“Five,” the man repeated.

“Help us,” she told Seldom.

Her friend had a pocket full of coins. The five-spot was accepted, and Diamond grabbed up the stick, eating with big craving bites.

Thinking about what had gone wrong and could still go wrong, Seldom watched the crowd moving past them. And then his face changed and he was laughing. Standing taller, he took time to relish this little dose of pleasure. And then he said, “I know where to go.”

Elata asked, “Where?”

He put his face close to hers. “School.”

“Now?” Elata shook her head. “I’m not dressed, and what do about Diamond?”

“Master Nissim,” Seldom said.

She took a moment, considering.

“If anybody,” he began.

“Great. Let’s go.” Then she tugged at the strong, rebuilt arm. “We know somebody, Diamond. Somebody sure to help.”

SIX

They ran past shops and dozens of strangers and through the bright constant rattle of unfamiliar voices discussing more strangers and senseless topics. Running wasn’t work. Being swallowed up by oddities and puzzlements was work. Feeling weight on his shoulders and inside his heart, Diamond slowed his gait, and he tried to narrow his eyes, avoiding distractions. But the hallway’s left wall was littered with side tunnels reaching deep inside the tree, and there were chambers cut into both walls and unexplained doors that could stand open or closed and mysterious cavities where wooden people stood on pedestals, wearing colorful clothes and paint on their handsome faces.

One side tunnel was marked with important numbers, and it obviously dove deep inside the tree.

Elata shouted, “Turn.”

Diamond was exhausted. He was ready to sit in a corner, resting his mind. More than anything, he wanted quiet and closed eyes and his old friend Mister Mister to hug. But they ran down a long passageway, deeper into Marduk. The only lights hummed and flickered, like fire and not like fire, and the surrounding wood smelled different. Diamond pulled away from his friends. Then the wood smelled like before—a living wet smell—and a doorway appeared, revealing sunshine. He slowed and Elata said, “Go out,” and Diamond led them onto the same broad public walkway they had already fled once.

He fell into a quick walk, watching for the angry man and the black blimp, but the blimp was gone and every face was new, and most of the people didn’t waste time noticing the odd boy in their midst.

Elata and Seldom caught up to him.

The walkway was wider than before—a great plain of blue-painted wood reaching far into a different kind of air. No column of water tumbled from the sky. There were three blimps and different trees growing in the distance, while smoke and perfumes gave every breath strange tastes.

“Where are we?” he asked.

His friends were talking between themselves.

Diamond stopped and looked at them. “Where’s Marduk?”

“It’s here,” Seldom said. “We came out the other side.”

Diamond turned in a slow circle, finding new landmarks.

“We need to climb,” Elata warned.

The great tree rose up into a morning mist that wasn’t as thick as before. Hundreds of structures were fixed to the trunk and long mysterious structures reached far out into the bright busy air.

“Come on,” said Seldom.

“I can’t climb,” Diamond said.

“It’s all right,” said Elata. “There’s another way.”

They approached a wide gap in the walkway, a narrow red safety rope marking the hole. Massive ropes were moving beside the tree, a dozen ropes rising and just as many falling. The smallest rope was thicker than any person’s body, dull brown and creaking sharply. Several people stood beside the hole, waiting. An attendant released the safety rope. Then a broad platform dropped into view, different people and a few small boxes riding down the side of the tree. The platform never stopped, and most of the waiting people calmly stepped onboard, vanishing without fuss. Then the attendant looped the safety rope back into place, glancing up and then down before telling everyone, “Step away.”

Diamond stood beside Elata. Seldom was behind them, watching the crowd and then watching his feet.

“Police,” he said with a quiet, scared voice.

Two men in black uniforms and rounded black hats emerged from the hallway, studying faces, working their way toward Diamond.

Elata walked up to the safety rope.

The attendant was a small stout woman. Her uniform was gray with white stripes, and she wore a tall pointed hat. She looked important and sounded that way when she said, “Back now, girl. Freighter coming. Back.”

Elata whispered to Seldom.

The boy winced and said nothing.

Diamond looked over the edge. The rising platform was covered with long boxes.

The important woman said, “Get back, son.”

He didn’t like that word from a stranger. “Son.” But he backed up and dropped his face.

Elata took his hand. Her tug meant something.

“They see us,” Seldom said.

The freight platform was close when Elata squatted and jumped under the rope, bringing Diamond with her. Seldom followed. The attendant cursed, but she had no interest in chasing them. Their fall was quick and ended with a noisy crash, landing on top of the largest box. Thick wooden planks were pegged to a heavy framework. Spaces between the planks allowed air to move in and out. Something directly under Diamond’s feet made a rough noise, like the cough of a giant, and then a broad pink nose pushed close enough that he felt the wet breath warming the bare parts of his feet.

The platform rose past the walkway and the waiting people and the attendant who invested a few moments shaking her fist at them.

Diamond didn’t see the police again.

Seldom kneeled, peering into the dark interior.

“What are you doing?” a voice shouted.

“We’re late to school,” Elata said.

A man was climbing up on their box. He had the same gray and white uniform, the same pointed hat. But his anger was different. The first attendant had seen one rule broken, but what could she do about it? On the other hand, these three hitchers were riding on this man’s platform, which was nearly his own property. This was a very serious crime.

“So you’re late,” the man said. “But now you’re doubly in trouble, because you don’t belong here.”

“Throw us off,” Elata said.

“I should,” he agreed.

Terrified, Seldom backed away.

Again, the beast inside the box gave Diamond a good hard sniff. Then a sour deep voice said, “Odd, odd, odd.”

Diamond stepped back.

The nose followed him. And again, the creature’s voice said, “Odd.”

The attendant looked at the three of them, ending up with Diamond. A polished club was fixed to a heavy belt, and he pulled the club free, passing it from one hand to the other and back again. Seldom moaned, and Elata put her feet apart, ready to move. But then the man knelt and struck the box hard three times, shouting, “What’s odd, growler?”

“Smell is.”

“Whose smell?”

The nose looked halfway human, sniffing Diamond again, sniffing hard.

“That boy?” asked the man.

“No boy,” the growler responded. Then it put its nose under Seldom, sniffed and said, “Nothing like this boy. Nothing this nose ever smelled ever.”

The attendant rose, studying Diamond’s face.

“What’s a growler?” Diamond asked no one in particular.

“They do work,” Elata explained. “They’re big and strong, and smart enough to follow orders, if their trained right and willing.”

“I am willing,” said the beast in the box. “I am a heroic worker.”

Except for the big nose, Diamond couldn’t see what was under his feet. Putting both arms around his chest, he gazed out into the air, at a tree even larger than Marduk that was laced with tunnels and houses and covered with big walkways, and maybe twenty blimps were tied to structures that reached out like arms, and beneath every walkway were other structures where still more people lived.