by Kobe Bryant
“I don’t,” Gita said carefully. “Not after what I’ve witnessed here.”
“I should take you now so you can look after the younger ones on the other side in case you need to get them out of there quick.”
“Good idea,” Gita said.
She got on Pretia’s back. For the first time, Pretia fully felt the weight of the person she was carrying. She staggered once before her shadow self took over and made a smooth crossing.
But each passage grew progressively harder. Her shadow self didn’t show any strain but Pretia’s body was fatiguing fast. Her legs shook. Her back ached. If she couldn’t stand and attempt to run from the quicksand, her shadow self wouldn’t know to help her. She had to keep going.
Pretia glanced over her shoulder. Five more Star Stealers to go. She could do this. She had to.
After she carried the first one across, she couldn’t stand upright. She had to rest her hands on her knees for support. By the time she got to the third to last, she was no longer able to help her passenger onto her back.
Finally, she was down to a single Star Stealer. The last to go was a girl so young it made Pretia sick to think of her in Hafara. She had the biggest eyes Pretia had ever seen. She looked at Pretia in wonder. “Are you really a princess?” she whispered as she climbed on Pretia’s back. She couldn’t have been more than seven years old.
“Yes.” Pretia could barely get the word out.
“So why are you helping us?” the girl asked.
“Because,” Pretia rasped. Then she cleared her throat. “Because,” she said in the clearest voice she could manage, “nobody should suffer the way you have. If the Junior Epic Games require that innocent people be treated this way, then they are not a true celebration of the glory of Epoca.”
“I’ve heard the games are spectacular,” the little girl said. “I know they are not for me,” she continued, “but still I’d like to see them someday.”
“I promise,” Pretia said, “one day you’ll be able to see the games. Maybe even compete. What’s your name?”
“Raki.” The girl pressed her lips to Pretia’s ear. “Thank you,” she said. Pretia could not even reply. Suddenly the ache in her body was so great that she thought she would collapse under the girl’s insubstantial weight.
She stumbled forward and nearly fell into the roiling quicksand. Raki cried out. Pretia righted herself in time.
Pretia felt Raki lay her small head on her shoulder.
“Are we going to be stuck?” Raki asked.
Pretia dragged in a ragged breath. Her lungs burned.
“I don’t want to be stuck here.”
She could feel Raki beginning to cry. She had to do this one last time. She couldn’t let the tiniest Star Stealer down.
Pretia forced herself upright again.
Run, she urged her shadow self. Please.
For a single horrible moment, she thought she wouldn’t be able to split. But then her shadow self emerged. It wavered at first, before taking off for a final trip across the quicksand.
Pretia tried to watch from the prison side of the river. But everything was going black. Before she saw her shadow self deposit Raki safely, her head began to spin. And slowly, oh so slowly, she fell backward, crumpling into an unconscious heap in front of the looming wall of Hafara Prison.
26
ROVI
A SIREN
Issa knew the way to the Star Stealer hideout, so Rovi let him take the lead. Rovi wanted to run, but the enfeebled Star Stealers couldn’t move very quickly. So they set out at the briskest walk they could manage. Still, the two miles to the alcove was taking way too long. With each step, Rovi grew more and more anxious.
By Rovi’s count, half an hour had passed since he’d left the cavern and Hafara. The line of Star Stealers stretched out through the tunnels. Some of the younger ones were falling behind.
“Are we close?” he asked Issa.
“Almost there,” Issa replied.
“I’ll bring up the rear,” Rovi said, and raced off to the back of the line to make sure no one had been left behind.
When he reached the back, he discovered a small, shoeless boy struggling to keep up. Rovi scooped him up and piggybacked him through the tunnels.
Eventually, Rovi saw a light cast into the tunnel up ahead. “Issa!” Fortunus’s voice called. “Issa and . . .” The rest of Fortunus’s exclamation was lost in the clamor of the rescued Star Stealers greeting the few left in the alcove.
