Loisana positioned herself alongside the trees. She turned some of the moisture in the air into water, letting it flood across the ground. Zeroing in on the area where they expected Sirabetta to appear, she froze the water into a thin sheet of ice. When Sirabetta materialized there, she’d lose her footing on the slippery ground.
Simon surged with intensity from Targa’s influence. He stood a few feet apart from everyone else so he could better concentrate on his space-time control. “In case we can’t knock her out quickly, make sure she can’t see those tattoos,” he said. “She can only use one at a time and can’t use them if they’re covered.”
The group braced themselves, ready to pounce on their foe. I had to admit, leaning forward on my recliner, it was a great plan. I wished I had time to make popcorn.
Simon closed his eyes and activated his space-time formula. He concentrated on the memory of that tingling feeling that stemmed from Sirabetta’s altered form.
Keeping that sensation in mind, Simon narrowed his attention so he was more intent on space than time. He imagined a thin, limitless rope extended between him and Sirabetta, using that one spot on the path as ground zero for it.
Then, with all the intensity he could gather in mind and body, he yanked the rope.
Nothing happened.
A few minutes passed.
Still nothing.
A few more minutes passed.
By now, the nothing was getting quite good at its job. It seemed smug somehow.
Flangelo shifted from emu to human. “Can we assume this isn’t how it’s supposed to work?”
Simon frowned. “I don’t understand. I felt it. I felt the connection and I pulled on it. It should have worked!”
“Hey, it’s a new technique,” Alysha said. “It’s not like turning friction on or off. You might need a few tries to get it right.”
“Yeah, remember how long it took to get good at plain old gravity?” Owen asked.
“Okay,” Simon said. “Give me a few more minutes to work on this.” He closed his eyes and pictured what he wanted to do in his mind again. Then he clapped his hands together and rubbed them, exhaled, and opened his eyes. “This time it’ll work.”
Once again, about fifteen minutes after the first attempt, Simon pictured the rope of space-time, the distance it covered, and then the pulling. He visualized the air ripping open and Sirabetta falling through it, only to plop onto the ice patch and into their trap.
The nothing did its equivalent of saying nyeah-nyeah as Sirabetta, rather stubbornly, I thought, persisted in not appearing.
“Maybe I need more rest,” Simon said. “Maybe I should reread that section of the Book. Get more clues on how to do this.” He reached into his backpack for the Book.
And that’s when everything exploded.
CHAPTER 43
BRUTALITY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
The air in the middle of the group burst apart with a deafening boom, flinging them in all directions. Most of their falls were cushioned by the giant mushrooms lining the path.
Simon, positioned far from mushrooms or friends, wasn’t so lucky. He was launched up into the trees, smacking through dozens of branches before disappearing from sight. Moments later, he could be heard crashing down, branch by branch, and then striking the ground with a wrenching thud somewhere deep in the forest.
“This place brings back memories.” Thirteen-year-old Sirabetta strutted down the path toward them. She wore a jet-black wet suit that let her show off the assortment of perfectly formed tattoos on her arms and legs—gone were the days where she had to hide them. She was also soaking wet, which made the wet suit a practical choice of clothing.
And she wasn’t alone. Preto, Krissantha, and Aleadra—similarly drenched—walked behind her as she approached the scattered Physics and Biology members.
Sirabetta didn’t bother to hide her triumphant grin as she addressed her stunned enemies. “Funny thing: there I was, thousands of miles away, when I felt this buzzing. Like an alarm in my head and body, telling me exactly where Simon Bloom was.”
I groaned as I realized that Simon hadn’t worked his formula properly. Instead of teleporting Sirabetta, he had only managed to alert her.
“A quick Gateway trip, a soaking from the Union’s trusty rainstorm, and here we were. Only fifteen minutes, door to door. Back to good ol’ Dunkerhook Woods.”
She scanned the faces of the fallen. “Hmm. Was my attack too rough for poor Bloom?” She looked off into the forest. “I’ll scrape him off the ground when we’re done with you all.” She rubbed her hands together. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”
Kender, protected by his shell, was the least affected by the blast. He’d been knocked down but rose and stood between his enemies and his friends. “So you’re the famous Sirabetta. You don’t look so tough.”
