by Adam Gidwitz
Uchenna leaped after him, catching the little Jersey Devil just before he wriggled between the iron bars. She pulled him tight against her chest.
“Whew,” she muttered. “That was close. Elliot, you need to . . .”
Her words trailed off as she looked up. The professor was still pointing. There, amid the trees on the near bank of the Río Grande, stood a dozen chupacabras—like Choopi, but bigger, eyes smaller relative to the terrifying faces. These were adults. Their eyes glowed golden, their hairless bodies dripped water as if they’d just swum across the river, their quills were rigid and sharp. One of them bared its stiletto teeth. Choopi suddenly shrieked from inside the office trailer. The whole pack whistled mournfully to the skies.
“Oh, snap,” muttered Mateo. “It’s his pack, isn’t it?”
The humans and chupacabras stared at one another through the bars.
“This is how he got separated,” Lupita murmured. “The fence.”
Dr. Cervantes was nodding. “He must have wandered off, wriggled through, and then couldn’t figure out how to get back.”
“They look so sad,” said Uchenna.
“And he sounds so sad,” Elliot said, listening to Choopi’s cries.
“He sounds like my friend Andrés,” Mateo mumbled. “Plus the weird whistling, of course.”
“Enough of this moaning!” Professor Fauna announced. “Let us rescue this young chupacabras and reunite him with his family before we all drown in a new Río Grande of tears!” He raised a finger. “So—”
“WAIT!” Uchenna hissed. She pointed away from the border fence.
A limousine was pulling in through the guarded gate of the construction site. It parked near the trailer. The chauffeur got out and opened the back doors. Two balding men emerged, dressed in white suits and with rich blue shirts, one tall and thin, the other short and fat.
Milton and Edmund Schmoke.
The door of the trailer burst open, and Phipps came strutting down the stairs.
“Welcome, sirs!” he called with sycophantic delight. “You simply will not believe the gift I have obtained for you. The perfect addition to your growing collection of rarities.”
“Excellent!” Edmund exclaimed, his green eyes crinkling at the thought. “Something good finally emerges from this horrid, backwoods inferno.”
“Yes, about time we reaped a profit,” Milton agreed. “What is this rare item, Phipps?”
Pausing for dramatic effect, the butler uttered a single word. “Chupacabras.”
“Really? You don’t say!” Edmund gushed. “How many?”
Phipps looked confused. “Just the one.”
“Tsk-tsk! You said ‘chupacabras’! How many?”
“I did, sir, but—” Phipps attempted to explain, but Milton cut him off.
“No excuses, Phipps! We demand precision!”
Phipps opened his mouth to explain once more and then decided against it.
“No matter,” said Edmund. “Show us this little addition to our collection.”
And the three of them climbed the steps into the office trailer.
“Well,” Lupita growled, “how do we rescue Choopi now?”
Dr. Cervantes pulled her university ID from her back pocket. “Don’t worry. I’ve got a plan.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Milton Schmoke’s fingers were poised over the wooden crate on the desk. A plaintive whistling could be heard from inside.
“The famous chupacabra,” Milton murmured.
“Chupacabras, sir,” Phipps interjected. “You see, the word chupacabra means—”
Milton straightened up. “Phipps, you’ve just lost a week’s pay for attempting to correct me. Keep talking. I love saving money on labor costs.”
“Quite right,” Edmund agreed.
Just then, a sharp rapping rang out from the door of the Schmoke brothers’ trailer.
“Who could that be?” Edmund exclaimed.
Phipps pulled himself up, straightened his starched white shirt, tried to momentarily forget that he’d just lost a whole week’s income, and opened the trailer door.
A tall woman, with long brown hair pulled back in a bun under a hard hat, was standing on the ground in front of the trailer’s steps. She held up her university ID and announced, “I’m here as an inspector on behalf of the university. Are you in charge?”
Phipps sniffed. “I most certainly am not. But if you’d like to see who is in charge, you will need an appointment. And I’m afraid there are no appointments available.” He began to close the door.
