Firespark (37 page)

He has heard that voice before. Once, when he was small, on the journey through the glacier gorge when the mountain swallowed Tuck. It's the voice of the Earth.

Wing sweeps the telescope over the rock faces of the mountains, but there's nothing to see. The tremor came through the rocky pass behind him, carrying ice echoes from the glacier gorge that cuts through the mountains in the world beyond the lake. Often, the land slips and slides and deadly spring tides of snow rumble down from the
peaks. But what he just heard is something much darker and deeper than that.

When Lily comes, he'll tell her. Once the stars wheel around the North Star, their anchor, and the great lake throws morning up into the sky, he and Lily might sneak off into the mountains to track the voice of the Earth.

He knows Lily. She'll want to go.

Just to see.

The great waterfall has crashed into sudden meltdown. The huge force of it tears at a weakness in the rock. The land cracks and breaks and a vast slice of the mountain hurtles into the glacier gorge
.

The Earth roars as an old ice wound reopens
.

A green wind blows over the mountains, fresh from the trees around the lake. It rushes into the opening and snakes through the dark salty air of the tunnels that worm deep into the mountain and lead to Ilira, and the world beyond
.

JULIE BERTAGNA
started her career as a teacher and freelance feature writer for major Scottish newspapers and has established a reputation as an author of powerful and original fiction for young readers.
Pathfinder
was inspired by a newspaper article about global warming and is now published in several languages around the world. Julie lives in Glasgow, Scotland, with her husband and daughter. Visit her website at
www.juliebertagna.com
.

The Raging Earth series

Pathfinder

Firespark

Copyright © 2007 by Julie Bertagna

All rights reserved.
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

First published in Great Britain in 2007 by Young Picador, an imprint of Pan Macmillan Limited
Published in the United States of America in 2009 as Zenith
by Walker Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.
Revised e-book edition published in August 2013
www.bloomsbury.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Walker BFYR, 1385 Broadway, New York, New York 10018

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Bertagna, Julie.
Zenith / Julie Bertagna.
p. cm.
Sequel to Exodus.
Summary: After finding that New Mungo is not the refuge they sought, Mara, leaving Fox behind, again sets out to sea with a ship full of refugees and, with the help of the “Gypsea” boy Tuck, tries to find land at the top of the world that will be safe from storms and rising water.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8027-9803-9 • ISBN-10: 0-8027-9803-9
[1. Survival—Fiction. 2. Voyages and travels—Fiction.
3. Global warming—Fiction. 4. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.B4627Zen 2008     [Fic]—dc22     2008007591

ISBN: 978-0-8027-3640-6 (e-book)