Above World

ALUNA SAT WITH CALLI on the rim above Skyfeather’s Landing and studied the landscape. She’d been here more than three weeks, and she still hadn’t figured out how to get herself and Hoku off the mountain and away from the Aviars.

She looked down the mountainside, toward the sea. Far below, jagged rocks gave way to scrubby green trees, then bigger trees, then suddenly the vast shimmering blanket of blue ocean. There was no beach, no gentle transition between the Above World and her home.

If she could only find a way to the cliffs. She pictured herself scrambling down the rocks, dodging between trees, and diving a hundred meters into the water. Too bad the Aviars would probably catch her before she made it ten meters down the mountain. Wings were so unfair.

Aluna picked a stone from the pile in her left hand and threw it as far as she could. It bounced three times on the rocks and disappeared.

“You’re amazing with the spear,” Calli said. She tossed one of her own stones, and it fell not far from where they were sitting. “I can’t believe how fast you’re learning. If you had wings, they’d beg you to be a warrior.”

“But I don’t have wings, do I? This isn’t my home, and it never will be,” Aluna snapped, with more anger than she’d intended. She took a slow breath, then continued more calmly. “Calli, you know I have to leave.”

She’d been trying to bring up the subject most of the day. It shouldn’t have been that hard, but she genuinely liked Calli and the girl so desperately wanted a friend. Aluna threw another rock and watched it ricochet out of sight. “I have to save my people. You understand that, right?” She said it to remind Calli, but also to remind herself. She had a place here with the Aviar, a useful place. In many ways, she fit in with the bird women far better than she did with her own people. But she’d never truly belong.

Besides, the Coral Kampii needed her. She couldn’t bear the thought that more Kampii might have died while she’d been stuck in this place.

Calli didn’t say anything. She didn’t throw another rock, either.

“Oh, fins and flippers!” Aluna said.

“It’s just . . . I know you’re being forced to stay here and all, but the last few weeks have been . . . nice,” Calli said. “I like spending time with you and Hoku.”

She gave Calli credit for not stumbling over Hoku’s name this time, though the girl still turned red as a shrimp. Young love looked so incredibly messy, with all the mumbling and smiling and saying ridiculous things. Good thing Aluna had never fallen into that trap. None of the boys back in the City of Shifting Tides had ever inspired her to embarrass herself like that. Life was easier without the complication. Taking care of Hoku was enough work without throwing another boy into the mix.

Calli stammered on. “I was hoping that you might want to stay. You seem to like the fighting, and I know Hoku has a lot more 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 few of the trees shook, a small cluster that seemed to be moving closer and closer up the mountain. Something was cutting through the forest like a harpoon through the water. Something big. And it was headed straight for Skyfeather’s Landing.

The Aviars were under attack.





ALUNA WAVED HER ARMS above her head, trying to get the guards’ attention, but the Aviars had already changed formation. An alarm screeched inside the basin, and then another.

She ran, legs and arms pumping, wishing she had a tail and that the world was made of water. She made it halfway back to the ocean side of the mountain rim before she saw Calli flying straight at her.

“Attack!” Calli said. “Upgraders!”

“Is it Fathom?” Aluna panted.

“Fathom never leaves HydroTek,” Calli said. “But the Upgraders are bad enough on their own. They’re here to steal our tech and kill as many of us as they can. Killing is the part they like most.” She tugged Aluna’s arm. “Come on, we have to get inside!”

Aluna hesitated. Calli was safe, as safe as any of them. Now was her chance. She could escape right now, while Skyfeather’s Landing was enveloped in chaos. Maybe Calli could help her scale down the side of the cliff.

Then she saw the look on Calli’s face. Wide-eyed panic. Fear. Aluna needed Calli calm — or at least as calm as the girl could manage — before they could attempt the escape. And it’s not like Aluna could leave without Hoku.

“Let’s go,” Aluna said, and took off in a sprint toward Skyfeather’s Landing. Calli flew by her side, easily keeping pace. “Will they be able to scale the slope?”

