Sunwing by Kenneth Oppel

Author:Kenneth Oppel [Oppel, Kenneth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1-4434-1132-5
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2010-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

BRIDGE CITY

Shade hoped this would be the last night he spent in the jungle.

He hunted distractedly, paying more attention to the sky around him than to the insects he was trying to catch. With Chinook and Caliban—who had insisted on accompanying them—he stuck close to Statue Haven, warily snapping up any bugs that looked like they wouldn’t snap back. Anything too big, with too many antennae, or weird markings, or strange odors, he stayed away from. He also avoided the trees because there were snakes, and owls, and more of those bugs that had nearly bitten his head off; he stayed away from the ground because there were giant cats, and who knew what else.

Tomorrow night they were leaving.

That was their plan. For the past three nights they’d discussed it in the twilight and dawn hours inside Statue Haven. Shade knew it was the only chance at survival for any of them. For some reason, after his arrival, the jungle had become even more deadly. Two nights ago they’d lost one bat, and last night, three more. It was the cannibals. Normally they hunted alone, but lately they were traveling in packs, and they were scouring the jungle in some kind of feeding frenzy. Crouched in the narrow entrance-way of Statue Haven one night, Shade had seen them strafing treetops in the near distance, and with a shudder he recognized the familiar outlines of their broad, jagged wings. They’d killed his father.

This was only one of the thoughts that made up the constant, low roar in his head now. His father, here, alive, just nights ago. It was too cruel, and he wished he could stop thinking about it. But, still, it tugged at his heart like a hook. For the first time since plunging into that stream back in the Human forest, he had time to think about things, and they came crashing over him like a violent thunderstorm, leaving him spent with sorrow and rage. He could barely summon the energy to speak to Chinook or Caliban. He retreated deep inside himself.

Even his sleep was no escape. The bad dreams he’d had since returning to Hibernaculum had metamorphosed into something even more ominous. He dreamed of an eternal night, a night with no coming dawn, night without even the hope of the sun’s warmth. He dreamed of violent winds gusting across the earth, carrying the most horrible sounds he’d ever heard. Yesterday, he’d woken trembling from a vision in which the sun had been suddenly blotted out by a dark eye, but there was no center to the eye, no light in it. It was like a hole that only led to more pure darkness.

Escaping the jungle was the only thought that gave him any strength. It was what his father had wanted to do, and he was right. He had to get back north, find the forest, warn the others. If only he could know if Marina had been caught like him, or somehow made it back to Ariel and Frieda.

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