The Earth Dwellers Read Online Free
Author: David Estes
the snow—
—like she didn’t spend a week in bed recovering from a knife wound—
—like I never left her—
—is Jolie, building a man out of snow.
And then, as if sensing my presence, she turns, her nose red and her eyes clear and bright. Her face lights up in a smile that’s bigger and wider than all the countries of the earth. Her legs pump as she runs toward me and as I crouch down, and then they wrap around my waist as she slams into me.
I pick her up and spin her around and around and around as she peppers my face with kisses and says, “I knew it. I knew you’d come back.”
Chapter Four
Adele
I can tell Tristan’s offer has shocked them, because none of them are saying anything. Even Skye’s eyebrows are raised, her mouth slightly open. Gone are the accusations, fired at us with her round words and strange accent.
But does Tristan mean what he said? Can we really offer these people any help? Is it our job, our responsibility? Down below, we’ve got our own problems. The Tri-Realms are shattered, and without Tristan, leaderless. And Roc and Tawni will be wondering where we are, whether we’re dead. And my mother… my mother…
“We’ll come back with an army,” Tristan says, his words cutting into the silence like a knife.
“Come back?” Skye says, and I know from her tone and the pissed off look on her face that coming back is NOT an option…because we won’t be leaving in the first place. “Yer our prisoners. Yer comin’ with us.”
“Like hell,” I say, my sword coming up without me even having to think about it.
As casually as pushing back a strand of hair, Siena fits an arrow and aims it at Tristan, half-smiling. “Skye says you’re coming, so you’re coming.”
“But the air,” I plead, “you said it yourself: The air is bad, toxic. We’ll die if we stay here.” I’m surprised how high-pitched and whiny my voice sounds, even to me. But I’m frustrated, tired—of all the fighting, of the nonstop adventure I’ve been on. We’re supposed to be in the Sun Realm changing things, uniting the people. Who knows what the other generals are doing in our absence. If we stay aboveground…will I ever see my mother and sister again?
“Not right away,” Skye says. “You can cover yer noses and mouths with cloth until we can find somethin’ better.”
There’s still tension in my muscles, but I drop my sword arm. In this case, a bow and arrow trumps a sword, and I’m not about to die now. Not after racing across the Moon Realm, dodging sun dweller soldiers and killing a deranged psychopath named Rivet to free my sister and father. Not after infiltrating the Sun Realm and assassinating the President of the Tri-Realms. I can’t let an arrow from this strange girl be the reason I won’t get to see my sister, Elsey, ever again.
Tristan throws his sword on the ground in front of us, also realizing we’ll have to make our move later. I follow his lead and do the same. We can’t fight arrows with swords. Not now. Maybe later.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“New Wildetown,” Wilde says. “Home of the Tri-Tribes.”
~~~
They cover our faces with thin pieces of cloth, tied tight against the backs of our heads and clamped down by our hats and sunglasses, which they put on over them. I can’t see anything except the glow of red light. We can breathe, but I don’t believe for one second that filtering our breaths through the cloth will protect us from whatever harmful chemicals are in the air.
What the hell is going on? Who are these girls, so young, so rough, so here ? With their sun-kissed skin they’re clearly not Dwellers, not the ones from the Sun Realm, the Glassies as they call them. But didn’t everyone else die when the meteor hit hundreds of years ago? That’s what the scientists predicted, that’s what the history books say. But what if they were wrong…?
My hands are strapped behind my back, but my feet are free so I can walk.
—like she didn’t spend a week in bed recovering from a knife wound—
—like I never left her—
—is Jolie, building a man out of snow.
And then, as if sensing my presence, she turns, her nose red and her eyes clear and bright. Her face lights up in a smile that’s bigger and wider than all the countries of the earth. Her legs pump as she runs toward me and as I crouch down, and then they wrap around my waist as she slams into me.
I pick her up and spin her around and around and around as she peppers my face with kisses and says, “I knew it. I knew you’d come back.”
Chapter Four
Adele
I can tell Tristan’s offer has shocked them, because none of them are saying anything. Even Skye’s eyebrows are raised, her mouth slightly open. Gone are the accusations, fired at us with her round words and strange accent.
But does Tristan mean what he said? Can we really offer these people any help? Is it our job, our responsibility? Down below, we’ve got our own problems. The Tri-Realms are shattered, and without Tristan, leaderless. And Roc and Tawni will be wondering where we are, whether we’re dead. And my mother… my mother…
“We’ll come back with an army,” Tristan says, his words cutting into the silence like a knife.
“Come back?” Skye says, and I know from her tone and the pissed off look on her face that coming back is NOT an option…because we won’t be leaving in the first place. “Yer our prisoners. Yer comin’ with us.”
“Like hell,” I say, my sword coming up without me even having to think about it.
As casually as pushing back a strand of hair, Siena fits an arrow and aims it at Tristan, half-smiling. “Skye says you’re coming, so you’re coming.”
“But the air,” I plead, “you said it yourself: The air is bad, toxic. We’ll die if we stay here.” I’m surprised how high-pitched and whiny my voice sounds, even to me. But I’m frustrated, tired—of all the fighting, of the nonstop adventure I’ve been on. We’re supposed to be in the Sun Realm changing things, uniting the people. Who knows what the other generals are doing in our absence. If we stay aboveground…will I ever see my mother and sister again?
“Not right away,” Skye says. “You can cover yer noses and mouths with cloth until we can find somethin’ better.”
There’s still tension in my muscles, but I drop my sword arm. In this case, a bow and arrow trumps a sword, and I’m not about to die now. Not after racing across the Moon Realm, dodging sun dweller soldiers and killing a deranged psychopath named Rivet to free my sister and father. Not after infiltrating the Sun Realm and assassinating the President of the Tri-Realms. I can’t let an arrow from this strange girl be the reason I won’t get to see my sister, Elsey, ever again.
Tristan throws his sword on the ground in front of us, also realizing we’ll have to make our move later. I follow his lead and do the same. We can’t fight arrows with swords. Not now. Maybe later.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“New Wildetown,” Wilde says. “Home of the Tri-Tribes.”
~~~
They cover our faces with thin pieces of cloth, tied tight against the backs of our heads and clamped down by our hats and sunglasses, which they put on over them. I can’t see anything except the glow of red light. We can breathe, but I don’t believe for one second that filtering our breaths through the cloth will protect us from whatever harmful chemicals are in the air.
What the hell is going on? Who are these girls, so young, so rough, so here ? With their sun-kissed skin they’re clearly not Dwellers, not the ones from the Sun Realm, the Glassies as they call them. But didn’t everyone else die when the meteor hit hundreds of years ago? That’s what the scientists predicted, that’s what the history books say. But what if they were wrong…?
My hands are strapped behind my back, but my feet are free so I can walk.
Readers choose
Connie Archer
Robert T. Jeschonek
S. G. Klein
Marceline Loridan-Ivens
Highland Groom
R. E. Pritchard
Susanna Carr
Max Brand
Aja James