cascade | kotlc

4. Stowaways of a New Life

 June's brows furrowed more.

Better to pretend she didn't realize. It would lead the figure into a trap. Since when did the Neverseen have a Vanisher?

That would complicate things.

"Any chance we'll be leaping soon?" Keefe asked as a blob of slime dripped into his hair.

"We won't be leaping. The ogres have a gadget that can follow the trail of a leap to its source. It's how they restrict entry to their cities and monitor intruders. Now that we know the Neverseen are working with the ogres, we must assume they'll try to track us. Our transport is this way.

Everyone followed Mr. Forkle out of the tunnel. June made sure she was the last in line and quite a far distance back. She could sense the figure slowly walking behind her.

As swift as wind June spun back and elbowed the figure in her face. The figure staggered backwards, and she reached for its invisible hand and latched onto it, before she was knocked back into the wall.

Panicking slightly, June bashed her head into the figure, and she dropkicked back, throwing her hands around the figure's throat as they slammed into the back wall. She felt herself getting kicked in the stomach and she lost the figure.

Concentrating on the air, she directed the wind to blow heavily. The sound of tumbling echoed through the hall confirmed the figure's location and June pulled out Glistensteel, driving it into the stone floor. A scuffle rang out behind her and June spun around, slashing widely at the air.

Footsteps, coming from behind her again. June leapt up and dropkicked behind her, hearing the figure duck and roll before she was thrown down. She blocked her fall with her elbows and whirled on the feet, sweeping the figure's legs and sending them tumbling on top of each other. June bashed at the figure with her arm, and he grunted, before he tossed her over his shoulder.

"Nice fight," the figure breathed.

June got up shakily as the figure appeared. It was Della.

June blinked once, then twice, slightly in shock.

"I was wondering how you managed to detect me," Della admitted, "which was why I didn't reveal myself immediately. If I'm correct, you tracked me based on -- and this is a very loose guess -- vibrations in the air?"

"Disturbances," June corrected. "I can sense pockets in which there is less or more air than normal. When were you so good at combat? I could've trained with you all that time."

She laughed. "I'm astounded you didn't ask me why I was here first. But yes, I did learn martial arts. It's a shame I couldn't show you my roundhouse kick here in this tunnel, but June, that dropkick was rather impressive."

June blushed. "I probably could've detected you earlier, if I realized sooner. To be honest, I only realized your presence because it just felt too cramped in the tunnel."

Della nodded. "Indeed. I did not expect the Black Swan to take us to such limited spaces, especially considering the prominent threat of an attack."

"Let's go," she said, as Della disappeared. "My sister will eventually notice my absence. By the way, how did you manage that teleporting? It seemed like you were always behind me."

"Flashstepping. It's very hard to learn, and only Vanishers can manage it. It's a more advanced type of blink."

They walked down the hallway and found six eckodons in the river. Mr. Forkle was handing everyone lufterators.

"Uh-oh," June murmured. "You can't hold your breath that long, can you?"

"No," she agreed. "This is a slight problem. I was not expecting underwater travel either."