“Yes, they have creatures with spiked hooves and machines with special treads,” Calli said. “We’ve tried different barriers and traps, but they always find a way around them.”

They reached the lip of the city. Normally, Aluna could see Aviars fluttering to and fro, filling the space with a frenetic and lively energy. But a shark had entered their waters. Now the Aviars flew in tight formations, looking larger than their individual selves.

Aluna headed for the thin, crumbly stairway carved into the side of the bowl and forced herself to slow down. This was no time to take the stairs two at a time, slip, and find herself plunging to her death. Calli’s wings twitched and fluttered anxiously as she hovered nearby. All around them, alarms screeched and Aviars called out orders.

“My mother —” Calli said.

“I’m going as fast as I can,” Aluna grumbled. She couldn’t risk taking her eyes off the narrow steps in front of her.

“No, I think you can go a little faster.”

High Senator Electra plucked Aluna off the stairway the way a pelican plucks a fish out of the ocean. In a flash of wings, Aluna was flying. The three of them plunged toward the Palace of Wings at a terrifying speed.

Aluna looked everywhere but the ground. She saw dozens of Aviars fighting around a tunnel opening to the right. She couldn’t see what they were fighting, but she could feel its growls in her bones. An Aviar screamed. A spray of red hit the other Aviars, and Aluna averted her gaze before she saw any more.

All the other Aviars had fled into the city’s catacombed walls. The farmers had abandoned their cliff-side crops, and the chickens and pigs that normally milled around the bottom of the basin had been herded to safety. Only the senators remained.

Above them, a creature made of metal screeched into view. No, it was a Human sitting in a flying metal artifact. She recognized it from Hoku’s description: a dragonflier! Just like the ones that had attacked her sister and brothers on the Trade Rock. The Human controlling the device directed streams of green liquid at any Aviar brave enough to get within range.

“Insectoid,” Electra said. “We’re not safe out here. Calli, keep up with me.”

Electra folded her wings and they plummeted. Air flew past Aluna’s face so fast that it stung. She wanted to scream. She opened her mouth and air rushed in, billowing her cheeks out like bubbles in the deep ocean. The Palace of Wings surged toward them. They’d never be able to stop in time.

Electra opened her wings and swung her legs under them both. Air whooshed by Aluna’s ears. They landed on a platform near the point of the spire and jarred to a stop. Calli wasn’t as lucky. She hit the stone too fast and fell to one knee with a sharp cry.

“Calli!” Aluna said.

Electra dropped her and bent by Calli. “Can you stand? Is it broken?”

All Aluna could see was wings. All she could hear was a tiny sob.

“I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Calli said.

“You have to get inside,” the high senator said, motioning to the palace entrance behind them. “Aluna, help Calli walk — there isn’t room in the passage for her to fly. Take her to the president. I’ll take care of anyone who tries to stop you.”

Aluna nodded. She’d rather be on guard duty herself, but she knew what Electra was capable of. They’d been training together for weeks, and there wasn’t anyone alive she’d trust more to watch her back. Not even her brothers.

“Come on,” she said to Calli. The girl’s ankle was already swollen and an angry red. Calli winced with each step, but kept moving.

When they made it inside the palace entranceway, Calli stopped. She turned to Aluna, her eyes wide and intense.

“We have to do it now, while there’s so much confusion,” Calli said. “I’m going to help you escape.”





HOKU TOOK ANOTHER huge bite of his sandwich — a delicious Aviar concoction with different types of food layered between two pieces of a spongy substance called bread. Senator Niobe had recommended this combination of foods, including a bright-yellow substance called mustard that he was learning to love almost as much as his artifacts.

Oh, the City of Shifting Tides had good cooks, too. His own mother could work miracles with a net full of clams. But there was no escaping the frigid salt water that soaked every meal and surrounded every taste bud. Kampii ate out of necessity, not pleasure.

