The Weird in the Wilds

by Deb Caletti

  “You won’t miss it, Jo,” Henry says. “I promise. At least, I hope I promise. Which direction do you think it is, Mr. Reese?”

  Mr. Reese zips his lips shut.

  “Don’t worry,” Pirate Girl says. “I’ve got this.” She holds up her wrist and points to her magnificent Tellzall 9-in-1 Timepiece of Adventure, with a glow-in-the-dark compass, weather forecaster, signalling device, and the world’s smallest ballpoint pen. “If the wall is near Rulers Mountain, we go east as far as we can. Follow me.”

  More Prickles Than You Could Count

  The soft chirps and trickles of the pond disappear behind them, and now Henry mostly hears the squeak and squish of his wet tennis shoes as he treks behind Pirate Girl, up and around thick roots, veiny palm fronds, and strange trunks that wind and spiral to the sky. He sees a variety of frogs, a smattering of spiders, and plants with more prickles than you could count.

  “Hey, look at this!” the gerenuk cries. “A fancy, fancy cup. I’m not even thirsty, not a single bit, but how can you resist a sip from a hanging cup that looks fancy enough for a king?”

  “No, Jason!” Apollo shouts. “That’s actually a plant that some animals use for a toil—”

  “Too late,” Pirate Girl says as Jason drinks.

  “Even better than Juicee Squeezees!” he says.

  Pirate Girl snorts with laughter, and Apollo starts to giggle. And then Jo starts to snicker and sputter with hilarity, and Henry laughs and laughs until he’s bent over and his stomach hurts. Button catches their mood, and jumps up on their knees. Even Mr. Reese is chortling, his eyes squinched, his small shoulders going up and down.

  “Maybe the Wilds aren’t so bad after all,” Henry says when he can speak again. “Just, the bullies in the Wilds.”

  “A new flavor of Juicee Squeezee!” Pirate Girl says. “Lime, orange, monkey pee—” This sends them all into hysterics again. Apollo hoots, and Jo grabs Pirate Girl’s arm to make her stop, because she can’t take any more, and Henry’s eyes are watering from laughing so hard.

  But then, all at once, just like that, Button jets into Henry’s arms with shock and alarm. Mr. Reese shrieks and crawls up Jo’s pant leg and into her jacket to hide. Their laughter stops in a second, because a darkness is slowly creeping over them. A shadow. The Shadow. With each step it takes toward them, the enormous creature covers the sun bit by bit.

  The children freeze. Henry can’t even tell what he’s looking at, only that it’s terrifying, like nothing he’s ever seen before. An enemy, for sure. The Shadow must be two hundred pounds and twelve feet long, at least. Part dinosaur, part lizard, with an enormous tail and a square crocodile head. Its eyes are yellow, and they have a straight, staring gaze that slices right through Henry.

  “Urgl,” Apollo says, the sound of utter terror.

  Pirate Girl has her pocketknife out, but truly, against that creature, that knife looks as dangerous as a paper clip.

  The Shadow thrashes its tail, crashing it against the ground, and the earth trembles. Its crocodile-lizard-dinosaur feet claw forward, ripping through plants as that tail flattens everything in its path.

  Henry’s heart has stopped, for sure. His voice is caught in his throat. It’s like one of those nightmares where you try to scream but can’t. The gerenuk, though—a horrible, pitiful, high-pitched screech escapes his throat. The Shadow’s eyes are directly on Jason Scrum.

  “Run!” Jo cries.

  CHAPTER 16

  The Sky Darkens

  It might be the absolutely worst thing to do, but the children and the gerenuk turn and flee. As he bolts, still carrying Button, Henry madly tries to remember page 110 of his Ranger Scout Handbook, sixth edition, What to do when you encounter a bear, but the only thing that comes to him is page 184, Standard Knots.

  Page 184, Standard Knots

  But then all thoughts are gone, and there is only the heart-pumping speed of escape. Imagine one of those times you’ve tried to run faster than you’ve ever run before, the sort of running that gives you a burn in your chest and a sloshy ache in your guts and twinges in your knees. At least, Henry feels those twinges, and something else, too—stone-cold terror. He’s sure he hears the breath of the beast behind him. They run and run and run, until they’ve somehow crossed out of the jungly area and into a grove of the ancient baobabs Apollo told them about, where the ground is mostly bare except for bright orange dust and dry green grasses.

