The Fire Wish by Amber Lough

Author:Amber Lough
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-385-36976-3
Publisher: Random House Children's
Published: 2014-07-21T16:00:00+00:00

24

Zayele

I thought I was going to vomit. I ran out of the Corps building, past the fountain, and spun around. Somewhere in this Cavern were tunnels that led to the surface. I needed to find one. Now.

I took a breath and decided to run into the city, which was on the other side of the canal. Beyond the city, the wall was darker. It could just indicate darkened crystal buildings, or maybe there were tunnels. I took off, not caring now what anyone thought. I had to move fast. I had to get out of sight before the Corps realized I was gone.

I dashed over a stone bridge that went across the canal, and almost ran into a pair of cane sticks that had moved out in front of me. I skidded, grabbed a lamppost, and looked up the sticks to see that a man was standing on the top. His feet were tied to the ends, making the canes an extension of his legs.

He reached up to the top of the lamppost and lifted off a glass cloche, whispered to the flame, and put it back on. Then he looked down and saw me.

“Sorry if I scared you there,” he called down. “It was almost out. Had to wish it back.” I nodded knowingly, noticing now how some of the lamps weren’t lit. So they had to wish their fires into existence. Some of them anyway. And the wishes weren’t permanent. I was about to move on, then hesitated.

“Sir? Do you know where an unguarded tunnel might be?”

“What do you need to know that for?” he asked, scratching his forehead.

“I’m supposed to do a study. For the Corps. Just got a little lost.”

“Well, I do think there’s a tunnel behind the waterfall. It goes up to a place that’s hidden from humans. Or so they tell us. Maybe it’s just to keep us happy,” he said. He shrugged.

“Oh!” I smiled widely. “That’s right.”

“Glad to help the Corps,” he said, then pointed to the next lamp, indicating he had to get on with his work. I looked behind to see if anyone had come out to follow me, but the guards were standing in place. The Corps building was halfway across the Cavern now.

I exhaled in relief and ran along the canal toward the waterfall, passing a group of small children and their mothers. When I reached the waterfall, I paused. It fell from a split in the crystal wall and poured into a pool, where it stirred up blue-green foam. There was a space behind the waterfall just wide enough for a person. I snuck behind, careful not to slip on the wet stone.

There was no one there. It was like being on the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley at home—only I was hidden and saw nothing but clear water and stone. There was a break in the waterfall only a few inches wide, where the water split, cascading down two sides of a crystal that poked out ten feet above me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.