Between the Sea and Sky Read Online Free PDF

only wanted to talk about Dosia.
    He noticed her crestfallen expression. “I’m so sorry.”
    “It’s all right …”
    “I know how close you two were.”
    “Yes … we were.” Esmerine ran her fingers through the braids she had so carefully woven that morning. Dosia used to have a sure and willing hand with braids, but now Esmerine managed alone. Her mother and Tormy both yanked too hard.
    Jarra bowed and turned to go, but she caught his arm. “You—you don’t want to dance?” she asked, sounding more desperate than she intended.
    “Oh. I didn’t know you wanted to.” He shrugged and pulled her into an awkward hold, but she imagined he was thinking of Dosia. Well, so was she, for that matter.
    It was no better to be home. Her mother fretted all the time, wondering aloud how Dosia was doing. Tormy and Merry sang songs of how they might save her. The two younger girls even went to Olmera, the village witch, to ask if they might do something, and came back sulking and silent.
    If Esmerine still knew Alander, he could have brought paper and helped her write Dosia a letter. Maybe he would have even flown around and looked for her. She asked the traders to look for him in the city.
    “That winged boy? But I haven’t seen him around in years,” her father’s friend told her. “He’ll be all grown up.”
    “But he’s—well—just see. He was tall for his age, and he always had a book. Brown hair a little lighter than mine, brown eyes too.”
    “All right. I’ll ask. But those winged people all look the same.”
    Esmerine was now the oldest sister left, and more invisible than ever.
    As weeks passed, life began to tingle back, and she wondered what would happen if she were to look for Dosia. Most merchildren tried walking once or twice, giving up after the first few twinges, but Esmerine and Dosia had persisted, bounding weightless on the ocean floor, standing on the shore of the tiny islands that dotted the bay, clutching rocks and trees for balance. Esmerine didn’t think that the pain of walking could be worse than the pain of wondering where Dosia was.

Chapter Five
    It was a daunting prospect, to imagine going after Dosia. Not only would her feet ache, not only would she be in an unfamiliar place, but even if she found her sister, the humans who had taken her belt surely wouldn’t make it easy to get back. As much as her mother fumed at the traders, Esmerine understood they really couldn’t help.
    They needed someone who could move easily around the human world, someone clever who understood how things worked on the surface.
    Someone like Alander.
    She hadn’t seen him in four years, but she knew he would remember her well. Their friendship had lasted for almost that long, and they had been the most memorable years of her life. Alander had driven her crazy half the time, bringing her chemises to wear while they played so she would be properly clothed, and preceding far too many statements with “Of course,” making her feel stupid for asking questions. But he never failed to bring her a book, a different book every time unless she asked for an old favorite. He had taught her to read and write, scratching letters in the sand. She figured she knew as much about the human world as any trader, thanks to Alander’s books and the things he told her.
    His visits hadn’t ended by choice. “I can’t come anymore,” he had said. “I have to go to the Academy.”
    “I thought you already went to school.”
    “That was just juvenile school. Father says I won’t have free time anymore. I don’t know what I can say. He still doesn’t know I come to see you, and he’d be mad if he found out. But after I complete my studies at the Academy, Father says I’ll work as a messenger for a year or two. I’ll travel all over the country, so maybe I can visit you then.”
    Not long after that, he said a final good-bye and had never come again, although Esmerine kept waiting for his time as a messenger to