The lights of the cavern brightened, ushering in a new “Day.”

  I had breakfast with Selma, told her about how that was the greatest sleep I had in days, and was out the door with my pack. Was going to be meeting Cousin Raster today.

  Runica met me down the road from her property and was pretty much my escort.

  “So yeah,” I said, ignoring Blaster and Laster asking me if I gave Runica a morning kiss from across the field. “I think I’ll be going on a hunt on the next Bright, or the one after.”

  Runica scrunched her lips. “Are you sure you want to do that? You only have one arm.”

  I waved at Uncle Castor as he loaded a barrel onto the wagon. “It’s alright, Runica. I don’t need two arms to set up some rabbit snares–”

  “But what if the boars are acting up again?”

  I grinned. “I picked up some tricks. I can handle them.”

  Runica pouted and folded her arms. “I guess so…”

  “But if I get some rabbits, I can trade them in for some new wheels to replace Selma’s current roundcaps. The lady really banged them up.”

  Runica put on a sympathetic smile. “Yeah, Mom told me all the grisly details about Miss Selma’s reaction. I don’t think it would have been good if you came seven Phases late.”

  “That’s why I never let up on my goal…”

  “Hey,” she whispered. “That cloak you were wearing…” Runica’s eyes darted around like she wanted no one to notice. “Is it hidden away?”

  I nodded. “No one will find it.”

  In truth, the cloak worked like how my God Arm worked. It just vanished when I wasn’t using it–very useful function.

  “That’s good,” Runica said, shifting her golden hair back in place. “I don’t want anyone causing you trouble.”

  “I agree… So, Raster… What sort of guy is he?” I asked, my eyes on the crooked tower.

  Runica chuckled, a little nervous. “He’s the sort that spends all his time in that dusty tower.” She held the back of her neck as she kept forcing out chuckles. “Sometimes, I clean the place a little.”

  I smirked. “Why do you look so guilty?”

  “Because he’s a grown man and I shouldn’t be babying him,” she said with a sigh.

  “Sounds like something Kolm would say.”

  She sighed again. “It was.” Runica squished her cheeks between her hands and let out a cute whine. “I just can’t help it. He’s such a pure soul.”

  I bobbed my head, unsure if a ‘pure soul’ could make as amazing an explosive as I had heard.

  We walked into the tower, Runica leading me in and announcing our presence, “Hey, Raster.”

  “Hello, Runica,” he replied, his voice deeper than I expected.

  Raster had his back to us, but before I could address him, I stopped. I had only taken a single step inside.

  “Whoa,” I said, my eyes hungrily taking it all in. “So many books; how did you get them all?”

  Raster did not stop fiddling with his back turned. “I don’t know. How do you think I got them?”

  I didn’t take any offense. “I don’t think you’ve written them, and I don’t think you’ve wandered out of the hunting grounds… This sort of thing? It’s probably something deceptively simple… I bet you went digging holes, unearthing these beauties.”

  Runica gave me a weird look–guess she thought that was unlikely. But Raster? He had stopped what he was doing.

  Raster turned around, and for a moment, I wondered if he’d slept at all this week.

  His long, greasy hair clung to his head and neck in uneven clumps, like he’d tried to cut it himself and then gave up halfway through. His skin had the pale, waxy look of someone who’d spent more time near glowlights and shroom-lamps than the cavern’s natural light. A faint dusting of mushroom spores clung to his collar and sleeves like he’d stopped caring about brushing them off.

  He wore a patchwork vest over a worn-out shirt, and his fingers were stained with ink, dirt, and possibly mushroom matter.

  His eyes were hidden behind thick, circular lenses—each one cut from the translucent cap of a glassy sort of mushroom. The faint glow from them pulsed slightly with his movements, further bolstering the idea that Raster was not the typical village.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  I chuckled. “We’ve got a savant in both ability and looks, huh?”

  Raster’s eyes were distorted behind the lens, but I could feel the pressure in the room. Guy was gauging me.

  “Huh, that was a creative reply,” Raster said, tilting his head. “Guess you aren’t dullwitted like all the rest.”

  I shrugged. “Surviving the caverns kind of sharpens you up.”

  “Sixty percent of my books.”

  I raised a brow. “You dug them up?”

  He nodded eight times in two seconds, like he was a fidgety parrot. “Sixty percent of my books, I unearthed around the village and in the hunting grounds.”

  I looked around again. A tower lined with shelves upon shelves of books, that you even had to use ladders and stairs to reach? That you had to plant mushrooms in strategic places to give it some sense of stability? Sixty percent of its contents came from the ground?

  “Twenty percent were books our family had and books villagers were willing to donate,” Raster continued.

  Runica giggled. “Our family’s kept books for a long time.”

  “And the final twenty are the ones Ruth and I have written.”

  “Your sister, too?” I asked, surprised.

  He did his parrot nod again. “She keeps track of our family’s transactions and my bathing schedule–”

  “Didn’t need to say that part.”

