Read The Nothing: A Book of the Between for Free Online Page B

more closely.
    All of the sloughing dead flesh was gone. He could see far too much bone for comfort, but healthy muscle was also visible. Wherever he lacked intact and healthy flesh or skin, a clear, thick layer of what looked like gel filled the empty space. When he touched it, the surface was firm but flexible.
    His gaze flicked back to the pool and the circling fish. “Where do they come from?”
    “One of the Dreamworlds. Nystan, the great hunter, was once badly burned while battling a dragon. Seeing a pond, he threw himself into the water, hoping it would soothe his burning. When the fish surrounded him, his heart filled with fear and dread that his glorious life of conquest would be ended in such an ignominious way. He discovered the same thing you have. When he returned to the kingdom with the tale, his burns coated with invisible skin, those wiser led a party to catch and transplant the fish here for our use.”
    “It’s incredible,” Jared said. He walked a few steps, testing the leg. If he concentrated, he could walk with very little limp, although the absence of muscle was apparent. He wouldn’t be running races or anything, but this was infinitely better than an amputation, and covered by a pair of pants, the deformity would be unnoticeable.
    A giddy rush of emotion washed through him as the specter of deformity and pity faded. He’d conjured up a vision of himself sitting in the parking lot outside the local Walmart with a hand-lettered sign, begging for handouts. But when he managed to get back to his own place, surely he could go back to the life Vivian and Zee had dragged him away from.
    Then he caught sight of Kraal’s face and his hopeful thoughts scattered like leaves in the wind. He had no way back, and he now owed a debt to a Giant. He had no doubt that Kraal could snap his back like a matchstick, one-handed and without breaking a sweat, if he tried to break faith.
    Fear filled belly and throat with acid, and he had to swallow twice before he found his voice. “Now what?” he asked.
    “Now we find you clothes and shelter. And then we take you to the Queen.”

Four

    V IVIAN STAGGERED , slowing her pace a little to try to catch her breath, nearly impossible despite the shirt tied over nose and mouth to keep out the sand. Her face and arms, exposed to the scouring sand, felt like they’d been flayed. Poe, clasped tightly in her arms, was no longer moving and she worried the sand had been too much for him.
    Callyn’s broad back, her only landmark, faded out of sight and Vivian pushed herself to walk faster. Zee walked somewhere beside her, moving in and out of her peripheral vision, depending on the vagaries of the wind. She hoped the little dragon was still following, but she couldn’t see him at all. As long as they all held together and kept moving in one direction, there was hope of walking out of this part of the Between.
    A lot of ifs. She tried not to think about the possibility that Callyn was leading them about in circles. Heart thudding with fear of losing him, Vivian looked around for Zee. He was there, just behind her left shoulder, head bent, face shielded to the eyes by the flimsy barrier of a shirt. She cringed at the thought of what this sandblasting would do to the unhealed gash on his arm, the scars on his face. Nothing to be done now, though. Not until they were safe.
    If there was any safety to be had. Horrible to die here, like this, lost and at the mercy of the wind. As if some malign fate had just been waiting for that thought, the wind shifted direction. Braced against its force and then struck from the other side, she toppled, hitting the ground. Poe slipped from her grasp and she lost him. The wind rolled her a time or two before backing off. She lay where it dropped her, holding the T-shirt over her mouth and nose and trying to catch her breath while looking around for the others.
    Scrabbling near her for Poe, she thought she touched feathers, but the next instant,