by James Gough
“It was you?” Will struggled against the hardened amber that pinned him to the rock wall.
“You can wiggle all you want. Builder saliva is hard as stone. You and your friends aren’t going anywhere.”
Two more amber-covered figures were plastered next to Will.
“Besides,” said Bump, “where would you go?”
Will looked up. They were in a huge stone lab shaped like a beehive. Thousands of Builders entered and exited through hundreds of holes. Workers carried glass globes to giant tanks filled with swirling gas. Soldiers patrolled the perimeter, guarding rows of cages lining the far wall. One of the cells held a tank of dingy water where Dervis was curled up in a corner, shaking uncontrollably and covering his face with his tentacles.
In the center of the largest cage, a huge female Builder with a long sleek thorax was bound to a table with leather straps. A machine pumped an acid green liquid into her body through tubes attached to her exoskeleton.
The female Builder met Will’s eyes and raised her hand, reaching for him, then she dropped it and turned away.
In the cell next to hers, the white-eyed wolf paced behind the bars, his single eye locked on Will.
“It was you? You sent the hunter after me? You’ve been controlling the Builders and you turned the enchants wild?” sputtered Will.
Bump held up his hands. “Guilty.”
“But why?”
“I’ll show you.” Bump picked up a large, empty syringe and stepped forward. “You may feel a pinch.”
Will screamed as the beetle tore away a chunk of amber and inserted the needle just below his ribs. It felt like a raging fire in his side and back. Bump backed away. The agony subsided. Will coughed.
Dr. Bump held up the syringe, now containing a small amount of yellowish liquid. “Adrenaline.” He stroked the glass. “It’s what provides that little rush of excitement. But in your case, it also powers your enhancers, let’s you see through Cloak, allows you to scent-speak, and provides you with the ability to command Builders.”
“What? I can’t command Builders,” coughed Will.
“Well, you’re not very good at it, but you will be in time. I knew you had the gift when you summoned the Builders in the Gathering Hall—that curiosity pheromone of yours has quite a potent scent. Granted, I wasn’t pleased that you brought my Builders out into the open. That almost ruined my little surprise. Then you confirmed your ability with your dream. Bacon? Do you know how upset I would have been if eleven years of planning were destroyed because my minions were caught delivering a midnight snack to a teenager who couldn’t curb his hunger pheromones? You have no restraint. Not yet. But I will teach you how. Controlling Builders is only the beginning.”
Bump gave another potent scent command. PREPARE THE WOLF AND BRING HIM TO ME. A patrol of soldier Builders advanced on the wolf’s cage.
“When I get out of here, I will devour you, Bump! You double-crossing bug. I promise you will die. And I never fail on a promise!” howled the wolfchant.
“Never fail, never fail?” mocked Bump. “Isn’t that what you said when I hired you to bring me this little boy? And not once, not twice, but three times you have failed me, hunter. I’m afraid you’re out of chances, you insipid cur.”
Bump turned to Will. “He’s been a horrible disappointment to me. Sad, really. But not to worry, I’ve finally found a use for him.”
The Builders surrounded the wolfchant’s cage and smashed a globe on the floor, filling the cell with amber gas. When it cleared, the wolf was on all fours, growling and foaming like a rabid dog. Quickly, the Builders subdued him and dragged him out.
Dr. Bump held a small vial of acid green liquid up to Will’s face. “This is my greatest invention, Wilhelm. Very difficult to make—it’s the Gladius Encánto in it that can be especially tricky.”
Will’s eyes widened and he pulled away. “You’re going to turn me into an enchant?”
“Oh, don’t worry. It’s perfectly harmless to you. Now if you were a Builder, and I mixed this with adrenaline from your queen over there, then you might have to worry. You see with this, she’s my living amplifier. Because of this,” he held up the vial, “any command I give to her is passed on to the entire colony. My will is their will. And it has been so for many, many years.”
“You were behind the Builder uprising, controlling them, making them do those awful things?”
