Free Wooden Bones by Scott William Carter Page B

where people didn’t know him, where he could start fresh, he would keep his past a secret.
    Knowing Elendrew would be irritated if he delayed any longer, he turned to head back inside—then realized that he might be able to learn something from this girl to help him escape.
    â€œAki?” he said.
    She smiled. “I like it when you say my name.”
    â€œOh. Um, can I ask you something?”
    â€œGreen,” she said.
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI thought you wanted to ask me what my favorite color is,” she explained. “It’s green. I know that’s not very interesting. That’s what lots of kids say, because green is so pretty here.”
    â€œIt is,” he agreed. “No, I want to ask you, um, well—is the ropefloat the only way down?”
    â€œWhy? Do you want to go down?”
    â€œNo, no, I was just curious.”
    â€œIt would take a long time to go down.”
    â€œI don’t want to go down. I just—”
    â€œI could ask Father to take us down. It would be fun. We could go exploring and have a picnic.”
    â€œNo!”
    Pino hadn’t meant to yell, but Aki was getting so carried away that he was afraid it wouldn’t be long before she was marching straight in to Elendrew to announce that Pino would be going down to the forest floor. The little girl lookedquite taken aback, blinking rapidly, a flush in her cheeks.
    â€œWell, you don’t need to shout ,” she said.
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œI’m standing right here, after all.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œIf you don’t want to go, it’s not really a big deal. I can always go with someone else .”
    â€œYes. That’s true. I was just—I was curious about getting down, that’s all.”
    â€œWell, of course everybody knows the ropefloat is the only way down.”
    â€œOh.” Pino’s heart sank. If he needed to escape without being seen, it would be hard to do it when there was only one way down. Everybody would be looking in the same place.
    â€œExcept in an emergency,” she added.
    â€œWhat?”
    She sighed, drumming her fingers on the rope railing. “We practice it all the time. After you’re here a little while, you’ll practice it too.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œThe featherwings, silly! What do you think I mean? After the great shaking a few years ago, when some of the tall trees fell, Elendrew ordered us all to make featherwings. They’re not wings, really, that’s just what we call them. If they were real wings, maybe we could fly and I wouldn’t have to wish for it anymore. These just kind of let you float gently to the ground. So in case the ropefloat isn’t working, like if it was broken during a great shaking, then we could get down.”
    â€œWhere do you keep them?”
    She shot him a look. “You can’t use them now !”
    â€œI know, I know! I was just curious.”
    â€œWell, we keep them under our beds, of course. Everybody does. Where else should we keep them?”
    â€œOh.”
    She shook her head. “Pino, you really don’t know very much, do you?”
    â€œNo,” he said with a great sigh of his own, “I guess I don’t.”

CHAPTER TWELVE
    F ive days later not only was the wooden suit finished, but Pino also had his plan of escape.
    It was a simple plan, but it required everything to go exactly right. When he showed Elendrew the finished wooden suit, he told her that in order for it to be brought to life, his papa would have to be present. He’d always brought wood to life with Papa in the room, he insisted, and he didn’t think he could do it any other way. He also told her that it couldn’t be done inside her chamber. It had to be done in the open air, because wood did not want to be brought to life inside other wood.
    If Elendrew was suspicious, she didn’t show it. If anything, she looked