The Starriest Summer (The Cycle of the Six Moons, #1)

Chapter Five: Damming Poison

Gediyon and I make it back to the mayor's hut and return the pot of stew. Some is still left, but everyone affected by the poison has already eaten some, and if they eat anymore, it could be dangerous for them.

Come to think of it, I didn't see any petrified people on our way back. I guess the fish really did help, after all.

For the next few minutes, I help Gediyon clean the cooking utensils and bowls. With Gediyon's water magic, we finish quickly, and by that time I'm ready to bounce off the walls.

The cocoa nut drink must've had caffeine in it. I love caffeine!

Gediyon says something about talking to the villagers for the next few hours, but I don't want to do that. I skip around outside from one rocky wooden walkway to the next, and when I find the right overhead platforms, I take out the grapple gun and swing my way around. The villagers must think I'm high, but I only had caffeine! They're the ones with the adrenaline rush, and they aren't even taking advantage of it. That's their loss.

I stop swinging around like Tarzan when I miss my footing and fall into the water. I don't know if I swallow any of it, but once an Arriscylean pulls me out, I'm calm again.

I guess I should spend the next few hours walking around the entire village and patching up all the damage I inflicted with the grapple gun. There sure were a lot of splinters flying around.

The villagers apologize to me that there's not much to do in Lereli now that the water is contaminated. They tell me at night, children usually capture lantern beetles in jars and they dive into the surrounding water looking for a coral that only glows at night. The adults, on the other hand, like to drink and toast in their huts while the sober recount their fishing accomplishments. Today, though, everyone is too fatigued to engage in normal activities, and they need to save the energy from the rush fish for tomorrow. One woman tells me that everyone must thank me and Gediyon, but I haven't even done anything yet. Still, hearing her say this makes me want to be a bit more respectful and stop grappling everything in sight. At least I repaired their wood.

Everyone starts disappearing from the docks, and the lights in their houses extinguish.

Now I realize that it's about half past eleven, and I only have half an hour before the whirlpool opens. I retrace my steps around the dock and look out to the sea where Mayor Rayel said the whirlpool would appear. The water is calm, not a ripple in sight, and I'm sure if it weren't for the fog, I would see the night sky reflected on the surface.

Hard to believe that somewhere under that flawless glass is a dam. How difficult can fixing it be, really? If it's anything like what I did with the small trinkets around town, it should be a snap.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up to see Gediyon.

"Are you ready?"

"I should be. I've been waiting around so long, this is all I want to do. I wanna get this out of the way."

"Michelle, would you like me to accompany you down there?"

"Really?"

He nods.

"Awesome! And all this time, I thought I was going to do this alone. Yeah, I'd love for you to come with me!"

I sit on the edge of the dock, rolling the shaft of my mallet back and forth over my lap. Gediyon stands beside me and asks me questions about Tyme, which I guess means my home. I don't think I'm breaking the fourth wall, since I've mentioned too many times that I know I'm in a game, so I tell him about Aaron and the virtual reality game. This time, though, he acknowledges the word "game"—did the laws of this game world just change?