Page 115 of The Last Hope

My stomach twists in knots, and I realize it’s not me at all. Franny bounces on her heels, and looks to the water with complete dread. She still can’t swim.

But we’ll be doing fine.

I have to believe that for them both.

“Remember what we practiced,” Stork says as he pushes to the front of our group, near the edge of the island. He holds a handheld device that’s shaped like a gun. The first time I saw it during training, I thought we were being outfitted with Saltare weapons.

Turns out the damned thing isn’t even a weapon.

Or a Saltare device.

Franny bounds to my side. “There are oceanic crocodiles in the waters,” she whispers to me. “I read about them.” She swallows hard as her nerves mount.

“Shoulda done what I did.” I nudge her shoulder. “No reading. No worrying about whatever’s deep in these oceans.”

“At least you can swim.”

“You’re gonna be fine, little love.” I tap her head for good measure, and her spirits fight to rise.

“I can do this,” she mutters under her breath.

Court and Stork stand side by side and they whisper for a second before Court appraises the rest of us with a quick sweep. “We’ve done this a hundred times,” he reminds all of us. His eyes stop on Franny. “You don’t need to know how to swim, Franny. Because you’re not going to fall in.”

Confidence blazes his words, and I feel it in my bones. She must too because she nods strongly in acceptance.

Court motions to Stork. “Let’s go.”

Stork holds the handheld device out to the water. He clicks the button, and just like in training, a small translucent platform—no bigger than a rung of a ladder—appears inches above the water. He said it was a “solid” hologram. One that could carry our weight. It shimmers in the sunlight and is only big enough for a single boot. Stork will keep clicking the device, creating plank after plank, to make a walkway above the ocean.

Even bringing thehumandevice here was a nasty risk, but according to StorkandCourt, there was no other way to cross the wide ocean from the trash island to the mainland.

So here we are.

Crossing a whole damned ocean with nothing more than hologrammies.

“Watch your step!” Stork yells over the growing waves.

We’d been training for this part of the journey back in theLucretzia’s pool, but there weren’t any waves. And I see nowthat a small pool is nothing compared to the vast, turbulent body of water before us.

No need to think about that.

I’ll be thinking about safely crossing and reaching solid ground. Once there, Stork will be pressing another button and the hologrammies should disappear.

Out in front, Stork clicks the device and continues to create the shimmery planks. Each time he clicks one, he steps forward. Court goes next, and I fall in line behind him.

In a single row, we walk.

Franny is situated between me and Gem. Then Padgett, Zimmer, and Kinden bring up the rear. The journey is quiet as we all concentrate on stepping. Warm wind bathes me, heating my skin, and sweat starts to uncomfortably build.

Court glances back, eyes pinging to me. It’s not the first time, and I’m fearing it won’t be the last. “Look where you’re going,” I say, worry cresting. “Or I’m going to push you off myself.”I’d never.But he understands the threat all right.

Concern. Worry. It mounts like a thousand bricks between the three of us. I think we’re more distressed about the possibility of each other going in the waters than ourselves. Being in this damned single-file line and walking without being able to see eye to eye is unnerving is all.

“Did you know that there are exactly one thousand steps from the island to the mainland?” Gem says, loud enough to be heard over the waves and the wind. “Nia and I did the calculations yesterday.”

“We know now,” Kinden says like he wished he didn’t know and then he lets out a curse.

I glance over my shoulder to see the rear of our line.