“Give the boy a cookie!” mocked Bump. “Unfortunately, the Builder queen regained control after the explosion just long enough to agree to those ghastly sanctions. I have had to keep my little Builders underground for eleven years preparing for today. For this.” Bump held up the vial and injected Will’s adrenaline into the green liquid, causing it to bubble and steam. Then he poured it into a mister and sprayed the snapping wolfchant in the face. The beast instantly became docile, sitting at attention with a glazed look in his eye.
“Now, observe.”
WILHELM, USE SCENT-SPEAK AND COMMAND THE WOLFCHANT TO DANCE.
Will was helpless. He had to obey Bump’s scent command. DANCE, WOLFCHANT, he demanded.
Instantly, the wolf enchant sprang to his feet and began to waltz stiffly with an unsuspecting Builder.
“Wonderful,” clapped Bump. WILHELM, COMMAND HIM TO ROLL OVER.
There was no way to resist. ROLL OVER, he thought. The wolf enchant obeyed.
WILHELM, COMMAND THE WOLF TO SIT.
SIT.
The helpless wolfchant sat up with his paws in front of him, panting like a dog.
“Perfect! He makes a much better pet than assassin, don’t you think?” said Bump. “Wilhelm, do you realize how many Immunes I went through to find you? All of them, in fact.” He limped closer, squeezing Will’s chin in his stubby fingers. “You are rare. Only one other Immune had this ability, you know. Now he was a great Immune, far more powerful than you—so much more controlled. He would have been the perfect amplifier, had he survived.”
“Josef Grimm,” gasped Will, recovering from the scent command. “You were his assistant. The Builders didn’t kill him, you did.”
Bump twittered his fingers. “Something like that.”
“You’re a monster.”
“You have no idea.” There was dangerous edge to his voice. “But seriously, Wilhelm, I’m not as bad as you think. My motives are pure. I simply want peace.”
“Peace? You want to kill and enslave thousands and you call that peace?”
“Sometimes peace has a hefty price tag, but I don’t expect a boy to understand. Let’s just say that with you as my living amplifier, I will bring every enchant peace and equality. I just had to strip them of their pesky human independence and now I can replace their wills with mine—just like I’ve done with the Builders. No more fighting, no more pain—just quiet peace.”
“You’re insane.”
“Really?” His eyes were poisonous. “Was I insane when I invented the prosthetic wing or the enhancers that allow the deaf to hear or the limp to run? I created them to end the suffering, but did it work? No. The pettiness of enchants knows no bounds. No invention or prosthetic I produced could create equality. Enchants are like instinct-ridden little children that need to be disciplined.”
“But you didn’t invent all those things, Josef Grimm did.”
Bump leaned close, the stench of his breath washing over Will’s face. “But Wilhelm, I am Josef W. Grimm.”
“No, you’re not. He’s dead. You were his assistant.”
Bump squeezed Will’s cheeks hard. “Thaddeus Bump was my assistant. But after my accident, I couldn’t very well show my true form.”
“What do you mean?”
“Gladius Encánto is very tricky to use.”
“You mean you were…”
“Transformed, deformed, mutilated, mutated—take your pick. But thank goodness for poor fat Thaddeus Bump, his ample exoskeleton has been quite useful.” The beetlechant lifted his hand and removed the mask from half of his face.
> Under the broken shell of Dr. Bump was another face—one of a reddish insectchant with familiar human features. A grotesque version of Josef Grimm was crammed into the beetle’s body. As the foul odor of decay from behind the mask reached his enhancer, the blurry image he had smelled earlier flickered brighter in Will’s mind.
“Hideous, isn’t it?”
Will gagged, his eyes watering.
“Imagine, eleven years hiding in a dead enchant’s skin. Eleven years pretending to be that sniveling wretch, Bump. Having to grovel to that dawdling owl and being forced to run this playground for his uncontrollable charity cases like your horrible little bat friends.”
Will remembered Mars and Berko. “Where are they?”
“Dead. I ordered my Builders to bring you and the red-marked Builder to me and to kill anyone who interfered.”
Dead? Will’s chest felt like it was going to collapse. It was his fault. He had led Berko and Mars into the trap and now they were gone.
He wanted to scream, to wrap his hands around Grimm’s neck until the insect stopped smirking, but he couldn’t move.