But Dr. Cervantes said, “We’ll be towing the bulldozers within the hour then.”
Inside the trailer, Edmund and Milton, who had been waiting to open the precious crate until the inspector went away, both let out an indignant “What?!”
“Let me speak to this impertinent woman!” Edmund bellowed, waddling over to the door and pushing Phipps out of the way.
“Tell her what’s what!” Milton shouted.
Edmund, round and self-satisfied as a toad, stood over Dr. Cervantes, because of the height of the trailer. Otherwise, he would have been much shorter than she. He said, “I don’t know what bureaucratic hole you crawled out of, but I suggest you crawl back into it. I am a job creator, not a parasitic civil servant. Also, my machines are operating legally.”
“Apologies, méndiga sanguijuela,” Dr. Cervantes said, “but you are on a government contract, using tax-payer dollars to build a wall on university land. We can discuss who’s the parasite later. Right now, bring your cara egoísta out here before I get some very large tow trucks to impound your machines, this trailer, and you. ¿Captaste?”
Edmund turned beet red. “What did you say to me? Just what exactly did you say? Say it again in English! This is America!”
Dr. Cervantes turned and walked away from the trailer. “People have been speaking Spanish on this land long before the Estados-Unidos even existed, colonialista ignorante,” she said over her shoulder. “And before that, we spoke Coahuilteco here. But if you want me to use English to get your traserote off this land, I’d be happy to.” Dr. Cervantes whipped out her phone, pretended to dial a number, and then, after a moment, said, “Fred, I’m gonna need a heavy-duty flatbed tow truck down at the community college—”
“Wait!” Edmund cried, waddling after her. “You can’t do that!”
Milton, inside the trailer, leaped to his feet. “Stop that woman! Phipps, do something!”
Phipps hustled out the door right behind Milton, and they all began hurrying after Dr. Cervantes, who continued to stride away from them, telling “Fred” about all the machinery she’d need to tow the Schmokes’ equipment away.
Uchenna, Elliot, Lupita, and Mateo, crouching just out of sight behind some orange barrels, chuckled. “Your mom is good,” Uchenna said quietly.
“My mom has many talents,” Lupita agreed, “but ticking off powerful people is definitely her greatest.”
“The coast is clear,” Mateo said, as the Schmokes and Phipps followed Dr. Cervantes around a giant digger. “Let’s do this thing.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Mateo led the way up the metal steps of the trailer and through the flimsy door. The other kids followed him.
The crate was sitting on the desk, and Choopi’s plaintive whines echoed from inside.
Mateo and Lupita each took one side of Choopi’s crate, Elliot opened the trailer door, and Uchenna led the way out.
The Schmokes and Phipps were nowhere to be seen, nor was Dr. Cervantes. When the kids carried the crate around the back of the trailer, Professor Fauna and Mr. Cervantes were waiting for them.
Mateo, Lupita, Elliot, and Uchenna all turned and gave one another daps and high fives. Jersey poked his head out of his backpack and started to growl at the crate.
“Uh, guys—”
said Lupita.
But Elliot quickly unwrapped an almond bar, tossed it into the pack, and when Jersey dove down after it, he zipped up the backpack.
They had agreed to wait for Dr. Cervantes to return before they released Choopi. But now that his crate was so near the fence, his family’s whining whistles had become unbearable. Choopi scratched and shrieked from inside the crate.
“We gotta let him out,” Uchenna announced. “This is torture!”
“I agree!” said Elliot.
“My mom is gonna be heartbroken that she can’t see this reunion,” Mateo said. “She’s studied these guys for years. This is once in a lifetime!”
Lupita said, “She’ll be back any minute, I know it.”
Choopi scratched and whined and whimpered. The adult chupacabras, with their golden eyes that flashed red in the sunlight, whistled and paced anxiously.
Mr. Cervantes set his chin. “I’ll go find her. Wait five minutes. The chupacabras have been waiting for a lot longer than that. If I’m not back in five, let Choopi go. ¿Entendieron, chamacos?”