“Really?” Sirabetta asked. Five feet tall and slender, Sir gave a sweet smile to the seven-foot-plus, massively armored man. She thrust an arm out and pointed to a silver tattoo. It was one of her favorite weapons—from the Order of Astronomy.
“Does this help?” she asked and read the tattoo aloud. It glowed brightly and a pulsating, grapefruit-size ball of silvery light shot from her outstretched hand. The searing globe was made of the same stuff as a star: it was superhot and devas tatingly powerful. It streaked through the woods, covering the twenty feet to Kender in a second, and detonated in a burst of silver-white fire across his right side.
Kender was sent spinning up and back through the air before striking some trees with a loud crash. He rose to his feet unsteadily; the part of the shell covering his right side had been destroyed.
“I guess I’m out of practice,” Sirabetta said. “The next one’ll do the trick.” She hesitated; one more star-ball would probably kill him. Was she ready to get blood on her hands? Then she reminded herself that these hands were just part of the misery these people had heaped onto her. Yes, she thought darkly. It’s time for them to die.
Before she could act, the tall, bearded one heaved himself up to his knees and spat a cloud of tiny dots that enveloped her. Sirabetta shrieked with disgust as she saw they were mushrooms and with pain from the sting of them latching onto her flesh. The multiple fungi began growing instantly, gaining length and depth with every passing second.
They weren’t fast enough, though. Sirabetta quickly regained her composure and read from a blue tattoo on one arm; the tattoo glowed brightly and a burst of intense heat incinerated all the mushrooms on her.
“A giant bug-man and a mushroom-spitter,” she said with a snort. “Is this the band of warriors trying to keep me from my destiny?”
Preto and Krissantha laughed while Aleadra looked on stone-faced. “Before you get overconfident . . . the others are recovering, too.”
Sirabetta looked over; the skinny bird-man, Flangelo, and the short, velocity-wielding boy, Owen, were rising. She didn’t know the two women with them, but she recognized the girl, Alysha, stirring beside them.
“Not a problem,” Sirabetta said, her voice almost mania cally cheery.
“No,” Alysha snarled. “It’s a problem.” She threw a handful of sparking metal pieces on and in front of Sirabetta; they exploded and raised a huge cloud of dirt.
Sirabetta coughed and waved her hands to clear the air, but she was laughing. “Stupid, stupid, stupid, Lite Brite. Did you forget I’m electricity proof?” She pointed to a glowing half-yellow, half-green tattoo on her left shin; it was a biochemical tattoo she’d chosen for complete insulation.
“Forget? No. Care? Nope,” Alysha rasped. “Ever hear of a distraction?”
As Sirabetta and her allies finished waving away the dust and debris from the attack, they found a surprise. Though the redheaded woman was still sprawled on the ground and Simon had not returned, most of their opponents had gotten to their feet.
“I remember how tricky and persistent you were,” Sirabetta said. “This time, no more asking for what I want. No more offers of su
rrender.”
“No problem,” Owen said through gritted teeth.
Sirbetta snapped her fingers at her allies. “Get them.”
Aleadra stood to the side, folding her arms, as if she was just going to observe. But Preto reacted right away, changing into his half-man, half-manta ray form and gliding on winglike fins toward his enemies. Flangelo shifted into emu form and stepped in front of him, letting out an emu roar and fluttering his tiny, flightless wings. Preto let out a keening wail and swooped at the large bird.
They collided, and Flangelo was thrown back by the more massive, faster-moving attacker. He got to his feet quickly and let out a booming challenge in emu language: the equivalent of telling Preto his mother smelled funny.
Preto swiped one of his wings at Flangelo’s head; Flangelo ducked under it, but Preto lashed out with his tail and yanked Flangelo off his feet.
Kender rushed to attack Preto, but Krissantha blocked him.
“I warned you before,” she said. She swiftly darted to his side and grabbed his armored leg while activating her hydrogen bond-formula. The chitin that made up Kender’s exoskeleton started to dissolve, exposing his flesh-and-blood leg underneath. His human leg was much shorter, so Kender had to balance on his still-armored leg to keep from falling.
