ME: "I'll just write this quick little fic and get the idea out of my system."
SPONGEBOB CUTSCENE VOICE: One hundred thousand words later...
Prisha didn't scream at all this time as they dove towards the forest, and Neteyam wished he could see her face. He was curious whether she was still terrified, or if she were, as she'd implied a moment ago, beginning to enjoy flying. He had a momentary mental picture of himself flying on Pawk, feeling her arms around him from behind and hearing her laughter in his ear.
Tìtstew made a few widening circles over the area where Bohan had vanished into the trees, as Lo'ak used his mount's keen eyes to search for their companions. It didn't take long to spot something, and they descended to land in the branches. From there, the three young people could see the black banshee on the ground below. Bohan was peeling the last scraps of duct tape from its snout, talking to it gently as she did.
It was the banshee that noticed them watching from the trees. It raised its head, and Bohan, still linked to him, did likewise. She waved, and Tìtstew glided down to join them on the forest floor.
" Seysonìltsan !" Neteyam called out as they landed.
"I have no idea what that means," Bohan replied with a grin.
"It's a congratulation."
"That's what I figured, but I wanted to be sure," she nodded, and patted the black banshee's snout. "Thanks."
Neteyam would not have dared approach any of the wild banshees on the mountains, especially not after Pawk, who was supposed to be his own tame partner, had attacked him earlier – but Bohan still had tsaheylu with this one, and it would absorb from her that this human was a friend despite his appearance. It lowered its head and tilted it from side to side, inspecting him.
"Isn't he gorgeous ?" Bohan asked with a proud smile.
Tìtstew snorted.
Bohan laughed. "Sorry, pal," she said. "You're very handsome, too, but in my entirely unbiased opinion you're still in second place."
Neteyam reached out a tentative hand, ready to snatch it back if anything happened, but the banshee did not make any threatening movements as it continued to examine him. "What's his name?" Neteyam asked. "We overheard some people talking about you on the radio. They said you already had a name for him."
She laughed again, this time in embarrassment. "Eclipse. What is it in Na'vi?"
" Ukyom ," Neteyam translated. The devouring shadow . "His name is Ukyom ."
He couldn't stop smiling. It wasn't just the inherent joy of a successful Iknimaya , thought he knew he would feel that him no matter how many times he saw it. Even grandmother was still delighted at every ceremony. It was the increasing certainty that for things to be going this well, Eywa must be helping them. The Great Mother wanted Neteyam to succeed, and if she wanted it, it would happen. It didn't mean everything would be easy, of course, but it would work out all right in the end.
"Ukyom," said Bohan, testing the word in her mouth. "Ukyom. Ukyom. Ooook-yohm . Okay, well. Now we have Ukyom, I have an idea how we're gonna get back in to Site Nine."
Much of the rest of the day was taken up by the aftermath of Iknimaya . It wasn't enough for warrior and banshee to have one flight together, although that was a good start. They also needed to hunt together, in order to learn to think in concert and to assure the banshee that its Na'vi partner would help provide for it. Lo'ak and Tìtsew guided Bohan and Ukyom through stalking and diving on a hexapede, and then the two banshees tore their prize to pieces.
Neteyam and Prisha had to watch this from the safety of a tree. Prisha didn't like the scene at all – she watched eagerly as the banshees circled and hunted, but then covered her face so she wouldn't have to see what followed. Neteyam, who had seen it all before, didn't mind – but as he watched, he realized he couldn't remember doing that with Pawk. It hadn't been as important as the moment of first bonding and that exhilarating first flight... certainly not as exciting. He had a vague recall of the taste of blood in his throat as Pawk devoured her kill, but that was all.
He glanced at Prisha, and found her with her face buried in the holopad, reading a book Konstopoulos had saved to the device. She was probably right about not wanting a banshee of her own, he decided, and that was all right. Not everybody tamed one. Syulang had not, and probably never would. She simply didn't have the temperament for it.
Neteyam would not have thought of the two girls as similar in any way, but having observed that, he wondered if he had a type .
Something else chewed on the corners of his mind, too, but he didn't voice it for now. "Prisha," he said, "they're almost done. We should see if we can collect something for our own dinner."
"Okay." She kept her head turned resolutely away from the clearing where the banshees were feeding as Neteyam helped her down from the branch. "Do we want to look for more teylu ?" She sounded almost hopeful. Perhaps she was determined to do better this time.
