Away Page 17

  “He’s dead.” The crowd’s gasps turned to whispers as Malgam walked up to the front of the room. His eyes were red, but he looked determined. Pathik came up the aisle behind his father, and stood with him. Daniel took Malgam’s hand and whispered something to him. Malgam nodded. Then Daniel stepped over to Pathik and hugged him.

  “My father died to protect us.” Malgam looked at the people in the crowd. “He died because he was being tortured in order to force him to give information about where we are and what we can do. And he didn’t want to do that. So he used his own gift to end his life.”

  The crowd buzzed louder; only a few knew Indigo had a gift. Even fewer knew what that gift had been. Malgam waited a moment to let the people expend some energy, but then he held up his hand.

  “I know Indigo wanted us to seek a better place. And I am going. I invite you all to come. The place is called Salishan. Some of you have heard the stories about it. It’s an island, and we can go there, and we can live. Without the threat of the Roberts. Without the threat of the Regs. We can live a better life.”

  “It’s a firetale, no more!” Michael thundered the words from the front row. He stood. “I’m sorry, Malgam, for the death of your father. But Indigo had many dreams that were not realistic.” There were some noises of assent from the crowd. “What we need to do is stop the threat of the Roberts. They are our real worry, not the Regs. And now that your father is gone, you need to step into his place and lead us. But lead where we can follow.”

  Malgam glared. “I’ve told you many times, Michael, I don’t need to lead. Just as my father didn’t need to lead. People will do what they wish. And as my father did, I can only try to show our people what is right, and invite them to follow. Here, now, we hate the Regs. And we fear the Roberts. And I see no end to that. If you want to stay, then stay. But I am going to Salishan. I want something better, and I believe it’s there.”

  “We can fight the Roberts!” Michael turned to face the assembly. “We can use our gifts to—”

  “To what, Michael?” Malgam spoke quietly, but every person in the room attended his words. “To kill?”

  “Sometimes you have to kill, Malgam. The Roberts don’t hesitate to kill us.” Michael held out his hands.

  Malgam shook his head. “Perhaps sometimes,” he said, his voice weary, “you do have to kill. I don’t know. I do know that right now, it doesn’t feel like we have to make that choice. We have other choices.”

  Jab stood. “Would we still have Usage, on the island?”

  “Yes, Jab. We will always have Usage. Because we will always need to get better at our gifts.”

  “Usage isn’t just about getting better, though.” Jab jutted his chin out.

  “No, it’s not. It’s also about how to use our gifts for the good, Jab. You know that.”

  Jab sat down. “Just a bunch of rules,” he muttered.

  Malgam looked across the room, at all the faces he knew so well, at the people he had grown up with, and learned to love. And then he walked back down the aisle and out of the room.

  THEY LEFT IN the morning. Nobody else from camp had decided to go. Fisher was there to wish them well. But the rest of the camp kept to their beds.

  “You’re sure you’re not coming?” Rachel was the last to speak to Fisher. She had seen him say his good-byes to the rest of the group. He’d talked a long time with Pathik, and they’d parted with a hug. Rachel wondered what they had said.

  He smiled at her. “Not this time. Are you sure you’re going?”

  She nodded. “You know I am.”

  “I’ll see what I can do here. I think maybe some of them just need time to think about going. Who knows, some of us may show up when you least expect us.”

  Rachel didn’t think they would. She felt like she would never see anyone from the camp again. She thought of Bender, and smiled. She would miss some of the Others.

  “Well,” she said. “Good-bye, Fisher.” And she turned away and began to walk.

  CHAPTER 24

  THE BOATS WERE there, just as the stories claimed. They were nine days out from camp, out of high tide’s way on a wind-scoured beach. There were three, upside-down, metal hulls shining in the midday sun. As they drew nearer, they could see that two of them were ruined; the bottoms were riddled with some sort of bullet holes. The third boat was oddly unharmed.

  “Should have hit all three, from the looks of the trajectories.” Daniel was examining the bullet holes.

  Malgam joined him. “Maybe the third wasn’t here when those were shot.” He and Daniel exchanged a look. “Wonder where it might have been.”

  The seaworthy boat was barely big enough for the six of them. When they flipped it over, they found two sets of oars stowed neatly beneath it.

  “Let’s load it up and get it on the water.” Daniel set his duffel inside the boat. Nipper leaped in and settled on a cross board. The night before they left camp, Rachel had watched the Woolly bump his head against Nandy’s hand, asking for attention.

  “Will he come?” Rachel had seen how sad Nandy looked as she stroked Nipper.

  “He should stay here, where his home is.” Nandy frowned.

  “But I thought he was yours.”

  “He’s not mine.” Nandy scratched Nipper’s forehead. “He belongs to his own self. But I will miss him.”

  In the morning, Nipper had had his own ideas. He followed fast on Nandy’s heel and refused to leave her, even when Malgam tried to chase him away. After the third run at him, Malgam had trudged back to Nandy, breathless.

  “I think you’ll have to let him come, love.” And Nandy had called to him, and petted him and laughed. And so Nipper came with them.

