Sky Child by T. M. Brenner

wouldn't have asked him if they didn't need his help," I say.
    "Can we come along?" asks Jet.
    "Yes, but all they are doing is getting my outline. They won't have anything for me to try on yet," I say.
    "Okay, that does sound kind of boring," says Jet. "Never mind."
    We finish up our breakfast and I send Jet off to clean the pan. Once I leave our room, I head to the Great Fire to ask Moss which path leads to Anchor's room. Moss tells me that it is only a few rooms from Charm's, and to follow that path.
    I have a hard time finding it. When I get to Charm's room, I have to ask her for help. She tells me that you have to take a narrow side-tunnel to get there, and it is not easy to see. I have to look around for a while before I finally find the tunnel.
    Although I can get into the side-tunnel with no problem, I can see how larger people wouldn't be able to. I doubt Chaff could ever fit down this tunnel. I start to wonder if maybe Jet, Flot and I should move into this area just for protection. But I hate small spaces. They make me nervous.
    I walk down the tunnel, and I can feel my palms and forehead sweat. Dizziness threatens to make me fall. After taking a deep breath, I'm finally able to walk down the tunnel and enter Anchor's room.
    It is quite large as rooms go. You could probably have a pair of families staying in it and still have room. My guess is that he didn't kill anyone for the room. He probably took it because no one else wanted it, since it is hard to get to. He might be like me, not wanting to be bothered much.
    "Ah, Sam, glad you came then. All I need is for you to lie down on the ground over here," says Anchor, pointing to a spot near the wall.
    I go over to where he pointed and lie down on the hard stone. I can feel the cold of the floor through my hair and clothes.
    "Okay, now I am going to make the outline," says Anchor.
    Anchor takes a light-colored rock and scratches the floor all around me. When he is finally done, I stand up and stare at what is left. It looks kind of like me, or at least my shape. But with the white line on the dark red floor, it is very easy to see.
    "So what color did you want your armor?" asks Anchor. "I can do yellow, gray, white, green, red or blue. I can also mix some of the colors together, but some of them don't mix well. Also, so that you don't look like the other hunters, you can't pick brown or black."
    "I'm not sure," I say.
    "What if we made your armor blue, since you are the Sky Child, and the sky is blue?"
    I close my eyes and bite down hard, trying not to yell at Anchor for saying I'm the Sky Child.
    "I don't think it should be blue. I do like that color, but the sky isn't blue very often," I say.
    "How about red, like blood?" asks Anchor.
    "I don't know that I would like red either, because I don't want to think about blood every time we go hunting. There is enough real blood when we kill something," I say. "How about green?"
    "Yes, we can make it green."
    "Can it be a green like clover? Dark and light and strong at the same time?"
    "I think we can do that," says Anchor, smiling.
    "Thank you," I say, shaking Anchor's hand.
    "It is an honor, Sam."
    I leave Anchor's place, and make my way back to our room.
    Halfway there, as I turn down a twisting tunnel, I hear the sounds of a struggle. I move my feet faster, trying to find out who's fighting. I stop where the tunnel either continues toward our room, or splits off toward an even darker side-tunnel. I stand and listen for a moment, trying to decide which pathway to go down. Unable to tell which direction the fight is, I try the darker tunnel.
    The sounds of punching and grunts of pain get louder. As I turn the corner, I see Sickle and Scythe standing in front of Flot. Sickle is punching him in the stomach.
    "STOP!" I yell.
    Sickle and Scythe look surprised, but don't move. Sickle takes a step away from Flot. I raise my fist and chase after them. They both decide to run.
    "Cowards!" I cry out.
    I wait until the echo of their