Free Beyond Our Stars by Marie Langager Page B

approaching threat. Then there was Grim, who hadn’t reached for my hand and was bending down to look at the curving metal.
    Legacy was doing his best not to look intimidated. His sidekick, Boston, was standing with him as usual, but he had sweat glistening on his forehead.
    Faith and Gaia were starting to wander off slightly, investigating. Faith rapped her knuckles on the metal floor and looked up at her sister.
    â€œWe got this,” Gaia said.
    Cairo was watching Marseille as he often was. I saw her flit a worried look in his direction. He moved toward her and gave her a reassuring squeeze on the arm.
    The metal hills under my feet began to move. They rose up a foot. The sensation reminded me of the ship and I instantly felt sick. But there was no water, so maybe…I didn’t let myself finish the thought. Legacy had been right. True to my name, I always got hopeful. Only to have that feeling crushed. I had an ironic, punishing name, if you asked me.
    The swells were rising higher, and they began to look less like dunes and more like rising columns. We were getting separated fast in the commotion.
    â€œTogether, stick together!” I yelled.
    We all tried to move closer together but it was difficult when we were being tossed around on the moving metal. I was trying to formulate a more impressive plan when one of the tiles slid away. A black gaping hole remained underneath it.
    â€œWatch it! Watch out!” Chance yelled. He was nearest to it.
    â€œWhat’s down there?” I yelled back. I let my feet slide down a dune and then used my hands to help me crawl up the next one and stay in relatively the same place, without being pushed further out. “Don’t get too close.”
    Chance inched his way toward where the tile had disappeared on unsteady legs as the floor shifted. He managed a few steps, and then as he lifted his foot the tile he’d been standing on slid away, too. It slid into the adjoining tile and left the same blackness.
    â€œChance!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
    He leapt and ran over, barreling into me as I caught him in my arms. Both squares had disappeared from near where he was standing. I knew we were sharing a thought,
maybe if we avoid that area
.
    â€œHope!” Weeks called out, jumping to the side. The metal tile next to him slid away. “There are stars down there, it’s a fall, into space,” he said, being too daring and getting closer than I’d like to the edge.
    I began scanning the periphery. At the far end, nowhere near where we were standing, there seemed to be something in the darkness. A shape I could barely make out that was different from the rest of the shiny metal.
    Another square disappeared near Weeks and he began running toward us. I felt dizzy, he was coming for help and safety but I wouldn’t be able to do anything if the floor disappeared from underneath us. As he ran, squares began sliding away, both behind and in front of him, causing him to zigzag.
    I made a snap, gut decision.
    â€œFollow me!” I yelled. Pilgrim was near me so I grabbed his hand.
    They all took off after me as I began running to that faint shape. Squares disappeared, and I fought the urge to look behind me.
    Pilgrim screamed next to me as the square underneath him fell away. I pulled him up before he could fall, dragging him after me as he regained his footing. “Fast! Fast!” I yelled.
    I could make out the shape now. A long floating bar, barely wide enough to stand on. We kept running.
    I threw Grim up. “Keep your balance,” I said, and made sure he was steady before I turned to check on the others. People began catapulting themselves up onto the bar. There wasn’t going to be room. Not for all ten of us. Two more got up, squeezing and balancing to make room.
    Maybe nine. Maybe. But not ten. Whole sections of the floor were falling into a black sky. Now, I could see so many stars. It was a beautiful twinkling