Page 56 of Leveling

Chapter 37

Lunaand her group set out. She had removed Tree from Boosy and all the paddlers had a trailer of some kind to carry supplies. They carried the essentials, a small amount of food, and a few water-desalination kits. That was it.

The group was familiar in the way they behaved. Unsettling that they were strangers. She tried to relax and accept her circumstances, but she felt numb inside. As if she was watching this all play out, without really being a part of it.

It didn’t help that Buzz kept scowling, and hovering near Sky, so that he wasn’t far enough away that it didn’t matter. Luna paddled. Stroke-stroke-stroke, switch, stroke-stroke-stroke. Her thighs pushing her board to the right and left to compensate for the strength of her strokes. Thus with able strokes and strong thighs, the board kept straight and true, fourth in line, front middle. She was proud of that.

They rested occasionally and ate from their provisions. Then they held all the boards together and played Mainland, a game where they walked from one board to the other, trying to balance, but mostly falling off. Sky was the champion, even when Buzz tried to grab her legs and pull her down, she nimbly jumped by. Buzz had a big booming laugh, but when he noticed Luna watching, his smile faded.

When they resumed paddling, a woman named River pulled alongside. She said, “Isn’t it so beautiful, Luna, the blue and the air and the current pushing? It’s like the wide world is full of hope for us.”

Luna listed quietly, wondering, what would it be like to have hope?

She paddled quietly a few strokes, then said it out loud, “You’re lucky to have hope anymore.”

River said, “Oh, I do. The world is a magical place, look at what it’s doing—elevating us all. Every water drop makes us better and better.”

Luna stroked and stroked on the right side. “Just yesterday I was past hope.”

“Yes, you were, but when life is that bleak, that dark, that’s when hope is the best, because it can be simple. Like, I hope my eyes open tomorrow morning. I hope it doesn’t rain, and the world can meet those simple hopes and you’ll get stronger and stronger. Soon your hopes can get bigger and bigger, until eventually you might even hope to seehimagain.”

Luna jerked her head to the side. “Hope to see him again? Who again?”

The woman smiled. “You’re young, very alone, and of course there is a someone that you hope to see again. I know because I’m magic, also, you have the name Beckett Stanford written on your trailing board.”

“Oh, yeah,” Luna smiled. It felt good to smile, she hadn’t done that since she had been on the Outpost with Beckett, what seemed like a very long time ago, but wasn’t at all. Three days.

Her breath caught in her throat. Like a sob wanted to burst out. Three days since she paddled away from happiness and now this, moving on, fast, to the same place.

The irony.

A little while later as they paddled, Sky pulled beside Luna. “Are you holding up?”

“Tired, you?”

“Very, so you must be wiped. Not one person here would mind if you called it and said you couldn’t go any further. We would all understand.” Sky glanced up. “Plus, the storm is coming, so it’s a moot point anyway, we’ll need to strap together soon.”

Luna studied the sky for a moment. “It’s going to brush past us to the South, we’ll just get some rain.” She paddled two strokes. “What’s up with Buzz? He doesn’t seem happy with me, and I just got here, I’m pretty sure I didn’t do anything, yet.”

Sky chuckled. “Buzz is a simple soul, and he adores me, always has. Recently I decided that he could adore me up close and personal, but guess who I shared a tent with last night?”

“Oh, he’s jealous of me?”

“Yep,” she giggled. “He’s so caught up in desire for my awesome spectacular,” she wiggled her butt, “that he can’t even be logical and get that the girl who just traveled all month by herself might want some company on her first night with a new family.”

Luna laughed, “Your awesome spectacular, that’s what he calls it?”

“Oh no, he would never be that poetical. He just grunts in my direction, but with so much hot hunky desire I can’t be so unkind as to leave him hanging.”

Both Luna and Sky glanced over at Buzz whose brow was furrowed watching them.

Luna said, “Poor Buzz.”

“Poor Buzz is right, my awesome spectacular is truly, well, awesome. Let’s hope he survives.”

The light changed, so the group paddled into a formation and began tying knots.

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