But so many different animals and crops grew in the Above World! You could grill food over a fire, or boil it, or steam it. And the spices! Little specks of orange or red or black that brought whole new sensations to his mouth and stomach. Senator Niobe ordered him something different every day and seemed to delight in watching his reaction as he ate. The way she talked about it, Hoku suspected that she’d rather have been born a cook than a warrior. The two had equal status in Aviar society, and a cook was a lot less likely to get impaled on her enemy’s spear.

Hoku licked the mustard off his fingers and tried a few more combinations on his water safe. He found the repetition relaxing: advance a number, try to open the box, and advance the number again. In some ways, he didn’t even care what was inside. The safe itself was enough of a joy. He’d gotten in the habit of tracing the mermaid design on the lid while he was reading.

Although Aluna had the freedom to roam Skyfeather’s Landing, Hoku was restricted to his room and an exercise chamber they foolishly thought he’d want to use. He didn’t mind the confinement. Calli found time to spend with him almost every day. Sometimes she stopped by late at night, when the senator guarding his room was napping by the door. Those were his favorite visits. They kept their voices low so even Aluna couldn’t hear them. He’d already learned more about technology than he would have if he’d spent his whole life under Elder Peleke’s tutelage.

And being with Calli made him feel good. He liked her more than he ever liked Jessia back in the City of Shifting Tides. Jessia was nice, but Calli was special. She was smart and clever and teased him, but not in a mean way. He loved the way she bit her lip and stared into the distance when she was thinking really hard.

A bell clanged somewhere higher up in the Palace of Wings. Another bell joined it, then another.

Hoku hopped over to the window. The sun burned low near the rim of the mountain, its light dotted with the normal flurry of winged women in the sky.

An Aviar shouted somewhere above him. He twisted his neck to see her and almost missed the squad of senators that shot up past his window, flying in a tight pack.

He saw another group fly up to the right, and two more to the left, their spears glinting and ready. He’d been at Skyfeather’s Landing for weeks, but he’d never seen the Aviars perform drills like this.

He ran to the door and flung it open. Senator Niobe stood outside in the hallway, clearly agitated.

“Get back in the room,” she said.

“Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

Her hand tightened around the shaft of her spear. “Get back in there before I put you back in there myself.”

“What’s going on? Are we under attack?” he said. “If we’re under attack, then who’s attacking? What do they want? Is it Fathom?”

Niobe glared at him, but then softened. She always did.

“Fathom’s Upgraders, here for raiding and revenge.” She spat on the floor. “But we’re ready for them, and for whatever warped tech they use against us. We’ll stain the clouds with their blood.”

Hoku could tell she was angry. Angry at the Upgraders and angry at being stuck guarding him when the colony was under attack.

“Go,” he said to her. “I’ll stay in my room with my books.”

“I have to guard you,” she said, but he could tell she was wavering.

“I’ll be safest here,” he said. “If anyone comes looking for me, I’ll hide under the bed.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You won’t try to escape?”

“When there’s a war going on? Tides’ teeth, I’m not stupid! And besides, I still have half my sandwich left.”

“Okay, then,” she said, nodding. “Stay here. But if the Upgraders penetrate this deeply, do yourself a favor and jump out the window or fall on your spear. Better death than to let them harvest your parts.”

“Uh . . .” Hoku said, not at all certain he wanted her to leave now.

“Good luck, boy,” Niobe said. She bolted down the corridor toward the yelling and was out of sight in three flashes of a tail.

Hoku waited another flash or two before he was convinced the good senator wasn’t going to change her mind and come back.

“Aluna!” he said. “Can you hear me?”

No answer. She wasn’t close enough to hear. She was probably with Calli. That gave Calli a much better chance at survival . . . but also a better chance of being in the middle of whatever chaos was occurring up in the skies.

He looked back into his room. The bed was covered with open books, crumbs, and the silvery water safe. The desk held the designs he’d been working on — his ideas for mechanical wings that might someday allow him to fly. He didn’t want to leave Skyfeather’s Landing. Not now, and maybe not ever. But Aluna and Calli could be in trouble.

