Exotics #1: The Floating Menagerie

by De Kenyon

  Chapter 26

  “So someone let the wolf-boy out,” Tapeworm snarled. “Oh well. I’ll just have to beat him up again.” He let go of Rachael to pull out his walkie talkie.

  Rachael started running up the steps.

  Tapeworm said a bad word but didn’t chase her. Rachael dashed up the stairs two at a time. Her heart was beating so hard, she felt like she couldn’t breathe.

  Mr. Hightower snorted, and Rachael heard him climbing the stairs behind her. He wasn’t running, though.

  Raul appeared and ran down the stairs past her. He growled when he saw her but didn’t stop. Rachael looked down.

  “Hah!” Tapeworm said, still holding his walkie-talkie and turning a dial on it. “Take that!”

  But Raul leapt toward Tapeworm, knocking him over and skidding the walkie talkie across the floor.

  “You should be howling in pain!” Tapeworm screamed.

  “Someone took off his transmitter,” Mr. Hightower said.

  Rachael heard panting at the top of the landing and looked up to see Digger and Hideo gasping for breath. Digger waved a small wave at Rachael, and she smiled.

  Below, Raul was standing on top of Tapeworm with his teeth ready to bite. Tapeworm tried to push Raul off him, and Raul snapped his teeth at him. “Don’t even think about it,” Raul growled.

  Tapeworm kicked Raul, and Raul yipped in pain, then bit Tapeworm on the shoulder. Tapeworm rolled over on top of Raul and punched him in the side.

  “That’s enough!” a voice yelled down the stairs.

  Rachael froze, but the voice didn’t stop Tapeworm from hitting Raul and Raul from fighting back.

  “As your captain, if you don’t stop that right now, Mr. Webster, I will throw you off the ship.”

  Tapeworm had both hands wrapped around Raul’s jaws as Raul whipped his head back and forth. Raul stopped, and Rachael saw him raise his hind claws at Tapeworm’s stomach.

  “No!” Rachael shouted. “Stop, Raul! You’ll kill him!”

  Raul froze, growling through his teeth.

  The captain came running down the stairs with Ken, Sponge, and Dr. Menney behind him. Sponge and Ken dragged Tapeworm off Raul. Dr. Menney bent over Raul and started checking his injuries. She glared at Tapeworm.

  “How is he?” the captain asked.

  “Captain Monn, as your superior officer in the organization—” Mr. Hightower started to say.

  “Shove it,” Captain Monn said. “You can have me fired after we dock. Until then, this is my ship.”

  “I must insist.”

  “You were going to torture a little kid!” Captain Monn shouted.

  “We were not going to torture anyone,” Mr. Hightower said. “Only persuade.”

  Babra and Bob appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Babra said, “Tapeworm hit her! And Mr. Hightower didn’t tell him to stop!”

  Cassie showed up behind them. “Twice,” she said. “Tapeworm hit her yesterday, too. Gave her that shiner. And Mr. Hightower didn’t say anything about it then, neither. It ain’t right.”

  Rachael hadn’t told Cassie about Mr. Hightower being there when Tapeworm had hit her. How had she known? Suddenly, she knew.

  “It was you,” she said. “You were the one who betrayed me. You’re the only person I told them where I was going. It was your idea to sneak out of Babra’s room, because it was always unlocked at night!”

  “But my room’s not unlocked at night,” Babra said, puzzled.

  Cassie hung her head. “Sorry. But I’m a Shadow Dog, see? I’m supposed to be spying on you guys.”

  Hideo said, “And you were always accusing me of being a spy.”

  “Had to throw you off the scent,” Cassie said. “And nobody likes you, anyway.”

  Hideo snorted. “Because of you.”

  “I didn’t like you from the moment I met you,” Cassie said. “You’re a snob, through and through. Wouldn’t talk to me even when I tried to be friendly. So there.”

  Captain Monn said, “You kids can work out who has a crush on whom later. Rachael sent a message to the Animal Lovers’ Club last night, and they’re coming. A lot of them. Anybody who doesn’t want to get captured had better get off this ship.”

  Rachael cheered.

  Babra said, “But what about us, Daddy?”

