Above World

DASH, ALUNA, AND CALLI were already awake when Hoku finally managed to open his eyes. Sunlight streamed through the treetops in slender rays. For a moment, he thought he’d fallen asleep atop the old broken dome back home. Light used to refract through the ocean in much the same way. He’d spent dozens of tides there, trying to figure out how the light’s path was altered when it hit the surface of the water. Zorro’s small pink tongue on his cheek washed away the memory.

“Time to wake up, sleepy-bones,” Aluna said. “Dash found some nuts and leaves for us to eat.”

“Nuts? Leaves? Are those even food?” Hoku mumbled. Then he made the mistake of trying to stand up. His legs and back felt pulverized, as if a shark had munched on him for a while then spat him back out. He tried to walk, but his legs would barely obey. The best he could manage was a slow hobble, and even that required moaning. Cutting the rhinebra’s saddle off had been a very bad idea after all.

“Can I use some of the spices that Senator Niobe gave you?” Calli asked him. She looked far too happy to be awake and stranded in the middle of a scary forest. “I think I can make something a bit more tasty from our ingredients if we can spare a few minutes.”

Aluna spat out the leaf she’d been chewing. “If you can make this stuff taste good, you’ll save my life a second time.”

Calli laughed. “Well, I’m not really that good at it, but I learned a few tricks while I was hiding in the kitchens when I was young. And besides, cooking is a lot like science.”

Hoku hobbled over, handed her the spices from his bag, and collapsed near the glowing embers of the fire. If anything could distract him from the pain, it was a certain winged girl with bright brown eyes. He watched her clean a piece of her armor and use it to toast the nuts and tubers Dash had found. She sprinkled spices on the food and hummed while she worked. Soon the sizzle and the smell had his mouth watering and everyone gathering around the fire to eat.

“This is truly amazing,” Dash said with his mouth full. “Spices are highly valued in the desert. My people would trade generously for even a small vial.”

“Let’s try the mustard tomorrow,” Hoku said, grabbing another leaf and stuffing it with nut mash. “Everything tastes better with a smear of that stuff.”

Aluna licked her fingers. “Dash and I will be on hunting-and-gathering duty if you two share the cooking.”

Hoku looked at Calli just as she looked at him. They both grinned.

“Let’s go,” Aluna said. “We have a lot of distance to cross.”

Amid groans and curses, they put out the fire, wrapped up their leftover food, and managed to get back on the rhinebra. Dash started them at a walk, but even the slow pace felt like torture. Hoku distracted himself by discussing the angle of light refraction with Calli and by teaching Zorro to balance on his hind legs.


The next few days blurred together. Physically, Hoku suffered almost every minute from the rhinebra’s unforgiving back and the soreness it created. Even so, he’d never been happier. His conversations with Calli ranged from pulleys and aerodynamics to electronics and cooking. When they set Zorro to work on water safe combinations, he and Calli had fun modifying one of his Extra Ears to work on the radio she’d brought. The radio was already stronger than the Kampii internal ear artifacts. With the added reception boost, there was no telling how far away the radio could receive a signal. They vowed to test it out as soon as they got a chance.

Hoku still hadn’t found the courage to ask about the note Calli had written in his book. Were they friends, and nothing more? Is that what she wanted? He understood his own feelings, at least. He wanted more kissing, true, but he wanted more of everything else as well. Talking, laughing, fiddling with tech . . . If he ruined all that just because he wanted something that Calli didn’t, he’d never forgive himself.

At night, they cooked and ate around their campfire. He loved the flames. Not just the flickering light, but the way it drew them together around its circumference. Fire had a gravity all its own.

He sat next to Calli, grateful that she never seemed to mind. Her hand rested on the ground just a few millimeters from his. And yet . . . those millimeters meant everything. Would he ever be brave enough to cross that distance?

