by James Gough
As they walked away, Will peeked over his shoulder. Cylus was standing at the entrance to the carnivore cafeteria fixing his pants, his black eyes fuming. He stared at Will and flashed his fangs. Slowly, he pulled a scaly finger across his throat, then pointed the same finger directly at Will.
20
Flight
Dinner was a wash. Will’s insides were too tied in knots to allow him to concentrate on food. The word helpless kept gnawing at the back of his brain. He thought of how tiny Manning had pummeled a gang by herself. Rizz had looked at mortal danger and laughed. Will had cowered. Helpless Will.
Rizz took Will back to his room and warned him that the noise at night might be a little distracting. Distracting? It sounded like a herd of elephants playing basketball in a china shop. There was clanking and banging and obnoxious voices for two hours straight.
Will lay in bed worrying about naturalization. What if it made him deaf or blind or worse? Should he just jump in like he’d always done? His entire life had been a series of stupid risks—midnight strolls behind Nurse Grundel’s back, allergy experiments for his yellow journal, commuter roulette. And now he was nervous about a possible loss of a few senses?
Will was trying to make the biggest decision of his life. The tremendous clamor wasn’t helping. He tried a pillow over his head, then two. How could anyone think?
Forget sleeping. Will threw the pillows. He padded to the balcony doors and wrenched them open. The noise tripled. He peered over the edge. A traffic jam had clotted the bottom of the atrium. Enchants of all sizes were toting suitcases and pressing toward the check-out desk in total chaos. Dr. Bump tried in vain to control the crowd. Not even Sergeant Gnar could quiet the crazed enchants. Will looked across the atrium. Gawkers gazed down from most of the balconies. At least he wasn’t the only one distracted by the racket.
“Having trouble sleeping?” Rizz snorted from the next balcony over. He was wearing old sweat pants and a t-shirt with “Got Horns?” faded across the chest. He had his hooves up on the railing, reading a paper.
“What’s going on?” Will kneaded his eye with a latex-covered fist.
“This.” Rizz sent a newspaper sailing between the balconies. “Check out the front page.”
Will unfolded the copy of The New Wik Times and stared at the headline, “The Builders are Back!” There was a color picture one of the tourists must have taken. It was grainy, but it clearly captured six Builders on the wall of the Gathering Hall. It also showed Will from behind, staring up at them. The caption under the photo read, “Gerbilchant, Wilhelm Tuttle, frozen and helpless in the presence of an attacking platoon of Builders.”
“So much for keeping a low profile,” quipped Rizz and chuckled.
“I find no humor in this,” said Agent Flores, who was blending in with the stone and foliage on the other balcony adjacent to Will’s. Flores had changed out of the tuxedo but was still dressed in a crisp, Italian suit and wearing sunglasses. He stood rigid, checking his teeth in his mirror. “I cannot believe that the boy’s name was released to the press. What was Dr. Bump thinking?”
“Bump is an idiot. We all know that,” shrugged Rizz. “And besides, this might be good. It makes Will seem more believable as an enchant. There’s a rumor going around now that gerbil musk wards off Builders. This might actually make your stink popular, kid.”
“Oh, that is perfecto,” grumbled Flores, slipping his hand mirror back into his pocket. “How are we supposed to keep the boy safe with more enchants around him? This defeats the purpose of the gerbil cover completely.”
“Oh, don’t mind Flores, kid. He’s just cranky because he has to pull a double shift tonight.” Rizz looked at the bags under Will’s eyes. “I’ll tell you what. If you want, I can have Nurse Starr swing by for a little sleep aid.”
“Pills?” asked Will.
“Nah. Didn’t you notice last night? The woman can knock out a whalechant just by standing next to him.”
“Huh?” Will didn’t remember the nurse doing anything.
“Pheromones, kid. You know, the ‘old sniff and follow?’ You’ve never heard about body chemistry that can influence others through smells?”
Will shook his head.
“Well, there’s a lot of that among enchants, let me tell you. Mostly pheromones are for pickin’ up the ladies.” Rizz locked his fingers behind his head. “But Georgia can produce a sedative pheromone that will put you out in seconds. Why do you think she’s such a good nurse? The lady’s a walking tranquilizer.”
