Read Online Lifespan of Starlight by Thalia Kalkipsakis - Free Book Online Page A

busy checking their
compads. I’m itching to pull mine out to check as well, but I resist. Why would I
check the weather reports from days I’m meant to have lived through?
    The other two are busy for a while as my mind ticks over. This is interesting. It
makes me think about the woman’s blackened fingers. Could that have been frostbite?
    ‘It’s like what you were saying,’ Boc says to Mason. ‘About the way people slow their
own time so they can survive. Like when that wall of bricks fell and those kids dodged
out of the way.’
    ‘Sure. It makes sense.’ Mason shuffles closer on his knees. ‘Will you jump for us
now? Show us how you do it?’
    They’re like cats, tracking each tiny movement of their prey.
    ‘You don’t have to go far, just a minute or two,’ Mason begs.
    All I can do is shake my head, turning from one to the other. ‘I’m not sure I could
do it around strangers –’ As if it’s their fault. I bite my bottom lip as Mason frowns
into thin air, more questions forming.
    This is such dangerous territory. I check my compad as if there’s some place I need
to be. ‘Look, sorry. I have to go.’
    They both stand up with me. I clear my throat and say, ‘I’m sure you’ll get there.’
    ‘Thanks,’ Mason mumbles, but I hear the rest of what he must be thinking. Thanks
for nothing.
    Boc’s standing with his arms crossed. ‘We’ll walk you out,’ he says evenly.
    I don’t have much choice other than walking with them. We begin to head back in a
group, but soon Boc bolts ahead of Mason and me, stopping to grasp a branch that’s
reaching over the path, testing it with his weight. He must have decided it’s not
strong enough because then he sprints ahead again.
    Beside me Mason walks in silence, both hands in his pockets, his gaze on the ground
just in front of him.
    ‘So I’ll just keep trying,’ he says, almost to himself. ‘Meditate every day.’
    As we head up the final steep section towards the front gates, I sneak another glance
sideways. Mason’s a little taller than me, with fine bones and smooth skin. Compared
to Boc he’s slight, though compared to someone who’s lived on half rations all their
life, he’s a picture of glowing health.
    We’re nearly at the front gates when we reach a tree to one side of the path that’s
shaking with the weight of a body clambering up the branches. Boc. By the time we
reach its base and come to a stop, the midsection branches are rustling.
    It seems rude not to wait with Mason. I glance over to find him watching me again,
and quickly look down.
    ‘Will you at least tell me what it’s like?’ he asks. ‘I mean, I’ve come close I think,
and then I get this sense of something … sucking me down and it’s so empty, like
nothing else I’ve felt.’
    The hushed tone in his voice is back; it draws my eyes up to meet his. ‘How do you
mean?’
    ‘I don’t know … it feels like a sinkhole pulling me in. I’m not sure I’ll find my
way out.’
    It makes me think about that woman again. The expression on her face … she wasn’t
at all tense, it was more like complete bliss.
    ‘It’s safe, Mason,’ I say, hoping I’m right. ‘You don’t need to be scared.’
    His eyebrows go up. ‘Will you stay with me? Or … come back later?’
    I shake my head. ‘I can’t.’ Can’t look him in the eye either, so I squint up to the
branches shaking at the top of the tree.
    We say nothing as we track Boc’s slow descent.
    After a while, Mason lets out a snort. ‘I’ve never seen that guy take a backwards
step. Like ever .’ His voice has dropped so low again that I have to turn in order
to hear. His head tilts close to me, his eyes moving over mine as he speaks. ‘I mean,
he’s great. Don’t get me wrong. But he’s the only person I’ve met who is scared of
nothing. He just doesn’t get how hard this is. Keeps saying he’ll get there first,
as if this is easy. That’s why I wanted to see you again. To ask for your