The four boxes flying towards us looked the same as ours—red and blue with large wings. And ours didn’t have any weapons attached, so it seemed reasonable to assume theirs didn’t either.
They were still a fair way off, so we had plenty of time to work ourselves up into our preferred mindset of panic, self-incrimination and rampant bewilderment.
“Maybe they’ll fly right past,” I suggested.
Maurice’s fingers worked the knobs constantly, correcting and adjusting. The wings flapped in smooth strokes, hardly causing any jarring. I’ve had tube rides that were rockier.
“Bibler did say he stole this from them,” said Maurice, “so we might look like one of their transports going about official business. It’s not like they have radios to check.”
It would be convenient if he was right. It wasn’t like there were markings on the outside that would identify us as the stolen flappy-box. Or perhaps there were and we didn’t know it.
“You should have asked Bibler how these things work,” said Claire. She peered around the dark interior like there might be a user manual lying about.
“It’s magic, Claire. It’s not supposed to make sense.”
“Even magic has rules.” She tried to attract Maurice’s attention, presumably to back her up. Maurice was too involved in his doohickey to notice.
“Sure. Magic is just science we don’t understand yet.” I produced a ball of light and balanced it on the end of my fingers. “What fucking law of the universe lets me do that?”
Claire bit her bottom lip and a little bead of blood appeared under her teeth. She was making a serious effort not to lose her temper. “I’m not saying we should write up a paper for New Scientist. I’m just saying people like Bibler obviously have a grasp on the mechanics, and we could use a little more information.”
It was a reasonable point.
“You say that like you weren’t there, too,” I said. “You could have asked him yourself. Any of you could. It’s one of the most annoying things about this group. If I don’t think of something no one else does, either. Having six of us should be an advantage when it comes to covering our bases with things like this, but it never fucking is. Never.”
that, nothing moved. A vast, white expanse stretched out in all directions.
There was no sign of our pursuers. Either they were still in the cloud, or they had decided not to follow us. The important thing, however, was that if we couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see us. Running away FTW!
It never pays to be triumphant. If you win, you should quickly move on. Don’t wait around to collect your prize. Not losing is your prize. Get going so you don’t end up having to win anything else.
This is the sort of thing you learn in retrospect. As I stared down at the fluffy clouds, feeling premature relief, the sheer vulnerability of our position slipped my mind.
We were in a wooden box, in the sky, in the freezing cold. If the wings froze up, we’d die. If a little turbulence shook us out of the opening, we’d die. If Maurice lost control, we’d die.
None of these things happened. What did happen was that a large, red fin swept out of the clouds in an arc and then disappeared.
Being an optimist—because, as you know, it’s all sunshine and lollipops as far as I’m concerned—there was no reason to assume it was a sky-shark. It could have been a friendly cloud-whale. Or a flying dolphin.
The fin had been very big, though. Three or four metres tall. No need to freak out. The creature could have been all fin and nothing else. Or perhaps birds here had fins for aerodynamic reasons. Mind you, we hadn’t actually seen any birds since we’d got here. Maybe ‘Monstro of the Skies’ was the reason why.
Optimistically speaking, Monstro didn’t have to be a carnivore. He might live on water vapour and dandelion seeds caught on the breeze. Not that he would have to eat us to kill us. A slight nudge and we’d be sent crashing. And he might not be alone.
“What is it?” asked Jenny. She always seemed to know when I was feeling anxious.
“Nothing,” I said as I got back to my feet. “I think we lost them.”
Claire still had Maurice by the belt while he focused on trying to keep the box flying straight. He had smoothed out the flight so that the wing flaps registered little more than a slight rise and fall.
“Can you tell which way to go?” I asked him.
He nodded. “I can feel it tug me in the right direction. Or at least in a direction. Wherever Bibler told it to take us, it seems to know the way.”
Bibler had given the box instructions to head for the city. How he had done it wasn’t clear and we hadn’t asked him. We probably should have, but I was in a rush to get away from him and from Loran. I didn’t trust either of them.
My optimistic side likes to think the further away I am from people, the less likely they are to kill me. I’m all about the positivity.
We kept going , teeth chattering and holding onto our respective partners for warmth. After an hour and no more sightings of Monstro, I felt a little less tense, which made me even more tense. That’s always when the monster attacks, when you least expect it. Maurice took his eyes off the horizon and leaned over towards me.
“I think we’re getting close. We should probably head down.”
I nodded. “Okay. But take us through the clouds fast.”
“How fast?”
“As fast as you can without killing us.”
We made our way to a rise and were met by the sight of a city in the distance. It was huge, rambling and ramshackle. There were tall buildings that looked like blocks haphazardly placed on top of each other, and short buildings that looked like they’d once been part of a tower that had fallen over.
It was a big, sprawling mess.
“Oh no,” said Claire.
I turned towards her. She was looking in the opposite direction. High up, four boxes flapped towards us.
We had no way to escape, so we just waited.
The boxes landed with a series of soft thumps. Only one of them opened. Bibler came strolling out.
“That was exciting, wasn’t it? I’ve never known anyone to challenge a koi before.”
“How did you get here?” asked Claire. A sign she was taking her role as chief inquisitor seriously.
“Helps to know shortcuts. I must say you did very well. I didn’t think you would be so resourceful. You passed every test with flying colours. Even the ones I didn’t set!”
He sounded impressed, but mostly with himself.
“All this was a test?” Claire asked him. “Even the other boxes.”
“Oh yes.” He produced a controller from his robes. This one had a lot more buttons and knobs on it. The doors to the other boxes fell open. They were all empty.
“Was all this really necessary?” I said wearily.
“We had to see why the masters were so interested in you. You could have been a trap. You still could be, but I think it’s worth the risk.” He turned to Maurice. “You must show me how you pulled off some of those manoeuvres. I had no idea some of them were even possible.”
“I’m glad we passed your test, but what makes you think we want to go with you?” I asked him. “You could have got us killed with your tests.”
“Life is a test, is it not? And there’s someone I think you’ll want to meet. He is a Visitor like yourselves. He has been here some time, so he’ll be able to give you the answers you need. Some you don’t even know the questions to, yet. He can even tell you how to get home.”
That caught everyone’s attention.
“Of course,” continued Bibler, “just because he can doesn’t mean he will. He doesn’t like sorcerers, he himself being a warlock.”
“What’s the difference between a sorcerer and a warlock?” asked Claire.
“Oh, it’s very straightforward,” said Bibler. “Warlocks kill sorcerers.”
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