Read Online Sky Jumpers Book 2 by Peggy Eddleman - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Peggy Eddleman
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family had been wiped out when their town was destroyed. “I’ve never known much about her, so I had to make up her story myself. What if I learnmore, then wish I hadn’t, that I could go back to believing my own story?”
“I guess that’s the risk you take.”
I hoped it would be a good risk. Now I just had to work up the courage to ask Luke.
The next morning, Luke rode his horse next to mine. “Are you excited to see Glacier?”
“I am. It’ll be interesting to see another town.”
“Glacier isn’t just ‘another town.’ ” Luke twisted in his saddle and fumbled around in one of his saddlebags. Then he pulled out something that looked similar to a tree branch or root, but made of stone. It was as long as his hand and as skinny as his thumb. It had a slightly bumpy texture with a golden color, and as he turned it, I could tell that it was mostly hollow.
“Is that”—Aaren squinted at the rock—“fulgurite?”
Luke looked at Aaren. “I’m impressed you knew that.”
“Aaren reads a lot,” I said.
“What’s fulgurite?” Brock asked.
Luke motioned to Aaren with a flourish, so Aaren explained. “When lightning strikes sand, it super-heats it, melts the sand, and forms a rock the shape of the path the lightning took.”
Luke bounced the rock in his hand once, then put it back in his saddlebag. “That’s right. But do you know what was infinitely stronger, hotter, bigger, and more powerful than lightning?”
Everything suddenly fell into place. “The green bombs.”
“Yep. There’s a lot of places with sand around here, which means there’s fulgurite buried all over this area. And not only small pieces like the ones lightning makes. Some are massive.”
Aaren cocked his head to the side. “And Glacier …?”
“Before the bombs,” Luke said, “the place where Glacier now sits was a mine where they extracted pure silica sand.” He said each of the last three words as if they had more meaning than the others.
I looked back and forth between Aaren, who stared at Luke with wide eyes and his mouth dropped open, and Luke, smiling at Aaren. “What?” I asked.
Aaren shook his head and fumbled over his words.“That much heat, that much pressure—with silica sand, it would make glass!”
“And that,” Luke said, “is how the city of Glacier was formed.”
“The city walls are made of glass?” Brock asked.
“Most of them. A few months after the bombs first hit, when the weather still hadn’t calmed down, bad windstorms blew through here, uncovering the top and most of the outside of it. A group of people claimed it, stuck together, and undertook the monumental job of digging out the sand from the inside, then formed a town. It’s more impressive than the pyramids from way back when, if you ask me. Hopefully, one day you’ll get to spend some time there when your town isn’t in danger and speed isn’t an issue.”
As we rode toward Glacier, I kept sneaking glances at Luke, a million questions filling my mind. One of them was whether or not I could ask him a million questions, and I suddenly realized that I was ready to hear about my birth mom. I took a deep breath and then let out the question that had been burning in my mind for more years than I could remember. “What was Anna like?”
Luke smiled, as though he was glad that I asked, and I let a warmth settle over me. “Anna. She was … cautious.But brave. Smart. And selfless. Extremely logical, but still easy to talk into things.”
He looked up at the sky for a minute, then laughed. “Our dad—your grandpa—was a fixer. He couldn’t see something broken and not find a way to fix it. He traveled a lot to scavenge things from towns with ruins. You know that since the bombs, metals can no longer hold a magnetic charge, and to make an electric motor, we need a metal that can, right?”
“Of course,” Aaren said. “We learned about that back in Sixes and Sevens.”
“Good. Anyway, our mom died from
“I guess that’s the risk you take.”
I hoped it would be a good risk. Now I just had to work up the courage to ask Luke.
The next morning, Luke rode his horse next to mine. “Are you excited to see Glacier?”
“I am. It’ll be interesting to see another town.”
“Glacier isn’t just ‘another town.’ ” Luke twisted in his saddle and fumbled around in one of his saddlebags. Then he pulled out something that looked similar to a tree branch or root, but made of stone. It was as long as his hand and as skinny as his thumb. It had a slightly bumpy texture with a golden color, and as he turned it, I could tell that it was mostly hollow.
“Is that”—Aaren squinted at the rock—“fulgurite?”
Luke looked at Aaren. “I’m impressed you knew that.”
“Aaren reads a lot,” I said.
“What’s fulgurite?” Brock asked.
Luke motioned to Aaren with a flourish, so Aaren explained. “When lightning strikes sand, it super-heats it, melts the sand, and forms a rock the shape of the path the lightning took.”
Luke bounced the rock in his hand once, then put it back in his saddlebag. “That’s right. But do you know what was infinitely stronger, hotter, bigger, and more powerful than lightning?”
Everything suddenly fell into place. “The green bombs.”
“Yep. There’s a lot of places with sand around here, which means there’s fulgurite buried all over this area. And not only small pieces like the ones lightning makes. Some are massive.”
Aaren cocked his head to the side. “And Glacier …?”
“Before the bombs,” Luke said, “the place where Glacier now sits was a mine where they extracted pure silica sand.” He said each of the last three words as if they had more meaning than the others.
I looked back and forth between Aaren, who stared at Luke with wide eyes and his mouth dropped open, and Luke, smiling at Aaren. “What?” I asked.
Aaren shook his head and fumbled over his words.“That much heat, that much pressure—with silica sand, it would make glass!”
“And that,” Luke said, “is how the city of Glacier was formed.”
“The city walls are made of glass?” Brock asked.
“Most of them. A few months after the bombs first hit, when the weather still hadn’t calmed down, bad windstorms blew through here, uncovering the top and most of the outside of it. A group of people claimed it, stuck together, and undertook the monumental job of digging out the sand from the inside, then formed a town. It’s more impressive than the pyramids from way back when, if you ask me. Hopefully, one day you’ll get to spend some time there when your town isn’t in danger and speed isn’t an issue.”
As we rode toward Glacier, I kept sneaking glances at Luke, a million questions filling my mind. One of them was whether or not I could ask him a million questions, and I suddenly realized that I was ready to hear about my birth mom. I took a deep breath and then let out the question that had been burning in my mind for more years than I could remember. “What was Anna like?”
Luke smiled, as though he was glad that I asked, and I let a warmth settle over me. “Anna. She was … cautious.But brave. Smart. And selfless. Extremely logical, but still easy to talk into things.”
He looked up at the sky for a minute, then laughed. “Our dad—your grandpa—was a fixer. He couldn’t see something broken and not find a way to fix it. He traveled a lot to scavenge things from towns with ruins. You know that since the bombs, metals can no longer hold a magnetic charge, and to make an electric motor, we need a metal that can, right?”
“Of course,” Aaren said. “We learned about that back in Sixes and Sevens.”
“Good. Anyway, our mom died from
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