Will flexed his fingers and realized that where Grimm had torn away the amber, his hand was free. It was his last chance. He slipped his hand into his parka and found the pack of gum distress beacon Rizz had given him. Will pressed the logo, hoping that by some miracle Rizz would keep his promise.
Beeps echoed across the lab. There, standing near one of the tunnels was Rizz.
“Rizz! Help me. Dr. Bump is behind everything. But he’s not Bump. He’s really Josef Grimm!”
“I know, kid. Just take it easy, everything’s gonna be fine.” Rizz walked forward and spoke to Dr. Grimm. “This wasn’t the deal, Josef. You were supposed to make sure the kid could be the amplifier then sedate him and hook him up to the machine—no stress, no pain. Why is he not sedated?”
“Rizz? What are you doing?” Will struggled against the amber. “Get me out of here! Save me.”
Rizz refused to make eye contact. “I’m sorry, kid, but I warned you. When it comes to enchants, never believe what you see.”
Will fought back tears. Rizz had taught him everything. Rizz had been his first real friend. The hard-faced ramchant standing in front of him wasn’t the Rizz he knew.
Will faced Grimm. “What did you do to him?”
Behind Dr. Bump’s shell, Josef Grimm’s lips twisted into a wicked grin. “Me? I did nothing. Your hero has been working for me since before you were born. Granted, he didn’t do the best job of protecting me when I was an Immune, but he’s been a model employee ever since. Isn’t that right, Agent Rizzuto?”
“Rizz? I thought you were my friend.” Will struggled to speak. “Why are you doing this?”
Rizz clenched his jaw and turned on Grimm. “Enough. The kid doesn’t need the details. We’re running out of time. The gas will lose effect soon. Just get it over with.”
“Patience, my friend.” Grimm’s grating voice filled with condescension. “The boy is curious. It would be cruel to keep him in the dark, wouldn’t it? And besides, my formula will only take a moment to disperse through the ventilation system as soon as we infuse it with the Immune’s adrenaline.”
Rizz balled his fists and glared at Grimm, then turned his back on Will, his shoulders sagging. “Don’t torture the kid. Please.”
Josef Grimm’s eyes slid from Rizz to Will. “Oh, you really do care about this one, don’t you?” He flashed sharp, black teeth. “Rizz the tough? The heart of stone? How many Immunes did I test under your watch? How many did I convince the Council to send to St. Grimm’s—to their death, while you looked away?”
“Too many,” muttered Rizz.
“Have you finally grown a conscience? Too bad for your cousin you didn’t have one eleven years ago.”
“Don’t.” Rizz ground his teeth.
Josef Grimm faced Will. “Do you want to know how he really lost that horn? It was Dean.”
Grimm pulled the amber binding away from Dean’s unconscious face. “Eleven years ago Dean discovered my plans for the Builder uprising and freed the Builders I’d been experimenting on. He had no idea that Rizz was my accomplice. Oh, you should have seen the look of betrayal in Dean’s face—it was a lot like yours, actually, Wilhelm.”
Grimm’s eye’s flickered with twisted glee. “Cousin versus cousin. The fight was something to see. If I hadn’t called in the Builders, I think Dean would have taken Agent Rizzuto’s life. Instead he just took his horn.”
Josef Grimm’s expression darkened and he went on. “I was about to order the Builders to kill Dean, but one of my escaped test subjects, that little red-marked Builder that Dean freed, attacked me and dropped the vial of Gladius Encánto.”
Grimm limped to the wall and tore the amber away from Stripe’s face. The Builder was bruised and bleeding with dents all over his exoskeleton.
“Stripe!” Will shouted.
“A Builder unaffected by binding instincts.” Dr. Grimm moved Stripe’s mandibles, exposing his red mark. “I thought he died in the explosion. He should have, he was the one that caused it!” Grimm’s anger flared, and he touched his face beneath Bump’s shell. “He did this to me. And he will die for it. But first, we have a society to pacify.”
Josef Grimm waddled over to a table rigged with heavy leather straps. Next to it was a tank of the acid green formula and a machine identical to the one attached to the Builder Queen.
FREE THE BOY AND STRAP HIM TO THE TABLE, commanded Grimm.
