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“I assume we’ll see the edge of the dome.”
Without my leaf umbrella, my skin started to pinken, but there wasn’t much I could do about it.
Adone took my hand. “I want to tell you what I remember that is good in my life. Would you do the same for me?”
“You want to pass the time?”
“That, and I want you to remember me with good memories, not the horrors I suffered for most of my life.”
My ribs ached and it had nothing to do with our recent exertion. He thought he’d die soon, and he wanted me to remember special things about him, not feel pity for how he’d grown up.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and turned away to wipe my tears. Sniffing, I sent him a quick smile.
“I’ve made lots of memories with you already.” I leaned into his side as we walked. His arm around my waist felt good, despite the growing heat of the day. “When I think of you, I only want to smile.”
He grinned down at me. “Still.”
“Go ahead, then. We can trade memories.”
“The last thing I remember of my childhood before Vunne was my mother stroking my head. I think I’d been sick, because I lay in my bed, and my body ached. Her smile was the sweetest, most wonderful thing I’d ever seen until I met you.”
“Adone.” My eyes stung again with tears. “I’m sorry your mom is gone.”
“Me too,” he said with a sigh. “My father stood nearby, watching us both with pride. He was often busy with his work, but he loved us both very much; that was always clear.”
“I’m glad you have that memory to hold on to.” It would be horrible if he didn’t remember anything about his parents.
“What is your earliest, best memory?” he asked.
We reached the top of an extra-long slope and stopped, studying the area we still had to travel. More rolling hills peppered with spindly trees, but far in the distance, I spied something different. The dome did end.
I pointed. “Is that the island?”
“It might be.” Excitement filled his voice. “We could be there by the end of the day.”
“Then we only need to build the house. We’ll have all of tomorrow to do that.” Eagerness skipped through my heart as we started down the hill. “I have a few ideas for the house, but I’m not saying anything out loud.” I sent the closest monitor a sharp look. “Spies are watching.”
Adone chuckled. He scooped me up in his arms and started running across the desert.
“I can walk,” I said, clinging to his shoulders.
Tumbles rolled along with us, and I swore he was laughing too.
“This is my third good memory,” he said. “Holding you.”
“Third? You haven’t told me your second.”
He flashed me a smile. “That was last night.”
A hum rose in my throat. “Last night was special.”
“Tell me one of your memories.”
“It was when I was little. Before we moved to the commune, we lived with my grandfather. He was old . . .” I frowned. “Actually, he probably wasn’t very old back then, but he seemed old to me. Anyway, he loved to carve things out of wood, and for my fifth birthday, he carved me a tiny wooden unicorn.”
“What is a unicorn?”
“It’s like a horse with a solitary horn growing out of the center of their head.” I explained what a horse was, since Adone didn’t know that term, either. “I don’t know where that unicorn is now. I had it in my pack when I was kidnapped, but they ripped that away from me and threw it on the ground. It’s probably lost forever now.”