They sang at night. He was surprised to find that in the Above World, Aluna’s voice was strong and true. Not refined or really beautiful, but full of passion. She sang her heart in every note. Calli’s songs were sweeter and softer, usually ballads about Aviars fighting and dying in heroic ways. He liked the love songs, too, although they almost always ended unhappily.

Dash refused to sing at first, but Aluna and Calli worked away at him until finally, after several nights, he relented. He began not with melody, but with ritual. A series of hand motions and stomping around the fire, clearly intended to be performed by someone with horse hooves. And the song, when he finally started to sing it, came low out of his throat. It had rhythm and power, but no words.

When he had finished, no one spoke. Hoku stole a glance at Aluna and saw that her eyes were wet. He looked away quickly. Then, without even thinking about it, he reached out and took Calli’s hand. Her fingers wrapped around his hand immediately, as if they’d been waiting all night for the chance. His heart thundered in his chest, but he didn’t dare look at her. He stared at the fire, pretending to be mesmerized, when all he could think about was how warm and light her hand felt in his.

He fell asleep each night listening to Aluna and Dash on watch. The truth was, they mostly sat together in silence. Sometimes they’d talk about hunting rabbits and squirrels, but since neither of them could walk easily, those plans never amounted to much. Aluna filled Dash in on the Upgrader attack at Skyfeather’s Landing, and they debated strategies for handling their enemies with greater efficiency. Hoku found the conversations boring, the perfect way to lull himself to sleep at night despite all the excitement.


On the seventh day of travel, the trees thinned. More sunlight speared through the branches as they rode, and the rhinebra was able to galumph in straighter lines.

“We made good distance,” Dash said. “I would have bet both sand and sky that the Upgraders would have caught us by now.”

“Will we reach the shoreline soon?” Aluna asked.

Dash shrugged. He seemed more comfortable with her questions now, although she could still catch him off guard with her enthusiasm. Hoku knew the feeling.

Not long after, the trees thinned even more, and they spied gold and blue through the green and brown trunks.

“Sand!” Aluna yelled. “Ocean!”

Hoku grinned at Aluna and they both cheered. Calli cheered, too, in support.

The rhinebra hurtled toward shore. Dirt changed to sand, and blue once again filled the sky. They were finally free from all that suffocating foliage. Hoku heard the waves crash against the beach and laughed. It was like hearing his heartbeat after weeks of silence. He wanted to leap from the rhinebra’s back, flop into the water, and dive down as deep as he could go. He wanted to feel the water around him like a hug.

And if he hadn’t been wearing his satchel strapped across his back, and if it hadn’t been full of books, he would have jumped in right then. As he started to remove it, he heard Calli gasp.

“Over there!” Aluna yelled, pointing up the shore.

Hoku followed her gaze, and the wave of joy swelling inside him dissolved into now-familiar fear.

“Six of them,” Dash said. “And two flying devices. They must have been waiting for us. That is why they did not follow. I should have anticipated this!”

“We can’t handle eight,” Aluna said. “Four maybe, but not eight.”

Hoku could hear fear creeping into her voice, and it scared him.

A cry went up among the Upgraders. Six huge beasts — two rhinebras and four massive insects — thundered toward them, with the two dragonfliers in the lead. They were far away, but moving fast.

“Into the ocean,” Hoku said. “Now!”

“But —”

“He’s right,” Aluna said. “It’s our only hope.”

Dash kicked the rhinebra, hard, and the huge animal lumbered into a gallop, straight into the waves.





WHEN THE FIRST drop of salt water touched her lips, Aluna shivered. The taste unleashed a flood of feelings inside her. It was as if the ocean itself were speaking to her: You never should have left. You never should have abandoned the sea.

The Upgraders charged down the beach toward them. Dash urged the rhinebra forward, but the creature refused to go farther into the water. Dash raised his voice and yelled something in a stange language. The rhinebra bucked.