"We'll see what we can find," said Neteyam.
There were no teylu to be found, but they did collect a variety of fruits and mushrooms. By the time Lo'ak and Bohan returned, they had a fair number of items, stacked up on a rock. The banshees went to roost in a nearby tree – Tìtstew was still licking his chops while Ukyom, perhaps a fussier eater, seemed to be glaring at him. While the animals preened, their riders came to join Neteyam and Prisha, who were in the process of building a fire.
"Can humans eat these?" Neteyam asked, showing Lo'ak a kxetse ; a long, narrow, slightly twisted fruit with a nubbly dark green rind but soft, pale flesh.
"Yeah, Spider eats them," Lo'ak said. "He says there's a fruit from Earth called a banana , which has a similar texture but it's more bitter."
"Great," said Neteyam. He'd thought he remembered that, but he hadn't wanted to trust the memory when he'd just had a reminder that so many things were missing. "No teylu tonight, I'm afraid."
"We looked," said Prisha proudly. She'd turned over several rocks, always flinching in anticipation of the grubs but then sad not to find any.
"That's all right, we can crack into the rations," said Bohan. "Although I think I might be off meat for a while. Sharing the taste of that is pretty intense."
Neteyam recalled his own vague memory of hunting with Pawk... the taste was the most vivid part. Maybe he was best at remembering things that made particularly powerful impressions at the time.
Prisha opened a package of chicken pot pie for herself and Neteyam to share, while Bohan gave Lo'ak a container of meat stew. With the two banshees sitting over them as they sat around the campfire to eat, it felt very much like family outings Neteyam dimly remembered from his childhood. There'd be Dad and Mother with their mounts keeping watch during a meal, and sometimes they would sing songs around the fire – either Omatikaya songs Mother taught them, or silly English songs Dad remembered from Earth. It was tempting to start singing She'll be Coming 'Round the Mountain and see if Lo'ak would join in. Why could Neteyam remember the words to that song, but not his first hunt with Pawk?
There were other things to talk about, though – Bohan seemed to have a plan.
"I've been thinking about Neteyam's idea," she said, "and I still think it's ridiculously dangerous and it's not gonna work, but I kind of see why you have to try." Neteyam saw her eyes flick to Ukyom for a moment before she continued. "So here's what I think: there's no way you're going to get in through the air ducts. You'd have to cross the sterilized ground to get there, and you'll never made it – they've got a good view, and there's all kinds of sensors and automated defences. Nobody's going to get in without them knowing you're coming, so we'll have to let them know we're coming."
"What?" asked Lo'ak. "So... we go up and knock and ask if we can come in?"
That would be absurd, and Neteyam's own first thought was that they were going to allow themselves to be captured and then break out. It seemed, however, that neither was what Bohan had in mind.
"No," she said. "The thing I figure is, they don't know what happened to me, do they? I just vanished, and they found Paulsen and the crashed chopper. What about me? For all they know, I got kidnapped and interrogated. If I show up again, looking like I've been thrown down a hill, they'll let me in and debrief me."
"What about us?" Lo'ak wanted to know.
"I'm getting to that," Bohan told him. "My backpack is big enough to fit one human as long as they're not too big. Prisha can hide in there, and I'll stow the bag somewhere so she can sneak out. You're our computer person, right?" she asked.
"I like to think so," Prisha said modestly.
"She told me she basically runs the outpost at our camp all by herself," said Neteyam.
Prisha squirmed. "I was bragged. I don't really. Everybody works on it."
"It's possible to interrupt power to the security systems for a few seconds and not have it noticed," Bohan said. "We know this because there's a couple of people making Na'vi cycad beer in the locker rooms and they've been turning off the cameras to get in and out in the middle of the night without getting caught. You can shut down the perimeter and signal the boys, and I'll meet them in the hangar. Ukyom stands out, but you're little pal there," she nodded at Lo'ak, "will blend right in at the hangar, especially with the saddle on. I doubt anybody counts them. So you boys will have to wait outside for the signal, and be ready to go like hell the moment it comes."
"Right," said Neteyam. "We can do that." He turned to his brother and Prisha, who both had their mouths full of food and thoughtful expressions on their faces. "Unless you two don't want to come, in which case she can just sneak me in directly. That would definitely be safer," he added.
