“He sees us,” I whispered.
Theo didn’t answer.
The man turned back to the water. He picked up a bright orange case and placed the containers into it. Then he put the case into a knapsack, slung it over his back, and disappeared into the woods.
We did not move. We did not speak.
A crow landed on the rock above us and cawed two times before taking off in a rush of wings.
“Okay,” Theo said.
“Okay?” I whispered back. “How is this okay?”
“He’s gone.” Theo brushed the sand from his legs. “I think he must have been testing the water quality. We should follow him.”
“No way!”
“He went back into the woods. Maybe there’s a road out or something.”
“No,” I said again. “That man is an outsider!”
“You don’t know that,” Theo told me. “He probably works for Krita.”
“Okay, maybe, but even if he does, any road out here is going to lead to outsiders.”
“At some point in time we’re going to be around outsiders, you know.”
“I know,” I agreed, though the very thought of it made me retch. I had been pushing the idea down since we’d first hatched the plan to get Ilana out of Old Harmonie. Outsiders were disease-ridden. And violent. At least, some of them were. That was one thing dampening surely helped: if anyone was too aggressive, it was dampened out of them. Exposure to outsiders was dangerous, especially out here, where they hadn’t been through our decontamination procedures. “Of course we will. Just not yet.”
He sighed. “All right. Let’s go see if the others found anything.”
I nodded, but it took a minute to get to my feet. That man in the jumpsuit might have been working for the reservoir, but all I could think of were the men in white jumpsuits who had come to scuttle Ilana.
Theo and I picked our way carefully back toward our meeting spot with the others. We crouched low and each of us looked over our shoulders in case the outsider came back. We glanced ahead, too—where there was one, there could be others. Still, we almost tripped over Benji, who sat curled in a ball at the edge of the water where the tracks disappeared.
“Where are Julia and Ilana?” I asked.
“Where were you?” he replied. “We said fifteen minutes!”
“How long has it been?” Theo asked. He checked his wrist for his watchu that wasn’t there.
“You’ve been gone thirty-seven minutes. What happened?”
“How do you know we’ve been gone exactly thirty-seven minutes?”
“Where are they?” I asked again.
“I brought my stopwatch,” Benji said, holding up a small round fob on a string. It had been tucked into his shirt. “I’ve had it running since we left. Anyway, we found a causeway. Julia and Ilana were exploring to see how far it went, but it seems to go across the whole way.” He said it as if this information was inconsequential. His voice only rose again when he asked, “So, what happened to you?”
“We saw an outsider!” I exclaimed.
“A worker,” Theo told him. “He was testing the water. We had to hide until he finished.”
“Did he see you?”
“No,” Theo said.
“We don’t think so, anyway,” I added.
Benji nodded. “Okay, then. It’s just a little ways this way.” He hopped to his feet and led us around a bend in the shoreline. The flat surface of the water and the light shining on it had camouflaged the walkway that stretched out over the water. It wasn’t a bridge, exactly, since it was only a foot or so above the water level, but it was wide enough for us to walk two across if we wanted to. As we approached, Julia and Ilana were making their way back.
“As far as we can tell it goes the whole way,” Julia said. “What took you guys so long? Did you find something, too?”
I shook my head and we told them about the worker.
“Well, this causeway provides no shelter, but it’s our only way across, so far as I can see,” Julia said.
“It would be a risk,” Ilana added. “Perhaps this is where we should part ways?”
“Don’t be a numb nuts,” Theo said. “Like that’s even a possibility. Come on.”
“You know, I’m getting a little grumbly in my tumbly,” Benji said. “Maybe we should grab a snack first.”
“No. We need to go before the sun gets too high and before more people are out and about,” Theo said.
“He’s right,” I agreed. “We can eat once we get to the other side.”
“You’re killing me, Mori. I thought we’d always see eye to eye on the necessity of snacking.”
I smiled back at him. I was glad he came. With him here, things didn’t seem quite so dire. He chucked me on the shoulder and led the way onto the stone path that went out over the water.
It was beautiful out there: surrounded by clear water that seemed to go on for miles. Occasionally we would see fish swim by below. A family of ducks swam toward the causeway and hopped up, but then, upon seeing us, dove back in the water with a splash, splash, splash. The mother led them away as fast as her legs could paddle her, quacking back at her ducklings, who struggled to keep up. I couldn’t help but giggle.
“See, the outside world isn’t so bad,” Ilana said. “There are ducks.”
But before I could reply, we heard the unmistakable purr of a drone engine.
“Get down!” Theo called out. “On your stomachs! On your stomachs!”
We dropped down.
The drone hung in the air above us.
“It sees us!” Julia cried.
“Be quiet!” Theo called back.
The drone danced in a slow circle above us.
I peeked up trying to see if it had a camera or some sort of a sensor. “What is it doing?” I whispered.
“It’s looking for something,” Ilana replied.
“For us?” I asked.
“Perhaps,” she said.
“Come on,” Theo ordered. “Crawl. Slowly!”
We did as he said, all of us on all fours creeping along the causeway. The drone still hung above us, its tiny motor purring.
