The Blue (The Complete Novel) Read Online Free PDF

doing good on his leg, I still worry he’ll sprain it again if he lands wrong. Or he’ll slip right before he leaps. But it’s like he’s superman—and he jumps up and glides through the air easily, sliding along his knees when he lands. Nothing to it, he says.
     
    It hits me, with Russell now on the Ice Pancake, and all of our equipment. We don’t have a boat anymore. We’re finally at the mercy of the pack. But the reality of that slips away quickly and my mind melts again into the act of rubbing my body and drying out my clothes. Russell takes off his jacket and then one of his sweaters. Here, he says. What are you doing? I tell him, shivering. Yours are gone—wear these, he says. You’ll freeze, I tell him. Not where we’re going. I won’t be needing much of anything, when we get there. I tell him again that he’ll freeze, and to at least keep the sweater, but he refuses. Just means Voley has to snuggle close to me tonight, right Vole? Russell says, extending his arm to stroke Voley’s ears. Did you see him jump at the seal? I ask Russell. No, I missed it—I heard him land. I was trying to fix the jam and he just ran on his own and jumped. So I tell Russell while we both pet him—the great leap of faith, the flying Marvolo, and how he scared the seal just enough so that Russell could have time to fix the jam. If you hadn’t jumped boy, I tell him. But he licks me and I know he knows. It’s as simple as drinking water or breathing to him. Nothing he wouldn’t do to try to protect us. And when I’m satisfied that I’ve planted the legend securely in Russell’s mind, he tells me I’ve earned a rest. My turn to watch, he tells me. You know what, he says as he leaves the tent. What? I ask. I don’t think he’ll be back. Not tonight, anyway. And then Russell’s gone, and Voley and I fall asleep.
        

Chapter 4
     
    There are no more rounds on the Ice Pancake. It stretches too far. Forever, all the way to the blue. I find out in the morning when Russell wakes me up. He tells me it’s my turn, but he’s been up all night. Watching for the seal’s return. Didn’t see it, he tells me. And then he hands me the gun and turns in.
     
    Voley follows me out and stays for a few minutes, but then he goes back in too. Like he isn’t ready to wander around the new floe yet. Everything is covered in the half-light of morning, gray and dense, and there’s a low rolling fog creeping in over the pack. Far enough away that I don’t have to worry just yet about being hunted inside the mist. Even so, I keep the silver pistol ready. And my eyes explore everything. Between the pressure ridges I scan, and then drift up to the blue. Just to confirm it’s still there. And it is. And I can swear that it’s getting bigger still. I’ll have to ask Russell when I get back to the tent.
                Voley’s in the tent again and I’m alone. But with the light, I don’t fear another surprise attack. The full night’s rest Russell has given me—by taking two watches in a row—seems to have drowned out my fears from yesterday. Optimism leaks back in as I try to guess at how high and far the pressure ridges are, way out there under the blue. They look sort of like sharp mountain caps, but they can’t be—they’re the same color of ice as everything else. An illusion. But maybe there is more land. And the ice rides all the way in toward a shore somewhere out there. As much as I try to think up an argument for Russell that will convince him we’re marching to live, and not to die, out there under the blue, I keep getting stuck on the food and the fuel. There’ll only be a few more nights. And then we’ll be out. No more warm or dry. Nothing to keep us going. No red powder. Just one last push and a last rest. But I ignore the thoughts of yesterday, and remember I am clean, and sit down in the snow.
     
    I open my mouth to the snow and wait, but hardly anything lands on my tongue. It’s as if the