Kender swung an armored fist at her, but Krissantha was too quick. She ducked under the attack and tapped his arm. That part of his shell began to crumble, too. He had minutes—at most—before his armor was gone. Then she would start in on his body.
Cassaro spat a cloud of spores at Krissantha, but her formula made them disintegrate upon touching her. Aleadra nodded silently, still just watching.
Owen used velocity to launch numerous metal rods at Krissantha and Preto, but Sirabetta used her air pressure formula to knock the missiles off into the woods. Then Owen used his power to send Sirabetta zooming toward the nearest thick tree, which brought a frown to Aleadra’s face.
There was no need for her to take action—Sirabetta had a counter for Owen’s attack. She read a blue tattoo and grunted from the sudden stop as the formula, based on balancing energies of motion, opposed Owen’s.
“Did you forget that I can resist your silly formula?” she shouted while hovering.
Owen smirked and used velocity to launch four rusted toasters at her. “No, but did you forget that you can use only one tattoo at a time?”
Bobbing in mid-air, Sirabetta fired a quartet of glowing star-balls in succession, destroying the flying appliances one-by-one.
Owen’s jaw dropped. “You used two tattoos at once!” he moaned.
“That’s right,” Sirabetta said. “I got an upgrade when I had my tattoos replaced.”
Owen didn’t respond, he just disappeared from sight.
Aleadra wrinkled her nose. “Someone’s been learning octopus-camouflage. That won’t do at all.” She wiggled her fingers, and Owen suddenly became partially visible. He looked down and gulped; stripes of visibility ran up and down his body, making him all too easy to spot.
Sirabetta read another tattoo, generating a beach ball-size globe of multicolored light in front of Owen. He used his velocity control to fling it into the woods, but the damage was done; the boy blinked furiously, his vision surely filled with spots.
Alysha, meanwhile, flared her nostrils and jet propelled over to Krissantha, one outstretched hand crackling with electricity. “Hang on, Kender, I’m coming!”
“Another octopus trait . . . jet propulsion through your nose, hmm?” Aleadra said. “How creative. But tell me, do you have any allergies?” She wiggled her fingers.
Alysha’s shocking touch was inches from Krissantha when she suddenly scrunched her face up. “Oh n—” was all she managed to say before she let loose a huge sneeze that sent her flying ten feet backward. “You think that’s going to st—?” And then another sneeze ripped out, shooting her off into another direction.
“There’s little about Biology that I can’t manipulate, child,” Aleadra said.
“Try Physics,” Loisana said, at last recovered enough to fight. She turned the moisture in the air to water and doused Aleadra. Then she froze the water, encasing Aleadra in ever-thickening ice. Loisana then turned to Krissantha, changing the dirt beneath her to its liquid form—like quicksand, but faster-acting. Krissantha sank fast, clutching uselessly at the liquefied ground.
Kender gasped with relief that Krissantha’s attack had stopped; almost his entire exoskeleton had been stripped away. He’d need time to rest before he could grow another one, but there seemed little chance of that.
Preto turned at the sound of Krissantha’s and Aleadra’s screams, giving Flangelo-emu an opening. The giant bird sprang up and sent a spinning kick to Preto’s midsection, knocking the wind out of the larger being. Flangelo followed up with a hard smack of his beak into Preto’s forehead. The half-man, half-manta staggered back.
Flangelo spun around, ready to finish Preto off with a kick to the head, but Sirabetta was faster. She shot a fiery star-ball at him; though the emu jumped back to avoid getting blown up, the star-ball exploded underneath him and catapulted him backward. Loisana quickly changed water vapor to water around Flangelo, probably dousing him to make sure his feathers weren’t on fire.
While Loisana was distracted, Sirabetta used her heat-generating tattoo to thaw the frozen Aleadra, and Preto pulled Krissantha out of the ultraquicksand. Sirabetta used her air pressure tattoo to cause an explosion between Loisana and Flangelo, knocking both out.
Owen used velocity to smack Krissantha into Preto, distracting Preto and stunning Krissantha.