  Jo dares to look over her shoulder. She stops. “It’s gone,” she says, panting.

  “Ow, ow.” Pirate Girl holds her side. “I’ve never run so fast.”

  “Did you see its eyes?” Apollo says. Apologies for the disturbing details here, but his face has that pale queasiness a person gets before they barf.

  “That bully was coming straight at me!” Jason shrieks.

  “Chee,” Mr. Reese says. He’s so terrified, he’s gone 100 percent squirrel inside Jo’s coat.

  “It wasn’t an evil spirit at all!” Henry says. “It was very, very real.”

  “Who knows when it might pop out again!” Pirate Girl says. “Oh man! I can’t believe we still have to go to the wall, let alone back home.”

  “Home,” Jo says with longing. “I wish I was there! That was beyond awful, and now it’s getting dark. My mother will be so worried.”

  “My parents, too.” Apollo blinks like he might cry.

  “We should keep walking,” Henry says. “Until we find a safe place to rest.”

  “I’m worried the Shadow is . . . everywhere,” Jo says, putting it perfectly.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Pirate Girl says.

  As the children continue east, Jo spots a baboon, and Pirate Girl swears she sees a warthog. Everyone is quite jumpy. Button barks at a lemur with buggy eyes and a striped tail. In the now-dimming light, Apollo warns that they might see the bats who gather in colonies inside the trees. The baobabs themselves have thick round trunks with scruffs of branches only at the very top, like the oldest broom in the house.

  The Oldest Broom in the House

  They hurry past those huge creased trunks with their dark hollows and, before long, emerge from the baobab forest into a valley of green hills.

  “It’s so pretty,” Jo says. And in spite of the great fright they just had, it is. There are waves of soft, grassy knolls, the sort of hills you’d love to run up and then down, and there’s the pleasant sound of trickling water. But Henry’s nerves crackle. It’s getting late, and cold, too. It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there. He doesn’t know if the Shadow will suddenly appear here, too, or if it’ll stay in the thick green of the jungle, like a crocodile-lizard-dinosaur creature might. The air has that smell of rain coming, and the sky is filling with a gray sea of thick clouds. Henry rubs his arms.

  “Wait a sec . . . What was that?” Jason Scrum, gerenuk, says, tilting his globe eyes toward the scowling sky.

  “What was what?” Apollo asks.

  “I felt something.” Jason reaches out with one hoof. “There. I felt it again! This is the worst, most horrible field trip in the world! I almost got eaten! And now more water.”

  A big, fat drop of rain splats right on Henry’s forehead. “Oh no,” he says.

  “We’re already cold. I am, anyway. We can’t get wet, too.” Apollo eyes the sky anxiously. “Without shelter, we could die out in the elements, like lots of polar explorers throughout history.”

  Plink. Henry feels another drop on his hand, and then, plonk, another one on his ear.

  “Very glad for this lovely hat,” Mr. Reese says, adjusting its brim.

  Plink, plonk, plonk, plink, the rain patters, turning from a sprinkle to a shower. Drops fall from the tips of Henry’s lashes and ride down the slide of his nose. Overhead, the gray clouds begin to turn as black as the wing
s of crows.

  “What if there’s thunder and lightning?” Apollo says. “We’re right here out in the open.” His glasses have spattered with drops.

  “You could use some windshield wipers, Poll,” Jo says.

  Apollo frowns. He wipes his glasses and puts them on again. “Wow,” he says, with the relief of clear vision. “Just a minute! Do you guys see what I see?”

  “No trees is what I see, and I’m hungry for dinner,” the gerenuk says.

  Henry squinches his eyes. “I . . I’m not sure,” he says. “I see something that looks like a large, scary dragon, slinking across the land.”

  “It’s not a dragon, Henry. It’s something good! A river, but not just a river,” Apollo says. “Hurry!”

