Free Cloudland by Lisa Gorton Page A

crept so close to one her breath left a dull print on his cheek, which faded to reveal glistening skin and then showed again, like a slow pulse beating.
    â€˜This one’s crying,’ said Daniel.
    â€˜Not crying,’ said Wist. ‘Melting.’
    Lucy noticed a dripping sound, mournful and low, and the skin on the back of her neck prickled. It was the sound of these Cloudians wearing away. Already, they had maimed shoulders and three-quarter faces. She pressed her fingers against the skin over her cheekbones, half-expecting to feel her own face melting.
    â€˜The Kazia’s frozen most of Cloudland,’ said Wist. ‘Now it’s all melting.’
    â€˜That’s the rain on Earth?’ said Daniel. He smudged his thumb across a Cloudian’s cheek, leaving a curved mark. Holding his hand to the light, he let liquid gather and swell on his nail.
    Wist watched him with a strange expression. ‘If the Protector defeats the Kazia, these Cloudians might come back to life,’ he said. In the dripping sound of melting cloud, Lucy heard the word
impostor
, and imagined the frozen Cloudians shuffling closer. ‘But they’ll have forgotten everything,’ continued Wist. ‘Even their names.’ He nodded at the Cloudian Daniel had touched. ‘That one will carry your mark.’
    â€˜That’s disgusting,’ said Daniel, darting a furtive look at the Cloudian and sliding his hand into his pocket.
    â€˜The Varactor!’ cried Jovius.
    Panic exploded in Lucy. She was running so hard she thought her chest would burst open. Beside her, the air turned white.
Snow geese
. They swept past her, a rush of wings. Their slipstream dragged her sideways. She flailed, panic beating at her ribs. Pain shot up her leg, and the cloud tilted sideways beneath her.
    She was a mess of arms and legs, the cloud ice-cold against her cheek. Above her, the air hissed. Looking up, she saw one globular eye, pale as a cataract, blocking out the sky. Blank terror lifted her up and sideways.
Crack!
The Varactor slapped a tentacle against the cloud where she had been.
    â€˜It’s slow moving sideways!’ Daniel screamed in Lucy’s ear. ‘Wait till it’s almost down. Then run!’
    They crouched, watching the Varactor billow up and search for them, swaying its eye from side to side. With loose movements, it drifted sideways until it was directly overhead. Then it started sinking.
    â€˜Now!’ screamed Daniel. They broke into the open.
    Light burst from the Varactor’s tentacles and for a moment, everything turned black and white. Lucy felt the force of the blast in the small of her back. The explosion had shot the Varactor into air. It hung there, shimmering against the sky.
    White cloud engulfed Lucy. The sky somersaulted around her and Daniel’s elbow jabbed her side. She saw his face, an inch away from hers, and had a strange sensation of floating.
    â€˜The Megalith!’ gasped Daniel. ‘It scooped us up.’
    As her mind took in what Daniel had said, Lucy realised that she wasn’t floating – she was sunk in theboneless flesh of the Megalith’s back. It was carrying them away from the Varactor. Its soft, jolting stride made Lucy feel her ribs had loosened. She couldn’t stop gulping air.
    The Megalith stopped so suddenly its skin rippled. It had landed in the circle gate that led out of Altovia. Looking over its shoulder, Lucy saw polished steps dropping from the gate into a sea of air. Fathoms down, the cloud plain was pale like a sea floor, patterned with shadows and light. The Megalith’s flesh tightened. Then it jumped.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Megalith
    It was more like surfing than flying. The air was made of currents and sudden falls. The Megalith’s soft flesh gusted around them as it swooped, slipped straight down and swooped again. All the time, the wind made a hollow roar; but the glittering emptiness they fell through gave