There was nothing to grab. Aluna flew into the air and, a second later, smacked full force into a cresting wave. The initial sting along her legs and back dissolved quickly into pain. Hoku plunged headfirst into the same wave and surfaced with a sputter. Calli floated above them, flapping her wings.

“Help!” a distant voice called.

“Dash!” Aluna yelled. He must have landed on the other side of the rhinebra. “His arm,” she said to Hoku. “He can’t swim!”

“I’ll get him!” Calli called. She flew just above the whitecaps and hovered over Dash’s location. He grabbed for her leg, but with only one good hand, he couldn’t hold on when she tried to pull him out. “I’m not strong enough,” she cried. “I don’t have him!”

“On my way!” Aluna dove under the water and started to swim. On her second stroke, she took a deep breath.

Cold seawater poured into her mouth and nose. It should have filled her throat and lungs easily and helped balance in the surrounding water pressure, allowing her breathing shell to deliver all the oxygen she needed to her body.

But of course her breathing shell was gone. Instead of relaxing, her body fought for air, and she choked. It felt as if an icy hand were reaching down her throat and trying to rip out her lungs. She gagged and more water rushed into her mouth. She kicked for the surface, her hands scrabbling along her neck.

The world turned black. The icy hand made a fist in her breathing passage. Someone had put rocks in her chest. She was sinking, sinking. She thrashed her arms and legs. Air! She needed air!

A hand grabbed her by the back of her shirt and yanked her up. Her face breached the water’s surface. She coughed and breathed, and coughed some more. The sun burned her eyes.

“Calm down,” Hoku said. “Take it slow.”

“Necklace —” she managed, sputtering.

“I know,” he said. His hand was still on her, helping her to hold her head above the water.

She took in one mouthful of air and then another. Her eyes focused on Hoku. On the freckles on his cheeks. On the paleness of his skin. On the firm, worried line of his mouth. Her mind began to recover from its panic.

She gulped air and nodded. “I’m okay.”

“I’ll get Dash,” Hoku said. “Stay here.”

“Hoku, I’m afraid of the water,” Calli yelled, her face stricken with panic. “My wings will get waterlogged!”

“Fly to the trees and hide!” Hoku said. “Your bones are too thin for the deep. You have to fly!”

He submerged and headed for Dash. Aluna paddled after him, coughing and keeping her chin raised as far above the surface of the water as she could manage. The ocean used to be her home. She never realized how dangerous it was . . . and how unwelcoming.

She kept an eye on the Upgraders as she navigated the waves. The first monster insects had reached the water’s edge, but they would not go farther. A distant buzzing noise grew louder and louder as she inched through the water.

Dragonfliers!

Those despicable machines skimmed over the surf, their translucent wings flapping so fast that she couldn’t even see them. What she could see were the twin flamethrowers mounted on each flier.

She scanned the sky for Calli and saw the winged girl heading to the trees. Good. Calli had spent her whole life trying to be invisible. That had to count for something now.

The rhinebra bolted from the water, and three of the Upgraders broke off from the group to chase it down. She saw Dash struggling to stay afloat near the shore, each wave buffeting his body. Hoku surfaced between them and then disappeared back under the water. Swift as a seal, she urged him.

They were never going to survive. The four of them were separated, wounded, flailing. The Upgraders were fresh, powerful, fast. She was supposed to figure out some brilliant plan that enabled them to defeat the Upgraders, make it to the HydroTek dome, and save the world. Instead, they were going to die alone and afraid, half killed by the ocean that used to be an ally. It was her job to lead them, and she had led them to their death.

Salt water splashed into her face, as if the ocean were slapping her. The cold sting woke her up. This was no time for self-pity — and certainly no time for giving up.

The first dragonflier headed for Dash.

“Watch out!” she yelled.

Dash heard her and ducked under a wave as double gouts of flame shot from the dragonflier. The second dragonflier sped toward her as the first one hovered over Dash’s location. Where was he? He hadn’t resurfaced yet. How long could he hold his breath?

