by Jason Letts
Using a large stick, they avoided catching any shallows, rocks, or the shore. Smiling, they enjoyed the relief of effortlessly watching the world pass by. The mountains diminished behind them. They glimpsed fish in the water, chatted, munched raspberries, and slept as the raft slipped along calmer, slower currents.
The trees grew sparser and sparser, and after a while nothing surrounded the travelers but never-ending grasslands. Curving around bends, they marveled at the great, wide-open expanse, so different from what they knew at home. Thick, tall grasses grew in spots, but most of it stayed close to the ground, patches of crabgrass trying in vain to cover the bare, sandy earth.
The sun poured down, irritating their eyes and skin and forcing them to shield themselves against it as best they could. Slowly, the river straightened again and the pace of the water began to quicken.
The city rose before them in the distance. Tall white towers poked above the horizon and clay buildings came into view beneath them. Mira stood on the raft to get a better look. Darmen seemed beautiful, boasting an elegant mystique she never could have imagined.
“When was the last time anyone came here?” Mira asked.
“Not since I was little,” Vern said, and the others mumbled in agreement.
The city rapidly approached and they all began to feel apprehensive about their arrival. It wasn’t until Will started looking for a place to land that they noticed something strange ahead in the river.
“What’s that?” he called.
Peering ahead, his friends offered no answer. The river clearly appeared to end. It surged in front of them, but further on it disappeared. The whoosh of falling water caught their ears and they finally saw the reason for it.
“There’s a hole!” Mira hollered.
Startled by the revelation, they immediately sprang into action, pushing themselves for shore with hands and feet kicking and scooping at the water. Will blew at the surface as hard as he could to propel them away from the abyss. As they got closer to the edge, they gawked in fear at the massive space in the earth that swallowed the river whole. The raft bobbed and jerked beneath them as they struggled to move it to the side. Their hearts pounded in their chests.
“We’re not going to make it!” Aoi shouted. She withdrew her flurrying legs from the water and began hurling their bags onto the shore. The raft became lighter and they pulled closer, but falling off the cliff seemed utterly unavoidable.
After the bags had been tossed, Aoi yanked Will from the edge of the raft and threw him at the shore. Mira turned to see him flailing in the air, but before he landed she felt an arm around her waist that launched her up over the water. She collided with the beach and turned her head just quickly enough to see Aoi and Vern disappear into the black vacuum of earth.
Chapter 3: Pinchy Publishing
Getting to their feet, Mira and Will rushed along the riverbank to the edge of the crater. They halted, peering into the great expanse and gazing after the plummeting water, which seemed to never find the bottom. The light from the sun shone down into the pit, and they could see the raft spinning in freefall.
“Vern! Aoi!” Mira called, but no sign of their companions reached them.
Down below, tumbling and twisting, Vern and Aoi sailed into the depths. Vern glimpsed the bright sky above him, and he reached for the cave’s upper wall beside it. His fall slowed, and soon he fell upward in the direction of the cavern’s rock face. Surprisingly, wooden pathways and railings had been built in tiers all around the perimeter, and he settled himself onto one.
Aoi continued to fall, the river water surging around her. She spotted a plank meant to collect the water below and reached out to grab it. Gripping the plank with her hand, her body swung down, and she flung herself at the bordering pathway as the plank tore under her weight and fell into the darkness below. She caught the hand railing, but her grasp snapped it and she dropped to the pathway floor.
Peeking over the edge and discovering no level existed below her, her fingers squeezed the weak floorboards. She tried to settle herself, drawing deep breaths, staring at the board, and longing for it to hold her.
As soon as she tried to pull herself from the abyss, the board broke, and she slipped away into the depths. But a second later she stopped falling and began to drift upward. Though still hanging in the air, she sighed with relief and wiped the water from her face. Drifting higher, she caught hold of the railing of the second tier and set her feet on the firm floor.
She leaned past the edge and raised her eyes to see Vern leaning over and watching from above. A smug smile lit his face as he waited for his due.
“Thank you,” she grumbled.
Mira and Will worried over the fate of their friends. They examined the cavern below, where pathways circled the expanse and led underground into the dirt and rock. Torches stretched along the edges, illuminating windows, doors, and even people who happened to be nearby. The sight took their breath away, and they gawked at the opening in the earth and the people who occupied it.
“Look over here!” Will pointed to a ramp that allowed people to descend from the surface. They ran over to it, leaving the river and falling water behind, quickly dropping to the first level. Mira leapt onto the suspended bridge, bouncing around and sending ripples through the connected boards. She grabbed the rope railing, astonished at the beautifully interconnected bridges.
“Can you believe this? It’s incredible! I could’ve never dreamed anything like it!” she said, as if in a delighted trance.
Calling again, they listened for a response, but didn’t hear anything. They searched the ropeways for ladders and stairs and had soon descended several levels. Rushing past people headed up, they finally heard the familiar sounds of their friends’ voices, which rang like music in their ears.
