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SUMMER
Burmoot nodded and a hum erupted from the mechanical boxes strapped on his arms and calves. They must be propulsion devices, because he lifted off the ground and zipped up into the sky. When the hatch in the dome opened, he soared through. Two round black balls the size of my head entered, and as the hatch shut, they flew down close to us.
Tiny lights flickered behind rectangular viewing screens as they floated above us. Lights, camera, action. It was showtime.
Pinching my lips together, I shrugged them off and turned to Adone. “How are we going to make water disappear?”
“First we must find it,” he said, scanning the wasteland around us.
“It won’t be on the surface.”
“It’s not uncommon to find an oasis or river even in the desert, but I believe you are right. This will not be an easy task.”
“Can you fly up higher and see if you can find it? Then you can come back for me, and we’ll run to it.”
The light of excitement in his eyes faded. “I cannot fly.”
“Why give you wings if they don’t work?”
“That is a very good question.” He flicked another scale on his chest. About the size of my thumb, they had points on the bottom. I wasn’t sure what use they’d be as they only covered his upper chest. “Why give a male scales that excrete poison?”
“They secrete poison?” I shivered, remembering I’d touched one.
“They are supposed to, but they do not work as they should either.” His scales lifted in a rippling pattern. “They move as they should, but they do not shoot poison.”
“Why did he do this to you?”
“Not just to me but also to my brothers. After I was captured when I was three seasons old, I was taken to Lord Vunne’s chamber, as were my brothers, Zomir, Tetryx, and Bahros. Vunne performed experiments on each of us in an attempt to turn us into his own personal army.”
“It didn’t work.”
“Most of his experiments don’t. We didn’t allow him to see the few that do.”
“Except your scales and wings don’t.”
“Not well,” he said.
“When we win this Game, we’re going to kill that guy, Vunne.”
“I agree.” He nudged his head toward the low hills far in the distance. “We should travel in this direction.”
Turning, I checked out the desert, but there were no other landmarks in sight. No river. No oasis, though the shimmer on the horizon played tricks with my eyes, telling me there could be water in that direction.
“All right.” At least I was dressed for hiking in jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers.
We started across the desert, slogging through the sand that seemed determined to suck us into its sweltering embrace.
The two monitors flew behind us, watching our every footstep. I assumed they’d zip in to catch our facial expressions if something horrible happened, transmitting each image to whoever watched us.
Walking in a desert sucked. In no time, my throat was parched, and sweat coiled down my spine. “Maybe we should walk at night? I don’t know much about traveling in the desert, but the sun is going to leech every bit of moisture from our bodies.”
“We need to keep going. I worry we don’t have time to find the water and discover a way to make it disappear.”
“If there’s any water here, it has long since disappeared. It evaporated.”
“I could carry you, if you’d like,” he said, pausing. “Then we could keep going.”
I turned to face him, checking out his muscular chest and abs, his bulging thighs. He rivaled a body builder I’d seen on TV once when I was little, before we moved into the commune, where TV was forbidden.
