Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia

Author:Kwame Mbalia
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2019-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

“AAAAAHHHHH!”

Have I mentioned that I don’t love heights? If it weren’t for the fact that the island of MidPass, hundreds of Midfolk, and the spirit of my dead best friend depended on me, I would’ve called it a night.

“AAAAAHHHHH!”

Silver and black lightning bolts were being hurled at us by giant black stone towers with jewels at the tops, but that was no reason to panic, now was it?

“AAAAAHHHHH!”

I lay on my back on the raft, spread-eagled so I looked like a brown X, my hands and feet stuck in mounds of sap. Why? Well, flying rafts don’t come with seat belts, and the rock lasers were all riled up.

“Will you stop screaming!” Ayanna yelled at me.

She stood in a crouch, both hands on her staff as the wind whipped her braids behind her. She flinched to her right, and all of a sudden the raft tilted sharply, and, regrettably, I was unable to follow her instructions.

A blast of night-dark lightning (Nightning? Did I just make up a word? IT’S TRADEMARKED, CHUMPS, HANDS OFF!) whizzed by and scorched the earth below. I could smell burning grass and dirt.

“Make them stop shooting at us!” I hollered.

Chestnutt huddled in a corner, the straps of my backpack—which Ayanna had secured to the raft—crisscrossed over her little body like a harness. She squeezed her eyes shut and her ears lay flat against her head.

Ayanna gritted her teeth. “Oh, I’m sorry. Allow me to make that request.”

Another blast barely missed our heads. I opened my mouth to scream, but Gum Baby’s voice cut me off.

“We’re almost clear, Ayanna! Just one more! Ready?”

I looked up, pressing my chin to my chest to focus on the doll at the front of the raft. She stood with her legs spread wide, her hands on her hips, and her miniature braids pulled back in a ponytail.

“Ready for what?” I looked back at Ayanna. “Ready for what?”

She grimaced. “Something I hoped we wouldn’t need to do, but if we don’t shut down these lasers, reinforcements will be all over us.”

“Um—”

“GB!” she yelled, talking right over me. “Here we go!”

Gum Baby nodded. Ayanna tightened her grip on the staff and glanced at me. “Hold on tight.”

I tried to crane my neck as far up as I could. “But I’m already stu—OOOOOHHHHH!”

The raft jerked to the right just as a polished rock tower the size of a skyscraper appeared in our path. Perfectly smooth, like a cylinder of black glass, it stretched way above us. As we circled it, rising in a spiral, the sheer height of the thing blew my mind. Jagged blue sapphires and purple amethysts floated in a space cut way at the top, and they flashed in warning, like a lighthouse. The hairs on my arms stood up straight, and then, with a crackling burst, another blast of nightning shot out of the precious stones. The raft swung sideways to avoid it, and Ayanna yelled.

“Now, Gum Baby!”

But our fearless little marksman—markswoman (marks-doll-baby?)—was already taking aim and screaming at the top of her lungs.

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.