The Children's Crusade Read Online Free Page B

branch that he used as a pole, he guided the raft downriver. To Marya.
    Gliding downstream, he grinned, knowing he’d soon be seeing her. He knew exactly where to find the Shimmers. They danced in a little pool overhung with willow trees, just where the sun usually set.
    The Shimmers are pretty , Daniel supposed. But he didn’t really understand why Marya spent so much time with them. They were hardly even real. You can practically see through them . Marya is far prettier than any of that lot . But girls like shiny little things, and the Shimmers were certainly that.
    He finally spotted her in the distance, sitting on an overturned rowboat. She was a little slip of a thing, really, and just about his age—thirteen—with beautiful long red hair that curled and danced in the breeze. Her skin was pale white, like those dolls that have glass heads, and her eyes were the most sparkly green. Greener even than the greenest grass of Free Country—and that was the greenest Daniel had ever seen. There hadn’t been too much green in Daniel’s world. In fact, where Daniel had come from, there was verylittle that wasn’t covered with soot and grime.
    Marya was so clean. He liked that, too.
    Daniel ducked his hand into the river and gave his face a scrub. He ran his wet hand through his blond hair, hoping it wasn’t too much of a mess. Kerwyn did sometimes scold him for being so untidy. Usually Daniel felt like clocking Kerwyn for that. But sometimes he thought perhaps Kerwyn was just trying to help him along a bit. To fit in, like. Make a good impression.
    Daniel poled up into the tall grasses of the riverbank. Without his asking, the grass parted for him, so that he could maneuver the raft into place. The long green fronds knew he was in a hurry. Free Country was like that sometimes. You just wanted something and before you’d really realized that you’d made a wish, Free Country gave it to you. It didn’t always happen that way, though. Daniel wished and wished for Marya to kiss him and she never did. Not even once. He was still puzzling over why Free Country gave him some things but not what he wanted most.
    He leaped onto the bank and hurried toward Marya.
    â€œMarya,” he called. “I’m back!” He wondered if she had missed him. Maybe he’d impress her with how many of the little kiddies he had brought back.
    â€œI’ve done it!” he boasted as he made his way to her through the long grass. “We reeled in the lot of ’em.”
    He clambered onto the overturned boat that Marya sat on and sprawled beside her. “You ought to see the world they’s from,” he told her. “They got these boxes they string to their ears that makes music and games like you never seen.”
    Marya nodded a little, and she gave a small smile so Daniel knew she had noticed he was there. That was a start, at least.
    â€œThere’ll be more of ’em scarping over any time now,” he continued. “Kerwyn’ll be picking missionaries for the last crossing soon as he gets the new ones tucked away.”
    â€œThat’s good,” Marya murmured.
    Daniel laughed. “You don’t give a fig, do you? Not really.”
    Now Marya gave a real smile, even though she still didn’t look at him. “No,” she answered. “I don’t.”
    Daniel tore his eyes away from Marya’s pretty face and followed her gaze. The Shimmers were putting on a splendid show.
    He wasn’t sure exactly what they were. They looked like little cherubs, only they weren’t chubby. They were silvery and pink and glowing, and the air around wherever they were glowed,too. They didn’t touch the ground but floated above the river, dancing. They were always dancing. Daniel had to admit they were very impressive—all fluttery and floaty like that. Marya always said they were the most delicate, graceful dancers she’d ever seen. Daniel had