there.
Liddi looked around. Her mother wasn’t anywhere.
Panic seeped into her skin, bringing visions of a life where she never found her mother again, or her father or her brothers. Tears welled up, but Liddi wouldn’t let them fall. Her
brothers always told her tears just wasted water her brain might need.
Just as she was about to waste tears anyway, Anton tore around the corner and stopped, out of breath.
“There you are! We’ve been looking everywhere. Don’t wander off, Liddi-Loo!”
He scooped her up, and she held tight to his neck. She realized her panic was silly, because she never had to be afraid of getting lost.
Her brothers would always find her.
THE PANIC ATTACK JOLTS a little strength into me, but not much. Enough to sit up, push myself to my feet, and immediately collapse again. My body
can’t take it yet.
Maybe my brain is scrambled from the journey and I’ve gotten confused about the moons. Maybe I have a concussion and I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing.
There will be an explanation. I will find it, and it will make sense. I lie there on the ground some more, trying to breathe, stay calm, think, gather strength. The breathing part works, at
least.
Even if I don’t know what planet I’m on, I can figure out some things about where I am. It’s not like the woods at home. More like the prairie parts of Erkir. Luko and Vic took
me on a visit there when I was nine. Grassy with trees here and there in the light of the moons. Nothing else resembling the crystal spires of the portal, not that I can see, anyway. More hills
than Erkir. In fact, I seem to be in a large bowl made of hills.
A light comes over one of those, approaching fast.
I make another attempt to push myself up, but there’s nowhere to go. The nearest trees are too far and won’t provide much cover. Without being able to even sit up decently,
there’s no way running is an option.
The light can’t be a hovercar—too small, and doesn’t move smoothly enough. It’s more like someone running with a handheld light, but doesn’t quite match that,
either. The way it jerks and jostles isn’t right.
When the source arrives, I clamp my teeth down to keep from screaming. Unknown planet or not, the implant has a hyperdimensional transmitter, making distance a lot less of a factor. The
continual pressure at my throat reminds me a signal could get through, triggering my brothers’ deaths if I speak. Still, the figure before me makes it difficult to stay silent.
It’s a person but not, like a genetic experiment gone wrong. Very wrong. The face is close, with the expressiveness and depth in the eyes to convey intelligence. But the details are
off—four nostrils, an excessively prominent jaw, and a headful of shaggy brown hair that’s more like a mane of fur. The rest of the body is even worse. The arms are far too long and
explain the jerkiness of the light strapped to his shoulder—he runs using his arms as well as his legs.
I don’t know what he is. I do know he’s angry. He shouts at me with a series of grunts and clicks. I scoot myself back on the grass, getting some distance between us even if it means
getting closer to the portal.
His unnaturally long arms snap out and grab me, hauling me off the ground. This time it’s even harder not to cry out, because everything hurts and having my legs dangling in midair gives
me vertigo and this strange person with too many teeth is still yelling things I can’t understand and I want it all to stop. I want to scream and wake myself up from this nightmare.
“Kalkig, I told you to—what are you doing? Put her down!”
I’m released, collapsing to a heap on the ground again, and find the source of the new voice illuminated by the light from the stranger’s shoulder. Another person has arrived. This
one is an actual person, normal-looking and everything. Well, normal enough to tell he’s around my age. His skin is close to the same sienna shade of my own,
Liddi looked around. Her mother wasn’t anywhere.
Panic seeped into her skin, bringing visions of a life where she never found her mother again, or her father or her brothers. Tears welled up, but Liddi wouldn’t let them fall. Her
brothers always told her tears just wasted water her brain might need.
Just as she was about to waste tears anyway, Anton tore around the corner and stopped, out of breath.
“There you are! We’ve been looking everywhere. Don’t wander off, Liddi-Loo!”
He scooped her up, and she held tight to his neck. She realized her panic was silly, because she never had to be afraid of getting lost.
Her brothers would always find her.
THE PANIC ATTACK JOLTS a little strength into me, but not much. Enough to sit up, push myself to my feet, and immediately collapse again. My body
can’t take it yet.
Maybe my brain is scrambled from the journey and I’ve gotten confused about the moons. Maybe I have a concussion and I’m not seeing what I think I’m seeing.
There will be an explanation. I will find it, and it will make sense. I lie there on the ground some more, trying to breathe, stay calm, think, gather strength. The breathing part works, at
least.
Even if I don’t know what planet I’m on, I can figure out some things about where I am. It’s not like the woods at home. More like the prairie parts of Erkir. Luko and Vic took
me on a visit there when I was nine. Grassy with trees here and there in the light of the moons. Nothing else resembling the crystal spires of the portal, not that I can see, anyway. More hills
than Erkir. In fact, I seem to be in a large bowl made of hills.
A light comes over one of those, approaching fast.
I make another attempt to push myself up, but there’s nowhere to go. The nearest trees are too far and won’t provide much cover. Without being able to even sit up decently,
there’s no way running is an option.
The light can’t be a hovercar—too small, and doesn’t move smoothly enough. It’s more like someone running with a handheld light, but doesn’t quite match that,
either. The way it jerks and jostles isn’t right.
When the source arrives, I clamp my teeth down to keep from screaming. Unknown planet or not, the implant has a hyperdimensional transmitter, making distance a lot less of a factor. The
continual pressure at my throat reminds me a signal could get through, triggering my brothers’ deaths if I speak. Still, the figure before me makes it difficult to stay silent.
It’s a person but not, like a genetic experiment gone wrong. Very wrong. The face is close, with the expressiveness and depth in the eyes to convey intelligence. But the details are
off—four nostrils, an excessively prominent jaw, and a headful of shaggy brown hair that’s more like a mane of fur. The rest of the body is even worse. The arms are far too long and
explain the jerkiness of the light strapped to his shoulder—he runs using his arms as well as his legs.
I don’t know what he is. I do know he’s angry. He shouts at me with a series of grunts and clicks. I scoot myself back on the grass, getting some distance between us even if it means
getting closer to the portal.
His unnaturally long arms snap out and grab me, hauling me off the ground. This time it’s even harder not to cry out, because everything hurts and having my legs dangling in midair gives
me vertigo and this strange person with too many teeth is still yelling things I can’t understand and I want it all to stop. I want to scream and wake myself up from this nightmare.
“Kalkig, I told you to—what are you doing? Put her down!”
I’m released, collapsing to a heap on the ground again, and find the source of the new voice illuminated by the light from the stranger’s shoulder. Another person has arrived. This
one is an actual person, normal-looking and everything. Well, normal enough to tell he’s around my age. His skin is close to the same sienna shade of my own,
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