  Pathik stepped up and put his bags in the boat too. He turned to look at Rachel. For the first time since they had left The Property, he smiled a real smile. Rachel smiled back at him. She looked around at Nandy and Malgam and Vivian and Daniel. Everyone was smiling.

  The water was fairly calm right offshore. They strapped everything in and consulted the map and the compass to be certain they knew which direction they should head. Daniel and Malgam took the first stint at rowing. They had about eight hours ahead, if they’d figured correctly.

  Rachel watched the shore recede behind them. She didn’t feel afraid at all.

  That changed.

  CHAPTER 25

  ELIZABETH WATCHED AS Jonathan walked toward the greenhouse. His image was speckled with smudges and dirt, from the greenhouse glass that hadn’t been properly cleaned since Rachel left. Elizabeth didn’t care. She didn’t care about much now.

  “I’ve made a little something to eat, up at the house.” Jonathan still sounded almost shy about his presence in the main house. He’d been staying there since they all Crossed. She wasn’t certain if he was worried about EOs coming around or if he thought she would kill herself as soon as he let her out of his sight. He hadn’t asked if he could stay; he’d just shown up with an overnight bag the night they left, and moved into the guest room.

  “I suppose it’s more of your soup?” Elizabeth smiled. He didn’t seem to know how to make anything but soup. They’d had endless varieties of it, soup for lunch, soup for dinner. She sipped some to please him, but she wasn’t ever hungry.

  “I tried something a little different.” He turned to go and then turned back. “You coming?”

  “I’ll be there soon.”

  The table in the dining room was set for two. He’d tried to put everything in the right place, but he had the water tumblers wrong. It looked like the “something a little different” was sandwiches. She sat while he was still in the kitchen, so that he wouldn’t have a chance to fuss at pulling her chair out.

  He came out carrying a pitcher of water and a book.

  “What’s that?”

  “This,” he said, pouring her water, “is a book from Bensen Library.” He sat down at his place.

  “It smells quite musty. Do we have to have it at the table while we eat?” She look
ed at her sandwich with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

  “It’s a book about that island. The one Rachel said they were going to find.”

  Elizabeth kept her eyes down.

  “At least I think it is.” Jonathan flipped the book open to a marked page. “It says here that these islands were excluded from Unifolle’s border system—cost too much money, of course. And the big one has to be the one Rachel meant—she said they called it Salishan. Here.” He pointed at a map in the book. “It’s just called ‘relinquished lands,’ with a number next to it.”

  “Why would I care to know this, Jonathan?” Elizabeth had to steel herself not to scream at him to shut up. She didn’t want to know about where Rachel was going, about where she should have been going, with Indigo. She didn’t care.

  Jonathan looked up from the book. He watched her for a minute, and then he spoke.

  “You don’t care now, Elizabeth. But I know you. I know you will care someday. And I think I might be up for a trip, myself. But that trip will take some planning, and some finagling and some work. And I just figured I’d start that going, while you get some rest.”

  Elizabeth still didn’t look up. She thought about how he had seen her through another time like this—a dark time. She thought about how he had tried to keep her here. Now he was ready to help her go. But Indigo was dead. What was there to go for?

  As if he had heard her thoughts, Jonathan answered her. “There are lots of different kinds of love, aren’t there?”

  She looked up at him.

  “That girl loves you, Elizabeth. And I know you love her. That’s worth going.”

  Elizabeth looked back down at her sandwich. She still felt numb, and cold, and bleak. But maybe he was right. Maybe she wouldn’t feel that way forever.

  “Jonathan,” she said.

  “Yes, Elizabeth.”

  “I think, tonight, I’ll cook.”

  CHAPTER 26

  ABOUT FOUR HOURS into the passage, the skies turned gray. The wind grew chill and the waves grew choppy. They did their best to row, but the boat bucked so hard on the waves that much of the time the oars weren’t even in the water. When the rain started coming down in sheets, Rachel didn’t see how the storm could get worse.

  The storm got worse.

  The waves were so big by nightfall that Rachel began to think of them as fluid mountains; they rose up and up and up before the tiny boat, and then crashed down upon it with such force it felt like they would be driven below the sea. Malgam struggled to keep them headed toward shore with the last remaining oar. They were taking on water at such a rate that they couldn’t hope to remain afloat for much longer. Pathik and Daniel bailed frantically, but they may as well have been lounging on deck for all the difference their efforts made; the storm was too much. Rachel, Vivian, and Nandy began to untie the duffels from the boat and tie them all together; they thought if they got washed overboard they might have a better chance of floating ashore in one piece. Rachel grabbed two of the orchid cubes and shoved them deep into her jacket pocket. She tried to bail water with her hands, but she almost fell out of the boat when a big wave hit. Pathik saw and shook his head frantically.

  “Just hold on! Hold on to the boat!” He waved his arms so that Vivian and Nandy looked over. “Watch the rhythm!” Rachel could barely hear Pathik’s shout over the storm. He pointed to a cresting wave. “Brace yourself when it gets like that. Otherwise you’ll be swept away when it comes down.”