“What took you so long?” Aoi shouted.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have bothered saving you!”
“I’m so glad you’re alright!” Mira exclaimed, skipping down the stairs to them, Will tagging behind.
“The raft is gone, and so are the rope and the tarp,” Vern said.
“That’s OK. What is this place?”
As they craned their necks over the rope to scan the subterranean environment, a young girl emerged from a nearby door, startling them.
“This is Darmen,” the girl said.
“What about those buildings on the surface?” Mira asked.
“That’s Darmen too, but we built this because of the war. They’re the Sun and we’re the Shade,” she said, her eyes widening.
“Oh, I get it,” Vern said. “Everyone is moving here as a defensive measure. Does that mean the war is going badly?”
“They don’t tell us anything, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Not everything has switched yet. So both halves are used.”
The girl ran around along the path and ducked into another door, closing it behind her.
“So what do we do now?” Mira asked.
“My mentor lives just north of town. I have to go there,” Aoi said.
“Have you ever met him before?” Will asked.
“No, my parents set it up a long time ago.”
“Oh, that sucks. I can’t wait to meet my mentor again. Her name is Cybil and she’s come to Corey Outpost a few times. She seems really cool,” Will explained.
“OK, great. So we’ve all got things to find. I’ve got to figure out where these science manuals came from. Oh, right! We should probably go get our stuff,” Mira advised.
They worked their way up the stairs and returned to the surface. At the riverside, the bags sat untouched, wet though not in danger of being swept over the edge. Picking them up, they began to walk to the clay buildings in the city above ground. Entering town, they admired the beautiful buildings and the interesting people who cruised through the streets.
“She’s not too far from here,” Will said. “You don’t mind if we go there first, do you?”
They turned a few corners, seeing shops with
different signs and homes with three and sometimes four stories, something they had never witnessed back home. It seemed like they had been walking in circles and getting nowhere, but Will insisted they were getting closer. Eventually, they reached a small building that had the sign of a wave in the wind hanging near the door. A small black-haired child, just less than school age, ran inside the building.
“Is this it?” Aoi asked. “At least you know you won’t have to worry about fleas. There’s nowhere for them to sleep.”
“There’s nothing wrong,” Will countered. “I think it’s going to be great. I’ve always wanted to live in a big city.”
“What is this place?” Vern asked.
“It’s a wave shop. She makes waves.”
Looking inside through the glass-less windows, they could see blankets spread out on the floor for beds and a woman sitting at a table. When she noticed them, Aoi and Vern immediately gave Will some distance. Catching on, Mira followed their lead, wondering exactly what was going on.
The woman, taller than any of them, emerged with a big smile on her face. But she steadied herself and waited for Will’s address.
“When my light is gone, all that remains is shadow. Does my hand find a likeness in yours?” he asked, bowing respectfully, his head held low.
“Of course, of course!” she replied, her smile reemerging as she opened her arms to embrace Will. His face lit up and he went to her. Holding him close, she noticed his companions, addressing them as she let Will go.
“Are these your friends? You’ll have to get in line. I’m all booked up for the summer,” she joked.
Will chuckled. “No, no, they’ll find their own mentors soon enough. Yes, it was nice we all had to come the same way. It’ll be strange not seeing anybody from our academy for so long.”
“How did the Final Trial turn out for you? I heard a girl won and she was flying or something. I’m sorry I didn’t get to see it.”
“I would’ve liked to have done better,” Will said. “But it could’ve been a lot worse. That was Mira who won, and she had this machine that lifted her into the air. She built it herself. It was incredible. That night some goons from the other side attacked her house. We had to fight them off. It was crazy.”
As he spoke, Mira met eyes with Cybil, who seemed to congratulate her and convey her praise without any words at all.
“Sounds intense. You’ll have to tell me all about it later. I guess it’s good you got a taste of the rough stuff. Keep it in mind when I’m putting you through your training,” she said.
“What are you going to have him do?” Mira asked.
Cybil turned to her and moved a step closer.
“I take a shadow every year, and it’s impossible to know exactly how it will turn out. I have some plans and some tests for him, and we’ll see where there’s room for improvement and where there’s the potential for a breakthrough. I’m going to grow him, and there’s no telling what’ll sprout.” Her words commanded a serious and thoughtful reserve.
While Mira considered what she meant, Vern and Aoi already appeared ready to go. Will put his bag against the wall, but the rest of them remained still. The silence seemed to irk Cybil, and she produced another question.
“So your mentor is in Darmen also?” she asked Mira.
“Oh, actually no. In fact, he doesn’t really know I’m coming, or who I am. I don’t even know where he is. But his name is Flip Widget and he’s written these books.” She removed the manual from her bag. “I’m hoping the book maker can tell me where to find him. I know it must sound strange, but I’m kind of a special case.”
Cybil flipped through the old and musty book. The pages contained words and complicated diagrams pertaining to the organization of animal cells.
