«How do you know this stuff, Peps?»
He shrugged and smiled – don't bother me, Mom, I know – all there on his face.
«Mr. Tracy, will you be here when we get back?»
«If you find the Bone, yes.»
Far behind us in the distance, sounds of muted thunder broke the quiet. We all turned from the sea and saw smudges of ugly dark smoke rising thick and fast over the land we had so recently crossed.
«The cats are dead now,» Martio said and looked at Mr. Tracy. «Cats, perfect fossils and freshwater wells.» The camel knelt slowly down into a sitting position on his knees.
Mr. Tracy kept looking at the smoke. «Cats, new music and steam on glass. They're all gone. Other things too. Pepsi, you've got to hurry.»
We pushed the boat to the edge of the water, which had begun to roll and churn moodily. From shore the animals watched as we bounced and slipped our way out on to the grumbling sea. As soon as the brown sail went up, it snapped once and filled completely. Pepsi held the tiller and steered with the confidence of an old salt. He had so many new tricks up his sleeve: talent, insight, magic. What had been the meaning of rearranging the rabbit star? How had he known the proper sorcery to make Felina's body disappear? What map had he studied to show him the direction to go on the sea?
«Pepsi, what would have happened if you had been born in my world?»
«Mae would have been my sister, Mom.» He wouldn't look at me.
«Yes, I know that, but what else? Do you know what your life would have been?» He shook his head and watched the sea. «Look at me, Pepsi. Do you hate me?»
«You're my Mom, why would I hate you? You came here to help me. You're my best friend! Hey look, way over there, do you see that island? It's called Ais. You should see what's on there!»
I looked at Ais Island and wondered what it was, what it «meant.» Was it someone else's Rondua, or only another blip of land in a pink ocean, where rocks cried or clouds stood quiet guard over iron cattle with human voices.
Rondua. You could change things here: save your child from the City of the Dead. But what happened after that, if it happened at all? And how could I change anything when I knew so goddamned little, felt so stupid and weak every time I encountered something new or different?
«Mom, I think we're there! Yeah, we're there already. Boy, we made it! Look down, Mom. Look down there through the water. You can see everything!»
The day had slowly ended and the sun, in no hurry, was slipping over the edge of earth. Because we had been talking, I hadn't really noticed that the color of the sea had changed from its original all-pink to a combination of gold, pure plum and some fiery orange mixed in too – the colors of motor oil on top of a puddle of water.
At first this sharp color change was more than enough to startle me, but then I did what Pepsi said: stared down through the water. My God, there was _land_ down there! Green and beige and hard blue land. The colors you see from an airplane window in the middle of your journey. But that blue was water and only then did I realize the Sea of Brynn wasn't a sea at all, but the sky. We sat in our laughing hat/boat in the _sky_, floating softly across a sunset. Instead of watching it from the ground, we were smack-dab in the center of it – sailing across a sky of changing twilight colors, countless miles above . . . the Earth? I had no idea at all.
I tried to keep my voice as calm as I could. «Pepsi, where are we?»
«We have to go really fast now, Mom. You'd better sit down.»
A wind redolent of oranges and cloves drove us steadily forward across the darkening sea/sky. Fish leapt around us and I knew their names before they called them out to us: Mudrake, Cornsweat, Yasmuda. They were followed by red fish that, when they broke the surface, became huge wolves. I remembered Felina's stories about the evolution of her ancestors and I missed her even more when I saw those wolves in wet flight. A school of pure white dolphins swam next to us for more than an hour, our funny boat moving easily alongside them. Their leader was named Ulla and before they disappeared, she lifted us on to her ivory back and sped us forward for miles.
I remember all of this. It is true and it will always be true for me. If I close my eyes this minute I can still smell that pink sea, the oranges and cloves.
Many hours later, when the eclipse came, the wind stopped completely and the stars disappeared as one. We slowed for some time, then bumped hard into something which stopped our forward movement completely: a small rock island.
«Ah ha! My sailors have arrived. Good, good! Welcome, visitors, you're just about on time. Wait a minute and I'll get us some light. Come on up on land.»
The slick-slop of water on the sides of the boat was cut by the _swish_ of a match. That was followed by the slow eerie hiss and glow of a propane gas lamp coming to life.
«Cullen, you're the vegetarian, so I made you a couple of cheese and tomato sandwiches. Is that okay? And for Pepsi, there's peanut butter and jelly. Real American peanut butter too! Let's eat first and then we can talk. I've been waiting in the dark for you two for hours.»
The man handed us sandwiches tightly wrapped in aluminum foil.
«Pepsi and I already know each other, Cullen. But I'm sure you've forgotten me. It's been such a long time since we last met. My name is DeFazio.»
He was dressed in boating shoes, blue jeans and a white sweatshirt. About fifty, he had a crew cut and the face of a tired commuter riding in the bar car at the end of the day: nondescript, middle-management, owner of a station wagon with fake wood sides, a mortgaged house, lots of stress.
«How very right you are, Cullen! I'm one of a million men in a gray flannel suit. Powerless, but I manage to smile a lot in between drinks. I think it's only fair to tell you before we go on that I can read your mind. Don't be frightened, though – it's unimportant. Would you like another sandwich, either of you? No? Okay, then maybe it's best if we begin. I have the fourth Bone. In fact, it's right here. Wait a minute.»
He reached into a white canvas bag and brought out something that looked like a dark baseball.
«It's strange-looking, isn't it?» He shrugged and rolled it in his hand. «It's yours if you want it. Just stick it in your pocket and off you go.
«Hey, don't look so surprised! Were you two expecting a big fire-breathing dragon? Not at all, that's not necessary. Your trip out here in that ridiculous boat was enough adventure for one day, no?»
Our expressions must have blared distrust because he smiled and shook his head.
«You don't believe me? Really, I am _not_ going to do anything to you. It's not what you think. The fourth Bone is yours, free and clear. It's the only one you don't have to fight for. Don't you remember _anything_, Cullen? That's one of the great tricks of the game. Some people have got so scared thinking what would happen to them if they were to come out here, they just back off and run away.
«Anyway, you've already seen what things are like now. Jack Chili may be in power, but the whole scene back there on land is so chaotic and scattered that it really doesn't matter who's in charge, does it? On the one hand, you have your Sizzling Thumb, Heeg, Solaris and good old mighty Chili himself. You haven't met him yet, have you? Plenty of time for that! And there are others too, believe it or not – animal, vegetable _and_ mineral! All of them want to rule. All of them want power. But you know what? Every one of them is just hopeful and silly. Hopeful and silly – perfect adjectives for this hopeless place. The Land of Laughs, it you ask me. Only it so happens, they're the wrong kind of laughs.
«You know the kind – funny but not so funny? The talentless person who insists on singing at the talent show? Or how about the midget walking down the street with a big cigar in his mouth? You know the kind of laugh I'm talking about. Pathetic!» DeFazio shook his head and took a bite of his sandwich. «I'm not being completely fair. Rondua is a wonderful place; you've seen enough of it to know that. Sometimes I get off this damned island and go back for a quick look. Didn't you love the Caves of Lem? They're the most beautiful things. Even your friend Gregston was impressed. I'm sorry; I'm rambling, aren't I? Here is what you want to know: I'm DeFazio, caretaker (among other things) of the fourth Bone of the Moon. You can have it right here and now. Get in and drive it away – no money down, folks. But don't think I'm doing you a favor. Giving it to you without a warning is the meanest thing I could do.