The Silver Dream (InterWorld 2)

We broke from the trees, Josef, J/O, and I, running for all we were worth for the base of the mountain. The back of my neck tingled; I expected something to attack me at any moment, but it was the fun kind of adrenaline, like when you’re a kid sneaking around playing hide-and-seek.

An energy pulse hit the ground a few feet away from us; someone was using a blaster gun on stun. We were out in the middle of the plain—there was nowhere to hide, which probably meant they also had an invisi-shield up. I berated myself for not thinking to snag some helpful gadgets on the way out, then remembered Jernan, the quartermaster, was still mad at me and I likely would have been out of luck anyway. Somehow, that made me feel better about my lack of foresight.

Jorensen was revealed a second later, which meant Jai had discovered him and fritzed his invisi-shield—which also meant he’d dropped our “we’re not here” spell. I could still see Jerzy headed for the mountain off in the distance, but Joaquim and Jaya were still unaccounted for.

“J/O, you sense anything?”

“Jakon’s caught up with Jo, and Joliette’s on her way back.”

“That’s great, but do you sense anything up ahead?” He turned his attention to the terrain in front of us as we ran. I didn’t know why he’d even been bothering to look behind us in the first place.

Jakon must have beat Jenoh, but Joliette was on her way back? Jo didn’t usually lose to her. She’d been at InterWorld longer and was quicker in a fight. She had seemed a little low energy, though. I wondered if she was on pain medication for her wing.

“No,” J/O answered simply, and if I hadn’t been trying to conserve breath at that point I might have told him he could stand to be a little more helpful.

We were almost to the rocks now, but I’d lost sight of Jerzy. It was harder to see him against the brown stone, especially with the sun setting behind us and casting a bright red light over everything. The little disk in my hand was pulsing steady warmth—we were definitely getting closer.

“This was actually pretty straightforward,” I commented to my team as we reached the base of the mountain.

“I think the real challenge is getting up there,” Josef rumbled. J/O didn’t say anything.

I stood with my back to Josef, keeping an eye out for Jerzy, Joaquim, or Jaya. Or Joliette, for that matter, since I didn’t know how long it would take her to get here.

“Well, at least we know none of them can fly up.”

“Neither can any of us, with Jo’s wing busted.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, and then I had an idea. “Jai can hover. If he makes himself light, can you throw him?” Josef nodded. “That’d get us a head start, at least. Jakon’s a climber, too. Throw her and Jai up, when they get here. As high as you can. J/O and I will start climbing.”

Josef nodded again, seeming perfectly happy to not climb the mountain himself. He was a pretty big, heavy guy, and I bet he didn’t relish the thought of finding out which rocks were loose the hard way.

“C’mon, J/O!” I tried for cheerful, but I was still getting a wall where there used to be a person. I wondered if he was mad at me.

“You come on,” he retorted. “You know I can outclimb you.” That was a little more like his usual, competitive self, but I still had the feeling something was off with him.

“Hey, is there a problem?” I asked as soon as we were out of earshot of Josef. The mountain had something akin to a trail for the first few steps, but after those first few, it was a matter of scrambling up over rocks to various naturally formed platforms that were getting both smaller and steeper.

“No.” J/O looked at me oddly, sidelong. “Why would there be?”

I didn’t get a chance to respond, since he abruptly turned his head to look up the mountain. “Jaya is ahead,” he informed me.

“Huh. Why don’t you go first. You’re immune to her siren trick, aren’t you?” He nodded, and continued to climb without another word. I waited until I heard Jaya’s voice, singing the first few notes of the most beautiful song I’d ever heard—anything Jaya sang would make you think that—and then silence. I was far enough away that it didn’t affect me too much, but I was still sorry to hear it stop.

I started climbing again, feeling the little disk in my pocket pulse faster. I was nowhere near the top yet, but it looked like there were some caves scattered around the outside. Instead of being at the very top, the flag could be hidden in one of those.

I considered a moment; I didn’t want to give away my position, but J/O had already neutralized Jaya—how, I wasn’t sure, but she’d obviously stopped singing—and he didn’t know where the flag was. “J/O?” I called. Silence.

I pulled myself up onto a large, mostly flat rock. I’d been right: There was a small cave, not much bigger than I was, nestled between two rocks. I could see from where I stood that it was empty, but a natural path wound up around it off to the right, looking like it could take me higher. I started forward—and my senses screamed at me to duck. Jerzy’s slow kick whooshed over my head as he stepped out from behind an outcropping of rock.

“Took you long enough.” His hair feathers ruffled as he settled back into a defensive stance.

“I said we’d give you a head start,” I retorted, lashing out with a fist. He dodged easily, dancing around in a semicircle.

I bounced a little on my toes, adrenaline starting to pump through me. I’d always enjoyed sparring with Jerzy; he was light and quick, about my size, and always had a retort or comeback ready with his punches. He didn’t take things personally, he just enjoyed the test of strength and ability.

“You sent the new kid to get the flag for you?” I teased, ducking under another kick and crouching to sweep him.

“His idea.” Jerzy jumped agilely, landing slightly to my left. “Pretty eager to prove himself since he had to be rescued, I think. Reminds me of someone…”