Chapter 13

Loran

"Omama Mae?" I call out. "Omama?"

"Yes, Loran?" I practically ran home, scared for my life about Meg's observation.

"Meg noticed."

"Wait, what?"

"She saw the similarity between me and... me."

"No Potato ball tonight."

"No!" She looks startled. "I mean, if I just ditch everything, then won't the suspicions just rise?"

Omama thinks for a second. "You're right. We can't change our behavior. We will tell Terrient though, tomorrow."

"Thank you, Omama!" I sit down cross legged on the floor by the roaring fire and read the reading several more times. The words were really getting ground in my head.

"How did the memorization go?"

I swallow. "I'm doing it tomorrow."

"How come?"

I search my brain for an excuse. I don't want to tell Omama Mae about how I flunked it. "Um, not enough time. After Ollie recited his about some bird, there was no time left. We did our morning work and then had to copy down words. I stayed in at lunch to practice a bit more, but there still was no time."

"Can I hear it?"

"Um, I guess so." I take my place in front of the fire with my hands behind my back and recite:

"On sunny day, Willihem was playing along the bushes.

He took little sticks

and made them talk

like little Allerakin soldiers.

"We can defeat Erelaria!"

One stick said to another.

"Allerakin!"

They would prance off to battle.

Willihem moved the sticks to the next bush

They drew their swords

And Willihem gave them each a smaller stick.

Together, they defeated the Erelarian army

"See now," Said his Omam dear

"The Erelarians are so weak

Your little stick-men can defeat them!""

"Much improved!" I have no idea what improved means, but I don't ask.

"Thank you!" I beam as I bow. I recited it perfectly! I take my books upstairs, stack them underneath the lantern, and go out to the street. A herd of kids is already there, ready to win. Meg steps out of her house a minute later. We huddle up in our teams.

"We have to win again." Meg starts us off.

"We have no Li!"

"They have no Connor."

"Meg made that great save yesterday. I'm sure if she kept that sort of thing up, we could win."

"Watch that little boy Tommas."

"Yeah, if it hadn't been for Meg..."

"Always be open for passes."

"Don't let them intercept it."

"Don't throw to someone who has someone from the other team within five feet of them."

"Run like your life depends on it when you have the sack."

"When it's their ball, make sure that they have to go far to pick it up."

"Let's do this!"

We run out to the street and took position. Since we won last night and the others lost, they start running with the ball. I charge, too. I charge straight at the carrier, but he passes it before I'm even close. Another girl takes off at a rocket speed, and Meg runs right after her. Our team moves to the extent of their line. They keep passing it along that line, not going to give up. I realize what I have to do. As Tommas, who is on the other side of the line, passes it as far as his little arm can, I jump.

My hand flies above my head, grabbing the rough fabric of the potato sack. I keep falling,

but when my first leg hits the ground, it buckles. I collapse over my head. Buldi tags me and takes the sack. I taste the grimy dirt of the ground. I see nothing. Footsteps run past me. Only one person stops. It's Meg.

"Loran? Are you Ok?" "Yeah," I say, pushing up off the ground just in time to see the other team score. "I'm fine." But I'm not. The sun is almost to the horizon.

I've lost the game. What could have been a two in a row winning streak is back to the monotonous win, lose, win, and lose. Without Li, our team is helpless. With me, our team is helpless.

The rest of the game is pathetic. I'm not on my guard, and the other team repeatedly scores. It's shameful, and the second the sun touches the horizon my team scatters to the four corners of the town. I stomp, grumpily into the house.

"Lose?" Omama Mae asks. I nod as I survey the wooden planks of the floor and walls. The splinters are poking out, and I am careful to lift my feet with every step.

"And If I hadn't fallen, we might have won."

"Child, it's only your fourth game, correct?"

"Third," I murmur as I pull out the chair and collapse into it.

"You're still learning. Brighten up, Terrient's coming tomorrow."

Right! Then we could buy some decent food!

"And," she continues, "I delivered laundry today. The money bought us some bread." I brighten up. "Go fetch some eggs." I skip outside, now with much more of a cheery outlook. Terrient was coming, we had some bread, and maybe we could eat decently!

The chickens produced about four eggs every day, two during the night, and two during the sunlight. I retrieve the two sun-given eggs and take them inside to Omama Mae. She has retrieved a skillet from the wall and is slicing the bread. She places both pieces on the skillet and cracks each egg on top of them to cook.

I take a bucket to get milk. "Up!" I yell at the stubborn cow. She slowly gets to her feet. I sit on the soft, sweet, hay and squeeze the utter while pulling the pink blob down. A stream of thick, creamy milk streams into the bucket. I don't take too much, because there are only two of us and now I know that Meg's family gets their milk from this cow, too. I carry the bucket back across the porch and into the body of the house.

*Omama Mae and I sit down for dinner. I skewer a bit of the egged bread and eat, washing it down with a gulp of milk. It's the best thing I've ever eaten here.*

After dinner, I venture off to bed. I'm glad that I've already practiced the reading for tomorrow. I can review it tomorrow before school.

The straw is nice and warm. I snuggle deeper and deeper, swallowed by its stringy feel. My feelings are so mixed. I feel sad that we lost at potato ball, anxious for tomorrow's game, happy that Terrient is coming, relieved that we got some money, worried that Meg will realize who I am, concerned about Omam and Baba, and a whole glob of other things. I snuggle up into a tighter ball and shut my eyes.

A captain is pacing toward me. "I knew it," He snaps, "I knew that the princess was staying in Elberta. But you've given us an excuse to burn all of these buildings. Now, I guess we can't burn anymore, eh?" Towns flood my memory, all ignited with bright orange fire or are just ashes.

I scream. My scream was probably heard throughout the entire town. In a matter of counts, though, Omama Mae is right by my side with a candle.

I sit up in bed. My forehead is damp with sweat, and I'm shivering.

"Loran!" Omama Mae whisper-shouts. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure, I'm fine," I say at my full voice, but she's not convinced.

"Shh! What woke you up?"

"I was discovered. They knew that I was here. They caught me."

"Shhh. You're fine. You're safe. It's all okay. It's okay."

Omama Mae retreats back down the creaky stairs. I attempt to sleep, but can't. I lay there, wide-eyed and afraid to fall asleep, for if I do, nightmares could come and attack.

I lay in the straw until the sun rises, when I tiptoe to the window and crack it open. I slip out onto the roof. It is flat and low, so I feel fine as long as I stay away from the sagging part. I look down the street, past all houses that are coming to life and to the rising sun. The first rays of light stretch across the town as my awake eyes absorb everything. For the first time here, I feel at peace. I feel like I am no longer wanted, that I will be accepted no matter where I go. I take a deep breath in, and the sigh. If only I could feel like this all day long. A bird caws in the distance. I stretch at the rising sun and weasel myself straight back through the window.

��vI�cx�v