There were other carts! I’d been so caught up in the visage of the centre ring—a mass of land which went further than the eye could see and which seemed to be surrounded by a body of water that was connected to a series of waterfalls, like the one we had passed moments before—that I’d failed to notice the other carts, just like ours, all lined up in rows beside us. It looked as though all the recruits from the nine rings were converging there. They were all waiting for this barge thing to take us across the water.
“What’s a barge?” I asked Emmy.
We were both off now, trying to balance on our half-dead legs. We were being punished for too many sun-cycles of too little use.
“I have no idea,” she answered, as Jerath handed us both our bags. Emmy frowned down at mine, and I knew she was still trying to figure out how I got the pans and rock salt in there, plus enough changes of clothing for a week. If she was so worried about it, she should have packed for me. It was her own fault.
Wait a moment … “You have no idea what a barge is?” I asked, astounded. “You know everything. I don’t even bother trying to learn stuff myself, I just ask you and you give me the answer.”
“Yeah, that’s probably going to have to change,” she advised, a laugh riding her words. “But I’ve never read about barges, and nobody has ever mentioned them to me.”
“Wow. Guess you’re not all that smart after all. Guess you’re kinda silly. You feel silly right now, don’t you? You feel a little embarrassed, because you don’t know what a barge is?”
“No.” She smirked, grabbing my arm and pulling me after Jerath.
She’d gotten into the habit of dragging me everywhere since they announced our names at the selection ceremony. She probably thought that I’d have a panic attack, steal a bullsen, and high-tail it as far away from Blesswood as possible at any moment. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. But I didn’t tell her that. It was too funny to watch her watching me out of the corner of her eye all the time.
We reached the first group of dwellers, all stuck together in groups of two. I wasn’t sure how many dweller settlements there actually were in Minatsol—Emmy had told me once, but I’d forgotten. Either way, the number of dwellers gathered to the edge of the platform rising over the water hinted at a substantial dweller population. We all turned as one unit at the sound carrying over the water—like a horn, but long and drawn-out. There was a massive, floating platform coming toward us. Moving over the water.
“Agh!” I jumped back, grabbing Emmy’s arm. “What the hell is that?”
“The barge,” Jerath answered for her, folding his arms and grinning at the thing as it approached us.
Many of the dwellers closest to it jumped back, scattering away from the edge. Someone pushed me, another landed an elbow in my gut. Everyone was now scrambling back, trying to get away from the barge. Jerath was striding forward, so Emmy grabbed my arm and started dragging me again. I could make out people on the barge, now. Two of them were manoeuvring something down, snapping it against the edge of solid ground, forming a bridge over the water, leading from us to them.
“Come on,” Jerath encouraged, moving toward the bridge. I could see many other dweller-guides doing the same thing, encouraging the rest of the gathered dwellers to cross onto the floating platform.
As soon as I stepped onto it, I let out a pitiful squeak. I could feel the water moving beneath, rocking me gently back and forth. It was terrifying … until I noticed Emmy laughing, and then I quickly convinced myself that it wasn’t scary at all, because I didn’t want to look like a wimp. We moved to the side, allowing the wimpy dwellers to push us closer and closer to the water in their bid to all stand in the centre of the barge. I sat down on the edge, Emmy beside me, Jerath standing behind us. Our bags were piled together with a bunch of other bags, and I kept an eye on them because I was not losing those pots. I didn’t care what Emmy said, they were important. Between watching my stuff, I studied the barge and everything else to do with this water marvel. The platform was too thick for our feet to touch the water, but I could feel the spray. It was cool and sharp, all at once.
We watched as the island drew near: displaying a patchwork array of water-front houses; along with giant, colourful stone buildings; and imposing skyreachers. A very strange kind of building sat in the centre of it all, making it the centre of the world itself. It was raised up, on a hill, with a giant stone wall creeping all around the valleys of the small mountain beneath, gradually enclosing the very tip, where the strange building sat.
“What’s that?” I asked, pointing. I wasn’t asking Emmy or Jerath in particular, just whoever answered me first.
“Blesswood Academy.” Emmy was the one to answer, her eyes bright, her cheeks flushed. “It’s exactly how they described it.”