“We might fall through the clouds.”
Chapter Forty-two
The Night Market
Four anchors, as large as houses, hooked into the ground, one in each corner of the grassy field. The ropes attached to them disappeared into the night sky. Muffled voices and the clinking and clanking that came with a market coming to life seeped through the starless sky. Keishin looked up, straining to see through the thick soup of clouds. “How do we get up there? And notice how I did not bother to question how it was even possible for a market to be set up in the sky. I expect that I wouldn’t understand any explanation you gave me anyway.”
“We get up by climbing ladders. And the answer to the question you didn’t ask but, deep inside, really want to know the answer to is ‘crows.’ ”
“Crows,” Keishin said. “Of course.”
Colorful ladders unfurled from the sky and landed on the ground at different points across the field. The little bells hanging from the ladders tinkled in the breeze, announcing to the crowd milling below them that the Night Market was open. Keishin and Hana headed to the closest ladder and fell in line.
Keishin looked up at the swaying ladder, cold sweat forming on his palms. He wiped his hands on his coat. “I don’t think that I ever mentioned to you that I’m afraid of heights.”
“I hate heights too,” Hana said. “My father used to tell me to keep my eyes on the ladder and to never look down.”
“Did it help?”
“Not at all.”
“Wonderful. Thank you for the advice.”
Keishin reached the front of the line. He drew a deep breath, gripped the sides of the ladder, and climbed. His hands, still raw from a night of rowing, burned. The wind grew stronger the higher he climbed, making the ladder swing in wide arcs. Keishin stopped climbing and glanced down to check on Hana.
“Keep climbing,” she called up to him.
Keishin nodded back, his hands trembling and damp. The relief that came from seeing Hana securely on the ladder was swiftly replaced by the horror of seeing the ground. Keishin raised his leg to climb onto the next rung. His foot slipped, sending half of his body through the ladder to dangle in midair.
“Kei!” Hana screamed below him.
Keishin hooked his arm around a rung and pulled himself up. “I…I’m fine,” he said, doubling his pace up the ladder before he lost his nerve.
A rough hand gripped his fingers when he reached the top. A man with a leathery face pulled him up from the ladder and onto a stepping stone floating over a cloud. “Welcome to the market,” he said, creasing every inch of his face with a wide smile.
The stone wobbled beneath Keishin’s foot. “Uh…thank you,” he said, not quite succeeding in finding his voice.
Hana climbed up after him. “This place seems even bigger than when I was last here.”
Keishin looked around. Brightly lit stalls selling wares he didn’t recognize stretched out in rows over the clouds. Narrow boats ferried the market’s customers between them. Clouds churned in the wake of the boats, parting occasionally to give a glimpse of the ground.
“This way.” Hana skipped onto a stepping stone. “We will need to hire a boat to get around.”
—
A tall woman stood at the rear of the boat, clutching a long paddle. She used the paddle to push away from the dock, sending the boat drifting into a river of clouds. She steered the boat so gracefully and effortlessly between the market stalls that had her movements been set to music, it would have been a dance.
Keishin turned from their boat’s pilot and let his eyes wander over the market’s stalls. Glowing balls of light were piled high on one stall’s table like mounds of fruit. The stall next to it sold bottles filled with stars. The last stall they had passed appeared to sell absolutely nothing, but boatloads of customers seemed all too eager to buy. “I don’t even understand what I’m seeing,” he said, whispering to Hana. “What does this market sell anyway?”
“Lost things. Found things. Things crafted by hearts or hands.” Hana pointed to a stall on their left. Conch shells of varying sizes were arranged in neat rows on tiered shelves. “That was one of my favorites to visit as a child.”
“Let me guess,” Keishin said. “You enjoyed listening to the ocean.”
Hana tilted her head. “Ocean?”
“The sound of waves in the shells.”
“Oh. Is that what the shells in your world sound like?”
