Page 23 of The Godhead Complex
He gave a single nod. “Exactly. See, out here, the more trees that grow together, the better they protect each other from the wind or a big storm. And forests with different types of trees grow better than a forest of just one species.” He pointed across the woods behind them as if to count the variety. Other than the times on the island when storms had blown through hard enough to uproot a couple of palm trees, Sadina hadn’t thought much about species of trees or their roots. It wasn’t her thing. She almost felt bad stacking the cut firewood onto the flames but the colder nights required more warmth. Plus, the firekept the riff-raff away,as Dominic said. Ever since his bee sting or ant bite, he’d gotten a little soft to the elements.
“How’d you learn so much about plants?” Sadina asked, but as soon as the question left her mouth she knew. She shook her head. “The Glade.”
“Yep. There were a lot of trees in the Glade.” Frypan nodded and the fire popped. “And from watching the trees we could see that when one got cut or sick, it healed itself. But it wasn’t truly healing itself. The other trees connected underground to send nutrients to the one in need. The root systems are complicated.”
Sadina watched Old Man Frypan speak. She was in awe of how much he knew about so many things. Living in the Maze must have been awful—truly awful—but she appreciated him sharing what he had learned there with her.
“Why didn’t we learn about this in school?”
He let out a sigh with just a hint of a laugh. She liked that, even if it was because she asked a dumb question. “Island school is for island life. Not enough variety of topics to expand your horizons.”
“Only in the Glade.” She examined the forest and imagined all those trees connected underground, sharing nutrients with each other as if they held hands through their roots. This made her think of Trish. Maybe she just wanted connection, to fix the parts of her that needed healing. Not every person, or tree, had a love like that—Sadina was lucky. She studied Frypan, who didn’t seem tired at all. “You know what, you’re the smartest person I know.” Sadina smiled.
“Well, that doesn’t say too much with the characters around here,” he joked. “Nah. A lot of brains in these people. I’ve just had more life experience being my age.” He handed Sadina another block of wood.
“My mom is educated. But she’s also very stubborn. And her stubbornness gets in the way sometimes.” Sadina still thought about that night when they left the amphitheater and poisoned everyone on the island to escape. Why couldn’t they just tell them the truth, that it was Sadina’s choice to leave and to donate her blood for whatever higher purpose? She loved her mom, but if Sadina were on the town congress she’d have done things much differently. It felt like only damage could result from how they’d left things on the island, like the flames that grew in front of her.
“Smart people tend to be stubborn,” Frypan agreed. “They know what they know and they don’t want to know what you think you know.” He chuckled. “But that’s why I think the trees can teach us a thing or two. Nature doesn’t need science. Nature does what it does. It’s people who need science tounderstandnature.”
She thought that people needed science to understand nature. If her blood was something special that Kletter had searched the whole world for, then maybe she didn’t need to understand all thehowsandwhysof it. Maybe she just needed to trust in nature and let nature do what it was going to do. Could it be that simple?
Jackie, Trish, and Miyoko helped carry armfuls of palm leaves and branches aboard the ship. If they’d learned anything from their first adventure on the boat it was this: Jackie did not have the stomach for ocean travel and they could have used something to work the boredom out of their days. Miyoko had the idea to braid and weave palm leaves into mats, blankets, hats, and bowls. Or for Jackie: a puke bucket. Not like they planned to show up in Alaska looking like a bunch of islanders wearing palm hats, but something about the idea of weaving while sailing put Sadina at ease. At the very least, it might keep her hands busy to distract from her anxiety.
The closer they got to boarding the ship, the more intense Sadina’s nerves got, because despite Minho’s drive to find the Godhead, he actually knew very little about who made up that trio. Every time she asked him, he just repeated the same thing,The Godhead is not what you think it is.Whatever that meant. She didn’t have enough thoughts about what made up the Godhead to even have an opinion about what it was or what it wasn’t—that’s why she asked. Letti and Timon had seemingly known just as much about the Godhead as Minho—absolutely nothing.
WHOOMP . . .the horn of theMaze Cutterblew louder than any noise Sadina had ever heard a man, animal, or machine make. Except maybe the Grief Walker. The vibration of sound shook her bones as it reverberated within the ship’s deck.
“Dominic!” Miyoko turned to look for him, but he stood right behind her, a little dazed, himself.
“Wasn’t me!” he protested.
“Sorry everyone . . .” Minho poked his head out of the Captain’s room. “I’m just adjusting everything to get all the knobs and whistles figured out.”
Miyoko glared at him. “Yeah. Take your time. And make a note, that one you just hit was the horn.” Dominic laughed.
“Thanks.” Minho looked around at those on the deck and the disassembled camp on the beach below. “Everyone ready to go soon?”
Sadina carried her last sack of belongings down into the cabin. “I’m ready.” She handed her sack to Trish. It was the original pack she’d brought from the island plus a few items she’d collected along the way. Rocks that were sparkly, a stick she used to poke the fire every night, and the special piece of wrapped metal Isaac helped her create on the temporary forge.
“You’re ready?” Trish asked as she set Sadina’s pack beside her own on the cot.
“I’m notreadyready, but that’s the last of my stuff.” She wasn’t looking forward to the seasickness and the cold nights out on the ocean without a fire to keep them warm. She knew the road—or the waters—ahead were bumpy. They went back up to the deck.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Dominic patted Minho on the back. “Captain.”
“Where’s Isaac?” Sadina asked. She didn’t see him in the cabin or on the deck. She looked over the railing and found him still on the beach with his pack standing next to Sadina’s mom and Old Man Frypan. “Isaac, same sleeping spots as before! You’re downwind of Dom. Sorry.” She waited for a laugh but he only looked to Sadina’s mom as if it were up to her what he should do.
“Can everyone come here for a moment?” her mom asked. Trish followed Sadina off the boat.
“Stricter rulers for the trip,” Trish whispered, but Sadina had no idea what her mom was doing. Some kind of proper bon voyage send-off or prayer on land? One by one Jackie, Dominic, Miyoko, Orange, Roxy, and then finally Minho—a little peeved—walked off the ship and joined them on the beach.
“What?” Sadina asked her mom. Everyone had gathered now but she still wasn’t saying anything. Something was off. She looked at Isaac. Was he sweating?
“We need to talk about the trip.”
Minho adjusted the gun strap around his shoulder, and for the first time Sadina felt nervousness coated infear, not anxiety. Something was definitely about to happen. Sadina looked to her mom for support but she appeared more tired and defeated than when Wilhelm and Alverez died.
But she finally stepped forward and stood straighter. “I have an announcement. I wanted to wait to share until we were all . . . ready.”