Will remembered Nurse Georgia Starr’s intoxicating lavender scent. “The perfume?”
“Bingo. But that isn’t perfume. You just sit tight. I’ll give her a call.” Rizz paused for a second. “Oh, but don’t tell her you know about the pheromone thing. She likes patients to think that it’s her soothing personality that helps them relax.”
Phermones? Did everyone have abilities? Will glanced back at the caption under his picture. Helpless. That word again.
“Rizz.”
“Yeah, kid?”
“I made my decision about the naturalization.”
“Really?” Rizz popped to his feet. “What’d you decide?”
“I want to tell everybody together. In the morning, before breakfast?”
“Sure. I’ll set it up. But how about a preview? A clue?”
Will smirked and folded his arms. “Now if I told you, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise, now would it?”
“Touché,” Rizz snorted.
Ten minutes later Nurse Starr stopped by Will’s room with a glass of warm milk and insisted that she tuck him into bed. Will took deep breaths and let the smell of lilacs fill his lungs. With his decision made, and Nurse Starr’s help, it didn’t take long before the noises faded and his eyelids fell.
Will was dreaming of bacon—big steaming plates of smoky goodness. His mouth watered as he ordered plate after plate from a waitress dressed as a pancake. The dream was so vivid he could smell it. Will went to grab a piece and was stopped by a huge hand covered in black fur. He gasped and pulled back. Sitting across the table was the wolf enchant, growling and glaring with milky white eyes. Will tried to stand up, but his way was blocked by Builders dressed as waiters, carrying more platters of bacon. The pancake waitress grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.
“Wake up, Stinky.” Mars shook him harder. “Man, you are a heavy sleeper. Wake up!” She pushed him off the bed.
He hit the floor with a thump. It was pitch black. “What happened? What time is it?”
“It’s time to go, come on.” Mars yanked on his wrist, pulling him off the floor.
He managed to grab the luminary glasses from his nightstand. “Mars? It’s…” Will pushed the glasses on and looked at his watch. “It’s two a.m. Where are we going?”
“I promised you a tour, don’t you remember?” She sat Will in a chair and shoved shoes on his feet. He was glad he’d worn track pants and a t-shirt to bed. Mars helped him slip his arms through the sleeves of his parka.
“I already took a tour,” he mumbled and tried to lie down in the chair.
“No sleeping. I know how that tour turned out. I swear, Rizz is the worst tour guide ever. First he took you through all that boring history junk, then you get attacked by Builders. The only cool thing was the Builders.” Mars dragged Will away from the front door and toward the balcony.
“I thought we were leaving?” He tried to clear his head. Nurse Starr’s pheromone treatment was still in effect.
“We’re not walking, Stinky, way too boring.”
“Wait. You’re going to fly and carry me? I don’t think so.” Will planted his feet.
“Don’t be stupid. You’re way too heavy for me. I brought help.” She pulled open the balcony doors. “Yo, Berko.”
Light flooded the room. Will took off the night glasses and squinted as a giant bat enchant tromped into view, filling the balcony doorway. Bristly black and red fur covered his biceps, and huge reddish eyes do
minated his pointed face. He had a heavy jaw with a jutting under bite. Black fleshy wings flopped under his arms and connected to his massive body. The behemoth bat wore a black tank top and baggy jeans that covered his disproportionately short legs. Huge bare feet with long toes were tipped with claw-like nails.
“G-day,” he grunted in a gruff Australian accent.
“Hi.” Will backed away. “Berko, is it?”
“Yeah,” Mars jumped in. “Berko means ‘crazy’ in the Outback. But don’t worry, he’s not really nuts. It’s just a nickname. Right, Berko?”
The giant grunted.
“See. He’s cool.” Mars yanked Will onto the balcony and shut the doors. She was dressed in black jeans full of holes and a black jacket covered in metal spikes. Her purple hair was tucked into a black cap with a silver skull pinned to the brim. “Now let’s go before we get caught. Your babysitters are busy. And what is up with the security anyway? You rob a bank or something?”
