The Sun Dwellers (36 page)

So Tristan spoke to his father’s secret engineers, the ones who control access to aboveground, and learned of an alternative entrance, one that his father built in the event that he wanted to attempt to seize control of the New City once more, or if Borg Lecter ever tried to deny him entrance or access to the abundant flow of energy provided by the sun.

So now, on the fifth day since fulfilling our mission, that’s where we’re headed, to the alternative entrance. We’re in a car, being sped along the sun dweller streets by his driver, passing the typical sun dweller sights that I’m still not at all used to, like flourishing clothing stores and packed restaurants. The artificial sun is high in the sky and providing yet another perfect day in paradise.

As I take in the sights, I think about Tawni and Roc, who we’ve had to leave behind. Appropriately, Tristan ordered all his vice presidents to report directly to Roc and Tawni, who have his full authority while he’s gone on a “short business trip.” Roc is on the mend, but while his body’s still a long way from his usual, athletic self, his mind is as sharp and good as always, and of course Tawni is there, too. She’s proven she’s come a long way from the tall, skinny girl who was around for moral support and the occasional hug. She saved us all.

We reach the outskirts of the city, drive along the edge of the cavern wall for about fifteen minutes, and then stop randomly in what appears to be the middle of nowhere. The driver reaches up and presses a button on a small controller attached to the roof. Gears churn and cycle to my right, where the cavern wall opens up like a giant door. The transition from the wall to the door is so seamless, so well hidden, that I barely notice it.

We pull into the hidden tunnel, where we are immediately flanked by two men in dark gray lab tunics, who promptly open our doors. “Welcome,” one of them says to Tristan. He nods. “Are you sure you want to do this?” the guy asks.

“You have your orders,” Tristan says.

The man escorts us to a tube much like the one Tristan described when he first told us about the earth dwellers. The tube is thick glass and extends straight up and into the rocky roof fifty feet above. At the base is a pod with an ovular opening on one side.

Before we get in, the man says, “On your orders, we’ll keep the transport pod aboveground, so when you’re ready to return to the Sun Realm it will be waiting for you. All you have to do is press the button inside and we’ll have someone standing by twenty-four hours a day to get you back.”

“Thank you,” Tristan says, holding my hand as we step in. The inside of the tube isn’t that different than that of a train car, except there are no seats. The doors close.

Neither of us speak as the pod starts to rise. The engineers grow smaller and smaller and then disappear entirely as we enter the vertical tunnel. Everything is black now except for the inside of the pod, which glows softly, powered by some unknown source.

I have so many questions to ask him about aboveground, about the earth dwellers, but I know what his response will be if I ask him—“Just wait and see”—so I don’t speak. I don’t really have anything else to say as my complete focus is on what I’m about to experience.

As he warned, the trip takes about thirty minutes, during which time we just sit in silence, holding hands, gently rubbing our fingers together, just like the first night we spent together, after Cole died. It seems like ten lifetimes ago. In fact, I feel like it happened to a different person—not me.

Eventually, the pod slows and then creeps to a stop. The doors open, casting an eerie glow into the dark space beyond. Tristan grins and steps out, pulling me behind him. As we learned from the engineers when we were planning our trip, this pod concludes in a cave a few miles south of the
New City
, well out of range of their city watchmen.

Although we know it’s daytime, the cave is pitch-black so Tristan flicks on a flashlight. The cave appears to be natural, but clearly someone—Tristan’s father’s engineers most likely—has leveled it out and excavated an easily travelable tunnel to the outside. As we head down the path, I feel as much at home as if I was back in subchapter 14. Tunnels and caves are as normal as it gets for me.

But then I see it: a light. A circle of white-yellow, as bright as I’ve ever seen, like a halo, streaming into the end of the tunnel.

“Is that it?” I whisper, afraid that if I raise my voice I’ll shatter the light.

Tristan nods, grinning. “That’s it. A ray of sun, brighter than a thousand of our artificial suns combined.”

We run now, together, still holding hands, whooping and hollering and carrying on like a couple of school kids. As we approach the end, the light is so fierce I have to shield my eyes with my hand. “It’s beautiful,” I murmur. “But how do you bear to go under it?”

Tristan laughs. “It’ll take some getting used to. Your eyes have never seen this kind of light. Here—I brought these. He hands me a pair of dark sunglasses and a floppy hat.

Grinning, I slip on the dark glasses and don the hat. “You ready?” Tristan asks.

“Ready,” I say, my smile growing bigger than I thought possible, my heart doing leaps and spins, my skin tingling with anticipation. My life is about to be changed forever.

We step into the light, which, despite the sunglasses and hat, blinds me, forcing me to close my eyes. Still blind, I let Tristan pull me forward a few more steps, feeling more and more warmth on my skin with each pace forward. It’s a beautiful warmth, full of tingles and heat and
life
. I desperately want to open my eyes, to see the sky, to see the clouds, but I know my eyes aren’t ready yet; they’re still acclimating themselves to this new world.

We stand in the sun for a few minutes, just soaking it up. “Want to try opening your eyes?” Tristan asks.

Yes
, I nod hungrily. I start with a squint, but am forced to shut my eyes tight again as the sunlight tears through my retinas. Every thirty seconds I try again, each time trying to open them wider and wider before clamping them shut. By the tenth or eleventh try I can keep them open for a few seconds, each time getting a peek at the world around me. First the red of the sky, so alien and bloody and big—bigger than anything I’ve seen in my entire life. Then a scattering of clouds, thin and hazy and yellow-gray and floating—actually moving!—across the sky. But none of it is how my grandma described it to me when she passed a story told by her grandmother to her mother and then to her, down to me. The sky should be blue, rich and majestic and awe-inspiring. The red reminds me so much of death. And the clouds! According to my grandmother, they should be white and fluffy, “like the beds of angels,” but instead they’re like fiery wraiths, scattering blades of sun like instruments of death across the barren landscape.

