The power to fly waned. Something inside Nadia felt exhausted, almost empty as she couldn’t stop dwelling on her arguments with Josh. A series of slopes and inclines with rocks, mounds, holes, and bumps caused the bike to jostle violently on the dirt path as she pedaled at full speed. For two days, the weather had remained hot, dry, and cloudless. The sun beat oppressively. The field grass withered low. Trail dust coated the lower portion of the bike as well as the legs of its riders. Josh licked dust from the roof of his mouth. Long midnight ink hair turned a morning breeze into a stream of heated air with an odor of dusty oil mixed with sweat.
Without a consistent flight ability, the trip became rough. Two days of standing on the thin extension bolts of the bike’s rim tore through the soles of Josh’s sneakers, leaving his bottom feet bare but for socks. Now they were sore and blistering from hours of bracing. Skin pulled every time the bike jostled. The path turned so that the glare of the sun burned his eyes.
After a few minutes of squinting Josh tapped Nadia’s shoulder; she didn’t respond. He did it again, nothing, so he shook her left shoulder with enough force to interrupt her concentration. The bike swerved off balance. Nadia forced a stop to avoid falling sideways. Josh jumped from the bike and dusted off his shirt.
He limped away as he tried to stretch out the stiffness. A grassy knoll ran parallel to the north side of the road. He found a still green spot to rest and collapsed. After checking the chains on the bike, patting some dust off her jeans, and stretching a bit, Nadia approached Josh. She gave him a kick against his shin. Josh pretended to be unaffected by the pain.
“Are you a total moron? What kind of stunt was that?!”
Josh put his hands behind his head and sighed, saying nothing.
“Let’s go stupid! I still have a long way to go, do you want me to leave you behind?
“Do what you want. I’m not going to be pushed around by you anymore.”
“This is about me being a girl, isn’t it? You wouldn’t be giving me such a hard time if I was still a boy. Face it, you just don’t like taking orders from a girl.”
“It's not about you! Do you even see or care what happened to my shoes!? Boy, girl, whatever! I’m nobody’s slave, certainly not yours.”
“Excuse me mister murder assassin death killer, but you have to do what I say. I’m the only reason you’re still alive, and if you don’t get on the back of that bike right now then I don’t care what happens to you.”
She walked back to the bike angrily and lifted it from the dusty trail. Josh didn’t make a move, so she found herself looking back rather anxiously.
“I know what you’re after,” Josh said, “and it’s not that I don’t admire your determination, but I’ve been drug along on the back of that damn bike of yours for five days straight now, morning till night. I’ve barely been given time to eat. My shoes are ruined and my feet are bleeding. I’m thirsty. I’m tired. And I’m hot. All I want is a day off. If not, then go ahead and carry out your little threat. I’m getting some rest. Go on without me. I’ll find a way to control the Incubus on my own if I have too.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. It’ll kill you before I ever reach the port.”
“If you don’t kill me first. Like it or not, I’m taking a breather. Got that?”
While Nadia brooded, she spotted an orange grove over the knoll. There they would have shade, fruit, and solitude. But before climbing the hill she took a deep breath and summoned a great deal of scorn.
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“If I was still a guy, I wouldn’t pity you so much. I haven’t forgotten that you were paid to kill me. I’m going up the hill to that shady forest. Don’t try to come and find me either.”
“I’ll go where I want. If I find you along the way it’ll be an unpleasant surprise.”
Once she disappeared into the grove, Josh broke a thick blade of high grass and chewed on the stem. After a half hour of chewing, its thick end had practically dissolved in his mouth. As the sun reached its height, it couldn’t be easily avoided by changing his position along the hill, so he abandoned his spot. There was no reason why Nadia should have a big shady grove all to herself when she hadn’t wanted to stop in the first place. The orange trees arranged in neat rows provided shade. The branches were endowed with large round oranges ripe for the picking.
Josh picked two. They had thick peels which were soft and easy to remove. Their sweet, mouth-watering, center begged to be eaten. He devoured one, spit out the seeds, and mashed the leftover peels into the dirt with his foot. The peels made his wounds burn and he squinted, but despite that he had no trouble helping himself to the other, and picking a third after that. In the center of the grove he found a small lake, created by a beaver dam that held back the flow of a stream.
Water glistened temptingly healthy, deep, and clear. Splashing a handful on his face, he found it cool and refreshing. Nothing stopped him from drinking his fill. He checked the beret. It remained pure ivory white. There were no snakes here if Conya was true to her word.
Meanwhile, Nadia rested her head under an orange tree with a thick trunk as she sat by herself with her knees folded against her chest. She gazed into the forest ceiling as the noon sun’s rays peeked through the canopy. Slender patches of light wavered on the grass. A scent of citrus filled the air as Josh came from behind the tree and stood beside her. She turned her head in the opposite direction. Josh laughed as she frowned and grumbled.
“You better be ready to go.”
Josh laughed again, “You act like such a girl. Why in such a hurry to change back?”
“What? I didn’t even hear you.”
“I found a nice lake, and I’m going to take a swim. Just thought I’d report to you first.”
“Why is that, afraid I might leave without you?”
“No, you’re too damn busy feeling sorry for yourself. Know what, you need to lighten up before you go mental. Sure, you have problems, we all do, but it won’t do you any good to press yourself and everyone else insane over it.”
“That’s easy for you to say, but I’m the one who’s lost the most.”
Josh walked to the next tree. A rain of oranges fell around him after he punched the trunk, leaving a splintered dent. One rolled until it reached the front of Nadia’s feet. Most of the others broke. Juice leaked into the soil. Josh held his tongue and took deliberate breaths until he calmed down. His eyes became moist, so he squinted before wiping them.
“What do you know about loss!? Just because you do nothing but whine doesn’t mean you’re the only one with problems. You got an even trade, you didn’t want it, but it’s still an even trade. I lost everyone and got a curse devouring me from the inside! I watched it devour my family! Do you know what it’s like to lose control over yourself? Do you know what it’s like to live with a hatred that doesn’t even belong to you!? I’m not denying you your little quest! But the least you could do is lighten the heck up. World doesn’t revolve around you.”
“I’m sorry. I never thought about it like that,” she saw the stains on the grass and on his sneakers, “I haven’t- I can’t- You’re right. We should take a break today and maybe bandage your feet. I’m sorry.”
Josh tilted his head while his mouth hung slightly ajar. He removed his fist from the tree, scratched the back of his neck, and rubbed the sore fingers, “There’s a nice lake up ahead. I think I’ll swim the stink off.”
“What about the snakes?”
“I’ll take the risk. Anyway, the nomad lady gave me this warning barrette. It turns red if they get close.”
Nadia nodded faintly before smiling briefly. It was a weak smile, but Josh couldn’t help noticing. Back at the bike, he found a pair of black swim trunks folded in with the men’s clothing. One thing about her, he thought, she excelled at packing luggage. Her old man seemed like a complete freak when it came to housekeeping, so she probably gained the skill honestly. Josh wished he’d had a father like that.
After finding a private spot to change into the swimsuit and hanging his other clothes on a limb, he returned to the lake. Fingers rubbed together as he contemplated an approach strategy. Then he ignored his blisters and ran full force into the water recklessly. The crisp, crystal clear lake revived him, and the energy enabled him to swim it twice from end to end. The barrette didn’t warn of danger when he checked it.
A small cliff that fell into deep water became a challenge. First, he dove in feet first to gage the depth. It was quite deep, so after that it was head first every time for the next ten tries, even if he had to limp a bit before each dive.