“Uh, I,” he stammered.
“Never mind. Look, Rizz is guarding the front door and that Flores dork is talking to Manning. They all think you’re out cold, so let’s move.” She pushed Will to the railing. “Ready?”
Will peered over the precipice and his knees turned to gelatin. “Actually, I’m not sure this is my sort of thing.”
Mars stared at him blank-faced. “Whatever. Now come on.” She slipped a pair of funky goggle-like shades over her eyes and did a back flip off the balcony.
Will was about to argue, when the wind was crushed out of him and he was hoisted into the air. Berko had grabbed him with his huge, fingerlike feet and pulled him over the edge. If there had been any breath left in his lungs, Will would have screamed like a little girl. He hurtled toward the floor headfirst. His eyes watered, his stomach in his sneakers.
Mars was tucked into a dive, her wings folded back and her arms flat to her sides. She turned her face to Will. “Not a bad way to travel, huh? Hold on tight.” She flung her wings open and stopped in midair.
Ten feet from the ground Berko pulled up and followed Mars in a graceful loop. Beating their wings, the bats shot through an open set of double doors and streaked down the hallway at an insane speed. Orderlies and nurses dove for cover. An elderly emu enchant with an I.V. stand froze as the bats tilted their wings and dodged him by inches.
At a V in the corridor, Mars zipped to the left while Berko and Will cut to the right. The passage narrowed. Berko’s wing tips nearly touched the walls on each side. They flew like daredevils, zipping over the tops of enchants pressed flat to the floor. Buttressed columns blurred past them on the left. Will caught glimpses of Mars on the other side of a long stone courtyard, weaving around her pillars like pylons.
Berko barrel-rolled, sending the world spinning.
They were on a collision course with Mars. Will threw his arms in front of his face. Just before impact, Berko whipped into a sharp turn.
When Will opened his eyes, Mars was floating in front of him.
“Having fun yet?” she giggled. They were racing down a curving hallway and picking up speed. “Now comes the fun part, Stinky.”
Will’s blood ran cold.
Mars shot ahead, folded back her wings, and dove into a short-cut hole in the floor. Berko plunged into the darkness after her. Will was jerked up and down, spun and flipped. Squeezing his arms to his sides and sucking in his stomach, he hoped he wouldn’t hit the rocks blurring in front of him. The tunnel turned and climbed. It was brighter ahead.
Mars flapped hard and bolted.
Berko followed her lead.
Will held his breath. Wind stung his eyes and face, the centrifugal force trying to tear him from Berko’s grip. Everything blurred.
In a blink, they were free, floating in space, soaring through an enormous cavern that made the atrium outside Will’s room look like a closet. The vast space was shaped like a bowl and ringed with terraces and platforms. Dim light filtered through the glass dome that capped the cavern. Bat, bird, insect, even a few flying squirrel enchants rode the warm air currents that blew up from vents in the chamber’s floor.
“Welcome to the Aviary.” Mars looped around, drifting beside Will and Berko.
“It’s amazing.” Will stretched out his arms and let the wind wash over him. Flying was a lot less terrifying now that there was nothing to run into.
They glided above a group of enchants. Two tiny children with dragonfly wings played catch mid-air. A magnificent condor woman circled. Swarms of frenetic bat-boys and girls chased each other. From a large porch, a shrill whistle sounded and smaller flying enchants lined up and landed single file.
“Recess is over.” Mars was doing a mid-air backstroke.
“Recess? That’s a school?”
“Yep. Mrs. Keller’s nocturnal third grade class. Mean old hawk.”
Berko grunted in agreement.
“She gave me and Berko detention for a whole month one time, just because we stuck our desks to the ceiling. See, we’re batchants, we wanted to have class upside down. It almost worked until Berko’s desk dropped on Keller’s foot.”
“Where do you guys go to school now?” asked Will.
Mars and Berko exchanged looks. “We graduated high school last year, when we were twelve, like most enchants. Didn’t you?”
Will blushed. “Yeah, I mean, it was a little different back in New York, so I’m pretty much done. How old were you when you started school?”