Next, something dark with wings loops across the sky. “A bat!” I scream. “They have bats!”

Tristan chuckles. “They do have bats but they’re in the caves and only come out at night. That’s a bird. A hawk I think they call them.”

“A bird,” I murmur, growing bolder as I keep my eyes open for good this time. I scan the area around me, trying to commit every detail to memory.

“I’m happy to be here with you, to share this moment,” Tristan says, cocking his head toward me.

I let go of his hand, curl both my arms around his back, interlace my fingers just above his waist. Look up into his navy-blue eyes, which glisten with emotion under the brightness of the real sun. We ignore the beauty around us and just look at each other for half a minute, until Tristan finally laughs.

“What are you thinking?” he asks.

“I—I…” I can’t get the words out, not because I don’t want to say them, but because I’m feeling
so much
that I almost can’t breathe.

Tristan cuts off my awkward stuttering with a kiss that takes any remaining breath I have completely out of me, swells my heart as big as a balloon, brings back the neurologically manufactured tingles and buzzing that we thought we’d lost.

When he pulls away I can breathe again, and the words that seemed so difficult to say a moment ago, feel so effortless now. “I lo—”

“I know,” he says, cutting me off. His smile his bigger and more beautiful than ever before.

I laugh, swatting him playfully on the arm.

That’s when someone clears their throat off to the side. We both jump slightly, and turn to see who has managed to sneak up on us. Instinctively I draw my sword, which hangs from my belt—a precaution we both agreed was necessary.

Three young women stand before us, deeply tanned, short-haired and wearing only loose rags to cover their chests and torsos. They are all beautiful in an exotic sort of way, but my eyes are drawn to the one in the middle, a tall, muscled girl with intensely attractive chestnut brown eyes. Her cheeks are high and tight and complement her delicate chin. Her features would rival that of any sun dweller model I’ve seen on the cover of magazines.

She speaks, her voice firm and full of authority. “In the name of the sun goddess, tell me who you are,” says the first earth dweller I’ve ever met.

###

Keep reading for a special bonus short story about what was happening to the moon dwellers while Adele and Tristan were on their mission, and for a sneak peak at the first book in the Country Saga (a Dwellers sister series),
Fire Country
, coming in February 2013!

It’s strange writing acknowledgments for a single book when those whom I’m indebted to have helped me with far more than just the pages of this novel. First and foremost are my readers, who have taken a chance on one or more of my books over the last whirlwind year, spending your hard earned dollars on an unknown author, and giving me the chance to make my dreams come true, as I’ve embarked on writing as a full-time career. Without you, I’d still be sitting in a cubicle, dozens of stories still stuck in my head, waiting to be told. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

To my editor, Christine LePorte, we started this journey together with
The Moon Dwellers
, and now this is our third book together! Your wisdom and dedication to maintaining the quality of the Dwellers Saga is truly admirable. I can’t wait to see how the next three books we create together turn out!

A super, special (dare I say ginormous) thanks to my creative and dedicated marketing team at shareAread, particularly Nicole Passante and Karla Calzada, who have helped to get a ball rolling down a hill that won’t stop for many years to come. I’m forever in your debt.

A humble thanks to my magnificent (and honest) beta team who gently pushed
The Sun
Dwellers
in the right direction, and very wisely told me to get Anna’s story out of the novel and into a short story! So thank you, Laurie Love, Alexandria Theodosopoulos, Karla Calzada, Christie Rich, Kayleigh-Marie Gore, Nicole Passante, Kerri Hughes, Terri Thomas, Lolita Verroen, Zuleeza Ahmad, and Kaitlin Metz. And as always, as a special thanks to the boss of the beta readers, my beautiful wife, Adele, who I must agree all edits with. I’m so lucky to have you in my life—I wouldn’t be doing any of this if it wasn’t for you.

To my unbelievably supportive friends in my Goodreads Fan Group, I can never thank you enough for what you’ve done (and continue to do) for me. To have the group grow to such an incredible size in less than 6 months is simply mind-boggling.

And last but not least, I just want to say that the cover is once again perfect for the book, which I could never achieve on my own. So thanks to Tony Wilson at Winkipop Designs; you are the finest artist-ninja-surfer I know. I can’t wait to see the cover for the final Dwellers book,
The Earth Dwellers
.

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Young-Adult Books by David Estes

The Dwellers Saga:

Book One—The Moon Dwellers

Book Two—The Star Dwellers

Book Three—The Sun Dwellers

Book Four—The Earth Dwellers (coming November 2013!)

The Country Saga by David Estes (A sister series to The Dwellers Saga):

Book One—Fire Country (coming March 1, 2013!)

The Evolution Trilogy:

Book One—Angel Evolution

Book Two—Demon Evolution

Book Three—Archangel Evolution

Children’s Books by David Estes

The Nikki Powergloves Adventures:

Nikki Powergloves—A Hero Is Born

Nikki Powergloves and the Power Council

Nikki Powergloves and the Power Trappers

Nikki Powergloves and the Great Adventure

Nikki Powergloves vs. the Power Outlaws (Coming in 2013!)

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