  Rachel grabbed the side and held on. She looked for Vivian and Nandy and saw that they too were readying themselves for the onslaught of the wave. Nandy was holding on to Nipper as tightly as he would let her. Daniel and Pathik kept bailing until the last possible moment, and Malgam kept rowing, but when the wave reached its full height, they too held tight to the nearest part of the boat they could. For a time there was nothing but the water, battering them all, seeking their fingers, loosening their grips.

  When it was over, Rachel wiped the seawater from her eyes and tried to see where everyone was. Everyone was still in the boat. She saw that Nandy’s head was bowed, and she looked like she was crying, though Rachel couldn’t hear over the sounds of the storm. She didn’t understand at first, but then she realized Nipper was gone. She turned and leaned over the edge of the boat to see if she could spot him. She couldn’t see anything but more waves, at first. But then she saw something . . . at least she thought she did. It was hard to tell with the rocking of the boat, but on the crest of the next wave she was sure. It wasn’t the Woolly she saw—it was something else.

  “Look! I see it!” Rachel shouted to the others over the sounds of the storm. She pointed at the thin, dark line. It had to be Salishan.

  Then she heard Nandy scream. She was pointing too, at the biggest wave Rachel had seen yet. It was high above them, and on its way down. Rachel grabbed for the boat.

  When it hit it felt like something solid, like a wall of rock hitting. It knocked Rachel out of the boat as though she were nothing. She flew, over the edge, into the water. And then under.

  CHAPTER 27

  THE LAST THING Rachel remembered was taking a deep breath, just as she was driven underwater by the waves. Then, nothing. So she didn’t understand how she came to be lying on cold, wet sand, coughing up seawater in the dark. But there she was.

  She lay, gasping, for some time. She could see a blotchy, starless sky above her, the moon peeking out from behind ragged clouds. She heard the waves washing ashore, felt them touch her legs with clammy fingers. She sat up. And saw Pathik, lying a few feet away.

  It didn’t look like he was breathing.

  “No. No, no,” she mumbled, just under her breath. She couldn’t stop shaking. She tried to stand, but her legs folded under her. Finally she crawled, scrabbling along until she was next to him. For a moment, she just lay there, aching and tired and weak. She didn’t want to take the next step. She didn’t want to know the future.

  But then she felt his utter stillness. She sat back up and looked at his face, his pale, beautiful face, and then she pushed him over, so he was lying on his side. Water trickled out of his mouth, but he didn’t breathe. He didn’t breathe. She sobbed, and she hit him, hard, on the back. She hit him again, and again.

  And then he coughed.

  And then, he breathed.

  SOMEHOW, THEY ALL made it.

  When Pathik gathered enough strength, he and Rachel staggered down the beach, leaning on each other, looking for hope. And they found it, in body after moving, breathing body. Nandy first, crouching in the wet sand, shaking from the cold. Then Daniel, then Vivian and Malgam, helping each other out of the surf. They all laughed and laughed and none of them could stop for a time. Then, they cried.

  And then they built a fire.

  “It’s likely all of it will wash ashore,” said Daniel.

  They had found one of the duffels; the one Rachel hadn’t been able to grab to tie to the others. It contained dry clothes and three foil bags of stew. Daniel had heated the bags and they were all taking turns dipping into the contents with their knives. Everyone had at least one dry item of clothing on, and the rest were quickly drying from the heat of the fire. They tried to scout a bit; they could see dense forest farther inland, and it looked as though there was a mountain range in the far distance. They were too tired to get very far from the beach they washed ashore on.

  They didn’t find Nipper.

  “We’ll have to check along the beach in the morning.” Vivian looked exhausted, but somehow, she still looked as happy as Rachel had ever seen her.

  “I’m for sleeping,” said Nandy. She didn’t look like she held out much hope for finding Nipper alive. “And I apologize, but I cannot take first watch.”

  Malgam put his arm around her. “I’m sorry, love. I know what he meant to you.”

  “I can take first watch,” Pathik said, watching his father and Nandy.

  “Me too,” said Rachel.

  They finished the food, and dug out shall
ow beds in the dry sand. Soon the four adults were asleep. Rachel watched their chests rise and fall, and listened to their snuffling and snoring with quiet joy. She reached out for Pathik’s hand. He took hers, and they looked into each other’s eyes for the longest time, smiling.

  “There doesn’t seem to be anybody here,” said Rachel. “Or at least, they don’t have a late-night welcome crew.”

  He nodded. “Indigo liked to tell stories. Sometimes, only half of the story was true.”

  Rachel thought about that.

  “But sometimes,” said Pathik, “all of it was true.”

  Rachel nodded, and smiled. She didn’t even care if the whole story was true. She was alive and so was Pathik.

  “It’s a big island,” she said. “I guess we’ll find out what’s true in the morning.”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

  Thanks as always to Kirby Kim,

  a wonderful agent.

  And thanks again to all the folks at Dial, including: Kathy Dawson, Claire Evans, Jenny Kelly, Greg Stadnyk, Regina Castillo, and Lauri Hornik.