The Boys of Fire and Ash Read Free

still smooth and bare. He was too young. We were too young.
    “Maybe, but Goobs is already the same age I was when I got him.”
    I wiped the sweat off my forehead. The thought of Av’s Little Brother, Goobs, all alone and with a baby made me uneasy. Goobs was the same age as Cubby. What would he do without Av? What would
I
do without Av?
    “But you bring down the most game,” I said. “The Hunting Party needs you.”
    “Fiver’ll be with them.”
    I frowned.
    “I know Fiver’s not your favorite person, Urgs. But he’s an amazing tracker, really. I may bring ’em down, but I wouldn’t find them if Fiver weren’t out there with us.”
    I didn’t say anything. I hated when Av said anything good about that Cavy fart.
    “He’s still your Brother, Urgs,” said Av. “He’s one of us.”
    Maybe. But I didn’t have to like him.
    We sat in silence for a minute, both of us watching Cubby tugging on some shiny stick he couldn’t budge.
    Without Av, Cub would be all that was left for me. And he wasn’t ready for me to go, wasn’t ready to take care of himself, let alone a new Little Brother. I hadn’t taught him enough yet. Maybe Fiver was right. Maybe I was turning Cubby into a scroungee.
    Av squinted as he watched my Little Brother, and for a second I worried he was thinking it too. “I had it again last night.”
    No, his mind was on something else. “The dream?”
    He nodded.
    Av had always had vivid dreams, ever since we were small. But they never bothered him before, not like this. Lately he’d been having the same one, over and over, and it was one that would upset any Brother.
    “About your Mother?” I asked.
    He kicked me on instinct, to shut me up. He didn’t want anyone to know, and I didn’t blame him. It was a secret between us. But there was no one around to hear besides Cubby, and he wasn’t paying any attention.
    “Sorry,” said Av.
    I nodded, rubbing my thigh where his foot had slammed into it. “So it was the same one?”
    He jabbed lightly at the ground with his spear, staring at his feet. “When they get out there—the Brothers, I mean—outside the Pit. Think it’s true about some of them?”
    I waited, not sure what he was getting at.
    “You know, going to find her?”
    No. Without question, no. Not the good ones, anyway. No self-respecting Brother who left the Pit went to find those monsters. No self-respecting Brother would ever go looking for his Mother.
    Av was one of the good ones.
    When I didn’t say anything he hurried by me with his spear thrower. “Anyway, I was just talking. We better get going, here. Don’t want to waste the day.”
    He was just talking. I knew that. Av hated the Mothers just as much as any of us; he’d said it plenty of times. But if anyone heard him talking like that…
    “I still hear it!” Cubby had freed his shiny stick and was pointing back at the tree line with it. “There’s something out there, I swear.” One thing was for sure. If Av was thinking of leaving, I was going to have to get better at hunting real fast. If I didn’t, I’d let Cubby down.

TWO
    I sat on a big scrap of metal, inspecting the black, furry rodents I’d brought down. I’d only managed to catch three Slag Cavies over the course of the afternoon, which was in itself embarrassing. But on top of it, they were awfully skinny for Cavies, probably why I’d managed to hit them—they were slow and unhealthy.
    I blamed my poor performance on Av and Cubby. They’d been chattering the whole time about hunting tips and everything I was doing wrong. And I was doing everything wrong, according to Av. But I couldn’t concentrate. My mind was on Av, on his Leaving Day. I tried to tell myself it was just talk, like he’d said, but I couldn’t help being worried.
    “Well?” called Av from the top of a neighboring trash mound. “Head back to the A-Frame? I’m getting hungry.”
    I’d lost track of time, which wasn’t hard to do in the Ikkuma Pit. The billowing black