Read Online Spinning Starlight by R.C. Lewis - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: R.C. Lewis
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isn’t supposed to be real.
Panic seeps into me again. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I’m dead, and maybe my brothers are, too. Except I like to think an afterlife wouldn’t be this bizarre. An afterlife would
have my parents waiting for me.
I know I look ridiculous, but I mime slashing my throat and slumping over dead with my tongue hanging out. Tiav chuckles—a sound that strangely dulls my terror, bringing comfort to the
madness surrounding me.
“Sorry, you lost me there, Sam.”
Okay. I sit up again and grab his wrist, feeling for a pulse. Steady and strong. Then I check my own. The same, if a little elevated.
“Ah, got it. Yes, you’re alive, I promise. Kalkig and I aren’t delusions or hallucinations or dreams, either. At least, I’m pretty sure we’re not.”
Kalkig just snorts.
“We should get you back to Podra, get some rest. We’ll worry about getting answers in the morning.” Tiav’s eyes dart to the portal but come back to me just as quickly,
like he didn’t want to be caught looking. “Can you stand?”
I don’t actually know until I try. My legs hold me up, just barely. They still tremble and ache. Tiav notices and lightly supports me with a hand on my waist. The contact makes me shiver.
I’m used to keeping a constant breath of fresh air between myself and strangers. Kalkig goes ahead of us. I distract myself by trying to think of the right word for the arms-and-legs way he
walks.
Amble? Lope?
I’m not sure.
We crest the first hill only to climb a higher one beyond. Kalkig has no trouble with the hike, but it’s a little much for my recently reassembled body.
“Sorry,” Tiav says. “The road’s just on the other side. Can you make it?”
Without bothering to nod, I walk faster, slipping away from his hand. And promptly trip. The potential media-cast plays out in my head:
Liddi Jantzen face-planted on a Ferinne hill today, without the excuse of Igara heels. She’s just that uncoordinated. Shame about the grass stains. Those were such nice pants.
I’m not that uncoordinated. Besides portals being the worst mode of transport ever, adjusting to another planet’s gravity always takes time. But none of that changes the result of me
up close and personal with the grass.
Tiav doesn’t laugh. He just helps me up and we keep walking.
After the second hill, the going is easier, and it’s not much farther to the road. It’s not like any road I’ve ever seen, and the “streamer,” as Tiav called it,
isn’t like any hovercar. The body is similar enough, and it does float a foot or so off the ground, but with no hover-struts. Instead, there’s a sparkling energy field running along the
bottom of the vehicle, connecting to the road. A streamer. Kalkig’s already inside when we get there. One of the seats has been adjusted to accommodate his strange physiology.
So many questions, all making my inability to speak more maddening than it already was. I wonder if I can get one across to Tiav. I point to Kalkig and scrunch my eyebrows into the most
questioning expression I can manage.
“Handsome devil, isn’t he?” Tiav says. My stomach drops at the word
devil
, so close to
demon
—the tortured creatures serving the Wraith in the Abyss.
Supposedly. Except I still don’t believe that. “Kal is an Agnac.”
Kalkig cuts in with an urgent series of grunts. Tiav doesn’t seem bothered.
“She’s here. She’s seen you. And speaking Agnacki isn’t going to convince her you’re a genetic anomaly.”
What other option is there? I settle into one of the other seats and keep question-face going. Tiav catches it, but shakes his head.
“Explaining that will take some time. And seeing will help. Let’s get back to town first.”
I watch his hands as he taps controls on a touchscreen. Pretty simple. A map displaying various icons. The one nearest us must be the portal. Tiav selects a larger one farther away.
The acceleration should squash us all to goo on the back end of
Panic seeps into me again. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I’m dead, and maybe my brothers are, too. Except I like to think an afterlife wouldn’t be this bizarre. An afterlife would
have my parents waiting for me.
I know I look ridiculous, but I mime slashing my throat and slumping over dead with my tongue hanging out. Tiav chuckles—a sound that strangely dulls my terror, bringing comfort to the
madness surrounding me.
“Sorry, you lost me there, Sam.”
Okay. I sit up again and grab his wrist, feeling for a pulse. Steady and strong. Then I check my own. The same, if a little elevated.
“Ah, got it. Yes, you’re alive, I promise. Kalkig and I aren’t delusions or hallucinations or dreams, either. At least, I’m pretty sure we’re not.”
Kalkig just snorts.
“We should get you back to Podra, get some rest. We’ll worry about getting answers in the morning.” Tiav’s eyes dart to the portal but come back to me just as quickly,
like he didn’t want to be caught looking. “Can you stand?”
I don’t actually know until I try. My legs hold me up, just barely. They still tremble and ache. Tiav notices and lightly supports me with a hand on my waist. The contact makes me shiver.
I’m used to keeping a constant breath of fresh air between myself and strangers. Kalkig goes ahead of us. I distract myself by trying to think of the right word for the arms-and-legs way he
walks.
Amble? Lope?
I’m not sure.
We crest the first hill only to climb a higher one beyond. Kalkig has no trouble with the hike, but it’s a little much for my recently reassembled body.
“Sorry,” Tiav says. “The road’s just on the other side. Can you make it?”
Without bothering to nod, I walk faster, slipping away from his hand. And promptly trip. The potential media-cast plays out in my head:
Liddi Jantzen face-planted on a Ferinne hill today, without the excuse of Igara heels. She’s just that uncoordinated. Shame about the grass stains. Those were such nice pants.
I’m not that uncoordinated. Besides portals being the worst mode of transport ever, adjusting to another planet’s gravity always takes time. But none of that changes the result of me
up close and personal with the grass.
Tiav doesn’t laugh. He just helps me up and we keep walking.
After the second hill, the going is easier, and it’s not much farther to the road. It’s not like any road I’ve ever seen, and the “streamer,” as Tiav called it,
isn’t like any hovercar. The body is similar enough, and it does float a foot or so off the ground, but with no hover-struts. Instead, there’s a sparkling energy field running along the
bottom of the vehicle, connecting to the road. A streamer. Kalkig’s already inside when we get there. One of the seats has been adjusted to accommodate his strange physiology.
So many questions, all making my inability to speak more maddening than it already was. I wonder if I can get one across to Tiav. I point to Kalkig and scrunch my eyebrows into the most
questioning expression I can manage.
“Handsome devil, isn’t he?” Tiav says. My stomach drops at the word
devil
, so close to
demon
—the tortured creatures serving the Wraith in the Abyss.
Supposedly. Except I still don’t believe that. “Kal is an Agnac.”
Kalkig cuts in with an urgent series of grunts. Tiav doesn’t seem bothered.
“She’s here. She’s seen you. And speaking Agnacki isn’t going to convince her you’re a genetic anomaly.”
What other option is there? I settle into one of the other seats and keep question-face going. Tiav catches it, but shakes his head.
“Explaining that will take some time. And seeing will help. Let’s get back to town first.”
I watch his hands as he taps controls on a touchscreen. Pretty simple. A map displaying various icons. The one nearest us must be the portal. Tiav selects a larger one farther away.
The acceleration should squash us all to goo on the back end of
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