Free The Boys of Fire and Ash by Meaghan McIsaac Page A

feet.
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I told you it’s not so easy out here,” he said with a sad smile. He turned back to the rolling hills and headed out towards the Baublenotts.
    This was how Blaze liked to talk, lots of words but never saying anything. It was frustrating, and I was getting tired of him just telling me what I felt was only part of the whole story. “Hey,” I barked, making him stop. “But what
is
it?”
    He clicked his tongue obnoxiously, staring up at the Shibotsa for what seemed like hours. Then finally: “You have Rawley, right? He’s a real Brother, right?”
    I nodded, and Digger and Av joined me.
    “Have you ever met him?”
    Digger laughed. “He’s been dead forever. No one’s met him.”
    Blaze looked to Digger. “So how do you know he’s real?”
    “B-because,” Digger said, “because he’s Rawley. Because he was the First Brother. He just did…”
    “But you’ve never seen him, right? You don’t
know
.”
    “He’s dead,” I said, annoyed that Blaze was doing his confusing talk again. “We just know.”
    “No,” Blaze said. “You don’t know. Not really.”
    “What’s your point?” Everything that came out of his mouth was frustrating, like he thought we were stupid.
    “My point is, the Beginning is lots of people’s Rawley story. It’s something they tell themselves they know.”
    Untouched
. That was what he called me when he sat down on my cot. He was right. Everything in this world outside the Pit was so confusing, so frustrating, so loud. How could any Brother survive on his own? My stomach twisted. How could Cubby? He was so small, so kind. This world was too ugly for him, and now he’d seen it. If I got him back, would he even still be like he was?
    I quickened my pace and followed after Blaze. I had to get him back, and do it fast.

TEN
    We stalked the fringes of the Baublenotts for hours, back and forth, while Blaze prodded the waterlogged earth, humming and hawing, deciding on the safest entrance to the still marsh.
    I was losing my patience with him. This was taking too long.
    Av and Digger sat together on a large slab of rock with their heads in their hands, bored and tired, while I paced around, unable to hold still.
    Blaze stopped in front of a large pool of water and sank the large stick he’d been walking with for the hundredth time. The stick stopped halfway, and Blaze pushed and wiggled it cautiously.
    “Well?” I asked.
    Blaze ignored me and stared ahead into the green swamp. The sun was almost gone, the water still as glass, large rocks and vegetation poking out in patches.
    Blaze stepped into the pool and he sank up to his knees. He prodded again with the stick, then cautiously took another step.
    Av perked up and watched Blaze hopefully, while Digger’s head bobbed as he fought sleep.
    “Can we go now?” I pressed.
    Blaze kept on ignoring me. He was silent and watchful, staring into the marsh.
    “Nope.”
    Av sighed, resting his chin back in his hands.
    Restless, I slid down the muddy bank to the edge of the pool.
    “Blaze!” I barked, crouched in the mud behind him.
    He whipped his head around and shot me a vicious look, a finger to his lips, then went back to watching the dead marsh.
    “Blaze,” I whispered, “this is as good a place as any! Let’s just go!”
    Blaze poked at the floor of the pool again, then nodded.
    “Yeah,” he said. “We’ll go in this way.”
    I let myself collapse in the mud with a breath of relief. “Thank Rawley.”
    Blaze hoisted himself out, back onto the bank, and walked over to Av and Digger’s rock. Digger was now fast asleep and Blaze smacked the back of his head. Startled, Digger yelped as he fell off the rock.
    “Have a bite and we’re on our way,” Blaze instructed.
    I sat up. “You’re kidding!”
    “Uh, no.”
    “No, no, no,” I said, scrambling to my feet. “There’s no time to forage or hunt for food. If you see something as we go, fine. But we can’t stop; you took hours