“But where are the rest?” Fortunus asked when Rovi arrived at the head of the line.
“Vera is bringing one group. Pretia will follow with the rest.”
Concern crossed Fortunus’s face. “I wish you were all together. We need to hurry. Once the guards realize that the prison—”
“I know,” Rovi said, “they might release the river to chase us from the tunnels. Issa said.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” Fortunus said.
“I’m going back to help,” Rovi said.
Fortunus looked over the group of Star Stealers. “We need to act fast to get as many to safety as possible. We can’t wait for the others. I will lead this group to the mouth of the tunnel. We will wait for you there. But if you don’t come soon, I must head out at dusk. Once we make it to the Moon Palace, we are at the edge of the city limits of Phoenis and we will be safe.” Fortunus looked at Rovi. “You have done an incredible thing, Swiftfoot. Star Stealers and the Orphic People all over the outlands will tell the tale of this night for years to come. Your name will be a legend.” He took both of Rovi’s hands in his and looked him straight in the eye. “You will be legend. But I wonder if you would consider joining us.”
Rovi broke away from Fortunus’s gaze and glanced at Issa. Then he turned to take in the Star Stealers gathered in the tunnel. “I can’t,” he said. “I can’t let my school down. I can’t let the Dreamers down. I’ve already done too much to endanger their victory at the games. I have to go back when you’re safe.”
He’d done everything Issa and Fortunus had asked him to do. And he was proud of that. They had drawn him out of his comfort zone as an elite Dreamer and challenged him to help others and to do what was right. But now it was time to return to House Somni. That was where he belonged. That was where his father would have wanted him to be.
“I’ll run back to help Pretia and Vera, and we’ll bring the rest of the kids to the tunnel entrance.”
“We will see you there,” Fortunus said.
No sooner had he spoken than a wail resounded through the tunnels.
“What is that?” Rovi cried.
“The siren!” Issa exclaimed.
Rovi’s heart began to race. Their escape had been discovered. The river had been released.
The siren was a steady wail—earsplitting and terrifying. Fortunus turned to Issa. “When we get to the end of the tunnel, you go on ahead. Get these kids to the Moon Palace. It’s too risky to wait. I’ll bring the rest to you.”
“Okay,” Issa agreed.
“We can’t lose another second,” Fortunus urged. “Rovi, go tell the others to hurry. Issa, let’s move out.”
Rovi spun around and was about to sprint off.
“Wait!” Issa called.
Rovi stopped. Issa ran and flung his arms around him. “I didn’t get a chance to say this last time. Goodbye, brother,” he said.
Rovi had to shout to be heard over the siren. He dropped his head to Issa’s shoulder. “Goodbye.”
“And thank you,” Issa said. “You risked more than anyone else ever would have for us.”
“That’s what you do for family,” Rovi said. He bit his lip. “And don’t worry, brother. One day I’ll find you again. Now go.”
Rovi didn’t waste an instant. He raced back through the tunnels. It took him ten minutes to rea
ch Vera and her group, who were stretched out in a long line through the tunnels. Like the Star Stealers he’d led, many of these kids were lagging and exhausted.
Vera broke away from her group and rushed to Rovi. She cupped her hands over her mouth. “That must be the warning siren, right?”
Rovi nodded vigorously.
“How much time do you think we have before they release the river?”
“Not much,” Rovi answered. “You need to get these Star Stealers to the tunnel mouth as quickly as possible. Fortunus—Farnaka—whoever he is will meet you there.”
“Okay,” Vera replied over the insistent wail. “Go help Pretia. I’ll meet you both at the tunnel entrance, and then we’ll head back to the stadium.”
They slapped hands.
“Hurry,” Rovi said, and ran off. He picked up his pace, figuring it was about another mile until he reached the prison. In a few minutes, he heard voices up ahead in the tunnels. When the tunnel turned a corner, he collided with Gita.
She had a small girl on her back. “You guys made it!” Rovi yelled. But his heart plummeted when he saw the look on her face.