One of the Builder’s mandibles sliced his forearm as it plunged into the amber. With tremendous force, five soldier Builders began to pull, shattering the amber prison. Will felt like he was being yanked through a cement wall. Pain surged through his entire body.
CAREFULLY, I DON’T WANT HIM TO END UP LIKE HIS BAT FRIENDS.
Intense, white-hot anger boiled up in Will. “Stop it! JUST STOP!” he cried out.
The Builders stepped away, leaving only Will’s lower half encased.
Rizz and Dr. Grimm stared at the walls and ceiling where thousands of Builders stood frozen at attention, their eyes on Will.
CONTINUE WORKING NOW! Grimm’s scent-command was so powerful it took Will’s breath away. The stalled Builders hesitated, then started to move again.
Will closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could, screaming in his mind. STOP!
When his eyes opened, the Builders were motionless.
Josef Grimm glared.
I SAID RESUME YOUR W…
IGNORE HIM! Will blocked Grimm’s command. Some Builders stopped while others stuttered along.
“Do not trifle with me, boy.” Josef Grimm snarled. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”
Even surrounded by enemies, Will felt something grow inside him. It was more powerful than any of the enhancers—a volcano of confidence erupting in his chest. He glared at Rizz, then at Josef Grimm.
“I know what I’m dealing with.” Will stood erect. “Cowards and bullies. And an insect that wishes he were an Immune.”
Grimm trembled. “You insignificant worm. How dare you insult me? I am the greatest Immune who ever lived!”
“No, you were an Immune. But now you’re nothing but a parasite—a body-snatching bug.”
“A bug, am I?” Josef Grimm shook wildly, his stubby fists clenched. “I’ll show you a bug.”
The sound of tearing fabric surrounded the doctor. His massive stomach stretched and undulated like a balloon full of snakes.
Dozens of sharp black fingers burst through the front of Bump’s suit, wrenching it apart. More fingers split Bump’s exoskeleton down the center and cracked it in two.
From inside the shell, Grimm emerged, rearing back his head and unfolding two fang-tipped mandibles. Behind the fangs, his long, angular, half-human face wore a horrible smile. Two scythe-like pincers sprung from his neck.
The bulging, gyrating suit exploded in tatters. A mass of writhing spear-like arms and legs unfolded from what Will
now realized was a long, sleek body that had been rolled up inside Bump’s substantial shell.
Grimm uncoiled and grew to a towering height, unfurling more hidden rows of lethal limbs.
The monstrous centipede stretched dozens of arms, cracked his segmented neck and leered down at Will, flashing a mouth full of pointed black teeth.
“Do I look like a mere insect to you, loathsome child?” No longer sounding pinched, Josef Grimm’s deep, cruel voice filled the chamber. He slithered toward Will, placed a sharp finger under his chin, and probed the air with his flared antennae. “Yes, I smell your fear. You should fear me. I’m about to become the most powerful being on this planet. And you are going to help me. The world’s two last Immunes, ruling together.”
“I’d rather die!” shouted Will.
“Oh, so noble. Just like your two friends.” Grimm moved to the wall where Dean and Stripe were still encased in amber Builder saliva. “I promised Rizz that Dean would remain alive. It was a little deal we made when I became the new me—Dean’s life for Rizz’s undying loyalty. Of course I couldn’t let him talk. My venom paralyzes—and as Dean’s personal physician, my prescription has been two bites a day, for life.”
Grimm turned back to Will. WILHELM, COMMAND THE WOLFCHANT TO KILL THE STRIPED BUILDER!
There was no fighting it. Free of Bump’s shell, Josef Grimm’s command was unstoppable. Will’s attempt to resist disintergrated. KILL STRIPE, he commanded the wolf enchant. In a slow-motion nightmare, the wolf stalked toward Stripe and extended his claws.
The hunter bore his teeth.
In the back of Will’s mind, a new command seeped through a tiny crack in his thoughts.
No. Fight back. The voice was small, but growing stronger. It was familiar. With a shock, Will realized the voice was his own.
Do not let him win. Stop him now! The voice tumbled forward, an avalanche rolling and sweeping away the binding instinct until it filled every fiber of Will’s being.
