32

The water made her buoyant. She started to drift backward. She was slammed against the tree and held there. Warmth on her back, around her sides.

Bodhi popped up out of the water, gasping and spitting. Selah almost fell off the tree again to hug him.

“Hold the tree, firefly. Hug later. All I can do is hold us here. My arms don’t have much more strength.”

“Bodhi!” Mojica called and pumped her fist. “Woo-hoo! Mari, Bodhi made it.” A greeting came down, but Selah couldn’t make it out with the rushing water and her heart thudding in her ears. If she was going to die, she would do it in Bodhi’s arms. They clung to the tree, his body providing the warmth to keep her returning shivers at bay.

The rain stopped. It didn’t stop slowly or in little degrees. It just stopped completely. They looked up at the sky. The churning mass of black clouds that had supported the storm dissipated to mist and then was gone. The sky was clear beyond the clouds, as though the rest of their world was having sunshine while they were under a cloud.

Mari yelled from the other tree when the rain stopped. Selah clung to her tree with her head resting against the unbelievably rough bark and smiled. “Where does she still get the energy to yell after all this?” She was doing her best just to hang on to the tree.

“Some people just have it all.” Bodhi leaned his head on Selah’s shoulder. “Is it my imagination or is the water going down already?”

Selah lifted her head and tried to discern if the water had receded any. “I believe you’re right. We may live to fight another day. Do we go down as the water does?”

“Yell over and ask Mari,” Bodhi said.

“I’m too tired.”

“Can you climb down?”

“We could just stay up here forever.”

“I don’t think that’s very practical.”

Selah started to laugh. She clung to the tree and laughed until tears came. She didn’t think she had any tears left, but she was probably just waterlogged from the flood. “I have to take you to WoodHaven.”

“What’s that?”

Selah laughed again. “A bunch of impractical people.”

Selah was happy to finally get down from the tree before evening fell. Five hours clinging to a tree gave her a whole new respect for those of her people who had survived the Sorrows in WoodHaven.

“Good news!” Mojica said as she slipped and slid her way back down the mountainside. “All of our group made it safely out of the designated area. Your family is fine and looking forward to seeing you.”

Selah leaned back against Bodhi’s shoulder. She had finally begun to dry and the warmth felt cozy. “I can never thank you enough for helping us and my family. You were the answer to many calls. Where are you going from here? I’m sure you’d all be welcome in TicCity.”

“Some of our folks are going to settle there, but my team and I belong to you.”

Selah frowned. “I don’t understand. How can you belong to me?”

“You are the novarium. When you start reading the Stone Braide Chronicles, you’ll see what our role is to be in your future. It’s our sole mandate to unite you with the Third Protocol.”

“We don’t know how to find it. And what about the fracture thing?” Selah waved a finger in the air.

“What fracture thing?” Mari sat on a high boulder out of reach of the slippery muck that remained.

Bodhi looked down. “I guess I can tell everything now that Glade is gone.”

Selah sat up.

“You—we—need to find the Third Protocol within nine months or you will fracture. Your mental and physical functions will degrade until you’re no longer functional,” Bodhi said.

Selah rubbed her forehead. “So when were you going to tell me more about this?”

“I figured I’d wait until we found out if the passages to the West had actually opened,” Bodhi said.

“My crew has already flown over the pass. It is open and free of ash,” Mojica said. “We can start exploring as soon as you’ve recovered some. They should be here in an hour or so. They’re tracking our coordinates and have sent out AirWagons.”

Selah slumped back against Bodhi, more tired than she ever knew possible.

Bodhi looked over at her and tweaked her nose. “What’s the matter?”

“My father is gone. I fought all that time to find him, and my cause is what killed him.”

“It’s not your fault that old guy had a heart attack,” Mari said.

“I know, but still. Father kept telling me I was the future.”

Bodhi shrugged. “He told me the same thing.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“It means that you have an army of your own traveling with you day and night, and we’re going to the West.”

“I’ve also taken the liberty of contacting Taraji and TicCity. She and a host of her security will be traveling with us,” Mojica said.

“So do you know why I’m here?”

Mojica looked at her as though she had a lot to say, but the mask fell again and her face became serene. “You will find out all in good time.”

“Father said I was the answer to good and evil.”

Mojica looked away, then directly at Selah. “A lot of people have died to give you this chance to unite with the Third Protocol.”

Selah sat up straight, her body aching at every move. “Then I have to succeed.”