  Chapter 27

  “I’m sorry, sweetie,” Captain Monn said. “I can’t leave the ship. You’ll have to go with the others.”

  “I’m not leaving,” Dr. Menney said.

  “Carol—” Captain Monn said.

  “I’m not leaving. And the Gardener can’t leave, not on that puny helicopter.”

  “I’m staying, too,” Babra announced.

  “I am working on the cure,” Mr. Hightower said. “Can’t you see how important that is?”

  “You’re crazy,” Captain Monn said. “Nobody creates a cure by beating up little kids. Go back to your lab.”

  “This ship is meant to be my lab. That’s the only reason this ship exists,” Mr. Hightower said, pushing up his glasses again.

  “This ship was supposed to be a safe haven for Exotics in trouble, and I will sink it before I let you hurt any more of them,” Captain Monn said. “I expect the Animal Lovers’ Club to be here within a few hours. Now go.”

  The adults started to leave.

  Rachael said, “Wait! What about my mother? Where is she?”

  Mr. Hightower sneered at her. “I’ll be seeing her sooner than you will.”

  “Where is she?”

  “Locked up in a castle. That’s all I’m going to say.” Then he left with the others.

  Cassie spread her hands wide and said, “Well, I guess you’re all pretty mad at me. I better go pack.” She headed up the stairs. Hideo tried to trip her as she went by, but Digger stopped him.

  Rachael gave Babra a quick hug and followed Cassie up the stairs and into their room. She closed the door behind them.

  Cassie sighed. “I guess you’re going to yell at me now. I suppose I deserve it.”

  “I won’t forget that you stood up for me,” Rachael said.

  Cassie smiled, grabbed a stack of comic books, and shoved them into Rachael’s hands. “Here. I can’t carry all of these. You take some.”

  “Thanks,” Rachael said. “I hope your Uncle Jim isn’t too mad at you.”

  “Oh, that,” Cassie said. “He’ll get over it. I am pretty good at helping him catch poachers, though.” She shoved a bunch of comic books into a backpack. “I really did meet your mom once, you know? I liked her. She was all right. Helped me get away from a poacher, even though we were supposed to be on opposite sides.” Cassie shoved in some clothes and her toothbrush and pulled the top of the backpack closed. “Right. I’m outta here, then. See you, Baby Bee.”

  “Bye,” Rachael said.

  Cassie left without looking back. Rachael put the comic books on the bed and went down the hall to look for the others.

  She found Digger and Hideo pretty easily, but she didn’t see Babra anywhere. She saw Tapeworm coming down the hall toward her, ducked through the nearest doorway to hide from him, and ended up in Dr. Menney’s office with Dr. Menney staring at her.

  “Hi,” she said. “Have you seen Babra?”

  Dr. Menney glared at her.

  “What about Raul?” Rachael asked.

  “He’s injured again,” Dr. Menney said, almost growling at her. “And I sedated him again. He would not settle down.”

  “I’ll go now,” Rachael said. She didn’t know what “sedated” meant, but she was pretty sure that Dr. Menney would do the same to her, if she didn’t behave. Fortunately, when she ducked back into the hallway, Tapeworm was gone.

  Rachael wandered around looking for Babra until she was on the deck of the ship. A helicopter was sitting on the deck past the last dome, and Tapeworm, Cassie, and Mr. Hightower were on it. Tapeworm was in the pilot’s seat, looking down at something. Mr. Hightower stared at her like he was staring right through her, and Cassie had
her nose in a comic book. Nobody else was on the helicopter.

  Captain Monn was standing outside, talking to Mr. Hightower. When he saw Rachael, he jogged over to her and said, “Have you seen Babra?”

  “No, Sir,” Rachael said. “I’m still looking for her.”

  The captain shook his head and walked with her to the other end of the ship.

  “What’s going to happen?” Rachael asked.

  “I’m not sure,” the captain said. “Despite what Mr. Hightower said, this ship was never intended to be used as his lab, but as a safe place for Exotics to meet with each other. Don’t get me wrong, we were planning to charge them a lot of money to stay here. But…” He shrugged. “Something’s wrong with the Shadow Dogs. I don’t know what’s going on anymore. Maybe the Animal Lovers’ Club will take over the ship. Maybe I’ll switch sides. As long as Babra’s safe, I’m all right with whatever comes of it.”

