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While he slept, I wanted to pace; establish a perimeter and defend it from everything, but I was one woman in a vast, unknown world. And moving about could draw scorpions I had no way of fighting off.
Eventually, I went over to stand beside Adone. I’d keep my perimeter small. As long as we made little movement and nothing erupted from the sand nearby, we should be safe. Adone needed to sleep and rest. Traveling would come soon enough.
The world around me remained quiet, which surprised me. I kept waiting for something to loom over us or for the monitors to fly up in my face and spit more toxic sludge at me.
Tumbles rolled back after his adventure and curled up next to Adone. He was soon asleep, and I wondered if I could trust his judgment about the safety of where we’d chosen to rest. If he wasn’t afraid anything was coming, should I be?
By the time the sun rose, my eyeballs stung, and I was as droopy as Adone after he’d flown across the cavern.
He stirred, and Tumbles stretched his branchy fur, leaving it spiked out. He rolled away from Adone and started in the direction we needed to travel, pausing to look back at us.
Adone sat up and brushed sand off his body. Rising to his feet, he walked over to where I stood, looking around the desert.
“It’s quiet here in the morning,” I said softly. It felt weird to speak in a normal tone. Despite the monitors whirring in to check on us periodically, the hushed night had sunk into my bones.
Adone tugged me into his arms, my back against his chest, and curved forward to rest his chin on my head. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“You should’ve woken me. I would’ve watched while you slept.”
“I can sleep later.”
“While I fly.”
I turned to face him, ignoring a monitor coming in so close, the universe could probably see the pimple forming on my chin. “Do you want to fly? Maybe you should save your strength for the final part of this task. We can walk for a while.” Assuming we could find it. Would we walk all day through the desert only to be exterminated at sunset without ever reaching our destination?
“I will fly, then rest before we complete the task.”
“It could require a lot of strength.”
He shrugged. “If I fly, we can get there with enough time for me to sleep first.”
Maybe. We had no idea what we’d be asked to do next.
“All right.” It didn’t make sense to argue. Time was ticking away, and it was silly to worry about getting worn out when not doing so could mean our death.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded. Stooping down, I called Tumbles over to us. He kept staring toward where we needed to go, then back at us, before he grumbled and rolled over to me. I lifted him and held him close.
Adone picked me up, and I held onto his shoulder. “I think . . .” He huffed. “I am not sure how to fly when I don’t jump off an elevated surface.”
“Perhaps if you start running, then extend your wings?”
He shrugged. “It is anyone’s guess, but I’ll try that first.”
He took off, his feet pounding on the sand and his wings unfurling. Tumbles and I bounced, me with my arm around Adone’s neck.
A few hops gave him a bit of elevation, but he wasn’t able to achieve full flight.
“I do not know how to do this,” he growled. He kept trying, leaping up and flapping his wings, but I could tell something was missing. “I cannot fly unless I jump off something.”
“Can you see a high point we could aim for?” I asked as he lowered me to my feet. “You could jump from there.”
“What’s that?” he asked, pointing.
I couldn’t see anything but pretend water shimmering above the desert. It reminded me of how thirsty I was and how much I wished I had my jug full of water still.
“If you see something, then we’ll head that way.”
“I will run,” he said. His head tilted, and he peered back from the way we’d come.
The enormous blue creatures with jutting horns had somehow climbed the cliff. Had they tracked our scent or had the Universal Council created a ramp for them to reach this stretch of sand? It didn’t really matter.
They raced toward us, bellowing.
