SandRider Read Online Free PDF

centuries of footfall. Kaznim was watching the dark-haired young man kneel down at the spring and fill a battered metal bottle with cool water, when suddenly a husky voice spoke beside her.
    â€œNice tortoise.”
    â€œHe is called Ptolemy,” Kaznim said.
    â€œGood name . . . for a . . . tortoise. I’m . . . Sam. Heap.”
    â€œHello, Sam Heap,” Kaznim said, slowly trying out the unfamiliar words.
    â€œAnd I am called Marwick,” said the young man with the water bottle, joining them.
    â€œI am Kaznim Na-Draa.” Kaznim smiled. She remembered how her mother would always tell her to make polite conversation after being introduced to people, but all she could think of to say was, “Where are we?”
    â€œGood question,” Marwick said. “Right now, I have no idea.” He pulled a flimsy, much-folded piece of paper from his tunic and spread it out upon the blanket. On it was drawn a network of fine lines and tiny circles that made no sense at all to Kaznim. Marwick stabbed a long, dirty finger with a bloodied knuckle onto one of the circles. “We are here, I think,” he said.
    Kaznim peered at the paper. “But where is that?” she asked. “Where in the world, I mean.”
    â€œA small island far off the long coast of the Blue Mountains,” Marwick said. “With any luck.” He looked at Sam. “And if it is, there’s no way they can get us.”
    Sam grimaced. “Let’s hope . . . not,” he murmured.
    Kaznim was puzzled. “But how can we be on an island?” she asked. “We haven’t gone across the sea.”
    Marwick smiled. “Ah,” he said. “But we have. We have traveled through an Ancient Way. You see, Kaznim, the Ancient Ways are—” The cry of a gull broke into Marwick’s explanation, and he grinned. “Looks like I’m right, Sammo,” he said. “And listen . . . I can hear . . . Yes, I can hear surf.”
    â€œWhat is surf?” Kaznim asked.
    â€œIt is the waves of the ocean pounding on a beach,” Marwick told her.
    Kaznim now understood what the sleeping monster really was. She took a deep breath in and realized she tasted salt. Suddenly she felt a long way from home. She thought of her mother waking up to find she was not in her bed—which would, she thought, be happening just about now . Kaznim thought of Ammaa staring at two empty beds with both her daughters gone, and she could not bear to stay in the garden a moment longer. She snatched up Ptolemy—much to the tortoise’s disgust, for he was halfway through a tasty yellow flower—and jumped to her feet. “Sam Heap and Marwick, thank you very much for rescuing me,” Kaznim said rather formally. “I would like to go home now. I would be verygrateful if you could show me which Ancient Way to take.”
    Sam’s and Marwick’s expressions told Kaznim that she had not asked for something easy. Or even possible. Marwick got to his feet. “I’m sorry, Kaznim,” he said. “But you came through what we call an unstable Hub.”
    Kaznim frowned. “A what?” she asked.
    Marwick waved his arm around their sunken garden. “This,” he said, “is a stable Hub. It is in a place where people may come and go at all times. But not all are like this. Some Hubs have sunk beneath the ocean. Some are ice-bound, some are deep in snow and some, like yours, are full of sand. Of course, Hubs of ice or in the ocean can never be used, but those full of sand or snow will, in a wild Way wind, occasionally clear. But they soon fill up again. The Hub you fell into is an especially deep one. There is no way we can get back up through all that sand.” Marwick shook his head. “No way at all.”
    Kaznim stared at him, trying to understand. “You mean I can’t go home?”
    â€œWell, of course you can go home. But we would have to figure out