Above World - By Jenn Reese Page 0,37
books to read. And, well, I’ve always dreamed of having a sister. . . .”
As Calli’s words trailed off, Aluna thought about Daphine and how her older sister had practically raised her from birth. Fed her, dressed her, held her when she cried . . . mocked her gently, before their brothers could jump in with harsher words. Without Daphine, what would have happened to her? As frustrating as her sister’s perfection was, she couldn’t imagine life without her. By comparison, Calli’s life seemed so lonely — full of women and politics and important things, but no real friends.
“I promised to help you escape, and I will,” Calli added hastily. She dropped her handful of rocks into a pile by her side. “I was just hoping you’d stop wanting to leave. I was dumb to even think it.”
Aluna shifted to her feet and dropped her remaining rocks back to the earth.
“I wish it were different. I like you — I really do,” Aluna said, and she meant it. Calli smiled. “But we’re captives here. We can’t leave, and we can’t truly be ourselves. If you and I got in a fight, you could probably have me punished, maybe even killed.” She looked at the girl, the so-called vice president of the Aviar, and felt a surge of pity. “We can’t truly be sisters like this.”
Calli stood up suddenly, but kept her eyes on the ground. “We’re supposed to be practicing. I don’t want to get in trouble.” She grabbed her spear off the ground and readied it. Aluna didn’t have the heart to tell her it was upside down.
She pulled out the weapons she’d been learning, a pair of tiny, sleek talons. She held a silver canister in the palm of each hand. With a flick of her wrist, the tips of the canisters opened and two sharp claws attached to long, slender chains flew out. She spun the chains in the patterns High Senator Electra had taught her. Not only could she stab someone’s eye out, she could use the talons to wrap around her opponent’s leg or neck or weapon. She did that to Calli now. One of her talons shot out and wound itself around the grip of Calli’s spear. Aluna yanked. Calli’s spear jerked out of the girl’s hands and landed straight into Aluna’s.
“Wow,” Calli said. “That was fast.”
Aluna dropped the spear to the ground, pressed a button on her talons, and watched the long chains retract back into their canisters.
“There. We practiced. Now I’m going for a walk.”
Calli didn’t argue.
High above, a group of senators circled. They drifted in calculated patterns, watching for enemies. Aluna never went anywhere without feeling their gaze prickling on the back of her neck. Still, she turned her back on Calli and started to walk. She needed privacy, even if it was an illusion.
She gave the basin that housed Skyfeather’s Landing a wide berth. There was too much activity — scavenging parties were always leaving or returning, Aviars with their beautiful wings fluttering everywhere. Aluna hugged the lip of the mountain and walked away from the ocean. On days like today, it hurt to see so much blue.
Traveling this direction, the scrubby green covering the mountain slope turned into forest, then into an even bigger and scarier forest. The trees crowded so close together that it was impossible to see the ground. She suspected that not even the Aviars’ enhanced eyesight could penetrate the thick layers of green. It would be difficult to fly through the dense trunks and branches. With wings, it would be hard to even walk through the brush without losing feathers. All of which made it the perfect direction for her escape . . . if only she could figure out how to survive several hundred meters of an almost sheer drop to make it to the tree line.
The Above World felt lonely. She missed the water’s embrace, the sound of dolphins laughing, the monthlong soliloquies of dying whales. She missed Daphine and practicing with Anadar. She even missed Ehu and Pilipo, despite the fact that they annoyed her most of the time. Her father, now, he was a fish of a different color. She didn’t exactly miss him, but she did wonder sometimes if he’d be proud of her, of everything she was trying to do.
Far below, the trees began to move. Strange, since there was almost no breeze; even the Aviars had to flap to stay in their positions. Aluna looked closer. Only a