Then, without warning, it darted. My heart leaped, then my stomach dropped. It had seen what it needed to see—us!—and now it was going back to report it to Krita or whoever, but, no, wait. It stopped out over the water and did another set of circles.
“What’s it doing now?” I asked.
“Maybe it didn’t see us?” Benji asked. “I mean, maybe it wasn’t looking for us. Maybe it’s just checking the status of the reservoir or something?” I wanted him to sound more sure of himself.
“We need to hurry,” Theo said.
“Hurry where?” Julia asked. “That drone saw us. It doesn’t matter if it was looking for us or something else. It saw us and now we’re cooked.”
“We’re not necessarily cooked,” Benji said.
“We’re not?” I asked hopefully.
“If it’s a monitor drone, it’s just collecting data. It could be really rudimentary, not even images, but readings of some sort. Numbers. And then there’s someone—a person or a bot—on the other end who’s looking at them. We might not have even registered, and if we did, whoever is checking might not catch it. They might just think it’s some sort of abnormality and send someone out here, but, I mean, it is possible they didn’t see us.”
“Okay,” I said. I took a deep breath. “Okay. Then we need to keep going. We need to get across and find some cover before they send someone out here to check. We still have time. We can do this.” I started walking. “Well, come on.” I beckoned them to start, too. A big arm-swing. Too big. My foot came down on some loose rocks and I started to stumble, my arm-swing tipping me over.
My feet scrambled against gravel at the edge of the causeway. It happened in slow motion. It was like I was doing a cartwheel through honey. Over, over, over, and then down, with a big splash.
4
The water was warm up to
p, but as soon as I sank below the surface, it turned cold. Something soft and slimy brushed against my ankles. I blinked my eyes against the sting of the water, and tried to get my bearings. The world was blurry without my glasses. All I could see were my own bubbles, rushing along beside me. Up. They were rushing up and if I followed them, I would swim to the surface. Just like in Julia’s pool. I scooped my arms in a giant breaststroke, pulling myself upward. I started to move, but then the soft, slimy something tightened around my ankle. My momentum stopped.
I thrashed against the tugging, but that only made it tighter. I coughed. I didn’t mean to. It just pressed out of me, and when it did, I breathed in, hard, a mouthful of water.
My vision swirled. Up, I thought. Up, up, up. But the more I moved, the more tangled I became, until it felt like both of my calves were wrapped in wet ropes.
I squeezed my eyes closed and then opened them again. Not ropes. They couldn’t be ropes, but they could be plants, and water plants I could break. I reached down and tugged at them. As I pulled, the stems snapped, and my legs were free.
The weeds swirled around, ominous as eels. And then a gray human face peered up at me through the murk. I gasped again, sucking in another mouthful of water that made my lungs burn even more. I kicked hard, again and again, away from the face. I could still feel it looking at me, though, even as I burst out of the water, just as Ilana leaned over to dive in. “Mori!” she cried.
Theo reached past her and grabbed my arm. She grabbed the other, and together they pulled me back onto the causeway. I couldn’t stop myself from crying and shaking. I wrapped my arms around my knees to still myself, but just ended up rocking back and forth.
That face.
“Are you okay?” Julia asked. “Mori? Mori!”
That face.
Eyes blank, tight lips, gray skin.
I coughed. My lungs felt like they were being squeezed by a juice presser. I coughed again and spit out some of the brackish water.
Ilana crouched down next to me and put her hand on my back.
“There’s something down there!” I gasped. “Something—something—someone!”
“It’s okay,” Ilana said, rubbing my back.
Benji held something out to me. “Your glasses floated up,” he said.
I took them from him and shoved them onto my face. The camera whirred and they all came into focus, dubious expressions across all their faces. My words came between pants of heavy breath: “There’s a person down in the water.”
Theo and Julia looked down at me, frowning. Benji searched the water but shook his head.
“It had gray skin and empty eyes.”
“It was just your imagination,” Theo said. “You didn’t have your glasses, so you could barely see down there and you were scared and you thought you saw something you didn’t.”
“No, you’re not hearing me!”
“It’s a totally natural reaction,” Benji said.
“It’s down there. Just wait. The weeds will move and—”
“Do you think you’re okay to walk?” Julia asked, like she had decided it was better to just ignore what I was saying than to engage me. “We have to keep going.”
“We’re all under a lot of pressure and this is way intense, so it was probably just like a fish or maybe a reflection or something,” Benji suggested.
“It wasn’t a fish and it wasn’t my reflection. You can’t see your reflection when you’re underwater. It was huge.” I peered down into the water. “Huge and gray.”
“What color hair did it have?” Ilana asked.
“What? I don’t know. I guess that was gray, too.”
“Was it moving?” she asked.
“Moving?” But no, it hadn’t. Still as stone. “Stone!” I exclaimed. “Like a statue.” Realizing I had not seen a real person but a statue of one calmed my heart a little. Still, it didn’t make sense. “Who builds a statue under a reservoir?” I asked.
“I don’t know, Mori. But I do know we need to keep going,” Ilana said in a calm voice. She stood up and helped me to stand.
