Devotion (Chosen by the Karal #5)(31)

“Great,” he said clapping his hands together in excitement. “Can we see the elephants again?”

“Elephants?” Okil asked.

“Yes, we saw them when we came here yesterday,” Charlie said and began to walk around stretching his neck out really long. “They walked like this. And they are grey.”

“The arunda. Yes. We can fly that way and see if we can spot them.” Okil went to the kitchen and began to fetch foods from the cupboards. He seemed a little happier but his skin looked grey, as if he had received a shock.

“Okil,” she said, touching his face with her fingertips.

He looked down at her and smiled. “Don’t worry. It’s not bad news and it has nothing to do with you and Charlie. Not directly, anyway.” He opened a satchel and began placing food into it. “I’ll tell you when we reach the ocean. I just need to clear my head first.”

“OK,” she said and helped Charlie put on one of Okil’s big sweaters and then she lifted him up and carried him, trying to disguise the small boy as nothing more than a bundle of clothes. They might fool anyone from a distance, but close up you could still make out the form of a small child. She hoped no one was suspicious enough of her coming to Karal to be watching closely.

Okil went first, opening the ramp so Tikki could go straight into the cruiser. “Why don’t you both sit up front,” he said to them.

Charlie ran, or waddled, with the sweater around his ankles up to the front of the cruiser, and Tikki laughed as she watched him. Okil lifted him into one of the seats and managed to secure the seat belt around him, while Tikki settled down into another seat, staring at the vast array of controls.

“This cruiser is like magic. It can fly anywhere, drive anywhere, and I’m not even sure if it couldn’t go underwater if it needed to.” Whether Okil was joking on that last point she wasn’t sure, but then he added, “But usually over water, we hover. Shall we try that when we get to the ocean?”

“Let’s go,” said Charlie, putting his teddy down next to him on the seat.

Okil checked they were all secure and then pressed the button for the ramp to close. The engines hardly made any noise as they pulled forward out onto the road. Leaving his house behind left Tikki nervous; out here they were exposed. What if they were stopped, would they have enough time to hide Charlie? And above all else, she worried what news Okil had to share, because even though the colour had returned to his face, he still looked concerned.

“There,” Charlie pointed, and sure enough off to the left were a herd of the massive animals they had spotted from the air. Okil looked too, and then eased back on a lever whilst increasing their speed. Slowly they rose into the air, keeping low over the grass as they sped towards the arunda.

“Look at their long necks!” Charlie cried, and despite everything, Tikki found his enthusiasm contagious. This was the most excited and animated she had ever seen him.

“There are so many different animals on Karal, Charlie. We will try to see as many as we can. If you want me to, I can bring some books home from the great library in the tower. They are like encyclopaedias, filled with every animal on our planet. Would you like that?”

“Yes, please, Okil Daddy,” Charlie said.

Okil paled at the words but didn’t correct him. “Then I will bring some home with me tomorrow. Shall we go to the ocean now?” he asked after they had swung around and passed over the grazing arunda twice. “There are other animals we can look out for. Some fish in the ocean can jump high and try to reach the cruiser as we fly over them.”

“That sounds like fun.” Charlie settled back down but kept a close eye on everything below them as they flew over the ground. Tikki sat back and enjoyed the ride, seeing the world below in a myriad of colours, but not able to fully appreciate it yet. For her, there was too much at stake, so many problems to overcome. Would she ever be free to enjoy Karal?

The most exciting thing about the trip, for Charlie at least, was when they climbed the side of the mountain and then skimmed over the top. Okil played with them and for a moment, she truly thought they were going to scrape the bottom of the cruiser on the highest peak, but then they crested it and slid down the other side.

Charlie whooped loudly and raised his hand in the air, his teddy tucked securely under his arm so that he didn’t fall off the seat. Then Charlie opened his eyes in wonder as he saw the vast ocean laid out in front of them.

“Wow, that is the most amazing sight I have ever seen,” Tikki said.

“Me too,” breathed Charlie. “Can we see the fish?”

“Sure. Let’s see if we can get them to jump, shall we?” Okil headed out across the ocean, the cruiser about two feet above the swell. At first, there was nothing to see, and then there were occasional flashes of spray rising up around the windows of the cruisers. “Take your seat belts off and look down.”

They both did as he told them to, leaning over the console, careful not to touch anything. There, to the sides of the cruiser, were silvery fish. They leaped, flicking their tails as they raced across the ocean with the cruiser. And then Okil rose higher in the air. “Buckle up.”

They both sat down and did their seat belts up, Tikki checking Charlie’s was secure. And she was pleased she had, because Okil rose higher and then flipped the cruiser so that it flew on its side for about two hundred feet. Charlie yelled in delight as the fish leaped at the cruiser, before disappearing back into the ocean. Ten, maybe fifteen, of the fish swam with them, leaping so high they nearly hit the cruiser. Charlie placed his hand on the glass, as though trying to touch them. It was both thrilling and magical, a memory to store away forever.