“Sí, Daddy.” Lupita nodded. “We’ll do it.”
“Be careful,” Mateo added.
Mr. Cervantes kissed them each on the forehead, flashed a thumbs-up to Elliot, Uchenna, and Professor Fauna, and hurried around the office trailer to look for his wife.
One, two, and three minutes passed. He did not come back.
Four minutes passed, and he did not come back.
Five minutes passed, and he did not come back.
They looked at one another nervously.
Six minutes.
Seven minutes.
Choopi’s whistles were becoming groans.
“This is awful,” Uchenna groaned.
“What do you think is going on over there?” Lupita asked, biting her thumbnail.
Mateo wiped sweat from his brow. “Let’s let Choopi go.”
Professor Fauna was nervously chewing at the side of a calloused finger. Then he stopped. “Wait. I shall find them!” he announced.
“NO!” said Uchenna and Elliot at the same time.
“The Schmokes will recognize you!” Uchenna exclaimed.
“¿Y luego, qué? We have Choopi. If you see me coming back trussed like a turkey, you let him go, pronto. Yes?”
“And what if you don’t come back?”
“Then you let him go. And call the police. Uchenna, you have your phone, yes?”
Uchenna nodded. All the children looked upset. The chupacabras on the other side of the fence were whistle-howling again.
“Defende Fabulosa,” Professor Fauna said quietly.
And they all replied, “Protege Mythica.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
One minute went by.
Two minutes.
“Goodness gracious,” Elliot muttered.
Three minutes.
Four minutes.
“Goodness gracious, goodness gracious,” Elliot said again, holding his arms and rocking back and forth. The chupacabras whistled.
Five minutes.
Six minutes. The pack of chupacabras kept creeping forward, more and more agitated, quills rigid, teeth bared.
“Goodness gracious, goodness gracious, goodness gr—”
“Let’s do it,” Uchenna interrupted. “Let’s release Choopi and call the police.”
Mateo and Lupita looked at each other, and then at Uchenna. They nodded. “Okay. Let’s—”
“¡Hijos!” Alejandra Cervantes appeared around the corner of the mobile trailer.
“¡Mamá!” Mateo cried.
Mr. Cervantes appeared right behind her. “Dad!” Lupita shouted.
They both ran to their parents and gave them tight hugs.
“It’s okay,” Mr. Cervantes was saying. “Your mamá had it all under control the whole time.”
“Of course I did,” said Dr. Cervantes, stroking her son’s head as he hugged her. “I just needed to take the Schmokes on a very long tour of their worksite, complete with eighteen violations for mis-parked bulldozers, cranes that were painted the wrong color, and a very ugly choice of concrete for the wall.”
“And where’s Professor Fauna?” Uchenna asked.
Dr. and Mr. Cervantes both released their children.
“What do you mean?” Mr. Cervantes asked. “He didn’t stay with you?” He saw the unopened crate. “And you didn’t release Choopi?”
The kids shook their heads. “Ay, caray,” Dr. Cervantes said. “I imagine the Schmokes are headed back here now. They might have already spotted Erasmo. Which would be very bad.”
“Let’s release Choopi now!” said Elliot. “We can’t afford to wait any—”
“¡Amigos míos!”
Everyone spun around.
“Look who I have found!” It was Professor Fauna. With someone that nobody had expected to see.
Bob Braunfels, the rancher.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Bob Braunfels gave a little wave as he approached the group. In his other hand he carried a homemade sign.
“What is going on?” Dr. Cervantes demanded.
“Everyone is coming here!” Professor Fauna replied. “To the construction site!”
“Everyone?” said Mr. Cervantes. “Who is everyone?”
“From city hall,” said Professor Fauna. “The judge has announced his verdict. He has extended the stay another three weeks.”
The Cervantes family threw up their hands in disgust.
“That’s it? Three weeks? And then what?” Mateo fumed.