  “--so she fills pages quickly. She’s the best mathematician in the village.”

  I looked around again. “I’m impressed.”

  He took a step toward me. “I’m sorry I didn’t greet you properly. Your eyes looked so hollow from what I remembered. If I knew what they looked like now, I would have greeted you the moment you walked in.”

  I raised a brow as Runica let out a soft “aww” and patted my back.

  “What do they look like now, Raster?” Kolson asked, walking into the tower with Tess.

  “Hello, Set. I hope Selma is well,” Tess said, her smile almost as radiant as Runica’s.

  I chuckled. “She’s well. Thank you.”

  “He’s actually looking at my books the way I would,” Raster said, fixed on me, lips slowly parting. “Is there something I can learn from you, Set?” Raster squished his cheeks the way Runica would and let out a sound. “Oh, and congratulations to you and my cousin! She always talks about you when she aids me, but I hated hearing about it because you were so dull!”

  I twisted my lips, eyes narrowed. “I’m going to let that slide, because I sort of agree–”

  He took another step. “Of course you do. Because you can reflect on your past!” he said, giddy. “I wasn’t wrong to dislike you! You disliked you too! We agree,” he said, patting his chest repeatedly.

  “Okay, we don’t have to talk about me anymore.”

  “Of course! What would you like, Set?”

  “Wise son of Castor,” I said, trying to be a bit more unusual to match his energy. “I come to you with a question.”

  Raster gasped, and sort of stood up straighter, but I think he had a permanently altered posture, kind of like curved green beans.

  “Do you know what a ‘Gigas Berry’ is?” I asked, testing his knowledge.

  He tilted his head until his ear almost touched his shoulder. “Section F, Row 8.”

  Tess held a pleasant musical note behind us and clapped her hands. “I know where that is!” She pulled one of the flatcap shrooms along, stood on it, and pulled a dark green book from a shelf, and then handed it to Raster, before walking back to Kolson.

  Raster paged through the book and then held it up for the class. In it, was a berry. It was roughly the size of a clenched fist. Its surface was bumpy and veined like muscle, with a rough, bark-like texture along its base. But the thing that made it stand out was the twisted pattern at its front: six bulging protrusions that looked exactly like muscular arms, each one wrapped and crossed tightly over the berry’s core like they were guarding it.

  Raster dragged something like a music stand made of mushroom parts over, placed the book on it, and adjusted his glasses. “The Gigas Berry–a strange little fruit. The artist noted feeling like its little arms could whip out and break his teeth if he dared eat it. He ate it, though. It has a strong smell–like saltrock shavings. It has a very gamey-taste, like chewing on rabbit.”

  “Where can you find it?” I asked, inspecting the page.

  “It is a rare growth. I’ve searched for the bush, as according to the description, but I’ve never found it. Do you know that the animals of the hunting grounds can go beyond the lantern boundary?”

  I nodded and glanced at him. “Yeah, all the hunters know that. It’s why you have to be careful hunting in the same area. It’ll push the animals out…” I bobbed my head. “Don’t know where they go, though. The few animals I saw were at the pools.”

  “I would love to hear about that later,” Raster said, before adjusting his glasses again. “I have a theory that the animals we hunt bring the berry seeds from beyond the grounds–”

  “Oh! In their poop! They eat it, and then they poop it out!” I replied, remembering some good, old-fashioned Earth logic.

  Raster took another step. “Yes, exactly! Wow, do the hunters know that, too?”

  “No, not at all,” I dryly replied.

  “I thought so,” he said, matching my energy. And then he beamed joy. “But you know, because you aren’t dull-witted! But that begs the question… how do you know about the Gigas Berry? The only record I have of it is in front of you. It is beyond rare.”

  Runica’s eyes turned to me. I could feel her parents’ stares on me, too, to say nothing of Raster’s own, expectant eyes and wide smile.

  I clicked my tongue a few times as I mulled it over, no doubt allowing concern to grow in some hearts.

  “Well, see,” I began. “If things went well, I had really only prepared myself to tell Runica and Raster…” I glanced over my shoulder at the parents. “Didn’t think the family was like this. Joke’s on me for being so unaware of my neighbors.”

  My eyes locked with Kolson. This man had been helping me more than I had thought…

  I sighed and chuckled. “I’ll get over it. But I need everyone to keep quiet about everything I’m about to say.”

  “They won’t say a thing!” Raster shouted, almost salivating over the thought of new information. “Uncle Kolson! Aunt Tess! You will not speak a word of this outside of these walls!” His face went from tense to soft. “Right?”

  “Of course,” Tess replied, giggling. “I promise.”

  Kolson grunted and shook his head. “Boy’s already told us things… Let me share a secret with you, Set.”

  Raster lit up. “Of course, yes! A transaction!”

  Kolson nodded and pointed at the table with all the gourds and tools. “Raster’s the one who made up the mushroom beer. Just him. Raster’s the one who changed this family’s fortune.”