Read Stranger for Free Online

luck.”
    â€œIt was a bad decision. My bad decision,” he admitted.
    â€œNo, come on,” Paco protested. “That guy took in the entire town.”
    Yuki scratched Kogatana’s ears, hiding his face. “I should have known he was too good to be true.”
    He felt as angry and humiliated as if it had happened last week, rather than last year. That smooth-talking prospector, Mr. Alvarez, had seemed like the answer to his dreams. Sure he needed a smart, reliable boy for an apprentice. Absolutely he would teach Yuki everything he needed to know in return for a year of his work. Of course he’d show Yuki the world.
    It had taken some persuading, since Yuki still had a year of school left. But he’d convinced his mom and the council that this chance was worth interrupting his education. He’d been saving scrip from his job helping Mrs. Riley train horses, and he got himself fitted out with tools and supplies. His mom and the Rileys had pitched in to get him a horse. He’d said his farewells, promised to come back in a year or so, and set off with a dizzying sense of infinite possibilities.
    Mr. Alvarez, if that was even his name, broke out his favorite herbal tea to celebrate their partnership once they made camp. Yuki woke up the next afternoon with a splitting headache. Mr. Alvarez was gone, along with Yuki’s horse and all his belongings but the clothes he wore. At least Kogatana had managed to evade him. She was licking Yuki’s face when he woke up.
    Yuki had tracked the prospector till nightfall, burning with fury, then reluctantly gave up. The man was long gone, and Yuki couldn’t survive long in the desert without weapons or water. He’d been forced to walk back to Las Anclas, feeling like a fool with every step, and then had to face crowds wanting all the humiliating details.
    He’d had to return to school, he still hadn’t finished repaying his mom and the Rileys, and the only prospector to visit since had arrived in a full suit of blue armor, claiming that the reflective paint she’d formulated would make her invisible to the deadly crystal trees that surrounded the distant ruined city.
    Yuki had desperately hoped that she was an eccentric genius rather than desert-crazy. He’d even let himself indulge in fantasies about exploring the city in his own suit of armor. But of course, as everyone had warned her, she hadn’t been invisible at all. Now a new sapphire tree grew at the edge of the crystal forest.
    Fuego balked, and Yuki consciously relaxed his body. The red-gold gelding moved onward.
    â€œProspecting’s not the only way to see the world,” Paco said. “You could sign on to a trading ship, the next time one comes around.”
    Trading boat , thought Yuki, but didn’t correct him. No one in Las Anclas had ever seen a real ship.
    â€œYou swim like a fish,” Paco continued. “And you fight like—like a Ranger. Traders always have guards to protect their wares. You could be a guard.”
    â€œYeah, but . . .”
    Even to Paco, there were some things Yuki couldn’t talk about. His throat tightened at the thought of living on a boat, smelling the salt air and rocking on the waves, and never losing sight of shore. Being constantly reminded of the true deep ocean in a craft that could never get there would be like dying of thirst with a full canteen just out of reach. It was hard enough living on the coast, with the ocean breeze blowing straight into his bedroom window.
    â€œTraders don’t explore,” Yuki said. “They only go back and forth along the coast, buying and selling the same goods at the same towns. I want to see new things. Find new things.”
    Kogatana nuzzled him again. Paco glanced at her, and Yuki could practically see him decide to change the subject.
    Paco fished in his pack and held out a tamale, still wrapped in corn husks. “From Luc’s. He handed them