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Nix abruptly walked into the woods, heading to an upslope that led away froo," she called over her shoulder

"Where?"

She pointed toward a line of white rocks beyond the trees "Up there We can cli"

Sheback to see if he followed

After several heavy seconds of indecision, Benny rose and ran after her

They ot to the line of bright white rocks, the less certain Benny beca, he thought There had to be a ranger station or soe of the woods first and suddenly stopped dead in her tracks

"No," she said softly

Her bokken dropped froround Benny hurried to catch up, and as he did Nix screale word

"NO!"

She yelled it so loudly that birds erupted fro rocks It was loud enough to be heard aLilah

Riot

The reapers

The dead themselves

Louder still than her scream was the thunder of Benny’s heart as he sahat had torn that shout of denial out of her

There was no ring of white rocks There was no ranger station or a forgotten farainst the unforgiving landscape

And it was heartbreakingly familiar

It was an airplane

PART TWO

BROKEN BIRDS

Shallowmen believe in cause and effect

--RALPH WALDO EMERSON

41

"NO!" CRIED NIX AS SHE SHOVED PAST BENNY AND RUSHED FORWARD, but he darted out a hand and caught her aro," she said viciously, and tore her arlare "Don’t you see what that is?"

"It’s a jet--"

"It’s the jet" Tears broke and fell down Nix’s freckled cheeks "Look at it Everything’s ruined Oh God, Bennyeverything’s ruined"

Benny pushed back a low-hanging branch and stepped out of the woods so he could see the wreckage His heart sank in his chest, and his fingertips were ice cold from shock

Beyond the trees was a plateau One side dropped away into a crevasse that was choked with tall pines; the other side leveled out into a section of flat forestland A long trench was cut into theback at least half a mile, and the nose of the craft was sh bases in rainy baseball games to understand the physics of that The plane had not si in low and then sliding to a long, messy stop on the forest floor

Because these woods were part of the Mojave Desert, the soil was loose and sandy, which had probably kept the plane froe was al the side they could see Both wings had been sheared clean off One rapped like wet tissue around a tall finger of rock two hundred yards down the trench The other wing had torn off closer to where the craft stopped its fatal slide, and it had twisted into an upright position, looking like the sail of an old-ti and was cracked in two places, but the plane had not torn itself to pieces Even so, bits of debris were littered behind it, so white where they were visible against brown sand and green pinyons and junipers Creeper vines clung to the s The vines were draped like spiderwebs between the blades of the four big, silent propellers

The glass s at the front of the craft were smashed in, and the creepers had intruded there, too A aping like a blackin tatters frorass below the ragged ends of the plastic Benny had seen pictures of inflatable escape ras, and the plastic looked like it ht be the remnants of one

He pointed it out to Nix as he picked up her fallen bokken "Look at that Soed down the panic in Nix’s eyes by a couple of degrees She accepted her wooden sword, but her hands gripped the handle with such white-knuckled force that Benny thought she was going to attack the dead aircraft She took a couple of quick steps toward the plane

"Be careful," he said, keeping his voice low in case there were reapers in the woods

"I’ to look," she said in a voice that was less confident than she probably wanted it to sound

Benny began to follow and then stopped He felt a frown pull down the corners of his mouth, but he did not consciously understand why His eyes roved over the scene again The trench, the plane, the foliage, the broken wings, the open door His frown deepened

So

"Nix, wait," he said "Don’t"

She paused and looked sharply at him "Why not?"

Benny licked his lips "Idon’t think that’s our jet"

"What are you talking about?"

"Nix, that’s not the jet "

She looked froain, and there was such fury in her eyes that he e of her bokken "You’re crazy," she barked "Of course it’s the one "

"No, it isn’t, and keep your voice down" Benny ca’s been here for at least a year Probablyto grate on him, and he snapped back

"Open your eyes," he said, his own tone growing sharp He pointed to the sh the bottos Come on--they’re at least a year old At least that, and maybe older Sos, Benny Saplings bend They could have bent over and sprung back up"

"No way They’d have been snapped off Look, there are bigger trees that were torn right out of the ground"

It was true; the dead trunks of a hundred small pine trees lay in the trench, their limbs snapped, roots torn out of the sandy soil Many of them were ripped completely apart, and there were dried sticks that could easily have been saplings that were killed during the crash Benny pulled a few up and brought thes the plane hit Those others could never have survived this big freaking thing crashing down on them"

"So what?" she demanded Somehoith her voice lowered to a whisper, she sounded even angrier and more annoyed with hirowth?"

"I’m not an expert, Nix, but I’le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>