Cloudland by Lisa Gorton Read Free Book Online Page A

trust the statue
, she thought, and loneliness ran through her like a tide.
    â€˜We have watched your Earth,’ continued Fracta. ‘We have seen how many ways you have to die. It is harder to kill a Cloudian. Only time will do it, and ice. The statue ordered a Megalith to fetch from the Arctic a fragment of zero: absolute cold. It said:
Find those Stratus and feed them to it
. Some say the Megalith lost its mind, listening to the cries those Stratus made, but that I do not know for certain, for the Megalith has not returned.’
    â€˜What’s this got to do with me?’ demanded Lucy. Her leg was killing her. She tried to stand but Fracta gripped her arm.
    â€˜I tell you this so you understand we have no choice but to imprison you. If your friends in the Citadel learnt you found us meeting here, they would understand we intend revolution, and they would most certainly kill us.’
    â€˜But you can’t imprison me! I haven’t done anything wrong!’
    Fracta stretched her mouth into a bitter smile. ‘They only saved us from their frozen cities because they could not feed themselves without us. They brought us here to serve them – but in doing so, they brought us together. Strange irony, that their hideaway should offer us our chance of freedom. We must flee to the Stratum now, while they are too fearful to pursue us.’
    â€˜But I won’t tell them,’ cried Lucy. ‘You can’t keep me!’
    Fracta shook her head regretfully and signalled to the waiting servants.

CHAPTER TEN
Stratum
    The Stratus tugged Lucy’s feet from under her. Clamping her mouth, seizing her arms, they lugged her, like a sack, a foot above the floor. She kicked and writhed but their grip burnt her skin.
    Everything went white for a moment as they dragged her through the wall. Then the noise of the kitchen opened around her. The servants were still singing.
They’ll free me!
she thought, as their voices faltered. But Fracta grunted and their voices filled the kitchen again.
    â€˜Daniel!’ she called, but a servant’s hand trapped her voice. They forced her upright, facing a door. Beside it, she saw a polished wheel. Three servantsstepped forwards, keeping their heads down, and turned the wheel until the door swung open. Lucy saw a platform stacked with bundles of cloud.
    â€˜We are going on that lift, you and I,’ nodded Fracta, ‘down to the Stratum – ten years since I have seen it. The Stratus there will keep you safe.’
    Anger exploded in Lucy, but with a servant’s hand holding her jaw, she couldn’t even shake her head. Before she could take in what was happening, they had unloaded the bundles and tossed her onto the lift. It tipped sideways under her weight. Fracta settled beside her and the door shut with a click. Fracta smiled mildly. Then a rope over Lucy’s head whipped loose.
    The lift fell through a blur. Lucy felt as though she’d left her skin behind. The lift stopped with such a jolt it flung her face down on the platform, gasping for air. Light angled in as the door opened. Lucy looked out at a group of Stratus. They started back when they saw her, and one of them screamed. Fracta spoke some quick words. ‘Linneus,’ answered one, pointing at his chest. That was all Lucy understood. He might have been speaking a different language, all clicks and grunts. With her mind still reeling from the fall, Lucy pushed past him and stumbled onto a cloud plain.
    The light was astonishing, blue and immense. She took great breaths and felt her mind stretch out to the horizon. The lift shaft behind her rose to a glittering cloud: the Citadel, floating on nothing. At her feet, the cloud frayed into air and, at its thinnest, shone yellow and grey.
    Fracta stood arguing with Linneus while the other Stratus cowered, whispering and pointing at Lucy. They had no coats and they shivered with cold. Still talking, Linneus hurried away. After a