Cat Out of the Bag

by A L Fogerty

  I ducked and crab walked to the front door of the hut I shared with Pappi. When I got inside, Pappi was pacing, bumping into things. Dust streamed from the bullet holes in the ceiling. I ran to him and grabbed his arm.

  “Mango?” he asked, sniffing the air

  “Come with me now, Pappi. We have to get out of here.”

  I took his hand and led him out of the hut. Outside, I pulled my bike upright and helped him climb on behind me. After revving my engine, I surged toward the edge of the village. We passed Sasha’s house, and I saw her slip from her back door, carrying a small bag on her back.

  “Sasha!” I called. She turned, obviously having heard me over the sound of laser fire and screaming. Her face moved from scared to relieved as she ran to me. We met along the wall of her hut, which was partially sheltered from the bands of shooting canines and goblins.

  “We’re leaving, Sasha. My bike can carry one more. Get on!”

  She quickly slid on behind Pappi without a word, and we were off again, headed out of the junkyard. I planned to take the same route we’d taken to get into the mountains. Just as I was about to make it into open desert, a hover ship descended in front of me, and a dozen goblin guards aimed at us.

  I didn’t slow down as I turned my bike into a ninety-degree turn, speeding away from the slower hover ship. The sound of laser fire followed me as I sped away.

  “We need to get cover so we can lose them!” I yelled over my shoulder.

  “We’re never going to make it!” Pappi said.

  “I’m getting you out of here, Pappi. Don’t worry.” I flipped my turbo boost and zoomed through the shanty village past the tavern and the junk heaps. We made it to the track, but it was a mistake. The bulk of the battle was warring there.

  I skidded to a stop. The hover ship glided in behind me. I looked over my shoulders at the grinning goblins holding guns as big as their pint-sized bodies. The kobolds were attempting to contain the crowd, but the pickers weren’t going to be put down so easily. Sho’kin were stabbing and clawing and biting the armed kobolds. Some had even managed to take laser guns from the enemy.

  Laser fire shot over my head, but it didn’t come from the goblins. It was from a Sho’kin wielding a gun. I blinked. It was Sydney, the tavern owner. Despite everything he had to lose, he’d taken the side of his people. I hurried toward the fight and told Pappi and Sasha to hide under the Landlords’ bleachers. The Landlords had disappeared—they were probably hiding in their mansions up the hill overlooking the junkyard. Pappi cowered, and Sasha knelt beside him.

  “Look out for him,” I yelled to her, over the crash of the crowd.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “I’m going to end this.”

  “Mango!” Pappi yelled.

  I wished he could see what I was about to do, but I guessed it didn’t matter if he could see it or not. As much as I wanted acknowledgment from Pappi, I knew it didn’t matter. I did what I did because I loved him. I knew he loved me, too, even if he didn’t always know exactly how I needed him to show me that.

  I called for Mythril, and he immediately appeared in my palm. He twirled around my arm and propped his head on my shoulder.

  “This is an interesting situation,” he observed.

  “This is where I live. Do you see the cat people fighting the dog people?”

  “Of course. And what about those short green ones?”

  “Those are goblins. All the dogs and goblins are trying to hurt the cat people and keep them captive. We need to stop that.”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Mythril shot out of my arm, his body growing in size and density. Soon, he was his true size. A shadow of night descended over the crowd reflecting the red of the sun, and they looked up to find a massive monster hovering above them on red-tinged, black wings.

  The people dispersed, screaming at the new terror. As the Sho’kin scurried off, the armed kobolds shot at Mythril. His scales turned chromatic, and the lasers bounced off of him, flying back in the direction they’d come. He opened his mouth and shot stardust at the dog men.

  The kobolds disintegrated like dust into the ground below where their feet had just been, and a scream rose from the retreating Sho’kin. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. The people who had terrorized me for the last twelve years of my life had just blown away like sand in a desert storm.

  My mouth dropped open when I realized that Jym Boe had been among them. A pit of guilt grew in my stomach at what I had done.

