Page 68 of Wings of Ebony
“… first you need to understand where you came from.”
CHAPTER 22
YIYO PEAK IS WHEREthe onyx stones are mined. The transport pod hums toward it, the sun growing smaller behind its highest tip. Honey-colored earth wisps by in a blur, like smeared pastels. Land like I’ve never seen surrounds me. All my time in Ghizon I’ve never explored the rural parts. Mahogany and sable earth rise and dip for miles, forming white-tipped peaks that kiss the clouds and craters like valleys covered in thin grass.
The sea of field hugging the peak stretches high and low to the edges of the earth, swallowed by the sun on the horizon. I check my watch. No news from Bri. I told her to use the homing tracker on our watches to keep an eye on Ms. Leola’s and buzz me if anything goes down.
“What is this place?” I ask.
“The rest of Ghizon.” Aasim smiles.
I don’t smile back. “I don’t understand. Where are we going?”
“The onyx mines.”
“But why? I wasn’t born in a mountain. Like, how is this relevant? Also, why couldn’t Bri come?”
Bri wasn’t happy to be left behind, but Aasim made it seem like this was something only he and I should do.
“You need to see it for yourself, first.”
I tap my foot. “I’m not going to be out here for long.”
“I know.” He squeezes my shoulder and I roll away from his grip.
“We’re going to get your magic fixed, Rue. You have my word.”
I bite back the first snide remark that comes to mind. And the three after it. The ordeal at Dezignz flashes in my memory and I feel sick all over again.
Brian, his name is Brian.
Holding on to his name makes me feel like I’m holding on to him. I tug my hoodie tighter around my shoulders. My foot taps faster and I check my watch again. It’s been an hour, maybe two since we left Bri’s and it feels like it’s been days. I don’t know how this trip into the wilderness is going to fix my magic, but it better happen fast.
Fields of thin golden grass billow like fine hairs in wind. The trail beneath us snakes through, winding toward a colorful entrance jutting from the center of the mountain. Tree trunks with knobs like knees twist and wind up and out of sight. Leaves fan out from their upper branches in shades of green. Light flashes like a pulse inside the transport as we pass in and out of their shadow.
“These trees… I—” I’ve seen them before.The dream.I gnaw at my lip.
“Jpango trees.” Aasim’s beaming grows. “You’ll only find them out here.”
There’s so much foliage in odd shapes and sizes like I’ve never seen. I assumed it’d be all dry mountainous desert. I had no idea there was lush life out here.
A thin barrier as transparent as glass flickers into view. The transport halts, shudders a moment, and like an air pocket througha bubble, pushes through. I whip around but only find the trail we’ve passed as if the barrier isn’t there.
“For protection,” he says. We slow, then jerk to a stop.
Protection from what? Yiyo Peak towers ahead, rays dancing around its edges. We sit in its shadow, waiting. For what I’m not sure.
A rounded patch of dirt skirts the edges of our destination. Closer to the carved mountain entrance now, towering stone columns that look as if they were chiseled by hand stand around the mine’s entrance.
“Is anyone in there working now?” Zrukis work the mines overnight when it’s coolest out. Sun’ll be down soon, which means people showing up would see us, right?
“The mine’s closed all week in observance of A’bdu Yoi’ furi.”
Ah, of course, the “oh so wonderful” Chancellor strikes again.
“You ready?”
Brian, his name is Brian.“Yes.”