She scanned the waves for Hoku but couldn’t find him. Had he gotten to Dash already? Was he keeping Dash under the water? She wanted to go help, but soon she’d have her own Upgrader to deal with.

A slimy hand wrapped around her left ankle and pulled.

Aluna yelped in surprise and kicked. The thing let go for a second, then grabbed her again. She kicked harder, but whatever was attacking her tightened its grip. Could the Upgraders swim? She smashed the heel of her right foot into the thing holding her.

Another slick, rubbery hand grabbed her free ankle. Aluna gulped air. Her attacker yanked, and she was dragged under the water.

Down, down, down. She slid through the water. Pressure built around her lungs, slowly squeezing them tighter and tighter. She kicked and squirmed harder as her panic grew.

Whatever was pulling her slowed but did not release her ankles. A dark shape appeared in front of her. She recognized its huge black eyes and slick gray skin immediately.

“Deepfell!” she blurted out.

She realized her mistake too late. Down this deep, she’d drown before she could find her way to the surface again for another gulp of air. If the Deepfell didn’t kill her first.

The Deepfell darted its head forward, as if it were going to head butt her. Instead, the flat gray lips of its mouth pressed against hers. When it pulled away, a bubble formed between their mouths. A bubble filled with air.

Aluna breathed.

The Deepfell holding her legs released its grip. She stayed where she was, grateful to have the air, and grateful to be far away from the Upgraders.

Even if that meant temporarily surrendering to the Deepfell.





THE DEEPFELL in front of her — a woman — motioned for her to follow. Aluna worried that the air bubble wobbling around her mouth might burst when she moved, but decided to trust her rescuers. If they’d wanted her dead, they could have stayed safely underwater and watched the Upgraders kill her. Or worse, they could have let her drown in the ocean that used to be her home.

She swam after the Deepfell. The bubble around her face wavered, but remained intact. She could even open and close her mouth without breaking the seal. There wasn’t much air inside, so she swam swiftly.

They caught up to another group of Deepfell, and she recognized a small, pale figure among them.

“Hoku!”

“You’re safe!” he answered in her ear.

She saw Dash behind him. He had an air bubble over his mouth and was being carried by one of the Deepfell. He waved with his good hand and managed a weak smile. His eyes were bloodshot. After looking at her, he squeezed them shut again. Ocean salt wasn’t kind to visitors, especially those without special ocean-ready eyes.

Hoku spoke in an endless quiet stream to Calli. “I hope you have the radio on. We’re okay. We’re going underwater with the Deepfell. But not the evil Deepfell. At least, I don’t think they’re evil. Stay safe. Stay in the trees. Hide. We’ll be fine. You have to take care of yourself. Don’t let the Upgraders find you. I hope this works. I hope you have the radio on.”

The Deepfell escorted them farther up the coast but stayed close to the ocean’s surface, probably to keep Dash’s lungs from collapsing from the pressure. She grew more comfortable with the air bubble, despite its tendency to tickle her nose as it wiggled.

As they swam, they passed cadres of Deepfell camped along the ocean floor or sparring midwater. She’d never seen so many together in one place. She saw one warrior without a right arm and another without a dorsal fin. In fact, she couldn’t spot a single Deepfell without a scar marring its sleek gray skin.

The Deepfell were at war.

Their escorts took them into a cave. They swam through a tunnel that angled up. After a few dozen meters, her head broke the surface of the water. The interior of the cave was as large as the ritual dome back home. They surfaced in a small pool of water, but the rest of the cave contained sand and air, and hundreds of wounded Deepfell.

Aluna’s rescuer turned and touched her lips to Aluna’s air bubble. The Deepfell inhaled and sucked the whole membrane back into her mouth. She swallowed and smiled, then swam away.

The rest of the Deepfell dragged themselves onto land and headed for the back of the cave, walking like seals instead of people. One of them, a male, beckoned to Aluna and she followed, more relieved than she wanted to be about leaving the water. Hoku and Dash joined her.