  Apollo charges down that hill, which is quickly turning a deep, gloomy green, what with the clouds and the night rushing in. The children and Button and the gerenuk and the squirrel all race at top speed behind him, until the dog and the gerenuk overtake Apollo, reaching the spot where he’s headed, because it’s suddenly quite clear where to go. There’s the river, yes, but more important is what’s at the very mouth of that river, something tucked like a secret deep underneath those hills.

  “It’s a limestone cave,” Apollo says, breathless.

  “Are you sure it’s safe to go in there?” Jo asks, peering inside. “It’s very, very dark.”

  Even though the rain is pummeling hard on their heads, and even though the Shadow of the Wilds is somewhere out there, Henry has the same worry. The cave is a mysterious hollow of who-knows-what. All he can see is the river flowing into that arc of black, and the flat bank of rock on either side, both of which disappear.

  “This is utter nonsense!” Mr. Reese says, hopping nervously back and forth. “A cave is one big trap!”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. This is a perfect hiding spot from the Shadow or anyone else, and shelter from the rain, too,” Pirate Girl says. “Besides, it’s the sort of cave in every adventure story.”

  The Sort of Cave in Every Adventure Story

  She steps in, and Button follows. In a moment, the cave seems to gulp them right up. All Henry can see are circles of light from Pirate Girl’s flashlight shining this way and that.

  “Wow! It’s awesome in here!” she shouts. Her words bounce back to them. Ow, ow, ow. Ere, ere, ere.

  Now even the circles of light vanish, and Henry feels a jolt of terror. Panic flutters in his chest like a hundred bats in a baobab. “Pirate Girl!” he calls. “Button! Come back!”

  They’re gone, he’s sure of it. But maybe not entirely gone, not yet, because a sound tears through that tunnel like a freight train: Pirate Girl, screaming.

  CHAPTER 17

  A Sparkling Discovery

  She’s screaming, but they’re screams of joy and excitement, for once.

  “Holy fettuccini! Guys, guys! Get over here, fast!”

  Ast, ast, ast, the echo commands. But it’s dark and hard to see, and they have to step quite carefully along the rock bank, since the river is rushing along right beside them. Jason Scrum keeps stopping, too, whimpering with fear, and they have to wait patiently for him. When they finally reach Pirate Girl, where she stands on the large flat bank of rock, looking up . . . well, Henry gasps.

  He has never seen anything quite so magical in all his life, except for the lighthouse library. This is a magic that comes from nature, though, not humans. And while humans can create some extraordinary things, they are nothing next to what nature thinks up.

  “Wow,” Jo breathes. Button is staring upward, too, with a sparkle of wonder in her eyes. The gerenuk has gone silent, and even Mr. Reese can only blink and blink at the sight.

  Henry has no words, only awe. Above them, on the huge cavernous ceiling, are hundreds of blue glowing lights, like a sky of cobalt stars. No, like a separate universe of cobalt stars, hidden here and glowing for years and years, pinpricks of enchanting, radiant blue, turning the water of the river blue, too.

  “Arachnacampa Luminosa,” Apollo breathes.

  “What?” Pirate Girl asks.

  “Glowworms.”

  Volume 10, G.–GOT.

  “Wait. I think I read about these in the encyclopedia,” Jo says. “Volume Ten, G. through GOT.”

  “It’s so beautiful,” Henry whispers.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Pirate Girl’s eyes are wide. “I wish I had a boat that I could float down this river. With all these reflections, it’s like a sea of stars.”

  As they walk farther into the cave, the blue glowing lights are everywhere. They arc in a magnificent sprinkle over the children’s heads, and they trickle down the walls to the very edge of the water.

  “It’s supposed to look like a night sky,” Apollo says. “So that insects fly upward, right into those threads.” He points to the magical strands of glowing blue, shimmering downward like hundreds of tiny meteor showers.

  “You might not have a boat, Pirate Girl, but look! That big, flat rock over there looks like an island,” Henry says.

  “That’s where I’m sleeping.” Pirate Girl is already hopping from one bit of rock to the next to get there. “This is nothing like the night sky we slept under on Rulers Mountain. It’s a night sky deep under the earth.”

  Henry and Button are right behind her. Soon, all of them—even a gerenuk and a squirrel—are perched on the platform of rock that appears to float on that blue river. Apollo and Jo set their jackets on the ground. Pirate Girl removes her leather vest. It’s quite warm and snug in the cave. Apollo scoots over so Henry has a place to rest, too.