  “Mythril, this isn’t right.”

  “What do you mean, it isn’t right? They are the enemy.” He turned on the goblin hover ship that was quickly jetting away.

  “They just work for the Landlords. They didn’t give the orders.”

  “But they followed them,” Mythril said, examining his claws.

  “I think we should stop now. We’ve given them the message.”

  “As you wish, summoner.”

  Mythril shrank smaller and smaller as he transformed into ether and coiled around my arm before finally disappearing into my palm.

  I let out a deep breath. It had been a lot of excitement for one day. We’d won the battle, and it had taken a single blast of stardust from my newly tamed dragon. It made me wonder what else we could accomplish together.

  I turned and found a group of Sho’kin staring wide-eyed with wonder at me. I shrugged and tried to smile. I could tell they had fear in their hearts, and I couldn’t blame them. Mythril’s stardust was mighty magic, the likes of which few in the junkyard had ever witnessed.

  “It’s okay,” I offered, but I could tell they didn’t believe me.

  “Friends, it’s Mango Mew. One of us. Don’t cower in fear before her. She is a Summoner. A great magician. She has liberated us from the Landlords. We should be cheering, not pissing our furry pants,” Sasha said, stepping out of the group.

  “Mango?” Toby asked, stepping forward. “How?”

  “Where did that dragon come from, and what is a summoner?” Pepper asked.

  “It’s a long story.”

  Everyone clamored around me, asking a million questions that even I couldn’t answer. I barely understood my own power, so I obviously couldn’t explain it to anyone else. But there was one thing I knew for sure.

  “Everyone, listen to me. We’re going home.”

  Chapter 20

  The goblins and kobolds had left the junkyard to the pickers, running in fear the moment they no longer had the upper hand. The Landlords and the Imperial officials had holed up in their homes on the hill or taken off like their hired goons. No one wanted to confront Mythril, and I could understand why. One blast of his stardust disintegrated whole groups of guards. It wasn’t something a hired goon or a highborn official wanted to deal with.

  They’d left all their equipment, guns, and vehicles, and the Sho’kin spent the rest of the day packing up their meager belongings and preparing to leave the junkyard.

  A great sense of celebration filled the shanty, and it vibrated through me like the sound of amplified music. My own heart was full to bursting. It was as if I’d been given everything I’d ever wanted all at once.

  “We’ve got to pack up our things, Pappi. Everyone is leaving. We don’t want to be left behind.”

  “I don’t understand, Mango. Why are the pickers leaving the junkyard? The Landlords have forbidden us from leaving.”

  “The Landlords are no longer a problem for us, Pappi. I’ve gotten rid of them.”

  The truth was, I hadn’t gotten rid of the Landlords. They’d run off at the first sign of danger. It was their hired guards that I’d scared away. For all I knew, the Landlords and Imperial officials were plotting a way to retake the junkyard and all its inhabitants, and I wanted us all long gone before that happened.

  I packed all of Pappi’s things in a rucksack and headed for the door. I threw all our stuff in the compartment under my hover bike then helped Pappi outside. The other Sho’ki
n on our street were packing just as hastily as we had. I saw Toby and Pepper on Pepper’s bike, and he gave me a small nod. I nodded back. I knew that he and Pepper were a thing—and I didn’t care beyond the fact that Pepper made Toby different.

  The cars and bikes were gathering near the entrance to the junkyard, and I pulled up into the group with Pappi on the back of the bike. I scanned the skies, half expecting to find another ship of goblins rushing in from who knew where.

  Hilde waved at me from the back of a trailer attached to a pilfered hover bus. I waved back. The gnome hopped off the trailer and toddled over to me, shouting at the driver not to leave without her.

  “That was really amazing, Mango. I always knew you had it in you.” She slapped my knee, and I knew that there was some hidden dirty joke in that statement somewhere.

  “What, the dragon?”

  “Dragon in the pussycat.” She chuckled.

  There it was. Hilde never missed an opportunity.

  “Where did you get that thing, anyway?”