Mars raised an eyebrow. “Well, Berko got held back a year because he’s always been small for his age, but I started school when I was one, just like everybody else. Then second grade when we were two, then three in third, and yada yada yada. Geez, Stinky. What kind of weird place were you living in?”
“No place,” Will stuttered. “I was just making sure it was the same here. Um, what’s over there?”
He pointed to a platform lined with six shivering little enchants with bird wings that couldn’t have been more than three-years-old. An adult bird enchant was pacing behind them, saying something. Then, without warning, he shoved the kids off the platform, sending them flailing toward the ground. One by one each child spread their wings, caught the air and made their way back to the platform.
“That? That’s just a flying lesson, Stinky. Man, you were sheltered in New York, weren’t you?”
The three spent half an hour flying laps around the Aviary—diving and spiraling in crazy aerobatics. Will was finally getting used to the upside down loop-the-loops when Mars appeared below him, a panicked look in her eyes.
“Berko, it’s time to go,” she said through her teeth. “Trouble at three o’clock.”
She pointed to a majestic bird enchant in an old pilot’s jacket and helmet, flying a graceful circle a hundred yards away. Will tried to get a better view of him, but Mars blocked his line of sight.
“Come on, Berko, before he sees Stinky.” Mars dove forward.
The big bat grunted again, and soon they were plummeting in a death spiral, nearly clipping a group of elderly red-feathered bird enchants flying in formation.
“Hooligans,” one of the fluttering birdchants shouted.
Mars cut hard and plunged into a tunnel. Berko and Will tailed her.
At the end of another harrowing dash through a maze of hallways, Mars led them into a sweltering habitat chamber. They glided above steamy, moss-covered treetops to a little outcropping of rock carved into the roof of the cavern.
Berko released Will and plopped down next to him, his short legs hanging over the slippery ledge. Mars alighted on Will’s other side and pressed a finger to her lips.
“Be really quiet. We don’t want too much attention. Yet.”
“Why? Where are we?” Will whispered. It was hard to see anything through the mist that pooled around the knotted trees and ferns. Slime hung from the walls, and the floor of the cavern was mostly water.
He turned to Mars. “I don’t see any—”
She held up her hand and pointed to the op
posite wall. “Listen.”
After a second, Will heard it too. Something was swimming. Two humongous eyes appeared, skimming across the surface of the water, searching the ceiling.
“Don’t move,” whispered Mars. From her pocket, she produced a ball of string and a fried chicken wing. After tying the wing to the string, she lowered it off the edge and wiggled it, making the chicken wing dance thirty feet above the water.“Here, hold this.” Mars handed Will the string.
“What for?”
Before she could answer, there was an explosion of water. Will looked down in time to see a gaping set of teeth flying toward his feet. He yelled and retracted his legs just as the jaws snapped on the chicken wing. The string was wrenched out of Will’s hand, burning stripes in the latex across his palms.
The scaly creature fell back to the water, turning sideways in mid-air to reveal short, muscular limbs and a tail the length of his body that thrashed as he landed. The splash soaked the three of them with foul-tasting swamp water.
“I’ll give you an eight for the jump, but I have to deduct points on the entry,” yelled Mars, pulling a wad of swamp gunk out of her hair.
From below a chilling voiced gurgled. “One of these times you’ll get what’s coming to you, you little brat. I hear bat wings taste like chicken.”
Hissing laughter echoed through the chamber as a dozen hidden enchants slithered to the surface. Will pushed back and hid his face. They were the same reptilians that Manning had pummeled.
“Why don’t you come down for a swim and bring your little friends? You can help me with my physical therapy.”
More laughter.
Will watched the iguana enchant scale the wall, a bandage taped across his nose.
“Thanks anyway, Donk. But we need to keep moving. You’ve been great entertainment, though. Maybe next time I’ll bring you a ball you can balance on your nose,” teased Mars.
There was a roar and Donk launched out of the water again, snapping only yards below Mars’ feet.
“Whoa,” Mars stood up. “Getting a little frisky tonight, aren’t you, big feller?”
