The Kalidah knocked this branch away, too, and lunged at them in fury. Zerie screwed her eyes shut and waited for the blow. It didn’t come.
“Zerie, help.” Vashti’s voice sounded thin and frightened.
Zerie opened her eyes—and gasped.
The Kalidah was levitating. It floated in the air over their heads, snarling and clawing at the treetops.
“Vash, your talent . . .” Zerie breathed. She shot a look at her friend. Vashti held her arms straight, out in front of her, staring at the Kalidah in the air, shaking from the effort of levitating the huge creature.
“I can’t hold it for long. I don’t know what to do,” Vashti said through clenched teeth.
“The branch,” Brink said. “Look, it’s sharp where I broke it from the tree.” He snatched up the thick piece of wood and held it upright underneath the Kalidah. The end was jagged and scary looking. “If you drop the Kalidah, it will fall on this.”
“That will kill it,” Vashti protested.
“Tabitha always said the only way to kill a Kalidah was to pierce its heart,” Zerie said.
“But I don’t want to kill it,” Vashti said.
“What choice do we have? It’s trying to kill us,” Brink said.
“Oh, no,” Vashti moaned. “I can’t hold it up anymore. I don’t want to kill anything.”
“You’re not,” Zerie said. “We all are.”
“There’s got to be another way.” Vashti was pale and sweating, and Zerie thought she might faint. “No . . .”
The Kalidah fell.
Zerie held tight to the branch, knowing she had to help Brink keep it upright. But as the creature plummeted toward the makeshift spear, she turned her face away.
She couldn’t bear to watch. Instead, Zerie felt the Kalidah’s body hit the wood and heard the snarling suddenly stop. The Kalidah shuddered and then went still.
“It’s dead,” Brink said grimly.
The branch was heavy now, so she let go of it and the monster’s body dropped to the ground.
“Oh, no,” Vashti moaned. “Oh no, oh no, oh no . . .”
“We killed something,” Zerie said quietly. “We’re not supposed to kill things. Life is precious! Ozma outlawed killing years and years ago.”
“Zerie—” Brink started.
“No! We killed something,” she said, cutting him off. “This creature was alive a minute ago and now it’s dead because of us. What have we turned into? Are we really this bad now?”
“Of course not,” Brink said.
“It’s not fair!” Zerie went on, anger rising in her chest. “We wouldn’t even be out here getting attacked if Ozma would just let us use our talents! We weren’t doing anything wrong with our magic back home. We’re only doing bad things now because they chased us out of our homes and turned us into fugitives!”
“Zerie,” he said again.
“It’s not fair!” she yelled, filled with rage. “I’m not a killer. I would never have done s
omething like this before.”
She turned to face the Kalidah, looking at its dead body for the first time. Its tiger eyes were still open, and Zerie couldn’t take it. She didn’t want to see its face like this. She wanted it to be gone.
“Age. Get old, old, old,” she whispered, staring at the beast. “Fast. Age quickly. Age!”
Zerie felt the magic growing within her, filling her whole body. This wasn’t what her talent was meant to be for, but she knew her anger would give her the power to use as much magic as she wanted.
The Kalidah began to wither, the disintegration of its body speeding up at her urging. First the fur became patchy, and then its body seemed to deflate.
“Faster!” Zerie yelled.
The rest of it went in a blur, the entire body decomposing in an instant until there was nothing left but a pile of dust that blew away into the sand on the other side of the line.
Zerie, spent, stared at the place where the Kalidah had been. Had she really done that? She felt like a little girl who’d just gotten over a temper tantrum—exhausted and embarrassed.
Brink was watching her, open-mouthed. Zerie turned away from him. She didn’t want to talk about the magic she’d used.
“I want to go home,” Vashti sobbed. “I hate this!”
Zerie scrambled over to her friend. She wrapped her arms around Vashti. “You saved me and Brink. You kept saying you couldn’t use your talent and it wasn’t a worthwhile talent . . . but it saved our lives, Vashti.”
Vashti sniffled. “I don’t need magic so much that I have to kill for it.”
“You’re not the one who killed the Kalidah,” Zerie said. “You levitated it until you just couldn’t do it anymore. I’m the one who put a spear underneath it.”
“Oh, Zerie. What have we gotten ourselves into? We should have just done what our parents told us and not practiced magic.” Vashti’s voice sounded thick and her eyelids fluttered. Zerie could see that she was exhausted, both from climbing through The Trenches all night and from using her talent.
“We were just playing around in the woods with our best friends. We didn’t know it would lead to all of this,” Zerie said. “You need to sleep, Vash. I’ll take the first watch.”
Vashti nodded, already drifting off.
“You were amazing with your talent. I always knew you could be,” Zerie told her.
Vashti smiled a little, and slept.
Zerie pulled her friend’s jacket over her as a blanket, and then she stood up and went back over to where the Kalidah had been. Brink still sat where he’d been when they killed the beast. Zerie felt him watching her.
“You aged something until it turned to dust. Do you know how many years it takes for something to turn to dust?” Brink said.
“No, and I don’t want to know.” Zerie stared out over the boundary where the jungle ended and the desert began.
“That must’ve taken a huge amount of magic. Are you tired?” he asked.
“No. I’m mad.” Zerie felt a tear on her cheek, and she swiped it away. “It’s because of Princess Ozma and this stupid no-magic law that we’re in this situation. I’m so angry at her.”
“I wish I were as strong as you, Zerie,” Brink said.
Zerie took a shuddering breath. “I don’t feel strong. I feel terrible that we killed a living thing.”
“So do I.” Brink’s tone was so sad that Zerie spun around to look at him. He sat slumped on the ground, his face pale and his green eyes haunted. For the first time, it occurred to her that she hadn’t been holding that tree branch alone. It had been Brink’s idea in the first place.
