Sky Jumpers Series, Book 1 (2 page)

I squirmed until I managed to get into an upright position. The Bomb’s Breath ended about six feet above the rock ledge, so I kicked my feet back and forth as I drifted down toward it, feeling the drag of the heavy air with every kick. When my feet swung without any resistance, I braced myself as gravity pulled me more than the Bomb’s Breath held me. I dropped out of the Bomb’s Breath and landed on the rocky ledge in a crouch, then gasped for air.

The excitement of the jump filled my chest with a crazy humming, like dozens of miniature birds lifting me off the ground. “I did it! A double front flip!” I wanted to shout it to the world. Of course, Brock was the only person I could tell who wasn’t already standing with me. I wished he’d seen me. I shook off the regret and smiled—at least I knew I would
really
enjoy telling him.

Aaren looked as happy as I felt and gave me a “good job” nod. Brenna planted a running hug on me. Even though she was only five years old and small, it would’ve
knocked me down if I hadn’t been expecting it. With Brenna, though, I always expected it.

“I knew you could do it,” she said. “Aaren told me you could and I knew you could but you took so long. I thought maybe you were too scared, but Aaren told me that you weren’t scared, you just didn’t know it yet, and to be patient because you
could
do it. And you did! You jumped and you did the flips!”

I scoffed in Aaren’s direction. “I wasn’t scared.”

“Then what took so long? Admiring the scenery?”

I looked up at the ledge I’d stood on moments before, which now seemed so teeny. “Nah. I was just enjoying how fresh the air smelled when I wasn’t standing right next to you.” I winked at Brenna to make sure she knew I was just teasing her brother.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t the best choice in comebacks. Aaren’s family and mine were farm partners, so I knew for a fact that he’d weeded his family’s personal garden before we left, and he’d probably bathed right after. I, on the other hand, had cleaned out the chicken coops. Nastiest job on our farm. The whole time I worked, I thought about how much I wanted to get in a few celebratory jumps before school. And how much I wanted to prove to Brock that I could do a double flip. In my rush to get to the mountain, I didn’t even bathe. I probably still smelled like a chicken coop. But that wasn’t the most important thing.

“What do you think Brock’s going to say when I tell him I made it?”

“Nothing,” Aaren said.

“Yeah.” I sighed. “You’re probably right. You know, we should tell him that when you challenge someone and they win, it’s only polite to say how upset you are about it. Possibly even yell. Stomp your feet.
Something
.”

“The world would be a better place if everyone knew that,” Aaren joked.

“Wouldn’t it?” I grabbed Brenna’s hand to leave, then I stepped so my body was between her and the dead squirrel I’d just noticed a few feet up the mountain. We saw a dead animal right at the edge of the Bomb’s Breath almost every time, but I was determined to keep Brenna from seeing them. She knew how dangerous it was even without the reminder. Everyone did. It was one of the first things we learned as little kids. The fences were really only there to keep the cows and sheep away. The people of White Rock didn’t dare come anywhere near the Bomb’s Breath.

With each step down the mountain, it felt like I floated more than walked. I could’ve lived off the thrill from that double flip for days. Even if no one else knew outside of Brock, Aaren, and Brenna, doing tricks into the Bomb’s Breath was what made me special. Different. It was one thing I was really good at.

I moved aside some branches from a bush and led Brenna through the mostly nonexistent path.

“When are you gonna let
me
go sky jumping?” Brenna asked, just like every time we brought her up here.

Aaren gave his usual answer. “Not until you’re ten, like we were.”

And maybe not even then
, I thought. A lot of smart people lived in my town, and they all stayed far away from the Bomb’s Breath.

I was still holding Brenna’s hand as the three of us got to the part where several boulders lay together, making the ground drop three feet. Aaren climbed down first. I lowered Brenna to him, then climbed down myself. The rest of the way wasn’t as rough, so we ran.

We stopped to catch our breath just before the warning fences. This was the best view of our perfectly round valley, ten miles in diameter and ringed by mountains. Across the valley, White Rock River cut through the mountain, making the passageway that provided the only route into White Rock. Our valley was actually a huge crater left behind by the green bomb that hit the plains of Cook, Nebraska, forty years ago. We weren’t near the top of the crater by a long shot—it actually went up for miles past where I jumped.

I smiled as I looked across at the homes and farms set in rings all the way down to City Circle at the bottom.
Even if all the people in town weren’t deathly afraid of the Bomb’s Breath, I was still probably the only one who could’ve landed that jump. Well, except for possibly Brock.

People always said that the Bomb’s Breath covered the entire Earth, but most people didn’t have it close enough to worry about or to play in like we did. I guess that wasn’t a bad thing. People were more afraid of the Bomb’s Breath than they were of the bandits who roamed the plains, even though the bandits were attacking more and more. But at least in White Rock we were safe. Completely protected. And as long as Aaren and I didn’t get caught, we could sneak off to sky jump.

We yanked our schoolbags from where we’d hidden them under a chokeberry bush on our way up. I ducked my head under my schoolbag strap and swung it onto my back so it wouldn’t be in the way as I carefully picked up my invention. Today we were going to present our projects for the Harvest Festival. Inventions Day had been disastrous for me since we started school at age four. But this year was different. Just like every year, I had cuts and scrapes all over my arms and I still didn’t get along with the equipment, but this year, everyone would be impressed with my invention.

Brenna grinned as she picked up hers. It was simple—a metal pot with a wide wooden spoon inside. She’d drilled
holes in the spoon, so when she was mixing runny stuff for her mom, it would stir easier and get mixed better.

Aaren hadn’t shown me his invention yet, but he’d already told me he’d found a way to make a thermometer so he could boil chemicals to an exact temperature to make medicines. The way he was headed, his split job would be the town doctor, just like his mom. He stuck his covered invention under the arm farthest from me like it was nothing. He probably held another festival-winning invention and didn’t want me to feel bad that it was so easy for him.

