“Do you think he’s coming?” Eva whispers. “Three more minutes. I say that’s all we give him.”
“He’ll be here,” I reply.
I have Skandar to thank for getting rid of the guard outside my door. Just after midnight, he came strolling by my dorm room and told the guy he’d seen me sneaking around the Level Five rec room. I pushed my ear against the door and listened as the guard questioned him. In the end, the guy insisted that Skandar lead him to the spot he’d seen me.
That’s the slight wrinkle in our plan. Now we’re waiting for Skandar to come back. Who knows what kind of questions the guard could have asked him.
Eva shivers. “We could leave without him-”
“No.”
I need my friends here. If we’re really going to see Ryel and the other Drifters, I want witnesses. Otherwise, anything I say to Alkine afterward will be twisted into the ramblings of a crazy teenager.
I stare out at the stars beyond the opening of the bay. I was up there, once, shuttling between planets. It seems so impossible.
Eva squirms in her seat. “I think I see him.”
I turn to watch a thin shadow creep through the empty bay. The shuttle shudders as Skandar steps onboard and seals the entrance behind him. “Whew.” He takes a seat behind us. “I thought he’d never let me go. It’s okay, Jesse. I think we’ve bought ourselves some time.”
Instead of answering, I begin to power up the shuttle.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to do the piloting?” She grips her seatbelt.
“I’ve got to learn. Just tell me if I’m about to do anything stupid.”
Her teeth clench. “Can I preemptively tell you now?”
I flip on the radar. “Very funny.”
– The stark Siberian landscape rushes beneath our shuttle. Fields of endless tundra stretch miles in every direction. If I stare long enough, it’s like we’re not moving at all.
Identical, that’s it. All of this Siberia crap is mass identical.
And yet somehow I know exactly where I’m going.
Eva’s grip tightens as the cockpit bumps. “You know, chances are Captain Alkine’s going to find out we’re missing. Or that a shuttle’s missing, at the very least. Are you sure this is worth it?”
“You’re not seeing what I am,” I reply. “Trust me. It’s as strong as Seattle. And look what I found when I went there.”
“Yeah. A trap.”
I shoot her a glare, but she’s kind of right. I might know the pathway. I might even have a reasonable idea of what’s at the end. But things like this-strange, cryptic visions- rarely go off the way I expect them to.
I glance over my shoulder at Skandar. He’s slumped in the passenger seats, barely awake. A tangle of brown hair pokes over the armrest. He’s still in his pajamas.
“For god’s sake, pull up!” Eva bolts back in her seat, eyes wide.
My attention darts to the front window. Land fills nearly three quarters now. The shuttle tilts, losing altitude. I yank on the console. We whip into the air, wobbling sideways.
Eva cups her mouth, looking sick. “I’m going to die. You’re going to kill me.”
Skandar shudders awake and whoops like he’s on a rollercoaster. “Keep it up, Jesse! Gun it!” If he had his way, we’d be doing loops in the sky. Of course, with me behind the wheel, it’d be more like one shaky corkscrew right into the ground.
I fight the steering, struggling to bring the shuttle level again. We dip sideways. The seatbelt cuts into my torso. Eva’s arm weaves under my elbows and moves to a switch beside the console. We slow to a crawl. I straighten us out.
“Velocity dampener.” She recoils. “Keep you under control, Fisher.”
I lay on the accelerator. Nothing. “So we’re gonna drive like grannies now?”
Her brows raise. “Grannies come home alive.”
Skandar joins us in the cockpit, kneeling beside Eva.
I glance at him briefly until a tug forces my attention back to the windshield. “I feel it.”
Eva stares at me.
“Something’s yanking me forward,” I continue. “Can we speed back up?”
She sighs. “Flip the dampener, but be careful of rocks. You’re awfully low.”
Even with our front beams on full tilt, anything not spotlighted by our shuttle disappears into the same black hole. I ignore Eva’s warning and dip the shuttle until we’re less than a few meters from the dirt.
Skandar grabs onto my seat as we accelerate. “What exactly are we looking for?”
“Red. Water. Rocks.” I wince. If they hadn’t been with me from the start, they’d think I’m crazy, but they know I wouldn’t make this stuff up. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s right on the coast.”
Eva grips the console. “A bad dream, maybe?”
“I wish.”
We pass over a patchy area of grass before the scenery gives way to dark tundra once more. It looks different from my vision now that the sun’s down. For a moment I start to doubt myself. Then I see it, out of nowhere, like a mirage.
Snow.
It’s not a large plot-maybe football field-size at best- but it’s here. The clouds put it here, not some weather program or Bio-Net. Growing up in the Skyship Community, none of us has ever seen honest-to-goodness real snow. It’s as alien as I am.
“Wow.” Skandar stands and stares beyond the windshield. The moonlight casts a soft blue glow over the thin layer of white. “Should’a brought my sled, huh?”
I crane my neck to catch more of it. “This shouldn’t be here. I didn’t see this.”
I trace the line of our headlights until I notice water, twinkling in the distance. The coast. We’re here, but it’s all wrong. There was never snow.
The pull intensifies. This is definitely the spot.
I slow the shuttle and extend the landing gear. Eva grabs onto the armrest as the cockpit rumbles. We arch around the blanket of snow as I prepare to bring the ship down.
I point at a lever to the right of the steering console. “This one?”
She nods. “But not-”
Too late. I yank it and we sink fast and slam into ground with a reverberating thud. Skandar flies an inch in the air before landing back on his feet.
“-all at once,” Eva finishes.
“Oh.” I flip off the power. The shuttle sputters as it settles down. Skandar rubs the back of his neck, mumbling expletives under his breath. As the headlights dim, a pinprick of red light pokes through the snow beyond our windshield. It’s muted, not at all like in my vision, but it calls me forward all the same.
Eva rubs her elbow. “Well, we didn’t die. That’s a start.”
I unbuckle my seatbelt as the side door slides open.
“Yeah.” Skandar winces in pain. “Way to go, man. Best landing ever.”
“Sorry.” I step around him and jump out the door. I nearly slip on the snow as I land. It crunches beneath my sneakers.
I reach down and grab a handful of white powder, balling it in my fist until it’s hard and compact. This shouldn’t be here, not with the planet warming the way it is. The air is refreshingly crisp and cool-cooler even than the temperature-controlled stuff inside the shuttle. I’m used to stepping into triple-digit heat back in the Fringes. This has got some bite to it. It’s a freak snow globe in the middle of a wasteland.
Skandar leaps into the snow from behind me, kicking it into the air and flipping over to lay on his back. Eva lowers herself carefully until she stands beside me, shaking her head in disapproval.
My skin buzzes. The hair on my arms stands on end. My chest warms. I know this sensation.
“Jesse.” Eva grabs my tense shoulder.
I step away. “It feels like a Pearl.”
She bristles at the word. “But the Academy’s radars would’ve picked up any energy trails. We’re not that far out.” She grabs my arm again, stopping me. “When’s the last time you heard of a Pearl landing in Eastern Siberia anyway?”
I shrug. “If a tree falls and there’s nobody around to hear it…”
“That is such a load of… ” She sighs, loosening her grip. “Seriously, we’re standing in the middle of snow. This isn’t natural.”