  Behind them, the helicopter started up and blew sea spray all over the deck. They watched the helicopter until it took off.

  “What about Babra?” Rachael asked.

  He snorted. “I’m sure she’ll come out of hiding, now that the helicopter’s gone and I can’t make her leave. Come on, let’s go to the mess. If I’m hungry, I’m sure she’s starving.”

  They walked to the mess hall. Babra was nowhere to be seen.

  “Did anybody see Babra?” Rachael asked.

  Sponge was dumping some green beans into a metal pan. “Dunno,” he said. Ken spread his hands and shrugged. Bob—who still looked oddly familiar—grinned at her.

  Captain Monn rolled his eyes. “All right, the helicopter is gone. You can stop hiding her now.”

  Sponge looked over his shoulder and said, “All clear.”

  Chapter 28

  Babra trotted out from behind the counter in her small doggy form, ran to her dad, and jumped into his arms when he bent over to pick her up.

  “You know you can’t stay here,” he said. “It’s only going to get more dangerous.”

  She licked his face.

  Captain Monn sighed. “Armand won’t get here for another two days. What do you want to do until then?”

  “Two days?” Rachael said. “You told them it would be in a few hours.”

  “That’s as long as I could stand to have them around,” the captain said. “No, Dr. Menney received an email from Armand explaining that they couldn’t get here any soomer and to try to protect you kids, which was not very smart of him, but very thoughtful.”

  “Oh,” Rachael said. “Then, if it’s all right, may I work on the cavern? I wanted to paint.”

  “Okay,” the captain said.

  Babra barked excitedly and jumped out of his arms, then ran around Rachael’s feet in circles.

  “Can I eat first?” Rachael said.

  She and Babra and Digger (and even Hideo, even though he didn’t talk much and didn’t smile at all) went down to the cavern and painted the floor of the pond and played hide-and-seek in the jungle.

  Two days later, a different, larger helicopter landed on the pad, and four men wearing ski masks and holding guns jumped out of the helicopter and started yelling at everyone to put their hands up.

  Sponge was there to meet them. All the kids but Raul (whom Dr. Menney wouldn’t let out of bed yet) were watching from the small building at the top of the mountain.

  “I hope they don’t shoot Sponge,” Rachael said.

  One of the men pulled up his mask. Hideo said, “That’s Armand!”

  Rachael stared at the man. He was short but handsome, with gray hair and a big grin. He walked up to Sponge and said something. Sponge said something back and pointed toward the Tiger’s Nest.

  Armand walked into the dome. “Hello? Rachael? Raul? Are you in here?”

  Rachael came out. “Hello?”

  “I am Armand,” the man said. “I am here to rescue you.”

  “We don’t need rescuing anymore, but thank you,” Rachael said. “Can you just take us home? The bad guys are gone now. Please be nice to everyone who is still here. They all helped.”

  Hideo rushed out of the building and said, “Armand! You came!”

  “Hideo!” Armand handed his gun to one of the other men and hugged Hideo. “I didn’t know where you were. I’m so glad to see you.”

  By then, the captain had arrived.

  “Armand,” the captain said.

  “Daniel,” Armand said. “Does this mean you have left the Shadow Dogs?”

  The captain nodded. “For now.”

  “Good,” Armand said. “Men! This ship is under Club control, with Captain Daniel Monn in charge. Put up your weapons.”

  Rachael cheered.

  ***

  Rachael’s dad was angry and crying and happy to see her all at the same time. Ox jumped around her feet, barking and wagging his tail so hard that his butt shook back and forth.

  “I’m sorry,” she told her dad, but he shook his head. “I was worried, that’s all.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t find out where mom is,” Rachael said.

  “You leave that up to the police,” her dad said. “Don’t go looking for her again. Promise.”

  Rachael didn’t say anything.

  “Promise,” her dad said.

  “Promise,” she said.

  That night, she sneaked up to her mom’s computer and tried to log in.

  But the password had been changed.

  Story Notes

  I wrote these books for my daughter Rachael after she talked me into telling a story one warm autumn night when she was eight and bored, bored, bored with reading. The stories meant for eight-year-olds were not her thing, and she didn’t want to read about twelve-year-olds, because they were “too old.”

