Atherton #3: The Dark Planet (No. 3) Read Free

him," said her
    friend Samuel.
    "It was only a matter of time," Isabel told him. "At least he let us
    tie him to a rock."
    Isabel and Samuel were lying down on the ground a few feet
    away from the far edge of Atherton. Dr. Kincaid and Vincent,
    and all of the other adults, had forbidden them to go all the way
    out there by themselves. But Edgar had convinced Isabel and
    Samuel to come with him, so here they were. Only Edgar wasn't
    there anymore. He'd kicked his feet over the edge, turned over,
    and climbed down the curved side of Atherton.
    A rope made from the twisted bark of the first-year fig trees ran
    between Isabel and Samuel. It was tied around a boulder that
    sat heavy and immovable twenty feet back.
    "At least he's got the moonlight," said Samuel. "It will help."
    "I don't know why he insists on doing this," said Isabel. She
    knew Samuel would understand her frustration. "With the lake
    in the middle, Atherton is flat. Why can't he accept it? I realize
    it's a lot for Edgar to get used to, but I don't understand why we
    can't convince him that Atherton's not made for climbing
    anymore."
    Isabel touched the rope to see if she could feel Edgar's weight
    on the other end. She could not.
    "I didn't believe he'd go through with it. I'm beginning to wonder
    if he's lost his mind."
    "You do know why he's down there, don't you?" asked Samuel.
    The mere thought of Edgar hanging on to the bottom of Atherton
    made Samuel feel like throwing up. He was the least likely of
    the three to take risks that might get him killed.
    "Because he loves to climb," Isabel replied, "and it's the only
    place left on Atherton where he can do it."
    Samuel had been thinking a lot about this very topic.
    "I think that's only part of the answer."
    "He climbs for the thrill of it," said Isabel. "There's something in
    the climbing that makes him feel more... I don't know... alive. He
    tells me that all the time."
    Isabel had moved forward and was now even closer to the edge
    than Samuel. Her head peeked out over the rim of the world.
    Samuel had made a point of holding back a few feet, but now
    he moved forward on his elbows, careful not to rise up too far
    into the watery current of gravity. He came alongside Isabel and
    glanced down.
    Gazing over the edge, Samuel marveled at what he could see
    in the soft grey light. He'd seen it before when they'd come to
    look at night, but every time it surprised him. A distant orange
    light, the source of which he could not see, cutting through long
    chasms of stone on the bottom of Atherton.
    "I think Edgar climbs for another reason," said Samuel,
    regaining his voice as he held the rope running between them.
    "Why else would he do it?"
    "I remember the first time I met Edgar," answered Samuel. "He
    had climbed all the way up to the Highlands before it collapsed.
    I thought he used magic to trick me into believing he'd done the
    impossible. But later--when he came back a second time--I
    stopped wondering how he could climb so high, and began
    asking myself why he had done it."
    "And you've been thinking about it ever since?" asked Isabel.
    Samuel nodded. "It's too dangerous to do it just because it's
    thrilling or even just because he loves doing it. I think
    something else drives him. Maybe Edgar began climbing as a
    means to an end. What if it was only ever about finding things,
    never about the climbing itself? What if he was always
    searching for something?"
    Samuel took a deep breath and looked out into the stars.
    "What if he's still searching for something?"
    Isabel shook her head and sighed. "I just wish he'd find safer
    places to search for whatever it is he's looking for."
    Isabel thought of how she, Samuel, and Edgar had become
    totally inseparable after the fall of Atherton. As the world had
    gone from three levels high to three levels deep, it seemed to
    have tried to destroy them with falling rocks, fierce quakes, and
    a billion gallons of rising water. Somehow the three of them had
    not only