And her dream was simply news.
Even so, she still didn’t know how much time they had left. It might be just hours. But if it were years, or decades—then every moment must be made to count. Somehow.
“Hei, Ravna!” came a childish shout from across the yard, in the direction of the school. They would be around her in a moment.
I can’t do this. She half turned, retreating toward the stairway. Nightmares can be the truth. It wasn’t just villains who had to make the hard decisions.
Chapter 02
There was no school on the last day of every ten. Sometimes that made the end of the tenday terribly boring to Timor Ristling. Other times, Belle would show him some dank corner of the New Castle, or Ravna Bergsndot would take him across the straits to Hidden Island.
Today was turning into the most entertaining kind of day, one where the other kids let him come along on their projects.
“You’ll be the lookout, Timor,” Gannon had told him. Gannon Jorkenrud had organized the expedition, and specifically invited Timor, even though it meant they had to carry him part of the way down from Starship Hill. Gannon and the others even helped Timor across the boulder field at the base of the cliffs. Sea birds skirled all about.
The kids were right down on the seashore now, the cliffs towering behind them. It was strange to be at eye level with the water. The froth of the waves seemed to merge with the sea haze above, misting over the buildings of Hidden Island just a couple of kilometers away. Here you could see what was beneath the cliffs. You could see how “low tide” had pulled back the water, leaving this field of slick rocks, a jumble of giants. There wasn’t a single dry place; all this was underwater when the tide was highest.
Belle pattered along beside and around Timor, grumbling as she often did. “This dirty water is going to smudge my pelts.” Belle was all white. This was quite rare among Tines—though one of her, the old male, might have had black patches when he was younger.