“And the ring switches you back,” Cole said.
“Rings like this are rare,” Twitch said, holding it up. It was silver, with a strip of tiny blue gems all the way around. “They’re crafted by Ellowine enchanters. I’m not sure how one ended up at Skyport, but there it was, so I claimed it.”
Cole thought back to the slave wagons. “When the slavers were in my world taking my friends, one of them looked like a golden wolfman. I never saw him again.”
“One of the lupians,” Twitch said. “A warlike people. You don’t see many with golden fur. He must have reverted to his true form in your world.”
“Show us what you really look like,” Jace said. “I never got a good look.”
“Not when I was carrying you?” Twitch asked.
“My mind was on other things,” Jace said.
“Mira told us her secrets,” Twitch said. “We know where Cole comes from. But I don’t know much about you, Jace. Why don’t you tell us about your past, and then I’ll show you my true form.”
“Not much to tell,” Jace said with a slightly uncomfortable smile. “I’ve been a slave all my life. Never knew my parents. I hated being controlled, and nobody could break me. I still found ways to have fun. And I worked really hard at not working hard. Owners got sick of me. I was traded a couple of times, and finally they sold me to the Sky Raiders. Best thing that ever happened to me. I could finally live. It was dangerous, but I could do my own thing most of the time. Okay, let’s see your bug parts.”
Twitch rubbed his lips, one of his eyelids fluttering. “Thanks for putting it so delicately.” He unbuttoned his shirt and took it off. “My wings ripped the old one,” he explained.
Twitch slid on his ring, and a pair of insectile antennae appeared high on his forehead. A quartet of translucent wings were now on his back, two on each side, like a dragonfly, but folded downward. Pulling up one pant leg, he revealed that his leg looked like it belonged to a giant grasshopper.
Cole flinched a little but tried to keep his expression composed. The bug legs were a little much.
“You’re knees are backward,” Jace said.
“From your anatomy, yes.” Twitch laughed. “But I can jump, like, twenty times higher. And I can kind of fly. Although I may not look it, I’m also quite a bit stronger.”
“Being human must feel so limiting,” Mira said.
“It does,” Twitch said, tapping his fingertips together in rapid succession. “It’s part of the reason I’m so careful. Picture if you were suddenly weaker and slower and your Jumping Sword was malfunctioning.”
“Were you a big risk taker back home?” Jace asked.
“I’m careful by nature,” Twitch clarified. “Among my people, it’s seen as a positive trait.”
“They sound really exciting,” Jace teased.
“We prefer quiet, happy lives,” Twitch said, taking off the ring. The wings and antennae vanished. “But we don’t always get what we want.” He started putting his shirt back on.
“What about you, Cole?” Jace asked. “What was your life like before coming here?”
“Easy. Compared to this, I mean. My parents took care of most things. We have a nice house. My sister thinks she’s awesome, but she’s not too bad, especially compared to slavers and scorpipedes. I went to school. I played sports.”
“Sounds like you were rich,” Jace said.
“I didn’t think so,” Cole said. “Maybe compared to some people. We were about average.”
“Did you ever get your hands dirty?” Jace asked. “Work in a mine? Or a field? Did you handle livestock? Build a house?”
“Nothing like that,” Cole said. “Mostly just school and sports and goofing off.”
“Rich must be average where you’re from,” Jace said. “Sign me up.”
“I’d love to,” Cole said. “Who knows if I’ll ever make it back there?”
“One step at a time,” Mira said. “Kind of like back at Skyport. First priority? Survive today. Second? Survive tomorrow.”
“How long until Brady’s Wilderness?” Twitch asked.
“Barring delays, we’ll arrive tomorrow morning,” Bertram said.
“Then I’m going to get comfortable,” Jace said, snuggling into his corner of the coach. “Wake me if something tries to kill us.”
Chapter 26
BRADY’S WILDERNESS
Chocolate chip cookies the size of hula hoops floating in a pond of milk gave Cole his first warning that something was out of the ordinary. He squinted out the window in the morning light. Bushes and small trees grew intermittently on the muddy bank beside the pond. Rocks and sticks littered the shore. Everything looked like a normal woodland pond except for the creamy white liquid and the huge, unmistakable chocolate chip cookies doubling as giant lily pads.
Twitch had curled up on the floor of the autocoach between the seats. Jace was wedged in his corner. Mira had her head on Bertram’s lap. They all breathed like they were sleeping. The old semblance stared sedately out the window.
Cole had only dozed intermittently through the night. Despite the smooth ride, he had struggled to get comfortable sitting up. Mango had visited before sunrise to confirm that the legionnaires were veering north and south of them—not into Brady’s Wilderness. Too anxious to sleep, Cole had stayed awake since the cockatiel’s visit, watching for trouble.
“Guys,” Cole said. “Check this out.”
Mira popped up as if she hadn’t been fully asleep. “What is it?”
Jace leaned forward blearily to look out Cole’s window, then promptly snapped more awake. “Are those cookies?”
“And milk,” Mira said.
Twitch sat up, stretching. Still on the floor, he was too low to see outside. “Everything all right?”
“Yep,” Cole said. “Just a cookies-and-milk pond.”
“I want one,” Jace said. “Stop the coach.”
“We have food,” Mira said.
“Dried meat and biscuits,” Jace said. “No cookies.”
“They’re probably stale,” Cole said. “The milk has to be spoiled.”
“It doesn’t smell spoiled,” Jace said. “This is shaping. The normal rules don’t always apply.”
“Could be a trap,” Mira said.