  “You’re not thinking of actually sleeping are you?” Mr. Reese says. “What is wrong with you people? You need to be alert here in the elements, with a Shadow right outside! And with Vlad and Needleman . . . well, somewhere nearby! This is preposterous! You need to keep your eyes open! You need to keep watch! What might happen if you doze off, unaware?”

  “Oh, Mr. Reese. You’re caring about us again,” Jo says.

  “I’m not . . . Well, I . . . Ugh!” he sputters.

  “We’re not thinking of sleeping just yet, anyway,” Jo says. “First we have to eat.”

  “Eat?” Henry says. His stomach is rumbling like belly thunder.

  “I guess we might as well make the best of the situation,” Apollo says. “And we’re as hidden as we possibly can be. How about lunch for dinner? It’s a good thing my parents always pack plenty.” He takes his brown bag from his backpack.

  “Do I smell Nougat Nut Nuggets?” Mr. Reese’s tail twitches. “I’m quite certain I detect the odor of almonds. All right, fine. We’ll discuss the watch schedule later.”

  “Squirrels do have a highly developed sense of smell,” Apollo says. “But all I can detect is him.” He points to the stinky gerenuk.

  “No one said this was a camping field trip,” Jason Scrum whines. “I wanna go home! I wanna go home NOW! I’m missing my favorite TV show.”

  “This is way more amazing than Rocket Galaxy,” Pirate Girl says, gazing at the hundreds and hundreds of blue lights around them. “We’re in a different sort of galaxy ourselves.”

  “Okay, let’s see.” Jo removes a cloth napkin from her bag and spreads it out as if they are having a fine dining experience at her mother’s restaurant, Rio Royale. “I have two Swiss Goo and Franks, several slices of Pork Pyramid, and a Pineapple Pinwheel we can all share. Also, two packets of Juicee Squeezees, in case you guys are thirsty. Oh, and this.” She hands a Nougat Nut Nugget to Mr. Reese as if it’s a special gift.

  “I knew it,” he says, and beams, before ripping the wrapper with his tiny, poky rodent teeth.

  “I’ve got several Juicee Squeezees, too. Also, Yummers With Cheese and Yummers Without Cheese, a tub of Bologna Bolognese, and a package of eight Crisp Orange Octagons,” Apollo says, laying the item
s alongside Jo’s. “And a single Cocoa Nibbler we can divide between us.”

  “Wow,” Henry says. All of these treats are so astonishing that it’s hard for him to do what he does next. He hands over his single boiled potato, which has grown as cold and hard as a stone. It looks the way his heart feels—small and ashamed. “I’m sorry. This is all I have.”

  Next, Pirate Girl removes a small package wrapped in cellophane from her pocket. She unrolls the plastic and offers what’s inside: two sad clumps of broccoli.

  Two Sad Clumps of Broccoli

  “I’m sorry, too,” she says. The more time Henry spends with Pirate Girl, the more he discovers that they’re alike in surprising ways.

  “Don’t be sorry, you guys,” Jo says. “Look! There’s plenty for everyone, and the Shadow will never find us in this cave, and we’re eating under the stars. Here.” She hands Henry and Pirate Girl the Swiss Goo and Franks, and, boy, do they smell amazing. Henry takes a bite. The Swiss is quite gooey, and the franks are plump, and it astonishes him all over again that she and Apollo have things like this every regular day.

  “Where’s my dinner? What do I get? I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want—leaves! Lots of green and crunchy shrubs! Where are they? This is horrible,” Jason Scrum whines.

  “You’ve been eating all day long,” Pirate Girl says.

  “So? And how am I ever going to sleep in this place? There are things scurrying around my ankles.” All at once, he lets out another very strange gerenuk shriek, and here you must picture the sound of a fork that has accidentally slipped into the garbage disposal. “What was that?” the gerenuk cries.

  “Was it white and crawly? Very scary-looking? It might be an albino ant,” Apollo says. “These caves are known for those. Maybe it was a giant cricket. There’s usually no doubt about those, though. They’re as big as your hand.”