With each step, my feet squished and squelched. Water dripped off me and left a little trail. There was a face under there. A whole statue. I was sure of what I had seen. But then again, lack of oxygen can make your brain do strange things. Maybe … but, no, I knew what I had seen, even if my friends didn’t believe me. Even if it didn’t make sense.
Ilana walked close behind me. Close enough to grab my hand if I started to slip again.
We walked the rest of the way across in silence. We could see the drone in the distance, doing its little circles, but it never came back toward us.
“I don’t think it saw us,” Julia said. “It would have gone back to its base if it had, right?”
“Most likely,” Benji said. “But it could just be a routine security thing for the reservoir. Periodic flyovers with someone back at headquarters to look at the feed.”
“So what does that mean?” Julia asked.
“Well, I suppose it means that if there’s someone watching the feed, and if they’re paying attention and not sneezing or something, and they see us, then they’ll send someone out.”
“So it means we’re hoping that the security guard sneezed?” Julia asked.
“We can’t worry about it,” Theo said. “We’re falling farther and farther behind. We just need to focus and move.” He glanced back at me. My clothes, my bag, and all of me was soaked. I couldn’t move quickly even if I wanted to. “When we get to the other side, you can change, Mori. Do you have extra clothes, Julia?”
“Sure, of course.”
“Good, so Mori will change, we’ll get our bearings, and we’ll keep going.”
“Maybe we should—” Julia began.
“No,” I told her. “I’m fine. We’re keeping going. I’m not giving up.”
“I didn’t say I was giving up.”
“Good, then let’s go.” I wanted to stride off confidently, leading the way, but the sound of my wet shoes sloshing every time I took a step wouldn’t let me do that.
“Huh,” Benji said. “On second thought, Mori, maybe I do believe you about the face.”
Benji held my hand as I leaned out over the water. It was a little dizzying to see, like I had somehow been hung upside down above a city skyline. But there it was: a brick steeple with a cross on top. “It’s a church,” I said. “It’s an underwater church.”
“Very religious ducks and fishes around here, I guess,” Benji said.
“It was a statue back there,” I said as I straightened back up. I shielded my eyes from the sun. “A statue and now a church. What is this place?”
A crow made a slow circle above us as we stood out in the brightening sun. Water lapped at the causeway, and the underwater church seemed to shimmer.
Theo looked back over his shoulder, and then in the direction where we had seen the outsider working. “It’s a mystery, but not one we can solve right now. We’re more than halfway there, and, except for maybe that drone, I don’t think anyone has seen us. But we have to keep going. We need to move faster.”
“I can’t run,” I said.
“I might be feeling a little peaked myself,” Benji said.
“I’ll carry your bag.” Julia reached her arm out to me. I hesitated, then shrugged my sagging, wet backpack off and gave it to her. Ilana took Benji’s. They jogged but they might as well have been sprinting, since that’s what I had to do to keep up. They didn’t understand how Benji and I had shorter legs and for each stride they took, we needed to take two.
My feet pounded against the causeway and I just kept seeing that face over and over again. I felt my chest tighten as I realized what had happened: there had been a town here once. Now it was under a reservoir. And not just any reservoir—the source for most of Old Harmonie’s water. Our reservoir took over a town. We had taken it over. What had happened to all the people who had lived there, I wondered, when the water swept through their town?
5
When we finally crossed the reservoir, my throat and mouth were parched. I crouched down at the edge of the water and scooped it into my mouth. It was cold and fresh and maybe a little bit earthy, but I didn’t care. “It tastes so good,” I gasped.
“Mori, stop! This water isn’t clean!” Julia told me.
“It’s our drinking water,” I said.
“But they filter it first,” she replied.
I kept drinking. I was still soaking wet, but all the same I felt like I couldn’t get enough.
“Gross,” Julia said, but within a minute Theo, Ilana, and Benji were right down beside me.
“I didn’t even realize how thirsty I was!” Theo exclaimed.
“Seriously,” Benji said. “Way parched. It’s the Sahara in my mouth and this is my oasis.”
“An oasis is an illusion,” Julia told him, but as I slipped my glasses back on my face, I noticed her eyeing the water greedily.
“It’s going to be a hot day,” Ilana said. “We should fill up our water bottles now.”
Julia sniffed, but she did fill up her water bottle. “If I get dysentery, you guys will never hear the end of it.” Then she turned to me. “Come on. You need dry clothes.”
We found a stand of trees to give us cover and she opened up her backpack. She pulled out a purple T-shirt and a pair of black running shorts. She held them to her chest while I wiggled out of my wet clothes. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you about the face,” she said when my shirt was over my head.
“It’s okay,” I said, but I was glad the wet cotton was between us so she couldn’t see my face.
“Are you stuck?” she asked. Before I could answer, she yanked the shirt off my head. I grabbed her purple one and pulled it on. It smelled like sunscreen. “Anyway, it’s nothing like I expected out here, but a face underwater was beyond too weird, you know?”
I nodded.
“It wasn’t a real person, though. You said it was a real person, but now you think it was a statue.”
The Daybreak Bond Page 2