“The quicksand is overflowing the moat,” she called over the noise. “It’s bubbling up. The river is coming.”
“Fortunus is waiting at the tunnel entrance. Get there as fast as you can. The guards could be on us at any minute.” He paused. “And if they aren’t, that could be bad, too.”
“Why?” Gita asked.
A horrible realization was dawning on Rovi. They hadn’t encountered any guards in the tunnels, which meant the guards could be purposely avoiding the tunnels. “Because they could be releasing the river,” he said.
“I’ll hurry,” Gita said.
“Vera is bringing her group there, too, and Issa has already led a group out of the city,” Rovi added. “They’re all heading for the Moon Palace. If anyone gets separated, that’s where to go. Make sure everyone knows.”
As Rovi had been talking, the final group of Star Stealers had gathered around Gita. Rovi scanned the crowd.
“Where’s Pretia?”
“She wouldn’t—she couldn’t come,” Gita said. “She couldn’t stand up, or answer. I couldn’t help her, Rovi.” She paused. “I tried. Believe me, I did.”
“You left her?”
“She’s still by the prison. You’ll see. There was nothing I could do. I was wrong about Pretia,” Gita continued. “Without her, we’d still be stuck in Hafara. But we had to go.”
It seemed as if the siren was getting louder. It was inside Rovi’s head, rattling his teeth, making his brain shake. The Star Stealers flinched against the sound and clustered tighter around Gita.
Rovi’s stomach clenched. “Go!” he barked. “Get to safety.”
His legs led him through the tunnels as if they had memorized every twist and turn on the outbound journey. In a few minutes, the tunnel opened into the circular track, where the noise from the siren was almost deafening. He hurried toward the spot where Pretia’s shadow self had deposited him after the crossing.
He was almost there when he saw her lying on the track near the edge of the river next to her discarded backpack and her gold Grana Gleams. Had Gita lied to him? Or had Pretia made it across since Gita had left?
He glanced at the river. Gita was right. It was rising. He needed to move Pretia immediately.
Rovi rushed to Pretia’s side and dropped to his knees. “Pretia! Get up.” He shook her shoulder and rolled her over. Her face was expressionless, slack. She was listless—like she was hardly there at all. “Pretia!” he screamed. “Wake up.”
She didn’t move. He was near tears, but he knew tears wouldn’t help.
“Pretia, please.” He wrapped his arms around her and tried to lift her. Her body felt strange, as if it wasn’t a body at all. Rovi looked at the sand. It was rising higher and higher, swallowing the track.
Then, beyond the moat, something caught his eye—a figure holding a hand lamp, lying on the opposite side by the prison. Pretia!
But if that was Pretia, who was this? Rovi stared at the figure in his arms.
It could only be her shadow self. Suddenly Rovi felt as if he was touching something he shouldn’t, something more sacred than a Grana Book—a deep part of his best friend’s soul. He laid Pretia’s shadow self gently back on the ground, away from the encroaching quicksand. Then he cupped his hands over his mouth and screamed as loudly as he could, “Pretia! Get over here!” But it was futile to try to make himself heard over the wailing of the siren.
He had to wake her up. But he couldn’t reach her.
“Pretia,” he called again, although he knew it was pointless.
The siren was making it impossible to think. Rovi crouched down next to Pretia’s shadow self. “Please,” he said, “please do something. Help her.”
He waited. Pretia’s shadow self remained motionless.
“Pretia needs you. You need each other.”
The siren was growing louder and louder. Rovi cupped his hands over his ears to dull the noise, but it was no use.
Then he felt the figure next to him stir. He scooted back. Pretia’s shadow self was moving!
Rovi’s eyes widened as this other Pretia, a more ethereal version of his friend, her actual soul, stood up. And then, as he watched in disbelief, Pretia’s shadow self began to walk back across the River of Sand. It reached the other side, stepped through the crashing quicksand waves, and squatted down next to Pretia’s motionless body.