Much of the sand beneath their feet was stained red, and it took her a moment to realize that it was blood. But it made sense. Blood in the water meant death. Too many predators would be thrilled to find a secret stash of wounded Deepfell. Great White itself could smell blood for miles. According to legend, it had once swum all the way around the earth to eat a dying penguin. The Deepfell took their wounded out of the water for the good of the colony.

At the back of the cave, they found the command center of the Deepfell’s war operation. Battle plans and accounting tallies had been scratched on thin sheets of shale and were stacked in piles around a lone Deepfell. Unlike the others, he reclined on a raised hammock as he reviewed some sort of report etched into a piece of the rock paper. A thin circlet of shells and coral surrounded his hairless gray head. Despite the fact that he was a mortal enemy of her people, he looked noble.

The Deepfell they were following pointed at the man and squeaked, “Preeence Eekikee,” before disappearing into another part of the cave.

The prince looked up when they approached, and Aluna saw a deep scar across his neck, still red around the edges, but mostly healed.

The Deepfell from the beach — the one that she had saved!

Prince Eekikee swung his tail off the hammock and stood on it, tall as a Kampii. She had no idea they could do that. Thick muscles bulged under his shark skin. He could have been the same age as one of her brothers. Now that she thought about it, she’d never seen a Deepfell much older than that. Certainly none as old as her father or the other Elders.

“Come. Here,” the prince said, looking directly at her. The words looked painful for him to speak. He held out his webbed hand. She offered her hand in return, and he dropped a small shell necklace into her palm.

She stared at the familiar jewelry in wonder.

“Your shell,” Hoku said. “Aluna, your breathing shell!”

She nodded dumbly.

The prince placed his hand on his chest and squeaked. Aluna winced. The prince frowned, clearly frustrated. He thumped his chest again, then said, “Eekikee.”

“Eekikee,” she repeated. Then she pointed to herself and said, “Aluna.” The boys followed her lead. Dash started to say something after “Dashiyn,” but stopped himself. Another mystery to unravel, she thought, but for another time.

Prince Eekikee nodded, then hopped over to a pile of circular objects and grabbed one. He held it out for them to see. It looked like a thick collar made out of some kind of black metal. One side hinged open, but it looked like it could snap closed easily enough. It certainly wasn’t pretty enough to wear, not even for her.

Hoku took the collar and turned it over in his hand. He brought it up to his neck, as if he were going to try it on. Eekikee knocked it out of Hoku’s hand.

“Hey!” Hoku said. He looked at her for support, but she shook her head. The look in Prince Eekikee’s eyes was dark. She reached for her talons.

“It is a slave collar,” Dash said simply. “No one chooses to put one on.”

The prince pointed to the collar, now lying on the sand, and then pointed up. His eyes stayed dark.

“F-F-Fathom,” he said. Then he pointed to the wounded all around them. “Fiiight.”

“Fathom. Fathom is enslaving his people,” Aluna said. “That’s why they’re at war.”

A loud screech echoed through the cave.

The prince listened to the alarm, then squeaked a series of commands to their Deepfell escorts. When they nodded, he dropped to the ground and pulled himself toward the water faster than she’d ever seen a Deepfell move.

“Waaaait,” one of the remaining Deepfell said to her, and pointed to a patch of sand by the cave wall.

A young Deepfell male lugged Hoku’s satchel and an extremely irritated Zorro into the clearing. The raccoon had clamped on to the handle of the bag and refused to be removed. When he saw Hoku, the little thing went crazy. He scampered over to Hoku and covered his face in a frenzy of tiny licks.

“Glad to see you, too, boy,” Hoku said.

The Deepfell brought a small pile of fish that Aluna could have devoured in two flashes, had she not seen the half-starved look on Hoku’s face. Dash nibbled one fish but didn’t go back for a second. If he got hungry enough, he’d eat, she reasoned, and took a fifth for herself. She ate the last one slowly, savoring the delicate crunch of bones in her mouth.