“Enough of your tricks,” Sirabetta said to Owen. She wavered in midair before she could strike, though. “What’s . . . happening . . . to . . . me . . . ?” she moaned. She felt a crushing weariness wash over her, making her slowly sink to the path.
Aleadra fixed Targa with a look. “Using epinephrine? We can’t have that, can we?” she muttered. She wiggled her fingers, redirecting Targa’s formula onto Owen, who slumped forward with exhaustion. Sirabetta sprang to her feet, her strength restored.
Cassaro spat a cloud of spores at Aleadra, but with a slash of her hand she deflected them onto Targa. Targa shrieked and started smacking at the tiny fungi now clinging to her while Cassaro’s jaw dropped in surprise.
Preto used one of his fin-wings to slam Cassaro to the dirt, unconscious, then turned and did the same to the unar mored Kender.
“Who’s left?” Sirabetta asked with glee. This was more fun than she’d hoped.
Owen struggled to stay awake, but his heart rate kept slowing until he finally sank to the dirt with a whimper and passed out.
Alysha, out of sight among the trees, let out another sneeze and a pained groan as she crashed through some bushes. Aleadra wiggled her fingers, and Alysha’s next sneeze was huge, smacking her into a massive tree trunk. She flopped to the ground, out cold.
“Then there was one,” Sirabetta said, pointing to Targa. “Battle’s over, sweetie.”
Targa was frantically tearing at Cassaro’s mini mushrooms. She looked up at the enemies opposing her and backed away, her big blue eyes growing larger with fear.
Preto moved in from one direction and Krissantha came from another. But Preto wailed as he was suddenly jerked into the air by an unseen force. Krissantha shrieked as she was dragged forward, her feet leaving grooves in the dirt. Aleadra wrinkled her nose and started to look around before she too was grabbed by something invisible.
Sirabetta had time to open her mouth in protest before she felt crushing pressure wrapped around her body like a giant snake. She knew who it must be—Bloom, ambushing her with some strange gravity attack. She managed to activate the formula that gave her power over kinetic and potential energy—the same one that let her resist Owen’s velocity—and used it to break free of the boy’s grip.
Aleadra strained to pull that unseeable something away from her neck. “It’s like an octopus, but different,” she gasped. “I can barely res
ist it. Help me, Sara Beth!”
The unseen force smashed Preto into a tree, and he collapsed, unconscious. It also slammed Krissantha face-first into the dirt, leaving her crumpled in a heap.
Aleadra tried to speak, but she could only manage strangling sounds; her clothes rumpled, as if something—or several somethings—were constricting around her. With Krissantha and Preto out of the way, perhaps the attack on her grew stronger—it was clearly getting past her defenses.
Sirabetta floated down to Targa. “Are you helping Bloom do this?” She turned to stare at Aleadra’s suffering. “Leave her alone!” Sirabetta shouted, using air pressure to knock Targa out.
If anything, the assault on Aleadra became fiercer—she was lifted into the air, where she twisted and writhed.
“No,” a cold, angry young voice said. “She’s hurt enough people today.” Branches snapped and cracked as coils of gravity made room for Simon Bloom to leap up from the heart of the forest. He landed in the center of the path, probably using his gravity powers to slam into and shake the ground as if a giant had struck it. His clothes were torn and his face scratched, but Simon Bloom stood straight with clear confidence.
“How dramatic,” Sirabetta sneered. “Now release her and face me, Bloom.”
Aleadra wriggled helplessly above as Simon and Sirabetta circled each other.
“So you can gang up on me?” Simon said. “I don’t think so.”
Sirabetta shifted from hateful glare at Simon to worried look at Aleadra. “Put her down!” she yelled, her voice cracking with concern.
“Sure—as soon as we can settle this one-on-one.”
Sirabetta was filled with horror as Aleadra stopped struggling and slumped forward. With a flick of his eyes, Simon flung her to the ground, hard . . . and she did not move. “Mother!” Sirabetta screamed, running to her.
“Mother?” Simon said, his fierce expression slipping. “Aleadra is your mother?”
The Octopus Effect Page 22