"No, I'm coming," said Lo'ak firmly. "Mom and Dad have really been rubbing it in that I've gotta take care of the kids smaller than me." He put a hand on top of Neteyam's head, and Neteyam pushed it off with a laugh.
"I'll come, too," said Prisha. "I kinda want to know what goes on in there, and if I can get some experience with a newer system, I might be able to update some of the stuff at High Camp."
"You all know we're gonna get caught, right?" Bohan asked. "I still don't think this is going to end well, and everybody needs to understand that."
"We're not going to just give ourselves up, though," Neteyam pointed out. "So what happens once we're in?"
Bohan sighed. "You can hide in my room," she said. "There's spots the cameras don't see, and it didn't take us long to find them. You can imagine why we'd want to, you're all teenagers. Then we'll sneak out while the moonshiners are doing their thing, so we won't need to mess with the system again. We'll let somebody else get caught doing that. I'll take you down to the labs and let you have a look at what we're dealing with. If you can find something to do with that, great. If you can't, then we have to figure out how to get back out again. I have a few ideas for that, but we'll see how it goes."
She didn't think they were going to have to worry about it. Neteyam didn't think so, either – at least, not right away. He figured they would have to hide in the facility for the eight months it would take to grow their new bodies. That was something they would have to figure out as they went.
So he said, "good, that's a start. You know, if we can make a new body for me, and an avatar for Prisha, we could probably make a new human body for you ," he told Bohan.
Bohan stared at him for a moment, but then she laughed. "Thanks for the thought, but that's not gonna work."
"Why not?" asked Lo'ak.
"Because where the hell would I go?" she asked. "I can't just wander off into the woods when we're done like you can, and I definitely can't go try to pick up my old life again. Everybody knows I'm dead. I'll probably be called a deserter and shot."
"So what are you going to do after this, then?" Neteyam wanted to know.
"I have no idea," Bohan admitted with a shrug. "I don't think I care anymore."
"You could come home with us," Lo'ak suggested. "We're living with the Metkayina in Awa'atlu. If they've learned to put up with us, they can probably take you, too."
She shook her head. "They're not gonna take in somebody who was created as a weapon against them," Bohan said. "Anyway, I was already with Quaritch and company before I died on the ship, remember? We were burning huts and shooting animals to scare them into ratting out your dad. They're not going to forgive me for that in a hurry."
There was an uncomfortable silence.
"We don't have to tell them that," said Lo'ak.
"I'll tell them myself," Bohan said. "They'd deserve to know."
It was an unpleasant way to end the evening, but they all needed their sleep if they were going to head for Site Nine tomorrow. After extinguishing the campfire, they returned to the abandoned Samson so they could refill their oxygen again in the morning. As they had the previous night, they made their camp near the vehicle but out of sight of it, in case somebody came back. Bohan offered to take the first watch, and seated herself up on a tree branch with Ukyom while the kids settled down to sleep below. Tìstew curled up and spread a wing over them, like a tent.
Sometime in the middle of the night, Neteyam felt somebody shaking his shoulder. He opened his eyes and blinked, but at first all he could see was the distorted reflection of his own face on the inside of his breathing mask. Then he managed to refocus on something further away, and made out a shape hovering over him. Another reflection told him who it was – the blue glow of the planet lighting up Prisha's eyeglasses.
"Are you awake?" she whispered.
"Yes," he said, fighting a yawn. "What is it?"
"I don't wanna yell for Ms. Bohan," Prisha said, "but I woke up and somebody's watching us."
"What?" Suddenly awake, Neteyam sat up and looked around. "Where?"
"There." Prisha pointed up into the canopy. Neteyam followed her finger, and spotted it – glints of light that winked in and out in pairs, looking very much like sets of eyes. Sometimes two or three were visible at once. He recognized them right away.
"That's fine," he said. "They're prolemuris. They do the same thing we're doing, where a few of the troupe stay awake to keep watch while the other's sleep."
"Oh," said Prisha. She hung her head. "Sorry for waking you."
"Don't apologize," Neteyam told her. "You're learning. If you don't know what something is, it's better to be cautious. Telling somebody who knows better was the right thing to do." He remembered Dad's stories of how Mother had taught him the ways of the Omatikaya... she wouldn't have said such a thing to him. She'd have slapped him upside the head and called him a skxawng .
"Okay." Prisha sat down and sighed heavily, her breath shaking a little as she did. "Are you nervous at all?" she asked.
