“Did you see—” Sera began, and then there was a hard jerk behind his navel and he felt like he was being pulled upward very quickly through a narrow tunnel. He found himself rising through one of the pools, except that it wasn’t filled with water and he no longer had any sense of his body at all. Glowing blue columns loomed all around him and a chain of silver-gold-blue was shooting up through the pool he was in, or maybe down from the cone of moonstone that was protruding from a circle of pure white vines covering the ceiling.
At the edge of the pool stood a girl with silver skin and blue hair, a few inches shorter than Sera and with a rounder face.
“Sera?” she whispered, staring at him. And he knew he was seeing through Sera’s eyes, her magic linking them, or maybe it was the moonstone they had been holding—this had to be the City Above the Sky.
“Leela?” Sera said.
Tears were tumbling down the girl’s cheeks, even as her face broke into a wide smile.
“It’s me,” Leela said, and her voice cracked, but there was a clear ring of triumph in it. “It’s me, Sera. I found you.”
Part Two
The City Above the Sky
7
SERA WAS ALIVE.
Leela emerged out into the Moon Gardens, still stunned by the vision she’d had below of Sera on a ship, crossing an ocean and gazing up at the stars, such tiny things, mere pinpricks in a blanket of ink black. And not only that, but there were Cerulean trapped in stalactites beneath the City. Leela’s head was so full of questions she wondered how it didn’t simply burst and spill her thoughts all over the moonstone statue of Faesa, who was staring at Leela with her wise, sad eyes. Who were these Cerulean? What had the High Priestess done?
Without even realizing it, she called on the statue to slide back over the hidden staircase that led down to that mysterious underground garden beneath the City. It was as if the moonstone was reacting to her very instincts and desires.
Leela looked up at the temple of Mother Sun, wondering where the High Priestess was now. She could still hear the faint swish plop in her ears, the sound of the High Priestess feeding the trapped Cerulean with that odd golden fruit. It was bad enough when Leela had first discovered that it was the High Priestess and not Mother Sun who had chosen Sera to be sacrificed—but after tonight she had no idea how deep her treachery ran. What was she doing with those Cerulean? Why keep them in stalactites?
The Moon Gardens seemed so alive now after all that stillness below—the snuffling of rodents and the buzz of insects sounded louder than usual. Leela realized she needed to move, she needed to get home before anyone saw her. It was not expressly forbidden for her to be here, but it wouldn’t do to have anyone asking questions.
The temple was on an island in the middle of the Great Estuary, in the center of the City, with three bridges connecting it to the mainland. Leela crossed Dendra’s Bridge in a fog, her mind pulled in a hundred different directions. But there was one thought that overpowered all.
Sera is alive. She repeated it over and over, numb shock giving way to joy as she passed the Aviary, the birds silent in their nests at this late hour. She wove her way through the domed sunglass dwellings until she reached her own home, nestled near the Apiary, and climbed through her bedroom window so as not to wake her mothers. She lay down and gazed at the ceiling, clutching her hands to her chest as tears seeped from her eyes and dripped into her hair.
“I’m going to find you, Sera,” she whispered to the ceiling. “I’m going to bring you home.”
How to actually accomplish this, she had no idea. But for now it was enough to know that her friend was alive, that she had not lost her forever.
It was all connected to moonstone, Leela was sure of it. The moonstone obelisk by the birthing houses had revealed markings and moved aside for her like Faesa’s statue did. It had shown her first a vision of a dark room with glowing flowers and a pretty tree with turquoise leaves, then another vision, a smaller room with a person with pale skin, turquoise eyes, and curly black hair. Perhaps it was even the moonstone itself that had saved Sera’s life. Leela exhaled in a gust. Could her gift have been responsible for keeping Sera alive?
Kandra, she thought with determination. She had to tell Sera’s purple mother. Not only had Leela found Kandra’s long-lost friend Estelle among the Cerulean imprisoned beneath the City, but Kandra needed to know that her daughter had not died. Except Kandra was living in the birthing houses now, far away in the Forest of Dawn, along with all the other purple mothers who had been chosen to bear daughters during the newly announced birthing season. How was Leela supposed to speak to her in secret there?
She bit her lip, regretting that she could not seek help from Sera’s other two mothers. But that would require far too much explanation of things Leela did not know or think it safe to reveal. She had no idea for what purpose the High Priestess was using the trapped Cerulean, nor could she actually prove to anyone that Sera was still living, since she seemed to be the only one struck by the visions, the only one with this connection to the moonstone.
She tossed and turned all night, but when dawn’s pale fingers crept in through her window, she was no closer to figuring out what to do next. She needed help. She needed Kandra. Leela fretted over the impossibility of the task before her as she made her way to the kitchen. But of one thing she was certain—she had to go back to the City’s underbelly as soon as she could. It was the only place she’d seen Sera and she felt certain it held the answers to seeing her again—and hopefully the solution to bringing her home.
“Why, you look even more tired today than you did after the Night of Song!” her green mother exclaimed as Leela took her seat at the kitchen table. Her purple mother was stirring a large pot on the stove, the smell of oregano, carrot, and onion filling the room.
“I’m afraid I did not sleep well,” Leela said with a yawn. “Is that all for us, Purple Mother? I do not think I have much of an appetite this morning.”
Her purple mother laughed. “No, I am bringing food to the birthing houses today. The purple mothers there must keep up their strength.”
Leela’s heart somersaulted in her chest. “But I thought the birthing houses were sacred and forbidden by anyone save the High Priestess to enter now that the birthing season has begun.”
“They are sacred indeed, but it is the duty of other purple mothers who have borne daughters before to provide those blessed to bear a child with nourishment and support,” her purple mother said.
Leela saw what might be her best opportunity.
“Might I accompany you there?” she asked in what she hoped was an innocent tone.
Her green mother’s face lit up, and Leela knew it was because she had not shown interest in much of anything recently.
“That is not allowed,” her purple mother said. “I’m sorry, darling.”
“I know,” Leela said, and made a show of looking crestfallen. “I was just hoping to see how Plenna is doing. Now that I have lost Sera”—her tongue tripped over the name—“I was hoping to find solace in my other friends. It would be such a blessing to see Plenna happy.” She sighed, hating the lie but knowing it was her best chance to see Kandra.