Page 65 of Starside

“We’re here,” Zane says softly.

The sun is creeping over the horizon. Kira is still clutching my hand.

We lift her out of the boat, and Zane curses as he sees the extent of her injuries. Her leg—it’s ruined. Her knee buckles, and we catch her. We all take one step together. She screams with pain.

“Stop,” she says, shaking her head, her hair still pinned back. “You both—you know,” she chokes out. “You know I’ll never make it. You know I’m going to put you both at risk and—and it’ll be for nothing.”

“I’m not leaving you here,” I say, voice firm. I couldn’t save my sister, but I will save hers. “We will reach the end—together.”

Zane looks over at me. He says nothing, but I can read it in his face.

I look down at her leg. Even if we can heal the cuts, she won’t be able to walk alone, let alone run.

“Aris,” she says, voice low and serious.

“No.” I remember my sister telling me to leave her. Telling me to save myself. My eyes burn with the memory. I close them. “You will survive this. You will.”

“Aris,” she repeats, and it might as well be my sister speaking. “We made a pact. Remember?”

The quest must come first.

I open my eyes. She grips my hand. “Put me in the boat. It will sail back to Xara. She’ll help me get back to the gates—I know she will.”

“But your sister—”

“You’re going to make another pact,” she says, her voice firm. Her green eyes are blazing, searing into mine. “You’re going to promise me … if you make it back … you will get magic to my sister.”

It isn’t a fair request. I’ve only known her a handful of days. I don’t even plan on going back. But if somehow I do …

“I promise,” I say, meaning it.

Zane and I walk her to the boat, which sits there as if waiting for a command to be let loose again. We lay her inside. She looks up at me, on her back … and I can’t help but feel like I’m looking into a grave.

She grabs my hand again. “I believe you,” she says, tears slipping down her face. In her other hand, she holds on to the hilt of her sword. The purple gem sparkles.

The boat departs from the riverside, fighting upstream. Our fingers slip past each other. And it reminds me of the night I lost my sister.

12

“Let’s go,” I say roughly to Zane, after washing my bloody hands in the river. I walk past him.

Bury it down. I try, with every step I fight to forget, because crying would only slow my journey. My emotions are only distractions.

The quest must come first.

We spot the tree from miles away. It’s sticking up from the center of the forest, its trunk thicker and taller than a tower.

But that’s not the part that makes my breath catch. No, it’s the ring of flying creatures, soaring above its crown so quickly, their scales turn into smears of light.

Any of them could help us finish this quest.

First, though, we have to reach them.

“How are we supposed to climb that?” I ask Zane, taking in the height of the tree. “I’ve never—I don’t have much experience climbing.” The highest I’ve ever been is up to the ruins on the hill.

He glances over at me. “Lucky for you, I know a thing or two about it.”

The Beast Tree’s roots begin at the edge of the forest. We follow them like a map. They’re enormous, winding in and out of the ground like a massive stitch all the way to the town-sized shadow beneath the oak.