Read Online Promised by Caragh M. O'brien - Free Book Online

glanced up and felt the natural pull of a smile. “Yes.” With Peter’s beard and the dust of the trail, he looked much like he had when she’d first met him. She would have died if he hadn’t rescued her, and she wondered if he ever remembered that night. “So much has happened since I left.”
    â€œFor all of us,” Peter said.
    â€œIt’s so big,” Mikey said.
    Gaia glanced over at the boy and smiled. “It is, isn’t it?”
    She tried to see Wharfton from his perspective, considering he’d never known anything bigger than the sylvan village of Sylum, and the clusters of buildings magnified before her eyes, especially the bright ones inside the wall that glistened in the sun. She needed no binoculars to perceive a boy on the path to the water spigot above Western Sector Three. Brown and gray garments hung on clotheslines, and across Wharfton, thin lines of dingy smoke rose from chimneys. A colorful pot of pink flowers stood on the porch of the closest little home. The first sound she heard was a blacksmith’s bang, and suddenly she was home.
    â€œWhat if I get lost?” the boy said.
    Gaia laughed. “We’ll keep you safe. If you lose your way, just head downhill, toward the unlake. You’ll always find us then.” She made a gesture for the Chardo brothers and the others. “We’ll turn off here.”
    Gaia started down into the great blue bowl of the unlake, and when a grasshopper leapt past her trousers, Maya squeaked in surprise. Soon, Gaia intercepted a trail she knew from her childhood when she, Emily, and Sasha used to explore. She’d drawn from her memories of the unlake to create a terrain map the planners had used for deciding where to lay out New Sylum, but she didn’t realize how sweet it would be to actually retrace the old paths. It felt like signals were reawakening in the dormant corners of her brain, making her senses even more acute. Her heart lifted. This was going to be home again, but better than before.
    â€œSee?” Gaia said, turning to Will. “It’s just like I remember.”
    â€œYour two lives are finally meeting up,” Will said.
    She looked up, surprised. “Yes.”
    His profile was aimed ahead, to where a flight of swallows careened through the clear air. “It’s beautiful,” Will said. Then he added, “We’re a long way from the marsh.”
    â€œThat’s the point,” Peter said.
    â€œI’m just saying it’s different,” Will said.
    â€œAre you going to get homesick?” Peter asked.
    Will adjusted the shoulder strap of his pack and regarded his brother. “Not before you do.”
    Peter forced a smile. “I won’t.”
    Gaia glanced at Peter again, picking up on his mood. “Everything all right?”
    â€œGet it over with,” Will suggested.
    â€œWhat?” Gaia asked.
    Peter shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
    Will laughed at him. “He wishes you and Vlatir all the best.”
    â€œThanks, Will. I can speak for myself,” Peter said.
    â€œIt’s really okay,” Gaia said, her cheeks warming.
    â€œI do, of course,” Peter said stiffly. “Congratulations.”
    For goodness’ sake , she thought. “Thanks,” she said abruptly. She gestured forward. “Shall we?” she said, and continued on.
    Around the next bend, the bay of boulders descended into a wide, flat shelf of bluegrass, wildflowers, and low brush. Stands of aspen promised firewood. Farther along, angling northeast, a path led directly back up toward Wharfton and her old neighborhood on Sally Row.
    Her gaze traveled up toward the towers of the Bastion and the obelisk. She lifted her thumb, measuring its height against the obelisk’s as she used to do with her father, and a poignant longing for him touched her heart. Then she shifted her thumb toward the wall. Leon had told her that as long