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I WOKE the next morning after a few hours of troubled sleep to find Ray looking down at me, concerned and adorable.
The blue glass in the window blocked the sunlight, casting a blue tint on both of us and keeping the room dark and cool. Ivory’s sleeping bag was already rolled up. The cabin was silent.
“Where is everyone?” I asked as I crawled out of my sleeping bag.
“They’re prepping Ivory’s training jet. Your mom has been filled in on what’s happened and the TSTA approved our plan to move forward. There isn’t enough time to repair the TSTA vehicle or get a replacement.”
I nodded. “No one told Mom about the possibility of finding my father, did they?”
Ray shook his head. “No, we didn’t want to worry her and also, at least Ivory and I—we didn’t think it was any of our business. Right now, our main mission objective is to protect you so we told her that you are alive and well, and left it at that.”
Relieved, and now more awake, I looked up at Ray. Today he had on a long-sleeved denim shirt worn open over a T-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts. His red earring sparkled purple when mixed with the blue light. The light had no effect on his already deeply blue eyes, though.
He held out a hand to help me up off the dirt floor.
“Thanks.” I smiled. “Thanks for everything—for being here and helping to keep me safe during the Uproar’s attack on the jet.”
“My pleasure. There’s some leftover breakfast waiting for you outside. We’ll be leaving as soon as you’re ready to go. I’ll see you in the jet.”
I changed quickly and brushed my hair, which was still damp from having bathed in the river after last night’s conversation with Valcas. Facing him today would be awkward but unavoidable. I hadn’t wanted to hurt or belittle him, especially when I knew he was trying to protect me and help me find my father. If only he were more like Ray, I thought, it would be so much easier to like him.
I squinted when I emerged out of the dark cabin into Ivory’s brightly lit Nowhere. After gobbling up some type of cold cereal mush left out for me by the fire pit, I took a last look around. Having been familiar with Edgar’s Nowhere, I wasn’t surprised that there weren’t any mosquitos, ants or other insects present to attack me or my food.
I breathed in the fresh air and walked across the bridge to the landing strip, stopping at the still river to wash my face and hands and to scoop up a quick drink of water.
Valcas came into view as I approached the jet. Its color reminded me of blue-raspberry-flavored snow cones. As I passed Valcas I mumbled an awkward good morning and looked around for Ray and Ivory.
“We’re in here, Calla!” Ivory called from inside the jet. “Come on in. Valcas was just outside keeping watch.”
I climbed inside the jet, followed by Valcas who tightly shut the door. When everyone was seated and belted, Ivory prepared for takeoff. Since this time she wasn’t piloting a TSTA vehicle, Valcas would be in charge of searching and transporting us to the Fire Falls with his travel glasses.
Ray sat upright in his seat, focused and attentive. He’s probably never traveled this way, I thought. Instinctively, I reached for his hand to give him my support, whatever that was worth, which he accepted without breaking his focus or changing the direction of his gaze. I knew that the jet’s speed would be more than enough to set Valcas’ travel glasses and our team in motion, and that Ray was intent on learning, observing and recording.
The aircraft’s small windows glowed with yellow light from the outdoors. I wore my own pair of travel glasses as I watched the light change from yellow to white to a fiery orange.
Our vessel, no longer protected by the walls of a jet, was surrounded by flame. The air was stifling hot and it felt like we were floating. I peeked over the sides of what appeared to be a round blue watercraft and gasped when I saw licks of flame reaching up along its edges.
“A Fire Boat?” Ivory chuckled. “Well done, Valcas. I don’t even smell it burning.”
Valcas dismissed her praise, replying in a tone that I remembered well from when he’d first captured me. “I didn’t change the vehicle,” he said. “It transformed appropriately during travel. Welcome to the Fire Falls.” He was back to being businesslike, calm and mysterious.
Ivory returned his comment with an uncertain nod. Her blue training jet had turned into something else, the way vehicles usually did when using the travel glasses to travel to real places and made-up places that hadn’t become Nowheres.
I looked up and across the pool of fire spreading out from all sides of the boat. Rolling waves of flame poured down into the pool from a rocky mountain range. This was nothing like the volcanic lava that I’d expected after first hearing about the Fire Falls. The fire was not a molten liquid; it was a cascade of living flame.
I recorded what I saw through my travel glasses as well as the wonderment I felt while looking at it. I expected Ray, who sat next to me, was quietly doing the same with his mind.
As the boat bobbed closer to the Falls, a small island emerged in front of where the Fire Falls fell at their fullest.
“Don’t tie up the boat, Ivory.” Valcas sharply exhaled. “Calla and I will be going through the Falls.”