Chapter 16 #2
It’s such a heart-stopping sight, that my breath whooshes out of my lungs. I quicken my steps to catch up with him, drinking it in. His eyes glimmer with mischief.
‘You’re smiling.’ I prod him in the ribs.
‘You, Ellie, are about one of the few people who can put a smile on my face. It’s downright uncanny. The more I don’t want to smile, the more you make me. And, unfortunately for me, I don’t hate it.’
I want to reach out and give him a hug. Who made you smile in the past nine years, Mace? I want to ask him. Did anyone do that for you?
‘You say that like it’s a bad thing,’ I say instead. He doesn’t reply, but I’m on to something, and I dig my claws deep into it. ‘You’re the one who wanted to go on this mission with me. You chose this.’
‘I did,’ he says. ‘But what was I supposed to do?’
‘Explain.’
‘Well. You and Xandra would have clawed each other’s eyes out if I’d sent you anywhere together.’
‘You might be right,’ I concede.
‘I don’t trust Julian entirely.’
My eyebrows shoot up of their own agreement at this. ‘That’s interesting.’
‘He’s too easily distracted,’ Mace says.
By Xandra, most of all, I think. My suspicion that when Allen said, ‘He’s hopelessly in love with her’ at the Ball he was referring to Julian, and not Mace, is looking increasingly accurate. ‘And Allen?’
‘Oh, Allen,’ Mace says. ‘He’s not as a strong fighter in the field as the rest of us. But he has other qualities.’
‘Aww. This is quite touching,’ I say.
‘It’s not a joke, Ellie. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to Allen.’
‘Me neither,’ I say, and look sideways at Mace. ‘I see how it is. You bit the bullet and took up this mission with me because you were protecting Allen. That’s pretty heroic. Sacrificing yourself like that to endless, mindless chatter.’
‘I didn’t say the chatter was mindless. You did.’ Mace turns away, which makes me itch to put a smile on his face again.
By mid-afternoon, we reach the shore of another lake.
While the bank we’re on is a soft slope, the lake is bordered on the other side by a tall cliff.
The forest is so thick that I can’t see if it hides the access to another cave or some sort of building where the block of information might be concealed.
Which is a problem, because the cluster of sensors we’ve been chasing is right up there, on that cliff. ‘This is a bummer,’ I say. ‘How long would it take to go around, and scale the cliff from the other side? Wouldn’t it have been wiser to circle around from the beginning?’
Mace huffs. ‘Do you actually think I haven’t noticed that the sensors are on a cliff? Or where we’re going?’
‘I think you’re bluffing,’ I say. ‘Because you’d never admit you’ve led me astray.’
‘I’d never lead you astray. Have some faith in your team captain.’ He says this as if it wasn’t funny, but I disagree. ‘And going around the cliff would take us at least two days. More likely three days, considering your pace.’
‘I’m smaller than you,’ I say. ‘Even if I take the same number of steps as you, I’m behind.’
He looks in the distance and I can tell that something is fishy. ‘There might be an alternative, one that your clever, very well-prepared team captain has thought of. Something that might spare us the three-day-trek, since, you know, we’re trying not to stray too far from the rest of the team.’
I should be too proud to ask, since he’s clearly baiting me, but he is saving us three days of trek – six, actually, taking into account the return journey.
‘What’s the catch?’ I say, narrowing my eyes at him.
‘I hope you didn’t think I could just teleport to the top of the cliff and wait for you. I would do it if I could, trust me.’
‘Oh, that I know,’ he says. ‘And we’ll have a talk about how to put to good use the powers we uncovered during the last fight, and how to coax them out during training. But we have other priorities for now.’
I mock-roll my eyes. ‘Fabulous. I can’t wait.’
‘I know you do. Anyway. We’re veering off track again. About that other option… Could you ask Stella if she can do us a favour? Ask about flyboards.’
‘What’s a flyboard?’ If it saves me six days’ hike, though, it might be my new favourite accessory.
‘It’s something very fun,’ Mace says. ‘You’ll see, if Stella gives them to us.’
‘What would you know about fun?’ I quip, then call on Stella nonetheless, and make the request.
She taps her own wrist, seeming rather pensive. ‘The use of flyboards is forbidden to complete the tasks I set you.’
‘We’re not looking to complete a task,’ Mace says. ‘Ellie and I are trying to have a bit of fun. Scale a mountain and all that.’
Stella glares up at the sheer cliff face on the other side of the lake. I wonder if she’s contemplating what’s hidden at the top of the cliff, what we’ll find within that cluster of sensors that Allen pinpointed for us. ‘Scaling? No task completion?’
‘I promise,’ Mace says. ‘If we complete a mission by accident, you can deduct the points.’
‘Alright.’ A hatch opens not far from us, hidden at the bottom of the derelict dock. ‘I’ll take your word for it.’
Before she disappears, she winks.
Huh.
Two long, narrow boards, probably made of some carbon composite, make their way to us. Mace picks one up. He looks smug and, for a moment, I catch a glimpse of the boy he used to be.
It feels like a punch to my throat.
Oblivious to what’s going on in my mind, Mace pulls out his ART and starts tapping into it. ‘You’ll need to connect the flyboard to your ART first, Ellie,’ he says, and then he begins guiding me through the motions.
I can barely focus. And to top it all, while I’m still scrolling through the different functions in the programme, Mace has gone off and covered his board in an intricate, green-and-black geometrical pattern.
‘What are you?—’
‘Customisation, Ellie.’ He hops onto the now-colourful board.
Before I can even ask what he’s doing, he’s taken off at a blinding speed, hovering inches above the surface of the lake.
He guides the board into nauseatingly quick turns with small, incremental movements of his body, going faster and faster.
He drives the board closer to the water, skimming it with the tip, making it rise in an arc around him.
It looks perfect and elegant, and it reminds me of something I can’t quite grasp. My chest squeezes until I almost can’t breathe anymore.
Mace stops abruptly, still hovering in the middle of the lake, and stretches out a hand towards me. ‘Come on, Ellie. Hop on. You’ll get the hang of this in no time.’