“Oh, Brink,” she breathed. “You feel guilty, too.”
“Of course I do,” he said. “I just couldn’t have a magical tantrum about it like you did.” He gave her a thin smile to show he was teasing.
“I’m sorry.” Zerie went over and sat down next to Brink. “I was so busy thinking of my own feelings that I didn’t even realize you’d feel the same way.”
“I know you’ve always thought I was a pain in the neck, Zerie,” he said. “But I never wanted to end up a killer any more than you did.”
“A pain? We probably would’ve been caught already, or gotten killed ourselves, if you weren’t with us,” Zerie said. “Vashti and I need you.”
“It’s nice to hear you say that,” Brink told her. “I feel like a tagalong with you and Vashti since you’re such good friends.”
“Well, you’re my friend, too,” Zerie said. “And I’m sorry I was being selfish about the Kalidah. I’m really upset about it . . . but I know you are, too.” She leaned over to give him a hug, and Brink wrapped his arms around her.
Zerie sighed and snuggled into his embrace. His arms were warm, and she finally felt safe with her cheek against his broad chest.
Wait. What am I doing? she thought suddenly. She’d meant to give him a sympathetic hug, not to . . . well, not to hug him for real. Zerie stiffened in embarrassment. What must he think of her?
But Brink tightened his arms around her and rested his chin on her hair. If Zerie was hugging him for real, then he was hugging her back for real.
In spite of everything else, she smiled.
Maybe I never will be safe again, Zerie thought. But this feels pretty close.
.14.
The Glass Cat hadn’t returned by the time the sun went down that evening. Luckily, the other Kalidah hadn’t returned either, but Zerie and her friends knew that they couldn’t stay there and wait.
“The desert side of the trench isn’t so wide,” Brink said, peering over the line from the jungle. The final rays of sun stretched over the sands and cast long shadows on the high desert wall of the trench. “I’d say half a mile. Maybe you can move us over there quickly, Zerie, so we won’t be as easy to see.”
Zerie shook her head. “I can’t. I don’t know how to describe it, but I just can’t use my power right now. I feel as if it isn’t even in me anymore, ever since . . .” Her words trailed off. She couldn’t bring herself to say “. . . since I turned that Kalidah into dust.”
Vashti bit her lip. “ Out there on the sand, we’ll be easy to spot if the other Kalidah is watching.”
“Or any flying Ozma spies,” Brink put in.
“Sorry,” Zerie said quietly.
“It’s not your fault, We’re just trying to plan.” Brink rubbed her arm to comfort her, sending little tingles up her spine.
“Can you do an illusion?” Vashti asked. “If you stared at the sand for a long time, could you make an illusion of sand to hide us while we walk?”
“I can try,” Brink replied. “I’m not sure how I would make it move with us, though.”
“I have the same problem with my talent. I can levitate, but I don’t know how to move. Last night is the first time I’ve ever been able to move at all,” Vashti said.
“You did a lot with your magic last night,” Brink told her. “Would you be able to levitate us up to the top of the next wall?”
Vashti frowned. “I don’t know. Last time I tried to levitate the three of us, I’m the only one who moved.”
“But you’ve gotten stronger since then,” Zerie pointed out. “Besides, what other choice do we have? We can’t climb that wall.”
Vashti still looked doubtful. Brink went over and stood next to her. “It will work either way, Vashti. You can levitate yourself to the top—you know that because that’s how you got to the bottom. Even if you can’t bring us all, you can go up and throw down the rope.”
“That’s true. I feel sure I can do that.” Vashti brightened. “I didn’t think so last night, but now that seems easy.”
“Good. It’s dark now. I think we should go.” Brink stepped across the boundary and gazed at the sand. “I’ll try to make a sand illusion to cover us.”
“He’s amazing, isn’t he?” Vashti murmured. “He always makes me feel better.”
“Me too,” Zerie admitted.
“I guess it’s just something about
the Springer boys, huh?” Vashti said. She picked up her pack and headed off toward Brink.
Zerie felt as if she’d been stung by a bee—surprised, and not in a good way.
Something about the Springer boys. What did that mean? Was Vashti saying that she now liked Brink, too? She had been talking about how nice and cute he was . . .
“Oh, no,” Zerie whispered to herself. “We can’t like the same boy again.”
“Come on, Zerie,” Brink called. “I think I’ve got the illusion going, but we all have to be together. I can only do a small one.”
Zerie hurried over to join them, linking arms with Brink. Vashti took his other arm.
“Here we go,” Brink said.
Zerie nodded. Here we go again.
They half-walked, half-skipped across the hot sand, wanting to move as quickly as they could. If Brink had an illusion over them, Zerie couldn’t see it, and she felt completely exposed. She kept glancing up at the sky, expecting to see some kind of clockwork bird, or worse, an airship.
It didn’t take long to reach the wall, and once they were there, Vashti had them all stand in a circle. “I’m going to do it,” she said confidently. “I’m sick of being at the bottom of this awful trench. It’s been nothing but bad luck for us. First the Glass Cat disappeared, and then the Kalidah attack . . .”
“Yes, let’s get out of here,” Zerie agreed. She didn’t want to talk about the attack.
“Hold my hands,” Vashti said. She stretched out her arms, and Brink took her hand. Then he reached for Zerie’s hand, too.
“It’ll be easier if we’re all connected,” he said. “More stable. Strongest together, remember?”
“Okay.” Zerie reluctantly held his hand, trying to ignore how warm it felt, how nice it was to feel his fingers intertwine with hers. She grabbed Vashti’s other hand, and they stood in a triangle.
Vashti looked up at the top of the trench and whispered, “Float.”
Bewitched in Oz Page 10