Hoku pulled an Extra Ear out of its pouch and secured it in place. He had a much better chance of finding Aluna and Calli if he could hear them, and the device would increase his range. Then he took a deep breath, shut the door, and sprinted down the corridor to find his friends.





ALUNA LOOKED AT CALLI, uncertain what she’d heard.

“You’re helping me?”

Calli nodded, her face pale, her lips pressed into a thin line. “I want you to want to stay, but you don’t. Does that make any sense? If you go now, no one will blame the high senator and no one will blame me. It’s the perfect chance.”

For the first time, Aluna saw a hint of President Iolanthe’s power and charisma deep in Calli’s eyes.

“But what about your mother’s safety?”

“She’ll be surrounded by senators,” Calli said quickly. “And directing our forces. And screaming at people. And cursing her inability to get out there and fight herself.”

Aluna nodded. Her father would have been the same way.

“So where do we go? Your water and waste must be funneled somewhere. It sounds gross, but maybe we can find one of those chutes and follow it.”

“No, all of our water and sewage is recycled,” Calli said. She took a step and collapsed. She would have fallen to her knees if Aluna hadn’t caught her. “This way,” she said, brushing the tears away from her eyes. “There’s a secret tunnel under the palace that leads to an old escape passage. It goes all the way down to the bottom of the mountain. They installed it all after my mother lost her wing.”

Calli had never mentioned the passage before, not in all of their discussions about her escape. But she was mentioning it now, and that had to be good enough.

“Now is not the time for stiff wings,” Calli said. “Let’s go!”

Aluna nodded and helped Calli hobble down the corridor. Twice they hid in alcoves — Aluna’s sweaty back pressed against cool stone — as messengers ran by. And still, the alarms screamed and screeched, adding to the growing chaos.

“A few more passages,” Calli said, huffing. The girl winced with each step. Aluna shifted her shoulder to take more of her weight.

“Hoku!” Aluna said suddenly. “We need to go back!”

“We’d never make it,” Calli said. “We’ll find another way to get him out. Hoku is smart. I am, too. We’ll find a way.”

Aluna closed her eyes and nodded. Calli was right. She could help Hoku more from the outside, even if it meant raising an army of Kampii to come rescue him. The Aviars were fierce but honorable. They’d treat him fairly. Still, her stomach clenched at the thought of leaving him behind.

They rounded the last corner and heard metal clank against metal. Senator Niobe stood in the hallway, struggling with an Upgrader who had clearly emerged from the hidden door in the wall. At first, Aluna thought the man was a Human. Then she caught the glint of metal where his eyes should have been. Instead of fingers on his right hand, five thin metal blades dripped a mixture of blood and green fluid. Niobe had the man’s wrists gripped in her hands and was trying to fend him off. Four parallel cuts in her shoulder told Aluna that she’d already been hit . . . and possibly poisoned.

“The passage is already open. You can make it out,” Calli whispered. “Now, while they’re both fighting!”

Escaping was the right thing to do. Aluna’s people needed her. The Aviars weren’t her people; they were her captors. She owed them nothing. If she didn’t leave now, she might never get another chance.

The Upgrader’s bladed hand inched closer to Senator Niobe’s face. The Aviar gritted her teeth as she struggled to keep its poison tips away from her eyes.

Aluna edged toward the passage. Neither Niobe nor the Upgrader appeared to notice her. She kept her body low and crept steadily along the wall. And it was from that vantage point that she saw the needles coming out of the Upgrader’s boot. One swift kick and he’d pump vile green fluid into the senator’s body.

She was almost there. A crisp breeze blew out from the open passage, promising fresh air and sunlight and freedom. Focus, she told herself. Keep your head in the hunt.

The Upgrader pulled back his foot to kick.

Instead of diving for the passage, Aluna dropped onto her back and kicked her own legs out in front of her. She trapped the Upgrader’s swinging leg between her own, like using a crab’s claws to trap a fish. Her legs were thick and strong from a lifetime of swimming. Despite his size, he couldn’t budge his leg.

Aluna couldn’t watch Niobe die, not when she had the power to save her.

