10
“I know how to get out of here, but it won’t be easy,” Cole said.
Molly leaned back on a wall of pillows while he sat cross-legged on the foot of her bed, his hands in his lap. The gold bars were in place and her door had been shut, but Cole knew his words were probably traveling out to someone, somewhere. The good thing about his planned escape was that technically—it was legal.
“How?” Molly asked.
“We have to become Drenards.”
Molly grabbed one of the pillows beside her and swung it at Cole, nearly knocking him off the bed.
“Don’t mess with me like that,” she said.
He righted himself, not laughing at all. Molly’s indignation turned to shock, mixed with something else. “Gods! You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I’m serious,” Cole said. “And if you’d stop assaulting me and listen, I’ll explain.”
“Alright,” Molly said, placing her stuffed weapon in her lap and resting her elbows on it. “Tell me.”
“I know it sounds crazy, but I don’t think we would be the first to do it. I’m pretty sure other species have. Maybe even another human. And get this, every kid born here isn’t really considered a Drenard until they capture a Wadi Thooo—”
“A whati who?”
“The lizards Edison and Walter were going on and on about.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t understand half of what Edison was saying, only that he was excited. Did you follow any of it?”
“Not an ounce, but I got a little information from . . . someone else. And I think I know why Edison is fascinated with them.”
“Why?” Molly asked, leaning forward.
“I think he already had plans on becoming a Drenard. Maybe for Anlyn.”
Molly fell silent, looking down at the comforter as if reading the words there, trying to make sense of them. Cole held up his arm in case it was a feint on her part, setting up another blow from the pillow.
“For Anlyn?” She looked up at Cole. “Why? Does he love her? Does she love him?”
“How would I know? I hate that kinda talk, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Molly agreed. “It’s silly, especially after such a short period of time. Right?”
Cole nodded slowly. “I guess. Still, I’ve seen them together and I know there’s something there, something that formed between them while we were on Earth. It’s the only reason I can think of for why he’d be so interested in the creatures.”
“Maybe he’s just looking for a way out of here.”
“Then why not tell us? No, I think it’s something else. I think he’s trying to impress a girl. And either way, even if I’m wrong, we need to do this if we want to get out of here. The Drenards were never gonna tell us about the rite. I’m sure they’d feed us twice a day and give us all the bubble-baths we want, but that would be the rest of our lives.”
“So how do we become Drenards?”
Molly smirked as she said it, either not convinced or still finding the concept amusing.
“It’s pretty simple, actually. Each of us goes beyond the terminator—the line between sunlight and darkness—”
“I know what a terminator is,” Molly interrupted. “I was in the same class.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. So you travel beyond the terminator and through the canyons on the light side, you catch one of these Wadis—which is some sort of lizard—and you bring it back here. A council or something will judge the size and quality of the thing and determine what sort of Drenard you’ll be. It’s just a ritual, really.”
Molly frowned. “I guess that means the females here aren’t ever considered Drenards, because Dani’s told me enough about their society to know there’s no way they would let their precious little girls go out and risk their lives to hunt whati whatevers.”
“Well, you might not like this, but it’s actually really good news for us. A loophole, if you will.”
“Oh, gods. What is it?” Molly droned.
“Wadi Thooo eggs. They count. And the eggs are laid close to the terminator, where the rock is coolest. It is a technicality, but if we go to the canyons, grab an egg each, and bring them back here—we’re free to go. They know from Anlyn that we haven’t done anything wrong, and Dani will vouch for us. I think he has a soft spot for humans.”
“Some of us,” she corrected. “I suppose the boys go in further and capture a live lizard?”
“I don’t know if they capture them alive or not; I’m not concerned with that stuff. Edison might know.”
“How’re we gonna do this if we aren’t allowed out of our rooms except to visit one another?”
“All we have to do is initiate the rite. They have to allow us. They look at us as children, anyway, so we’ll fit right in. And hey, just because they’re bound to let us try, I don’t think they’ll appreciate us asking. A lot of Drenards are gonna be upset if we pull this off.”
“When we pull it off,” she corrected him.
????
Edison wasn’t back from visiting Anlyn by the time they gathered for their next meal. Cole went over the plan with Walter, who seemed excited, not of leaving the planet, but of pulling a “Jog and Flog.”
“What’s a Jog and Flog?” Cole asked him.
“A kinda heisst,” he hissed. “Big on Palan. And call them ‘Wadi Thooo,’ not lizsardss, bad on my earss.”
“Fine,” Cole said. “If we’re all in agreement, I say we get it over with. Once we get this out of the way, we’ll find Edison and Anlyn and see about getting out of here.”
Nobody had any objections.
They ate in silence, with their own thoughts. After the meal, Cole went to the guards in the hallway and requested Dani’s presence by repeating his name aloud. When the old interrogator joined them, he had a set of red bands in hand.
“We would like to quest for Wadi Thooo, to prove our worth as Drenards,” Cole thought to Dani.
The interrogator played the shocked and confused part well, demanding to know where Cole had heard of their tradition, how much the humans knew of it. Cole lied and said he learned of it from a Bel Tra and that he would say no more.
Neither of them knew how successful their ruse would be, or if anyone was even “listening.” It may all have been for Dani’s benefit—to clear his conscience by accepting an alternate version of reality.
After pretending to demur, Dani said he would pass the request on and let them know the following morning. As he said this, and just before Dani held out his hand for the red band, Cole saw something flash across the interrogator’s face. Or maybe he heard it in Dani’s thoughts, down deep where only a quiet mind could hear.
Cole handed the band over, searching his friend’s face, sensing there was more he wanted to say. A warning, perhaps.
The bad feeling lingered as he returned to his friends.