"No," he said immediately, because it was what Mother and Dad would have wanted him to say. Neteyam was the eldest, he needed to be brave. It was also what Neteyam himself wanted to believe. He was a warrior, he wanted to fight. He couldn't let himself feel nervous... but it was also a lie. "A little," he admitted. "Especially when Bohan keeps saying we're going to get caught. I didn't like Site Nine. There's nothing in there. No animals, no plants, no dirt, nothing. There's not even any windows because it's all underground. I don't understand how humans live like that."
"I guess we're just used to it," Prisha said. "I'm nervous, too, but I kinda wanted to say, you know, thanks for letting me come. It means a lot."
"Um... you're welcome," Neteyam told her, remembering how he'd basically kidnapped her so that Rob Hathaway would let them leave. "It's not exactly a favour. We've been talking all night about how it's really dangerous. You don't have to come if you don't want to."
"Yeah, I know," she said, "but I've never done anything dangerous in my life, and you know I'm not good at outside stuff..."
"Nobody ever taught you," he pointed out.
"No, let me finish," she said. "The grownups trust me to work on the computers, but sometimes it seems like they don't trust me with literally anything else. Even watching Viraj, which is sometimes the only thing they'll let me do if there's something going on, like the morning you showed up. So I'm glad you trust me to help you with this, and I'll try not to let you down."
"That seems to just be what humans do with their children, though," said Neteyam. "Dad's even like that with me sometimes." Stay with the banshees. I won't say it again . If Dad had let him come with them to rescue the others, would all this still have happened?
"Yeah, but..." Prisha's voice trailed off into an awkward silence. A few moments went by with only the sounds of nighttime insects, and then she spoke again, choosing her words very carefully. "I've never felt like my life was going anywhere," she said. "You know? If I'd been born on Earth, I'd be in school, and then I'd go to university, and someday I'd have a job and get married and so on... but on Pandora I'm just here and I don't know what I'm supposed to do with myself. Sometimes I wonder if my parents only had me because they thought Spider needed somebody to play with. Mom and Dad say that's not true, but even if it is, it didn't work because Spider's not interested in other human kids. I've never really done anything and the future is just more not doing anything. That probably doesn't make any sense to you," she concluded sadly.
"No, that's... I see that," said Neteyam. That was how he'd felt contemplating his future as a human.
Prisha nodded. "So this feels like I'm doing something. Like I'm trying to change the world, even just a little bit, and if it doesn't work, at least I tried."
"Me, too," said Neteyam. "The idea of just living like this," he held up a hand and flexed the five fingers. Never able to rejoin his family or even go outside without a mask, never able to accomplish any of the things he'd ever thought he'd do as an adult. This awful yawning gulf in front of him. "I can't do it, I can't just waste the rest of my life. I've got to try doing something about it, even if it doesn't work."
Silence fell again, but it was a little less awkward this time. Prisha seemed to be finished. Maybe now it was Neteyam's turn to say something embarrassing.
He wasn't good at that. Neteyam had always been the confident one, the one who could handle anything and never shared his worries or insecurities. After all, if Neteyam was afraid, how were the younger kids supposed to cope? He didn't want to shatter that facade for anyone – but Prisha didn't seem like the type to tell other people's secrets.
"What are you thinking?" she asked.
He hesitated a moment longer, then blurted out, "do you think I'm still Neteyam?"
"Yeah," she said. "Of course! Why?"
"Bohan said the psychologist at Site Nine told her she couldn't be Emily Bohan anymore and she had to become somebody else," Neteyam said. "And I... well, the same woman told me I have a strong sense of identity and that was good, but if I don't look like Neteyam, and I don't remember everything Neteyam is supposed to remember, and if the real Neteyam is with Eywa like Lo'ak said... then I'm somebody else, aren't I? I'm just something the Sky People made. Even if I can get my body back, I still won't be the same person who died in that sea battle and my parents still won't want me."
The words, once started, came flooding out faster than he could stop them, all the things he'd been worrying about rolled up into one big, awful snowball. The idea that no matter what this new version of him did, it still wouldn't be good enough for the oldest, the responsible one, the one who got everything right the first time.
Jake and Neytiri's golden boy. The future Olo'eyktan.
Prisha was staring at him.
He felt his face heat up, and quickly looked away from her. "Sorry," he muttered.