  “What would you like a story about?” I asked.

  “An adventure story with spies and magic,” she said.

  It was a full moon that night as we sat outside, and my thoughts went naturally to wolves...but quickly, the story got to be too complicated for me to keep track of (I’m a writer, not a talker), and I had to write it down for her.

  I wrote each book except the last at the same age that she was when I wrote it (the last one I’m writing about six months late—the story doesn’t take a break, but I needed one). It has been delightful to see both my daughter and her namesake getting older and making difficult and inspiring choices.

  Here’s to all the kids who stand up to bullies, everwhere!

  Excerpt from

  The Exotics, Book 2: Xanadu House

  by De Kenyon

  Chapter 1

  “Go on!” Rachael’s dad yelled. “Get out of here!” The front door slammed.

  Rachael rubbed her eyes and blinked a few times; they were all dried out.

  Second grade had been a really weird school year so far. At least it was almost over.

  First her mom had disappeared, and then she and her friend Raul had been kidnapped and taken to The Floating Menagerie, a strange ship in the middle of the ocean.

  The ship had been run by the Shadow Dogs, a group of…well, she didn’t know what to think about them anymore. At first, she’d thought they were people who kidnapped and smuggled Exotics. (Exotics were humans who had been infected with a magical virus that turned them into magical half-animal creatures.) Some of the Shadow Dogs, like Mr. Hightower and Tapeworm, were pretty awful. But some, like Captain Monn and Dr. Menney and maybe even Ken and Sponge and Bob, were pretty nice, and they weren’t trying to smuggle Exotics at all, but protect them.

  The bad Shadow Dogs had wanted to make Rachael tell them her mom’s password, because they wanted the secrets on her computer…her mom was an Exotic, a bee (the Queen Bee was her name, and she was a spy for another group of Exotics, the Animal Lovers’ Club).

  Rachael finally told them the password to keep them from hurting her and Raul, but the password had been changed.

  Her mom hadn’t come back. Nobody knew what happened to her.

 
And nobody would explain anything to her. Her dad didn’t know, and nobody else would talk to her about it.

  So now she was spending a lot of time searching on the Internet for weird stories about animals, trying to find anything that might tell her more about the Exotics or where her mother was, and sometimes she forgot to blink, and it felt like her eyes were dry all the time.

  She yelled, “Who was it?”

  “Kids from that club of your mother’s,” her father said. “Just because you’re back doesn’t mean they can start having their meetings here again. It’s not like you’re part of their club.”

  Of course Rachael wasn’t part of the Animal Lovers’ Club; the club was a fake club. It was really only for Exotics, and Rachael was just a normal second-grader.

  But maybe they wanted to tell her something about her mom.

  “What did they want?” she said.

  Her father said a bad word and stomped out of her hearing. Rachael tiptoed into her bedroom, where she could look out the window over the front door.

  She’d taken down all the pictures of princesses and put up glow-in-the-dark stars and pictures of panthers, horses, and falcons. Secretly, she hoped she’d be infected by the Exotics virus, and she was trying to decide what kind of animal she wanted to be. The stars were there because she just liked them.

  To her surprise, she didn’t see anybody from the Animal Lovers’ Club out of her window. Instead, the twin Shadow Dog boys who had helped kidnap her and Raul hid behind a tree in the front yard. They weren’t doing a very good job of hiding.

  They saw her face at the window at waved her to come down to them.

  She opened the window and hissed, “What do you want? Are you going to break down my door and kidnap me again?”

  The two boys looked at each other. One of them said, “We wanted to apologize.”

  Rachael wrinkled up her face. She wanted to yell at them and call the cops to make them arrest them—but then the truth about the Exotics might be revealed, and everyone would freak out, so she couldn’t.

  “I don’t forgive you.” She had to get them to shut up as soon as possible, before her dad came over to find out what was going on. “Go away.”

  “Wait,” the other boy said. “It’s about your mom.”

  Rachael snorted. “I know, I know, you want her password so you can break into her computer and steal all her secrets. But it’s too late. The password is changed; nobody can get in.”

  The second boy shrugged. “I’m just supposed to tell you she’s safe in a castle in Hungary.”