AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sorry,” Ella said, blinking out of her self-absorbed haze. “Is this hard for you?”
“You mean because I was never able to have children of my own?” Abbra asked, looking a little surprised at the question.
“Well…yes,” Ella admitted.
“No,” Abbra said, smiling warmly at her. “If anything, it makes it all the sweeter to have a baby to love on, even if it’s only for a short time.”
“Was it hard?” Ella asked. “Trying and hoping for all those years?”
“Of course,” Abbra said. “But over time, we accepted it. And of course, it gave us a dose of patience, and appreciation for each other.”
Ella nodded, looking out across the tundra, past the islands to the hills, where Charl hung from a leather harness, doing maintenance on one of the wind turbines that provided power to the community.
“By now, our children would be all grown anyway,” Abbra said. “But I still have my sweet husband. You know, some women say they were born to be mothers. But loving Charl is what I was born to do. He’s my whole world. I’d start from the beginning and do it all over again and again just to be with him.”
Ella smiled through her tears.
I will never have that. The man who was meant to be mine is putting himself a world away so that it can’t happen.
Movement in the sky beside them caught her eye.
A dark shadow was sliding across the lawn, though it was still afternoon.
“Rings of Odysseron,” Abbra breathed. “One of the islands has come untethered.”
Ella looked up and saw the massive cone of granite moving through the sky like a huge leviathan drifting through the sea.
It didn’t take her long to realize that it was headed straight for the wind turbines.
20
ELLA
Everything seemed to slip into slow motion for Ella.
Manx and Ree-lah were already running in from the field, shouting and waving to Abbra.
And Abbra was shouting and waving to Charl, to no avail.
Charl worked away at the turbine, wearing full protective headgear, and using a welding wand. There was no way he was going to hear any of them trying to warn him, and it was unlikely that he would be roused by a shadow, since the wand was creating a mini-sol around the section he was welding.
Abbra moved toward the chute, Bo still in her arms. Her intention to go to her husband was clear.
I was born to love Charl.
“Your leg,” Ella said, grabbing Abbra’s arm. “Keep Bo safe. I’m a good runner.”
There was no way the wounded soldier could outrun the island.
“Really?” Abbra asked, looking at her dubiously.
“I set a record for my school,” Ella told her, taking off before Abbra could ask any follow-up questions.
She was at the chute in no time, and heard Manx yelling about grappling the island to stop it before it knocked the turbines into the solar cells.
The chute dropped just as her stomach tied itself in knots at the idea of being out here without any power at all.
But there was no time to worry. She was leaping off and sprinting before the platform had even hit the ground.