"No, it's okay," she said, putting a hand on his arm. "I made you listen to my stupid problems, the least I can do is listen to yours. Yours aren't stupid," she added hurriedly.
"What do you think, though?" he asked.
"I don't know," Prisha said. " I think you're Neteyam. I guess you're whoever you think you are. Dad says humans aren't built to handle the stuff we can do. We existed for a million years basically doing the same stuff the Na'vi do, and then we went from subsistence farming to space travel in less than a thousand years, while we're really still just monkeys with guns. It's gotta be way worse for your people, too, because you didn't even have the process of figuring it all out. We just showed up one day and we can do all these things, and even we don't understand it, so how are you supposed to?"
Neteyam had no answer for that. A sound got his attention and he looked up, but it was just Ukyom, rustling the foliage as he rearranged his wings. Bohan's voice could be heard saying something to him, but Neteyam couldn't make out the words.
"We should go back to sleep, probably," he said.
"Yeah, we should," Prisha agreed.
Rather than move to do so, however, they simply sat there quietly, side-by-side. Neteyam turned his head to look at Prisha, and found her looking back at him – and this time, it wasn't something he thought about. It was almost an instinct. He leaned a little closer, testing to see if she'd be okay with a kiss. She straightened her back, closing the distance between their lips a little more, giving him permission.
There was a plasticky clunk as their masks collided.
It was hard to make out colours in the dark. Humans didn't have very good night vision. But Neteyam could feel his own face heating up at the stupidity of that mistake, and from what he knew about Prisha he was pretty sure she'd turned bright pink.
"Sorry," she said, almost choking on the words.
"That was my fault," Neteyam told her.
"I don't think it was," said Prisha.
"Can both of you just go back to sleep?" asked Lo'ak.
Neteyam hadn't realized his brother was awake, and he could feel himself blushing all over again. He chanced a look over his shoulder, and saw that Lo'ak was lying on his stomach, his head resting on his elbow and his face not visible. Maybe he hadn't actually seen anything... but maybe he had . Either way, Neteyam knew he was going to hear about it in the morning, and probably for weeks afterwards. Silent and sheepish, he and Prisha lay down again to try to sleep.
In the morning, Lo'ak was tired and grouchy after having been the last to wake up and take a turn on watch, but he didn't say anything – he just splashed some cold water on his face and sat down to eat breakfast. Maybe he'd been half asleep while overhearing Neteyam and Prisha's conversation, and either didn't remember it or thought he'd dreamed it. Neteyam was certainly not about to ask him. They had too many other things to do.
"We'll have to be careful," he said, as Prisha handed him a paper cup of coffee. "Last time we passed Kilvanoro we got too close and tripped some kind of perimeter alarm."
Bohan nodded. "That's why Paulsen and I got sent out to investigate," she said. "We'll want to keep as far off as we can, and we'll have to go separately. Even if they keep their distance, multiple banshees flying together will look suspicious."
"The wild ones are always in flocks, though," Lo'ak pointed out.
"The people at the waterfall won't want to take any risks," Bohan said, "especially when last time they spotted something, one very expensive recom got killed and another one disappeared. We'll want to stay in the canopy when we get close to Site Nine, too. The woods are too dense to monitor easily, so you boys can find a hiding spot while Prisha and I go in on foot."
"That should be easy," Neteyam said. The jungle was always full of hiding places.
"Once we're in," Bohan went on, "you don't do anything without my okay. I've lived there the longest. I know where things are and what gets watched."
Prisha raised a hand. "Um," she said.
Bohan blinked at her. "You're not in school."
"Sorry," said Prisha, lowering her arm again. "It's just that I had an idea, and I wanted to know if anybody was interested. It doesn't involve burning anything," she added, remembering how they'd looked at her the last time she'd suggested something. "Like Neteyam said the other day, we've used radios a couple of times to listen in on what the RDA is doing. It'll depend on what the interference is like, but if we try that as we're passing the waterfall, maybe we'll hear something. Outside the base, too."
"Yes, good idea," said Neteyam. "We might find out whether they're still looking for us, or if there's been any more fighting."
"All right, get that going," Bohan said to Prisha. "Next question... travel arrangements. Who's going with who?"
They decided that Prisha would go with Lo'ak and Tìtstew, since Tìtstew had been tame longer and was used to carrying her. Neteyam, who had better balance and more experience with banshees, would go with Bohan on the more unpredictable Ukyom. Prisha gave Neteyam a small radio that he could tie to a belt loop, while she made sure the holopad they'd taken from Konstopoulos was unable to transmit.