With the Upgrader suddenly off balance, Niobe swung both his wrists to the left. Together, they swept him off his feet. Aluna kept her eyes on the needles sticking out of his foot. One wrong move and she’d get whatever venom they held. Niobe slammed her knee into the man’s chest, but couldn’t afford to let go of his wrists.

Aluna grunted, trying to break the man’s leg between her own. “Break,” she said. “Break!” But his leg wouldn’t snap. Was it even made of bone and flesh?

“Surrender!” Niobe screamed, but the man continued fighting.

The sound of metal thwacking bone pierced the cacophony of battle noise, and the Upgrader’s body fell limp.

“It’s over, child,” Niobe said, her breath coming hard and fast. The senator untangled herself from the Upgrader and stood up, pressing her right hand against the gashes in her shoulder. “The boy took care of him.”

“The boy?” Aluna untangled her legs from the Upgrader’s and sat up. Hoku stood by the man’s head, shaking. He held a dented metal lantern in his hand. A lantern he’d clearly used to bludgeon the Upgrader’s skull. As she watched, the lantern fell from his hand and clanked to the floor.

Hoku’s voice cracked. “Is he . . . ?”

“Unconscious,” Niobe said. “Good work, boy, even though I told you to stay in your room.”

Hoku looked pale as a milkfish. Aluna opened her mouth to tell him it was okay, to tell him he’d just done what needed to be done for their survival, but she didn’t get a chance. Before she could speak, Calli hobbled into his arms.

“You saved us,” Calli said. She hugged him and kissed his cheek.

And Hoku kissed her back.





HOKU STOOD next to Aluna on the red carpet of the Oval Chamber and fidgeted. The Upgrader attack had been repelled, the dead had been counted, and the prisoners had been “taken care of,” according to Senator Niobe. But now President Iolanthe wanted to speak with them, and he didn’t know why.

Unless it was the incident in the hallway. Not the part with the Upgrader, but the part where he kissed the president’s daughter right on the lips in front of everyone.

His insides warmed at the thought. It was difficult to even remember the whole head-bashing aspect of the fight in light of the kiss. His first kiss. Calli had kissed him. He had kissed Calli. They had kissed. He was now a person who had kissed another person, and been kissed by them in return. He would never be the same as he was before. Kissing changed everything.

He looked over at Calli, his face hot. She sat on her throne and smiled and blushed and lowered her eyes. Hoku grinned back, and blushed some more, and lowered his eyes, too. Yes, yes. Kissing changed everything. He hoped to be kissing again very soon. And very often. He was highly in favor of kissing.

Beside him, Aluna crossed her arms in front of her chest and shifted her weight. He could practically hear her frustration. She’d had the chance to escape, and she hadn’t taken it. It had been her choice, and now she was beating herself up over it.

The senator by the entrance yelled, “All rise for Her Royal Highness, President Iolanthe!”

An odd thing to say, Hoku thought, since they were standing already. But he tried to straighten up anyway.

The president strode down the red carpet looking off balance with only one wing behind her. She nodded to Calliope and took her seat, unfurling her wing to match the metal wing built into the throne. He had no idea why they bothered with the pretense. Two wings, one wing, no wings — President Iolanthe scared the ink out of him.

“The Upgraders have been repelled with minimal losses to our people,” the president began. “A prisoner has been released with a message for Fathom: we will never bend. We will never break. Skyfeather’s Landing will never be his!”

The Aviars cheered and clanged their weapons against their armor. Hoku was surprised to find himself cheering right along with them. When the noise died, the president continued.

“We are especially pleased that the vice president came to no harm during the skirmish. For this, we have High Senator Electra, Senator Niobe, and our ocean cousins to thank.”

Hoku stood even taller. For once, he’d actually done something brave.

“The warriors Aluna and Hoku will approach the throne.”

Warrior! Him? He glanced at Aluna, and she gave him a quick grin. They walked forward and stopped a meter from the throne.