Professor Fauna shrugged. “No one knows. They claim they need more time to study it.”
Lupita snorted.
“Indeed. Everyone is angry. And they are all marching onto campus,” Professor Fauna went on. “Which is how I ran into my friend here.”
Dr. Cervantes objected. “Bob Braunfels is your friend? He wants that wall built more than the Schmokes want to build it!”
“Howdy, Alejandra,” Mr. Braunfels said, speaking for the first time and tipping his hat to Dr. Cervantes.
And then, from behind him, appeared a boy about Mateo’s age. He had straight black hair that was swept across his forehead and a serious look in his eyes. He was also carrying a homemade sign.
“Hola, Mateo,” he said. “Hi, Lupita.”
Mateo exclaimed, “Andrés! ¿Qué haces aquí?”
“And what are you doing with him?” Lupita said, pointing at Bob Braunfels.
“What d’ya mean, what’s he doing with me?” Mr. Braunfels said, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Andrés lives with me.”
Mateo turned to the group. “This is my friend that I was telling you about. Whose parents are in detention somewhere.” He turned to Andrés. “But I thought you were living with our principal, Mrs. Braunfels?” Then Mateo’s mouth fell open and his eyes got really wide. “Oh . . . ,” he said.
“That’d be my wife,” the rancher said with a chuckle. Then he picked up his sign. It read, NO WALL, NO LAW in big black letters. Mr. Braunfels went on. “We came for the protest, but the professor here said he had something he wanted to show us. Is that right, Professor?”
Mateo said, “Wait—Andrés, you’re helping Mr. Braunfels protest in favor of the wall?”
“What?” said Andrés. “¿Estás loco?” He spun his sign around. In bright blue capitals it read, SOMOS UNA FAMILIA—WE ARE ONE FAMILY (AND WHERE IS MINE?)
Everyone paused for a moment as they read the sign. A lump formed in Elliot’s throat, and tears collected in the corners of Uchenna’s eyes.
“Andrés and I don’t agree on much,” Mr. Braunfels said. “But we both believe in free speech. And,” he added, suddenly very serious, “I don’t think kids should be separated from their parents. Not ever.”
“I am glad you have mentioned this!” Professor Fauna exclaimed. “That is why you are here. Elliot, Uchenna, you have not released it yet?”
They shook their heads.
“Then show Mr. Braunfels what is in the box!”
Elliot and Uchenna hesitated. The crate sat behind them on the ground. A plaintive whistle was echoing from within.
Dr. Cervantes stepped between Mr. Braunfels and the crate. “Erasmo, why on earth do you think you can trust this man?”
Professor Fauna drew himself up to his full height. “Because those we disagree with are not always our enemies, Alejandra. Now, por favor, show him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Mr. Braunfels and Andrés hovered over the box, staring down at the small chupacabras huddled in the shadows of one corner.
“Poor little guy looks scared,” said Mr. Braunfels.
“No,” said Andrés. “He looks sad. Trust me. I can tell.”
Uchenna said, “We call him Choopi.”
“Choopi,” the rancher repeated. “I like that name.”
Andrés said, “I’d call him ‘Bloodguzzler.’”
Mr. Braunfels laughed and said to the others, “Told you we don’t agree on much.”
Suddenly, Choopi straightened up and whistled. On the other side of the fence, a dozen whistles answered him.
Mr. Braunfels and Andrés looked up, their eyes wide. Dr. Cervantes said, “His family.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Andrés said. “Let’s reunite them!”
Mr. Cervantes said, “I agree. Let’s go. Bob, will you help me out here?”
Mr. Cervantes, the Mexican American curandero, and Mr. Braunfels, the Anglo rancher, put their hands on the young chupacabras and hoisted him, wriggling and whistling, out of the crate.
The family of chupacabras had been crouching in the shade of the mesquite trees or hiding behind rocks, calling for their pup. But when they saw the humans lift Choopi out of the crate, they stood up and trotted into the sunlight.