"One of us should go north of the waterfall, and the other one south," said Prisha. "That way we won't be in formation, and if one of us doesn't hear anything, the other group still might."
"Good," Neteyam said. "You go first, take the north, and Bohan and I will follow to the south."
Prisha smiled and patted Tìtstew's snout. "Hear that?" she told him. "You get to be leader."
Tìtstew trilled happily, though more likely from the touch than because he'd understood anything she'd said.
Lo'ak helped Prisha up onto Tìtstew's shoulders in front of him. "Bro," he said, "remember where a young hometree got half-grown and was then struck by lightning and the branches started going off all weird? We can meet up there."
Neteyam froze. He didn't remember that at all.
"Show me on the map," said Bohan, leaning to look at Prisha's holopad.
Prisha brought it up, and Lo'ak pointed to the spot. "There," he said. Neteyam didn't have a good view from where he was, but it looked like it was around halfway between the falls on the Noro and Site Nine.
"Got it," said Bohan. "See you on the flip side."
Tìtstew flew off. Neteyam and Bohan waited for about a quarter of an hour, and then Neteyam climbed up behind Bohan on Ukyom's back and held on to her backpack straps. Ukyom climbed higher up into a tree, his claws digging deeply into the bark and leaving beads of blue-gold resin seeping out where he'd passed. When he jumped off, he did so not by leaping from above like Tìtstew or Pawk habitually did, but in a bit of a backflip that made Neteyam yelp in surprise before he got control of himself.
Bohan whooped. "He's a bit of a daredevil!" she said, laughing.
"I can tell!" said Neteyam. Mother's banshee was like that: it enjoyed darting through tight spaces and doing loop-the-loops. She'd told the children once that her previous mount, the one who'd died in battle with the Sky People, had been the same way – reflecting her own enjoyment of flying. Pawk was more staid and practical, like Neteyam himself.
As they drew closer to the river they veered south, and Neteyam turned the radio on. There was a great deal of static, but he did make out snatches of words here and there. Banshee definitely made an appearance, which prompted Bohan to direct Ukyom further south. He thought he also heard Bohan's name, but he couldn't be sure.
They were not shot at as they passed, though they did notice another banshee circling about where the waterfall ought to be located. Neteyam tried to see if there were anyone riding it, but couldn't tell. He told Bohan they needed to descend, and they hugged the canopy for the rest of the flight.
The tree Lo'ak had described had been just barely poking above the canopy when it had its top taken off by the lightning strike. This had splintered it into three trunks that had grown off in different directions, snaking and twisting in an unhealthy-looking way. When Bohan and Neteyam arrived, they found Lo'ak and Prisha waiting for them in the branches. Ukyom landed next to Tìtstew, who snorted and shuffled in annoyance, and his riders climbed off to greet their friends.
"Did you hear anything on the radio?" Prisha asked eagerly.
"Only a couple of words," said Neteyam. "You?"
"Quite a bit!" Prisha smiled, but then made herself more serious, since it was a serious topic. "They've got a few people still out looking for Ms. Bohan..."
"It's actually Captain Bohan," Bohan said, "but if you kids want to call me Emily, you can."
Prisha was clearly not comfortable with that. "For Captain Bohan," she corrected herself. "They managed to track her a short distance from where we met her and then they lost the trail, and the people in charge are really annoyed that they're having to do this. It sounded like they think she ran off on purpose. And they're still looking for the explosives you said were hidden in there."
"Oh, yeah, those," said Bohan. "I almost forgot about those. Do you know where they are?" she asked Lo'ak.
"I just got here, remember?" he said.
"Pa'ay said there was a garrison there keeping watch on them," Neteyam recalled. "I'm sure they would have known when we came in to look around. Maybe they decided they were too close to being found, and moved everything."
"There were still people there when we arrived, though," said Bohan. "You saw the aftermath."
The pictures of dead bodies, including Pa'ay's, flickered in front of Neteyam's eyes. He shook them away. "Maybe they weren't finished. Or maybe they thought they would lay a trap for the Sky People." They would probably never know.
"Okay," said Bohan, "before we go any further, one more thing." She held up a finger. "Remember, our story's gonna be that I was kidnapped and questioned, and in order to make that work... well, I'm gonna need you kids to beat the shit out of me."