Then the shadow Pretia scooped up the physical Pretia in its arms and began to carry her back across the river. Pretia looked like a deadweight. Her head dangled limply and her feet swung back and forth.
The shadow Pretia moved easily across the River of Sand, as if she were carrying nothing at all, as if the surface below her feet were solid ground, not roiling and rising quicksand.
Rovi watched as Pretia’s shadow self carefully laid his best friend at a safe distance from the approaching river. Pretia’s physical body seemed drained of something vital. She had no vibrancy, no energy. Then it hit Rovi—she looked exactly like the kids he’d seen last year back at Ecrof, the ones whose grana had been stolen by the deadly strangler fig.
Rovi clutched his stomach. The thought of her grana being gone nearly made him sick.
Pretia’s shadow self stood over her motionless body.
“Wake her up!” Rovi cried. “Please.”
Suddenly the shadow self seemed to waver and flicker as if it were melting in front of Rovi’s face. And before Rovi could say anything else, it collapsed on top of Pretia’s physical body. The minute the two Pretias collided, the shadow self vanished, leaving Rovi alone with the motionless body of his best friend.
He fell to his knees and took Pretia gently by the shoulder. He bent over her so he could be heard above the siren. “Pretia, please. Please get up.”
Nothing.
How much longer did Rovi have before he had to flee the cavern? He glanced nervously at the River of Sand. Three-quarters of the track was gone.
He took Pretia under her shoulders and dragged her farther away from the approaching quicksand.
“Pretia, the river is coming fast. Wake up, please.”
Now a new sound filled the cavern, a booming noise. The waves of sand had started breaking on this side of the prison. Towering waves, twice as high as Rovi, were crashing one on top of the other, spraying him and Pretia with sand.
There was no doubt. The river was rising faster and faster.
“Rovi?”
Pretia’s voice was so faint Rovi nearly missed it over the siren and the sound of the waves. He looked down. Her eyes were fluttering open. “What happened?”
“You were stuck on the prison side of the river,” Rovi explained. “Your shadow self carried you back across. Can you stand?”
&nbs
p; “I’m so tired,” Pretia said.
“You have to try.”
“What’s that noise?” Pretia asked.
“The river is loose. It’s rising. That’s what the siren’s for. We need to go.”
“I can’t,” Pretia said.
“I am not leaving you. Get on my back.”
“You can’t carry me,” Pretia said.
“I can and I will,” Rovi said. He pulled Pretia to her feet and then crouched down so she could climb on.
Rovi struggled back to his feet. Pretia’s tired body was heavier than he’d imagined. He looped his arms under her muscular legs and started for the tunnels. There was no way he could run. He could just manage a swift walk, which meant at least half an hour to meet up with the rest of the Star Stealers.
The tunnel twisted on ahead of him. Pretia grew heavier with each step. Pretia’s head lolled on his shoulder. He could feel her ragged breathing on his neck. But Rovi didn’t let up. To keep his spirits up, he whistled the Ecrof fight song and the Dreamer anthem.
Suddenly he could hear footsteps coming in his direction. Rovi flattened himself against the wall in case it was the guards.
“Rovi!” Vera’s voice echoed through the tunnels.
“I’m here,” he replied. “I’ve got Pretia.” A few seconds later, Vera came into view.
“Is she okay?” Vera gasped.
“She’s exhausted,” Rovi said.
“Let me help,” Vera insisted.
Rovi could feel Pretia stirring.
“It’s okay,” Pretia said. “You can put me down. I think I can walk.”
Rovi helped Pretia to stand. He and Vera held her up.
The tunnel was rocked by another thunderous crash.
“The river is rising fast,” Rovi said. “It’s going to flood the tunnels.”
“Let’s go,” Vera said. “Pretia, are you sure you can do this? We can carry you if you can’t walk.”
“I’m good,” Pretia said. Her voice sounded stronger. “I think being separated from my shadow self for so long while I was carrying the Star Stealers destroyed me. But now that I’m whole, I’m feeling better.”
