Read Online Waybound by Cam Baity - Free Book Online Page B

you, you!” Micah hollered, marching up to her again. “You haven’t changed one bit, ya know that? I thought your little liodim stunt back in the Vo-Pyks was somethin’, but you prob’ly thought that was all about you too. Well, guess what. It ain’t. None of it is. So get over yourself!
    â€œDo it for the mehkies. Do it for…” Micah’s prepubescent voice broke. “Do it for the Doc, who died to save them!”
    He released an animal growl and stormed out of sight, splashing through a trickle of vesper.
    Phoebe stared into the crimson canopy above. Her heart was tight. Heat scalded her cheeks. She felt her father’s spectacles in her pocket, weighing her down like an anchor. With tremendous effort, she pulled her body up to a sitting position and glared at Micah, concocting how best to cut him down.
    And then she realized why she was so angry. Not because of what he said. What galled her more than anything was that he was right. In fact, he had never been more right.
    Phoebe barely recognized herself.
    â€œ
My greatest secret. Tell no one
,” she said quietly, reciting the Ona’s words. “
You alone can. Make the descent. To the heart of prayer. Where my Bearing once lay…
”
    Micah joined in, and they spoke the rest together.
    â€œ
Retrieve the white star. My Occulyth. And Mehk will. Prevail
.”
    The kids locked eyes for a hard moment.
    â€œIt’s not enough,” Phoebe sighed. “The Ona didn’t get a chance to explain it to us. We don’t know anything.”
    â€œYeah, we do,” Micah argued, taking a few tentative steps toward her. “If she wants us to retrieve it, it’s gotta be some sorta object, right? Not a star in the sky or anything tricky like that.”
    â€œAnd we know we have to go down somewhere to get it.”
    â€œDown into some kinda holy place,” he finished. “We know that much, even if the rest is gobbledygook.”
    â€œBut where? Where are we supposed to go, Micah?”
    â€œDunno,” he said honestly. “Away from here.”
    â€œBut we don’t know where here is,” she protested. “We don’t have a map. Or food, or water. We won’t last out here for…”
    Phoebe couldn’t believe it. The twerp was actually smiling.
    â€œWhat?” she demanded.
    Micah opened a compartment on his hard-shelled pack to reveal two tubes, one orange and one clear, then he knelt down by the trickle of vesper. He hit a button, dipped the orange tube into the oily liquid, and put the clear one in his mouth.
    â€œYou were sayin’?” he said between gulps.
    Phoebe was speechless.
    â€œA soldier’s always prepared,” he declared, tossing off his pack and retracting its segmented steel casing. Inside there was a heap of rifle ammo and a crinkling nest of Wackers bars. It was a ten-year-old boy’s treasure trove—bullets and candy.
    He offered the tube to her. Without a second thought, she snatched the line, and water spurted into her mouth, sweet with a vague citrusy flavor—the remnants of purified vesper.
    Phoebe looked at him, stunned.
    â€œCalled a VooToo. Vesper to H 2 O Conversion Unit,” he said, grinning proudly. “Saw it when I was goin’ through all that junk in the camp. Pretty standard Foundry issue and—”
    She kissed him.
    It was a spasm of chaos. Spontaneous combustion. A tart, wet punch of lips on his grubby cheek. It lingered.
    Two seconds. Three.
    Now it was Micah’s turn to be struck silent. He stared into space like an invalid, flushed and utterly frozen.
    â€œI’m sorry, I…” she said, taking a few steps back. “I just…”
    Half of her wanted to collapse into a mortified heap, and the other half wanted to bolt away screaming into the jungle.
    â€œI…I really thought we were going to die here,” she burbled.
    â€œFigured you might need somethin’