Free Cloudland by Lisa Gorton

going?’ called Lucy.
    â€˜Just get away, first. Then we can figure out how to get home.’ Daniel tapped his pocket. ‘I’ve got the Comclo.’
    â€˜But we should have left them some!’ The alien beauty of the cloud valley frightened her. With every step, the silence tightened around her like dread.
    At last, turning a corner, they stepped out of the valley. Ahead of them, there rose a fabulous city: domes and spires walled in by cloud. It was probably only a kilometre wide, and yet it held so many ornate, high buildings it had the crowded glamour and power of a great metropolis.
    â€˜Quiet,’ whispered Daniel, though she hadn’t spoken. ‘Don’t move.’
    She searched the sky. ‘I can’t see –’
    â€˜Not a Varactor. Down there, near the gate.’
    â€˜But that’s cloud, isn’t it?’ she started, and then gasped, as the pale mound she was watching stretched and took a step. She looked automatically for Wist, waiting to hear his voice telling them what to do,but there was only emptiness and silence. ‘This is all wrong.’ The unease she had felt, walking down the valley, settled now in her stomach like a lump of wet clay. ‘We shouldn’t have left.’
    â€˜It’s the size of an elephant,’ said Daniel, his gaze still fixed on the pale creature. Dragging its stomach, it trundled through the city gate and vanished.
    â€˜Wandering again?’ Wist stepped around the corner with Jovius close behind. ‘Another early-morning stroll?’
    Wist fixed his colourless eyes on Lucy’s face. Shame spread across her skin like a rash. She stood with her mouth open and could think of nothing to say. What had she been planning, anyway? It was like waking and trying to remember a dream.
    â€˜You have the Comclo, I take it?’
    â€˜I’ve got the Comclo,’ said Daniel. He was standing very straight, two red spots burning high on his cheeks. He pointed at the city. ‘Wist? Down there, we saw this huge creature.’
    â€˜So I heard,’ sighed Wist, flicking his ears back and forth. ‘You saw a Megalith. Primitive but well intentioned.’ Just then, the sun rose over the edge of the cloud. It was so bright it made the air shake. The city, a hundred metres ahead of them, seemed to rise and tremble like a mirage.
    â€˜We’ll go through Altovia,’ said Wist, nodding at the city. ‘We’ll find shelter there if the Varactor returns.’
    â€˜And the Megalith?’ asked Daniel.
    Wist pulled his thin lips back. ‘The least of our concerns, I assure you.’

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Altovia
    They stepped through a circle of polished cloud – the gate to Altovia. Every step they took rang out like a bell, breaking the silence into tiny pieces.
    â€˜The Varactor will have heard that,’ said Wist. ‘Not much time now.’
    All the same, looking around her, Lucy could hardly tell fear from wonder. They were standing on a street that ran straight across Altovia. The street was paved in mosaic tiles. Each wall and doorway, street and window, glittered with reflected light. Everywhere, Lucy saw sculptures of such weird beauty she thought of stunted mountain trees covered in snow.
    â€˜Altovia used to change every day,’ sighed Jovius. He waved a hand at the sculptures. ‘Every day, these Altovians would turn the Pattern Wheel and move the city into a new shape.’
    â€˜But that’s stupid,’ said Daniel. ‘How did they find their homes?’
    â€˜They lived anywhere! Why stay in the same place? The city belonged to each of them –’
    â€˜Those sculptures are
Cloudians
?’ interrupted Lucy. ‘They’re frozen?’
    The sun rising over the eastern wall shook rays of light onto the Cloudians’ faces. It looked almost as though they were turning their heads. Lucy found herself waiting for them to start walking again. She