Read Virginia Hamilton for Free Online Page B

Justice traced, Why did Duster start dreaming? Why does Miacis think she comes from some other place?
    Because, Thomas traced back promptly, she ran into Duster — maybe that brought back memories. It came at the right time and helped break the process.
    What process? she traced.
    Conditioning not to think about certain things, Thomas traced. And if you do think about them, you get sick.
    Right, she traced.
    They get sick when they think, Levi traced, and they feel better when they play together and don’t think.
    Right, traced Justice. They’re outcasts from someplace, for sure. The sickness keeps them from remembering and from escaping.
    So now things are changing, Levi traced.
    And I bet we caused it . Thomas was glum. We upset the balance of things; we don’t have any right!
    We didn’t start it, Justice traced. Duster was already dreaming by the time we got here. But if we’re going to be of any use, we’d better get to work, she continued. No telling when the Mal will return.
    What will we do? Thomas wanted to know.
    Oh, I’m not sure of it all, she traced. But I think I know where to begin.
    “Time to show ourselves,” she whispered, and joined hands—minds—with the other three.
    They became the unit. It glided over the water to the other side. It materialized as it went.

5
    M IACIS HAD BEEN YAWNING and swishing her flawless tail. When the unit was halfway across the water, she sensed something taking shape out of thin air, gathering space and light into it above the water. Erector muscles attached to hair follicles of her skin bristled from the end of her tail to the tip of her leafy ears.
    She experienced sensations of color. At last she sensed the number and exact size of the unit.
    Miacis screamed, “Mercy! Lord above!” and jumped straight up.
    The sudden noise stunned Siv and Glass guarding Duster.
    “It’s First Unit!” Miacis hollered to them and all around. She began running in circles. “It is, by God. It is! Master! Justice come to find me!”
    She howled and pranced. “Oh, Master, lady!” she wailed at Justice. “Ain’t you a sensation for the blind?”
    She made odd word-combinations put together from the four’s thoughts and memories. The fact that the unit had not yet divided into its separate selves did not stop her for a moment from addressing Justice and ignoring the other three.
    “My God, lady, I thought you never was going to show up. Man, I even glad to have that rotten runaway back, that Tom-Tom Douglass, you ratty brother, the chickensh—!”
    “Miacis!” Justice cried. The unit had quickly separated into its selves.
    “You dumb, mangy dog!” Thomas yelled at Miacis. He would have kicked her if Justice hadn’t stopped him.
    “Now quiet, both of you” Justice said. “Miacis, please don’t insult anybody.”
    “I just so glad to have you here, lady. Shoot, not so much fun by myself after foolin’ ’round with you people.” Her blind eyes eagerly sought them out. “I be good, I promise. You wouldn’t even know me, I be so good!”
    She was good, helping to bring calm after the power of the four was felt and they settled on the ground.
    Other roamer packens were at the pool. Grims had come and Slakers, who had homed in on the force of the unit and thirst-quenching water.
    “Don’t mind some nasty Jammers,” Miacis said brightly when she heard the flapping of mighty wings. By Jammers she meant the Slaker beings, who jammed their third legs into the ground during violent roller storms.
    “Guess you ain’t never going to fly out of here, is you, folks?” she called to the Slaker females. She knew that the leader, the Bambnua, searched for a way out of Dustland. “You big old uglies still lookin’ for a home!”
    Slakers made no spoken sound. Warily they fluttered in tight knots, keeping a sharp eye on all the other kinds, and watching Miacis prance and preen.
    The scent of blood hung over the packens, over the grims, who had followed the scent. It took