“Making things to fly through the air? I can imagine. But I’ve never seen anything like this before. Are you sure it came from Darmen? I wish you luck finding him. Sorry I can’t help you.”
Mira told her not to worry about it, and she put her book back in her bag. Cybil went to attend to Will, who had started to speak with Cybil’s young son.
“Good luck, Will!” they called to him, sensing the time to part had come. They would all be meeting soon enough when they left for their journey to Shadow Mountain.
Will faced them, and it looked as though he had something complex and important weighing on his mind. But only “you’ll see” slipped through his lips, and Mira thought his whole undertaking might be done just to prove Aoi wrong. Mira hoped it would work out the way he wanted so his health and safety would remain intact.
He turned into the clay hut, leaving the others nothing to do but return down the street that had brought them there. The sun was high in the sky, and the roads became more crowded. Vern had some money and convinced the two girls to visit the market by offering them lunch. As they walked along, Mira noticed lots of little signs like the one outside of Cybil’s home.
“Does everyone sell their power to whomever wants it?” she asked.
“No,” Aoi replied, but she didn’t say anything further. Mira only got an explanation after she gave Vern a flat-faced look.
“Some powers aren’t worth anything; others are just plain too valuable. There are lots of ways people make a living, but this is one way that is always reliable if there is a demand for it.”
Entering a vast market, set in a large square beneath plenty of tented stands, it appeared for a second that they had walked right into the courtyard of Corey Outpost. Though this place had more space and the stalls had different types of food, they felt right at home within the milling crowd.
“What do you want?” Vern asked as they approached a baker selling an impressive variety of goods. They read the little signs explaining what all of the breads contained. Tired of their bacon bread, they contemplated having pepperoni bread, broccoli baguette, egg loaf, and fish bread. They made their selections, Vern made the exchange, and Aoi and Mira thanked him for his generosity.
Walking around the square as they ate, they examined the different goods for sale and struck up brief conversations with locals. Mira asked them about the origins of her book, but no one could help her. They also asked a few people about the underground half of the city, and it seemed most of them thought of it as a necessary inconvenience.
“We’ve been fighting for our freedom for a long time, and you can never guess what kind of strange trick they’ll throw at us,” one man said.
Vern and Aoi began to shuffle impatiently, which made Mira anxious to discover a lead on her own before she wound up all alone.
Making their departure from the market, a cackling, nasal laugh rose behind them. It carried eerie and unpleasant tones, and Mira instinctively brushed her arm against her hip to switch on the static charger. A little whir sounded from inside, which began to give Mira an electrical charge that would zap anyone who tried to touch her.
They spun around to see where the mocking laughter had originated, but scanning the crowd produced no answers. Only after they’d given up did they see the culprit right there in front of them.
Puzzled both because she had missed seeing him and because of his strange appearance, Mira tried to figure him out while he recovered his composure. He was strikingly unusual because the sun shone directly on his very fair skin and white hair and yet he seemed to be entirely in the shade. Although the bright light of day seared everyone else, it seemed never to touch him. She also guessed him to be their same age, and wondered about his nauseous ability to amuse himself so fully.
“Do you need some help?” Mira asked, patronizing him in response for his pretentious behavior. He calmed himself down after a few more guttural noises and drew closer, affording a more detailed inspection.
“Yes, I heard there was going to be a freak show in town. Can you tell me where you’re going to stage your act?” he said.
Before Mira could fire back a response, Aoi stepped forward.
“You need to shut up and walk away now before I m
ake it so you can’t.”
Though she didn’t raise her voice, it carried Aoi’s typical forceful malice. As she spoke, Vern whispered into Mira’s ear.
“I’ve heard of this guy. He’s from Darmen Elite Academy.”
“Pretty protective of your pet, huh?” the boy goaded Aoi. “It’s nice of you to be so kind to animals.”
Mira couldn’t help but notice the way he referred to her. Grinding her teeth, she felt her anger flaring inside until something caught her attention.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“What’s what?”
Mira pointed vaguely to the side of his chest and everyone looked. The young man, confused, brushed his shoulder.
“Right there,” she said.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“It’s a chip on your shoulder. You’d better be careful or it’ll get you into trouble,” she snapped.
She turned to walk away, Aoi and Vern following her cue. She took some comfort in how they defended her, but the shrill sound of the boy’s voice called her back.
“I’ve heard about you, Mira Ipswich, class leader of Dustfalls Academy. Do you know what we call you around here? The walking defect.”
“That’s funny,” she sniped, unable to stop herself from turning back around. “I’ve never heard about you. Seems like being a jerk loser with nothing better to do than harass people in a market isn’t making you famous.”
The boy, perpetually shielded against the sun, seemed to suddenly reappear a foot closer to her.
“My name’s Neeko, the leader of this year’s Darmen Elite class. And if the news didn’t make it to your hick town, that’s because it only just happened. Instead of a dozen or so rats running around, there were over a hundred of us. Our Final Trial went for two days straight, around the clock, and I came out on top. Do you really think you could have handled something like that?”