  “I tamed it.”

  “How does a little girl like you tame a giant beast like that?”

  “Who are you calling little?” I laughed.

  She looked down at her own childlike stature then back up at me. “You have a point.”

  “It is a matter of will. And as you know, will has nothing to do with size.”

  “Interesting.” She scratched her chin. “Could I tame a dragon, then?”

  “I don’t know. But from what I understand, dragon summoners are pretty rare. So I’m guessing no…”

  “Hmm. Party pooper.”

  “Sorry. I didn’t know I had this ability until just a few days ago.”

  “Well, if anyone in this shithole was going to be a magician, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer girl.”

  “Thanks, Hilde. Are you coming to Sho’kin Forest with us?”

  “I am.” She looked around nervously. “I hope it isn’t the wrong choice. But I’ve always wanted to see the forest after hearing about it for all these years.”

  “It’s an amazing place. From what I can remember, anyway. I can’t wait to go home.”

  “Who are you talking to?” Pappi asked, squinting into the sun. His eyesight really had gone. Now that the Landlords had run off, the possibility of getting his surgery was gone. Cold disappointment trickled down my chest. The only other option was magic. And we had no time for spells until we were clear of the junkyard.

  “It’s Hilde, Pappi.”

  “He can’t see me?” she asked.

  I shook my head at her, my mouth dropping into a frown.

  “I’m sorry,” she mouthed, patting my leg. I nodded at her, and she galloped back to her trailer as the bus driver yelled, “All aboard!”

  The caravan was beginning to start from the front as more cars joined from the back. The Sho’kin elders had organized most of the exodus, and I was glad they’d made the decisions so quickly. We needed to get out of there as soon as possible.

  The final stragglers joined in the back of the pack, and we started off, leaving the junkyard behind forever.

  The leaders of the caravan led us up the road and into the mountains, in the opposite direction of the Landlords’ houses. We passed the place where Sasha had taken me for the spirit quest, where I had met my avatar, To’tonya, for the first time. It made me think of Avalon and the League of Summoners. My mind turned to Harry, that boy who’d almost ruined everything for me. There was something intriguing and infuriating about him at the same time. But after I learned about what had happened with the League, I almost understood why he’d done what he’d done.

  Not that I thought it was nice or fair or that it wouldn’t have made our return to Sho’kin Forest impossible, but I could see his perspective. I hated being told what to do. I had learned to swallow my pride and pretend to follow the rules while doing everything in my power to escape and live my own life. But Harry went about it in a more direct way, and I had to respect that, as long as he didn’t do it to me again.

  I thought about Moira and Vex and their beast battles. Maybe I could challenge him to a duel. I almost looked forward to it. Warmth spread in my chest. Do I want to see him again?

  We crested the mountain up where trees grew and the wind blew cool. I looked back on the desert behind me as we started over the mountain and down the other side. We were leaving behind a life that none of us had ever chosen, and I felt as though a chapter of my life was finally coming to an end. There was nothing bitter about the sweet ending—I was filled with the pure joy of seeing my goals achieved. I’d believed to the very core of my being that we would all go home, even when no one else did, and it was happening. Every single picker in the junkyard was returning to Sho’kin Forest with us. We would rebuild our homes and our society. We would have summer dances, and we would light the spring fires. We would build snow cats in winter and harvest pumpkins in the fall. I could almost smell the scent of the forest, rich with loamy earth and moist plant life. It filled my heart with such joy and longing that I nearly lost track of where I was.

  I blinked, coming back to the world at hand. I gripped my handlebars, and Pappi hugged me a little tighter from behind. The caravan was descending a steep, rocky road down the mountain. Wheels creaked over the rocks, and hover cores worked overtime to keep us from crashing into each other or sliding down the mountain in a landslide.

  “It’s a long trip back to the forest,” Pappi said into my ear. “It took two weeks when we first came to the junkyard.”

  “I remember, Pappi. It was one of the scariest times of my life.”

  He patted my shoulder. “You’ve always been so brave, Mango. I should have been more supportive. I just wanted to keep you safe.”

