Read Online Book Three of the Travelers by D.J. MacHale - Free Book Online

struggled like an animal, scratching and shrieking as the guards dragged her off the beach and up toward the village. She had barely seemed human. Her clothes were wretched and falling apart. Her hair was matted. Her skin was streaked with dirt.
    And yet there was something about her. As she was dragged off the beach, she passed within a few feet of Siry. Their eyes met briefly. She had brilliant green eyes, wide set, over a freckled, triangular face. Her hair was an astonishing red color unlike anything he’d ever seen before.
    â€œAhhhh!” she screamed, lunging at him. When Siry jerked backward in surprise, she spit on the ground and laughed at him.
    The guards yanked her off her feet. “We’ll see how funny you think that is after a couple of days in the hole!” one of them shouted. The girl kicked and wriggled, still laughing in a high, wild voice.
    As they hauled her around the corner of a small hut, Siry’s father, Jen Remudi, came around the corner. He had a gash on his arm and carried a club.
    â€œThere you are!” Siry’s father said. “I was worried. I didn’t see you anywhere.”
    â€œI’m fine,” Siry said. He pointed in the direction that the girl had disappeared. “What are they doing with the prisoner?”
    Jen sighed. “We’ll have to put her on trial.”
    â€œFor what?”
    Jen frowned. “I forgot, you were barely five or six when the last wave of Flighter attacks happened. When we capture a prisoner, they’re tried by the tribunal.”
    â€œAnd then what?”
    Jen looked off toward the sea. “Best not to think of that, Son,” he said.
    Siry shrugged off his father’s hand. “I’m not a kid anymore!” he said. He was tired of being treated as if he were five instead of fourteen. “Tell me what will happen to her.”
    Siry’s father looked at him soberly. “I suppose you’re right,” he said. Then he sighed sadly. “They’ll put her to death,” he said finally.
    â€œThey?” Siry said. “Don’t you mean you ? You’re a member of the tribunal.”
    Jen Remudi cocked his head. “What’s gotten into you lately, Siry?”
    Siry shrugged. He didn’t know what his father was talking about.
    Jen clapped his son on the shoulder and smiled. “Anyway, good work today. If you hadn’t spotted thoseanimals, there’s no telling what might have happened. I’m really proud of you.”
    Siry looked out at the water. He wondered how they had gotten this far. Had they made a boat? It was common knowledge that Flighters were subhuman. A Flighter couldn’t figure out how to make a boat. Maybe they’d stolen one.
    He kept thinking of the strange girl. Only she could tell him the answer. He wanted to talk to her, find out what she knew. Everything she knew. Too bad Flighters couldn’t talk.
    â€œI gotta go, Dad,” Siry said.
    â€œLook, Siry,” Jen said, “there’s something I need to talk to you about.”
    â€œI gotta go,” Siry said again.
    T WO
    S iry kicked the sand as he wandered up the beach. Okay, so maybe his dad was right. He felt like he’d been in a bad mood all the time lately. And he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was that was bugging him.
    It was just that it seemed as if—well, he remembered when he was younger, there had been times when adults had told him things that he knew weren’t true. And when he confronted them, they’d always say things like, “Siry, you’re too young to understand.” As if he were supposed to be satisfied with that answer.
    Back then it had just been little stuff. The time he’d figured out that all those presents that appeared overnight on Simmus Eve weren’t really brought by fairies, for instance.
    But now he was starting to feel it was bigger. Like all the sea trash he’d collected over the