“My books!” Hoku said.

She looked over. He had spread the contents of his bag in a circle around his spot on the sand.

“The water destroyed them,” he said. And then, more quietly, “I can’t even read the inscriptions anymore.”

Aluna knew this wasn’t about the books. “Why did you make Calli fly away?” she asked. “She would have been safer down here with us.”

Hoku opened up each of his books and placed them gently on the sand to dry. “Aviars have thin, light bones in order to fly,” he said. “If we brought her underwater, she’d be safe from the Upgraders, but the pressure from the ocean would snap all of her bones.”

“Oh,” Aluna said. “Good choice, then.”

“The books did not survive, but we did,” Dash said. “You made the correct decision, and you made it quickly in a dangerous situation. It was a victory.”

“They weren’t your books,” Hoku said bitterly. He pulled out the water safe and set Zorro to trying combinations. “At least whatever’s inside here is still dry.”

Aluna opened her fist and stared at the breathing necklace she thought she’d lost forever.

She sat cross-legged in the sand and pressed her breathing necklace to her throat. Hoku and Dash watched as she twisted the shell, trying to activate the hidden mechanism that would bring it to life. A moment later, she heard a whir and felt its twin tails burrowing into her neck.

She choked and sputtered. For several horrible seconds, she couldn’t breathe at all. Her eyes and mouth opened wide as she gasped. She needed air. Her hands clawed at the shell. She needed to get it off of her!

Hoku grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from her throat. “It’s okay,” Hoku said. “Let it work!”

He stared into her eyes and she tried to focus on his freckles, tried to make herself count them one by one. The pain! Spots swam across her eyes like a horde of ink-black eels.

And then the bubble of tension growing inside her chest burst, and she could breathe. She sucked in great gulps of air through her mouth and felt the glow of the breathing necklace pulsing at her throat.

“Good,” Hoku said. “It still has work to do in your lungs, but the worst is over.”

She hugged him tight, afraid to speak. The ocean was hers once again.

Click.

Aluna, Dash, and Hoku looked over at Zorro just as the lid of the water safe sprang open.





AS SOON AS the water safe popped open, Zorro tried to shut it again.

“No!” Hoku said, prying himself free from Aluna and rushing to the animal. “Stop!”

The raccoon tilted his head and perked his ears.

“Zorro, stop,” he repeated more clearly. “You’re all done, boy. Good job.” He gave the raccoon a big scruffle between the ears. Figures the little guy would focus on the combination part, not the actual goal of opening the box. In a way, that was Hoku’s favorite part, too.

But now that the mermaid box was open, all he could hear was the pounding of his heart inside his chest. Please, oh, please let it be something worthwhile!

“What’s in it?” Aluna asked.

Hoku memorized the numbers first, before anything happened to reset them: 704404. Then he took a deep breath and lifted the silver mermaid lid all the way open.

Three items sat inside: a handwritten letter, an old photograph, and a small carved wooden dolphin.

Where was the powerful artifact that was going to save them all? Where was the perfect weapon for defeating the Upgraders?

“Well?” Aluna said.

He looked in the box, searching for a good answer and trying to quell the disappointment that threatened to overwhelm him. “There’s a letter,” he said. The paper was faded and wrinkled. Someone had written all the words by hand, except for the top part. He read, “FROM THE DESK OF DR. KARL STRAND, DIRECTOR, BIOMEDICS.”

“Can you read the rest of it?” Aluna asked.

“Of course,” he said. Just because it took him a long time to figure out biomedics didn’t mean he couldn’t figure out the rest. Then he remembered that she couldn’t read at all and felt sorry for his reaction.

“Please,” Dash said. “I also am interested.”