  “I know, Pappi. You don’t need to apologize.”

  “But I do. If you weren’t so strong-willed, my words could have prevented you from getting us to where we are today.”

  “If I weren’t so strong-willed, your words wouldn’t have made any difference. I was only able to tame Mythril because my will is so strong. I think everyone telling me I couldn’t do things all this time only made me believe in myself even more.”

  “You’ve always had the most positive way of looking at things.” He chuckled then coughed. It sounded raspy and deep in his chest. I gritted my teeth and cringed. His illness was getting worse all the time. I had taken too long to get him away from the junkyard. I’d seen the toxic sickness progress in so many pickers his age. It started with failing eyesight and progressed into weakness, fatigue, a deep cough, blindness, and death. Pappi’s sickness was in the final stages.

  A tear slid from my eye, and I blinked it away. I couldn’t let my sadness blind me. Maybe since we were away from the junkyard, Sasha could use her magic to heal him. I would ask her when we camped for the night.

  We traveled all day and into the night, making camp near a wide, fast-moving river that we would have to cross to get back to Sho’kin Forest. We laid our blankets down on the bare earth. It wasn’t much worse than a lot of the places many of us had slept in our time in the junkyard. Pappi lay beside me and fell asleep before he even got a chance to eat dinner—I would have to make sure he ate in the morning. We’d invaded the guard huts and taken all their food. It would have to last the caravan all the way back to the forest. Once we were on our ancestral lands, we could hunt, fish, and gather wild fruits in the forest. Many of the Sho’kin had taken guns from the guard huts and could easily take down a raptor or boar to feed the group.

  I looked down at Pappi, his breath raspy as his chest rose and fell in ragged breaths. I bit my lip, my brow creasing. I stood, looking around the camp for signs of Sasha. Tiptoeing past sleeping kits and elderly Sho’kin, I moved into a part of the camp where the younger adult Sho’kin had laid down their sleeping mats. I saw Toby and Pepper sitting close together and eating their rations. Looking away, I hid my face, not wanting to be confronted by the two of them. Hilde was sitting with a group of Sho’ki
n and a few dwarves, drinking from a flask. She was the center of attention, telling loud, bawdy jokes for the assembled crowd. I didn’t see Sasha anywhere.

  I stepped toward Sydney, the tavern keeper, kneeling down beside him as he held a poker over the fire to roast a bit of meat. “Have you seen the shaman, Sasha?” I asked.

  He looked up at me as if he’d been lost in thought. “Mango,” he said in a low, distant voice. “Hi. No. I haven’t seen her.”

  “I need to ask her to heal my Pappi.”

  “Is he sick?”

  “He’s got the junkyard sickness.”

  “Oh… I’m sorry, Mango.”

  “She can heal him with her magic.”

  “How far along is it?”

  “He’s lost his eyesight completely, I’m afraid.”

  He didn’t respond. He just looked at me with a blank expression on his face.

  “I’ll find her,” I said.

  I started away, walking out of the line of the campfire light and into the darkness. Listening to the whispers of my avatar, I crept along the rocky shore of the river, with the sound of water rushing past my ears. The moons were bright overhead, and in the distance among the bushes, I found a shape kneeling, overlooking the water.

  I inched closer, and Sasha turned her face toward me. Her eyes glinted in the moonlight, but she did not move to rise. I went toward her and sat beside her on the riverbank. She had lit a candle and was burning a clump of sage. She moved smoke with a large eagle feather and spoke words of magic that danced on the breeze and washed over the rushing water of the river below. She turned to me and spoke. “You need something, Mango?” Her bright amber eyes blinked.

  “I wanted to ask for your help with my father.”

  “He is ill,” she said. “Let me see what I can do.”

  She stood and followed me back to camp. Something inside me knew that bad news was coming. To’tonya whispered at the back of my mind, and I did everything I could to ignore it.

  We knelt beside Pappi’s bed, and Sasha waved her hand over his sleeping form.