Free Away by Teri Hall Page A

parent—she couldn’t imagine losing both.
    Nandy shrugged again. “We don’t really know. Could have been a forest creature. Could have been the Roberts. We never found their bodies. They just didn’t come back from gathering wood one day.”
    â€œWhy do you and the Roberts live in different camps? Why don’t you work together? It seems so hard here, without having to worry about your own people being enemies.”
    Nandy dumped the flour into a bowl and added some oil. She began to mix the two together.
    â€œThe Roberts don’t think of us as people.” She sighed. “A long time ago, when the first gifts started to show in children, a man named Robert was one of the leaders. He thought the gifts were signs of evil. He thought all the children who had them should be killed. Indigo’s grandfather was another leader at that time. He wouldn’t allow any children to be killed. He said that all of us were people, that all of us were good, gift or no gift. So there was a split. Some of our people went with Robert—”
    The hut door burst open in what seemed to be Pathik’s usual fashion. He came inside, his arms filled with wood for the fire, but he was halted by Nandy’s scowl. She was looking at the floor, where the rag they used to stuff the crack in the ill-fitting door lay, fallen when Pathik opened the door.
    Pathik raised his eyebrows as far as they would go and shrugged. He set the wood down on the hearth and returned to the door, picking the rag up and carefully dusting it off before he stuffed it in the crack. Nandy shook her head, but then she started to laugh.
    â€œThat door!”
    â€œBet I have something to fix it.” Rachel hurried to her duffel bag. She rummaged in it and came up with a small case. Pathik nodded; he recognized it. He’d seen some of what Ms. Moore had packed in the duffel when they were still on the way to base camp. Since they had arrived there had been little time; Pathik had loaded the batteries into the solar charger and put it on the roof of the hospital to catch light, but there had been no time to try out the tools and other items.
    â€œWhat is it?” Nandy came to get a better look.
    â€œIt’s a laser saw.”
    â€œI’ll go get the batteries.” Pathik looked excited. He had been fascinated by the assortment of tools and other items Ms. Moore had sent. He’d grilled Rachel endlessly during the trek to camp about how her life was: what did she eat, how was it cooked, what sort of vehicles were there. Rachel had been exhausted with all his questions.
    â€œBatteries? Too bad. Those run out of energy, right?” Nandy touched the case. “They’ll end up in the tech cemetery.”
    â€œThe tech cemetery?” Rachel wondered what that meant.
    Nandy nodded. “You should have Pathik show you sometime.”
    â€œThese are solar charged—Ms. Moore packed lots of things that run off of them,” said Rachel. “She also packed a solar array that will let us recharge them. Pathik put it up on the roof of one of the buildings, so it could catch the sun. I think this will trim that metal so the door fits right.” Rachel snapped open the case and took out a folded piece of paper that lay atop the tool. She handed it to Nandy. “Directions.”
    Pathik came back, out of breath. He held three slim rectangular objects. “Is this enough of them? I thought I remembered it taking two.” He and Rachel had read the directions on the trek to camp.
    â€œYes, I think it’s two.” Rachel removed the laser saw from the case. It was rectangular too, palm-sized, with an opening on one end and a dial on the side.
    â€œSo you snap that off,” said Nandy, pointing to the end with no opening. Rachel frowned at it. She couldn’t see anything to snap off, and she didn’t remember what the directions had said.
    â€œMay I?” Nandy reached for the