His fingers came away … and vanished.
Silver gaped. “Wait, what happened to your hand?”
Brajon blew on his fingers, and they returned to normal. Then he rubbed the substance between his fingers.
“Camouin,” Brajon said. “I can’t believe it.”
When he squeezed slowly, the substance was soft and malleable, but when he kneaded more quickly, the substance solidified. When he’d built heat from the friction, his fingers disappeared, as though they were replaced by desert sand.
“What’s camouin?”
“I guess you wouldn’t have heard about it in your classes. Not much use for it in jewelry.” Brajon smeared the substance on his trousers. “It’s a metal used for camouflage, but it’s been illegal for hundreds of years. Anyone who possesses it would be hunted down. It was used extensively in the Land and Sea Wars. After that, it was considered too dangerous for humankind.”
“Like Aquinder.”
Brajon nodded. “All along, it was hiding under our desert. That creature must have known where to find it.”
“It was able to turn it off and on.” Silver shuddered.
“Heat activates the camouflage properties. That monster must have been able to adjust its body temperature at will. Amazing.”
“Terrifying,” Silver said, correcting him.
“Either way, we have to get it off us. If someone sees it, we’ll be arrested.”
Silver looked to Calidia. She pushed her hair out of her face and nibbled her bottom lip. “It would be really useful, though. Think of what we could do if we were covered in camouin. Get into the city, find Kirja, and get out. I could even race Hiyyan without anyone discovering he’s an Aquinder!”
Brajon threw his arms out to his sides. “Cousin! Were you even listening to me? The stuff’s banned. It’s a death warrant if we get caught!”
“But we won’t get caught if they can’t see us!”
“No way, Silver.” Brajon shook his head. “I’m going down to try to find our bags. Put camouin out of your mind.”
Brajon slid back into the burrow. Silver turned her face to the sun and soaked in the warmth, then sent those good feelings to Hiyyan, still in the cave. The Aquinder sent back surges of longing. Silver inspected the hole they’d come up through. It was barely big enough for her and Brajon. How would they get Hiyyan out?
“He’s just not going to fit,” Silver said to Brajon once he’d returned.
Down below, Hiyyan mewled.
“I know,” Silver called down. “I’m working on it.”
Silver paced in ever-widening circles. “Maybe there’s another opening. A bigger one.”
As she looked, the foxes began appearing, as if to help her search. At first, just one, poking its fuzzy black snout aboveground and sniffing the air before scampering out. Its fur closely matched the colors of the desert floor: sand and red clay and bits of white. Then another came out, then another. Pretty soon, Silver was surrounded by what must have been the entire colony.
When she sat down in frustration, all the foxes sat down, too.
Harrumph, one seemed to mutter.
“How do I get him out?” she asked them.
She didn’t think they could understand her, of course. But Brajon was still circling several feet away, and Hiyyan was stuck underground. Tiredness washed over Silver. It was hard to think straight.
The foxes faced one another. One began to chirp. Others replied. Soon, all of the foxes were talking over one another. Silver put her hands over her ears at their sharp noises.
But then, they were gone—darting down into the hole Silver and Brajon had come up through.
“Oh, fine, go back to your cozy homes!” Silver gave an exhausted sigh.
The thing was, Silver knew the safest place for Hiyyan was in the cave. If she and Brajon were to go into Calidia first to gather supplies, her Aquinder couldn’t go. But Silver also knew he was as desperate to see the sky as she had been. It would be heartless to leave him.
She pulled her knife out of its leather scabbard and rubbed it in the sand to clean off more of the gunk. Her father had always been adamant about properly cleaning tools in his workshop.
A patch of sand hit her square in the face.
“Hey!” she sputtered, and dropped the knife, wiping her eyes and mouth with her tunic sleeve. “What was that for?”
She looked for Brajon, assuming he’d thrown the sand, but he was on his hands and knees by the hole they’d emerged from.
More sand flew toward her, landing in her hair.
She stood and walked to where it was coming from. There was a new hole in the desert floor, growing larger and larger as Silver watched. More holes appeared all around them. Suddenly, she understood what was happening. The ground shook.
“Move back!” she yelled at Brajon, grabbing his shoulder and hauling him away. The ground shuddered again as a gaping chasm fell away. A chorus of chirps rang out into the desert sky, and the foxes swarmed out of the hole. Silver took a tentative step forward and peered down.
There was her Aquinder, grinning up at her. Four or five foxes sat on his head and back, grinning, too.
“You destroyed your own burrow?” Silver said. “To help us?”
She recalled the fur in the white monster’s teeth. Maybe she’d done them a favor, and this was how they were expressing their thanks.
“Thank you so much,” she said. “Come on, Hiyyan. Climb out.”
Hiyyan didn’t have to be told twice. He clawed at the walls, but his pace was slow and he slid back down. He let out a mewl.
“It’s not working. The walls are too slick for his claws,” Brajon said.
Silver tipped her head back and turned her face to the sun. Think.
When she opened her eyes, a desert hawk circled overhead. Her heart fluttered. She remembered Nebekker telling her about the hidden Aquinder eggs in the desert. Those babies didn’t have parents. But they’d learned to swim, to survive, to fly, somehow.
“Look, Hiyyan,” she said under her breath. “Do as the hawk does.”
Hiyyan gazed at the skies. He watched the hawk pick up air currents and rise, then turn and drop before flapping its wings again. The water dragon narrowed his eyes and spread his wings. First, he shook them out, then batted them up and down a few times, mimicking the hawk. He roared.
The foxes on his head chirped indignantly and rolled down to the ground.
Hiyyan flapped his wings harder.
The Aquinder rose majestically out of the river cave. Then he kept going, disappearing into the blue desert sky for the first time.
A strange, heavy feeling filled Silver and she bit her lip, keeping tears at bay. The next deep breath she took could have been made of helium, the way it made her body seem light enough to lift off the desert floor. Dots of light like festival fireworks burst at the edges of her vision.
“He’s flying,” she whispered.
Giggles bubbled up her throat, impossible to contain.
“He’s flying!” Silver clapped and laughed as she watched her Aquinder relish his freedom.
Hiyyan made only one swoop before he returned, landing in a heap, like a pile of sandstone bricks. He rolled over and stayed motionless for a moment. Then he raised his head and grinned, his mane flopping from side to side.
Silver ran to him and threw her arms around his neck.
“You did it. You flew! Terrible landing, but I think Kirja can help with that.”
Hiyyan’s laughter was a honk. For the first time, Silver noticed how big he’d gotten. As big as Kirja. The cave had hidden his height, since he’d often have to hunch over to get through the tunnels, but now his body spread out to its full size. He was a grand beast.