I put one leg over the two horizontal logs nailed to posts that formed the warning fences, while imagining the look on my teacher’s and Mr. Hudson’s faces when they saw how much better I did this year.

I swung my second leg over, careful not to bump my invention, and my shorts caught on a splintery part of the top log. I didn’t notice, so when I slid off, it tore a three-inch gash in the fabric near my knee. I couldn’t go to school with torn shorts! My mind was running through possibilities for changing into pants that weren’t ripped or finding a way to make it not noticeable, when the huge steam whistle at City Circle blew and jerked my thoughts away.

“It can’t be time for the nine o’clock train already!” I looked to Aaren and Brenna, hoping I’d see reassurance, but instead I saw panic. Only for a second, though, because then they took off running.

As much as I tried to hold my invention steady, it jostled as we sprinted through the orchard. I was torn between slowing down to keep my invention safe and speeding up to catch the train. A small part of me knew, though, that running faster wouldn’t make a difference. “It’s at least a mile and a half away,” I panted. “We’ll never make it that far in five minutes!”

Aaren ran faster. “We have to! My mom thought we took the eight o’clock train. If the school tells her we were late, she’ll know we went somewhere else instead!”

If she knew where we’d been, things would get awful for all of us. I looked to Brenna as we ran. “You won’t tell her where we were, right?”

She shook her head.

“She won’t tell,” Aaren said between huffs. “She’s just not a good liar. My mom will be furious! We
have
to make it.”

I’d gotten myself into trouble for plenty of things, but I’d never done anything else as bad as going into the Bomb’s Breath. The people of White Rock had learned how deadly the Bomb’s Breath was when one of the original settlers walked into it shortly after they started living here. The warning fences weren’t built right away, though, because there were so many other things they had to build first. Everyone just knew to stay far from it. When my dad was seven years old, he and a dozen kids about his age were playing in the woods. They gradually moved closer and closer to the Bomb’s Breath without even realizing it. During a game of tag, four kids ran right into the Bomb’s Breath and died. Everyone in White Rock had a connection to at least one of them, so I understood why they were so terrified of the Bomb’s Breath. I especially understood why my dad was—one of the four kids who’d died was his best friend. Things would be bad for me if I got caught.

But I’d still be better off than Aaren if his parents found out.

Aaren’s mom had been with my dad when the kids died. Every parent felt an insanely huge responsibility to repopulate this near-empty world, and Aaren’s were
no exception. They had ten kids, and everything about Aaren’s house and family was organized. The five oldest kids each had a younger sibling they looked out for, made sure got places, saw to the needs of, and most of all protected. Aaren would be in massive amounts of trouble for going beyond the fences, but it would be worse because they’d know he took Brenna there as well.

On his own, Aaren stayed far from trouble. With me, he always got into it. I liked to think he did crazy things with me because he had more fun around me. Knowing Aaren, though, it was probably because he wanted to make sure I stayed safe. Or that he was there to help me if I got injured. Letting him get caught for this wasn’t an option. I managed to take a hand off my invention, grab Aaren’s shoulder, and pull us both to a stop. “We have to find another way.”

Aaren stopped running. “
What
other way? It’s two miles from here to City Circle! With Brenna and our inventions, we won’t make it until history’s half over.” He swung around like a trapped animal looking for escape. “We’re going to be in so much trouble!”

I couldn’t see anything past the trees, so my mind went to everything that lay beyond them. “Oh! The grain tram at the end of the orchard!”

“Neither of us is old enough
or
certified to use it,” Aaren said.

“I’ve run the foot pedals with my dad since I was five. You know I can do it!”

He had that look on his face. The one where thoughts of getting into possibly more trouble battled with thoughts of escaping trouble. A little pang of guilt hit, thinking about how often I’d seen that face, and how often it had been because of me.

I bent down to Brenna’s height. “Brenna, have you ever ridden on the grain tram?”

“No.”

“Betcha always wanted to, though, right?”

Her eyes lit up and she turned to her brother. “Can we
please
, Aaren?”

I knew I had him. I swear, that girl was heaven-sent—Aaren’s parents couldn’t have paired him with a better sibling. Brenna idolized Aaren, and Aaren would do anything for her. This wasn’t the first time I’d talked him into doing something crazy because of Brenna. But this time the crazy might actually keep him
out
of trouble.

The steam whistle blew twice, signaling the four trains at the top of their tracks in the north, south, east, and west to leave for City Circle. It was now official that we wouldn’t make it.

Aaren glanced at Brenna, then at me. “Okay. We’ll take the grain tram.”

Brenna jumped up and down and cheered. I exhaled in relief. There was still a possibility I could save us.

It took ten minutes to run to the massive post that held the tram rope—long enough that the trains were probably close to City Circle, if they weren’t there already. We pulled the rope to bring the square platform of the tram up to us from where it rested at the next farm down. Every invention used in White Rock had a plaque on it that gave credit to the person who invented it. As the tram neared, the sun caught the piece of flat metal nailed to its side, sparkling with David Romanek’s name. He won the Harvest Festival Inventions Contest with it twenty years ago as a way for everyone to carry their grains and produce down to City Circle. Now twelve trams were in use throughout White Rock.

The six-foot-square platform had short walls on the front and on both sides. It hung from ropes on a pulley, so it hovered two feet above the ground. The pulley traveled on a thick rope that ran from the post at the top of the fourth ring all the way down to the post at City Circle. I sat at the brakes, and Aaren helped Brenna to a corner. He arranged the inventions so they wouldn’t fall off, then he sat down. I released the stopper, and gravity pulled us down the hill.