The president spoke to Aluna. “A few weeks ago, when you first stood before us in this hallowed chamber, I appointed you aide to the vice president. It was my intention that you would teach my daughter about bravery.” She looked at her daughter, then back at Aluna. “I did not expect that you would also teach her about honor.”

Hoku heard wings rustle behind him as the Aviars reacted to their president’s words.

“You had the opportunity to leave,” Iolanthe continued. “Calliope informed me of your plan — after the battle, of course. I’m not surprised. I would have schemed similarly in your place.”

And then the president smiled. The harsh lines of her face melted smooth, and Hoku saw, for one fragile moment, what she would have looked like had she been born a Kampii. Or a Human. Or anything except the ruler of a war-torn people.

The president reached for the clip at her waist and unhooked something. It looked like a pair of the talon weapons that Aluna had been training with for the last few weeks.

“Aluna of the City of Shifting Tides, I hereby grant you your freedom. You are henceforth to be considered an honored friend and ally of Skyfeather’s Landing, and you may call on us for assistance in times of need. We share the same sky.”

At the president’s last words, all of the other Aviars in the room echoed, “We share the same sky.” Their words rang in the vast chamber, and it seemed as if all the golden Aviars carved into the ceiling were speaking them, too.

Iolanthe held out her talons. “Spirit and Spite have been in my family for generations. Take them and use them well.”

Aluna glanced at Calliope.

The president waved a hand. “My daughter does not desire my talons, and my days as First Wing are long over.” She held out her hand until Aluna was forced to accept the gift. “They are yours.”

“I . . . thank you,” Aluna said.

Hoku had never seen her so surprised, or so humbled. For all her bravery, the Kampii back home had never treated her as anything more than a troublemaker. He felt ashamed of his people.

The president turned to him. “To you, Hoku of the City of Shifting Tides, we also grant freedom.”

Hoku swallowed. He’d been dreading this moment for so long. He tried to choose his words carefully.

“Does that also mean the freedom to return one day . . . and stay?”

He didn’t dare look at Aluna. He could picture her face, a mix of anger and astonishment. But he wanted this. He needed this. Even without Calli’s friendship, Skyfeather’s Landing offered him books and tech to study, and the opportunity to experiment that he’d never get underwater. If he was going to help the Kampii, it would be with his brain, not his spear arm.

President Iolanthe smiled gently, then shook her head. “No, child, you cannot live here.”

Hoku dropped his gaze to the floor and studied the dusty-red rug. He couldn’t bear to look in Calli’s direction. Or Aluna’s.

“Skyfeather’s Landing is open only to girls and women,” the president continued. “There are other Aviar strongholds that welcome men. We can arrange transportation to Talon’s Peak if —”

“No,” Hoku said, the word choking in his throat. “That’s okay. Never mind.”

“Child, look at me,” the president said.

Child, thought Hoku. No more warrior. Tides’ teeth, respectability had been short-lived. Still, he did as he was told.

President Iolanthe knew better than to smile, knew better than to show pity. She said simply, “You may not live here, child, but you may visit.”

“Visit?”

He looked at Calli, suddenly hopeful. She grinned back at him.

“Visiting would be, ah, good,” he said stiffly. “Very good.”

Calli smothered a laugh, but the president made no attempt to hide hers. “Now that you are free, where may we take you? High Senator Electra and Senator Niobe have volunteered to fly you wherever you desire. We don’t know where HydroTek is, but we do think it is located in a dome on the ocean’s surface somewhere to the south. Farther than we can travel safely from here.”

“Then take us to the SkyTek dome, please,” Aluna said. “That’s the only place I can think of that might have a clue for us to follow.”

“There is nothing but devastation and danger there now,” President Iolanthe said. “But I suspect that will not deter you?”

Aluna grinned. “How soon can we leave?”

He wanted to kick her. Why was she in such a rush? They’d been here for weeks. Would another few nights make any difference? He looked at Calli. However much time, it just wouldn’t be enough.

“Pack your things,” Iolanthe said. “Our sisters are ready to fly.”