Hoku cleared his throat and started at the handwritten part. Luckily “Karl” had used a steady, even hand when he wrote it, or Hoku’s job might have been much harder. “‘Dearest Sarah —’”

“Sarah Jennings! Your grandma was right!” Aluna interrupted. She turned to Dash and explained, “Sarah Jennings — known as Ali’ikai — founded the City of Shifting Tides. She was the first Kampii.”

“Shhh,” said Dash. “Do not interrupt a word-weaver.”

“He’s not making up the words,” she said. “He’s reading them. It’s not the same.”

“Perhaps not to you, but —”

“‘Dearest Sarah,’” Hoku repeated, louder this time. When Dash and Aluna settled down, he continued:


“You say you’ve made up your mind, but I can’t let you go without trying one last time to persuade you to stay. I will start with this: We do have a future. We have a future both as a race of people on a struggling planet, and as a family.

Even now, in my own lab, Ratliff and Nazarian are close to the cure. Not only can they stop the spread of Super-Z but they can make sure nothing like this ever happens to humanity again. They want to keep testing, but I know, in my heart, that it works, and that it will save us all. In fact, we’ll be stronger than ever before.

If only you were willing to give me more time. . . . Ah, but I know you. When your mind is made up, you are a bulldog. (There won’t be bulldogs in your new underwater colony, will there? No bulldogs, no fireplaces, no long, slow hikes at dusk. . . . Can you really give up all those things? Will your new race of Kampii ever love you as much as I do?)

I’ve enclosed two items with this letter. Do you remember the photo? We’d taken Tomias to his first soccer game. He ate two hot dogs and cheered for both teams. He was so healthy then, and we had so many plans.

The second item you will also recognize. It will pain you to keep it, knowing that I carved it with my own two hands. But you will not be able to throw it away, knowing how much Tomias loved it. Knowing how he put it under his pillow at night and insisted on bringing it everywhere he went. Do you remember that night in San Diego when we spent nearly four hours scouring the beach for it?

Tomias is gone, but we can have that happiness again. We can have another child, or two more, or even six! I can guarantee they’ll be safe. I can guarantee that they’ll live forever. I’m not giving you empty promises. Not anymore. Not ever again. I can make miracles now.

I can, I will, do anything for you, Sarah. Just don’t leave me.

With more than an ocean of love,

Karl”


Hoku pulled the photograph out of the box. Three faces smiled up at him, presumably Sarah Jennings, Karl Strand, and their son, Tomias. Sarah was tall and brown skinned, a much younger version of the sculpture on her monument in the Kampii city. Her crinkled hair was pulled back but not quite contained in a bushy ponytail behind her head. The grinning boy was about six years old and held a spotted black-and-white ball in his hands.

Karl had a shock of brown hair, nicely mussed, and wore the biggest glasses Hoku had ever seen. The man stood slightly shorter than Sarah and had sand-colored skin. One of his arms was around Sarah’s waist, and the other rested on his son’s shoulder. They stood on a field of green grass, with a blue cloud-spotted sky behind them. It was hard to imagine a more perfect vision of Above World family bliss.

Hoku picked up the wooden dolphin. It fit nicely in his hands. Although it had been crudely carved, certain places along its nose and dorsal fin had been worn smooth. He ran his thumb along the wood, imagining the child Tomias doing the same thing centuries ago.

Hoku closed his eyes for a moment and felt his mother’s arms around him. The sounds of dying Deepfell faded into the warm memory. He could smell her hair, could hear the sound of her voice when she was trying to scold him about something she didn’t really think was too bad. He could picture her as she talked, trying to keep her face stern, trying to keep the smile from her lips. He didn’t always make her proud, but she always loved him. Always, always. And he had left her without even saying good-bye.

“Hoku!” Aluna said.

He snapped his eyes open and the real world came crashing in around him like a tidal wave.

“What else is in there?” she asked. “Weapons? Secrets? Anything we can use?”

He shook his head. “No,” he said, dropping the dolphin back into the box. “Nothing except the dreams of dead people.”