Joshua and the Lightning Road by Donna Galanti Read Free Book Online

little jolts stung me. The gloves sucked at my fingertips, pulling energy out of me and sending it to that giant balloon.
    “Sorry,” I mouthed to Charlie when he glanced at me. He puckered his lips as he nodded and wiped the sweat trickling from his neck.
    They can. We can.
    I grew more and more tired, gasping from the hot air burning into my lungs. My legs ached with their work, but going faster was not an option—it felt like moving through sand. My hands drooped with their heavy duty, but the tug of the mitts held no escape, clinging to me like a second skin. Sam stared at me. His shoulders curled in, and the light painted shadows under his eyes and hollows in his cheeks. My thoughts grew fuzzy as my legs moved back and forth, and my eyes glazed over as I focused on the tubes rising up from my hands in front of me.
    Then music floated in the air. A harp. Faint at first, but it grew louder and louder. A melody of a soul crying, and suddenly I couldn’t remember why I was here. Or who I was.
    The Lost Realm had sucked it out of me.

Chapter Eight
     
     
    My shift ended, but my legs still felt like they were moving back and forth on the wheel. I hit the floor and stumbled after Sam as he led the way to the bunkhouse. We followed him down dark paths lit by lanterns on poles, sandwiched between guards. Only Charlie’s tall figure in front of me gave me the smallest feeling of safety. It had grown darker since I entered the power mill for my shift. The mist now clung to the forest floor leaving the night sky a clear deep plum dotted with stars.
    Shadows and fog obscured my way, and I banged into Charlie as we were halted in front of a long, low building. This time I clung to his T-shirt, not wanting to be separated from my one friend here. Guards were posted by the entrance, and around the building’s perimeter paced giant, snickering foxes. My eyes were so bleary I couldn’t read the words over the door as we were marched into a chilly room. A solitary torch lit the wall, and it spewed smoke, stinging the inside of my nose.
    The guards led us through a shower room where we were hosed down with freezing water then dried off in a giant wind tunnel. This rough treatment revived me, and I rocked in place to get warm, but in the huddle of shivering kids I’d lost sight of Charlie until I spotted his head. He was led away with another group. No! My insides shook as I was marched away with my own group.
    In a large hall we were given bowls of brown glop to eat and ordered to sit at sticky tables on cracked wooden benches. I peered into the soup, expecting to find something nasty like fingernails or mouse turds. I held my breath and slugged down the food. It was greasy and slid down my throat in bitter chunks.
    The guard standing at our table glared at me. “Nasty Reekers. Hurry up and eat your gurgle soup. Off you go!”
    Back in the bunk room, Sam assigned bed numbers and, after finding my bunk in the near dark, I spread across a bottom bed that smelled like pee. The mattress was just a wool sack stuffed with straw that poked into my back. A worn blanket with ratty holes was crumpled at the bottom of the bed, and I pulled it over my cold legs, squeezing them together for warmth.
    I slipped my fingers around the crystal in my pocket and held it tight. In the dark it was hard to make out heads or feet on the other bunks. Where was Charlie ? Kids whispered around me, some crying. The comfort of my moonlit room back home called to me, where bullfrogs bellowed goodnight and Bo Chez still turned out my light with his dumb baby rhyme. Nightey nodz and toodley todz, don’t let the bedbugs sneak up your snoz. He’d never mentioned vapes. Or beasts. Bugs I could deal with.
    My body craved sleep, but it wouldn’t give in yet. Fear kept shaking me awake. Falling asleep on this world might mean never waking up.
    “Charlie?” It came out a whisper, desperate for a friendly reply. None came. In all my twelve years I’d never felt so