“Are you Aeryn Lyn Welch, of Summer City, California?”
Her eyes widened.
“Did you lose your father, Morgan, brother, Hunter, and friend, Ian, down here when you fell through an earthquake?”
All she could do now was nod.
“And do you wish to find them again, missy?”
Another nod.
“Then you, miss, are a recruit.”
“But I didn’t volunteer.”
“Very few of us ever volunteer for the circumstances we find ourselves in, but we still have to deal with them. Ryder!” he barked. “Didn’t you orient little Miss Princess?”
“Not yet, sir.”
“Ah. Probably because she wouldn’t be quiet long enough, no doubt.” The sergeant marched back and forth in front of the troops. “Step forward, missy.”
Aeryn was fully terrified now. She tried to move her feet, but they would not move. They felt like they were stuck in cement.
“Now!”
Aeryn felt a gentle push at her back. Ryder was next to her, coaxing her. With hands on her shoulders, he guided her forward to stand next to the sergeant, then gently turned her to face the crowd. She gasped. There before her were thousands of other soldiers and creatures, lined up in perfect rows. The green arrows that had rescued her earlier made up row after row. Their long, angular, legs unfolded; allowing them to stand at their full height. The light went on inside her eyes as recognition finally set in. They had rescued her, too.
“Yes, dear,” the sergeant said. “Praying Mantises. The ‘bugs’ you so easily kill in the world above, but which were truly put here for your own good. Who do you think they pray to?”
Aeryn swallowed hard. Tens of thousands of tiny multi-faceted eyes were on her. “They have special communication abilities, Aeryn. They are the messengers of our world. It is not wise to randomly take a life, unless you know what you are taking. Do you understand?”
She nodded. Tears now running down her face, she kept her jaws clenched tightly to hold in the sobs.
“And over there,” he pointed. “Those are birds.”
“The trees?” she managed to whisper, a slight sob escaping her throat.
“No, but they just look like trees. It’s all part of our Maker’s camouflage. Things aren’t always what they seem. No, Aeryn. Those trees are living, breathing, flying creatures that have hidden and protected you from the enemy.”
“There’s an enemy?”
The sergeant sighed and turned his head. “I knew you were sheltered at home, princess, but I guess I never realized how much. No worries love, that’s my own fault for over-estimating you. Ryder will deal with that. Right now your job is to trust your guard and learn everything you can from him.”
Aeryn shook her head. “I can’t stay here. I have to find my brother.”
The sergeant looked at Ryder, shaking his head. “She’s a stubborn one. Good luck to you, man.”
Ryder said nothing, his hands still gently resting on Aeryn’s shoulders.
“There’s only one way to leave here, princess, and that’s to fly. You can fly, can’t you, missy?”
Aeryn swallowed hard. She stood tall, shoulders back, head high, and looked the sergeant straight in the eye. “Of course I can.”
“Of course you can,” he mocked. “Ten-hut!” he barked. The entire assembly snapped to attention. “Wing men, right and left!”
Two winged mantises appeared from behind and flanked her. “Now!” the sergeant barked.
The creatures lurched forward and grabbed her clothing. Aeryn screamed, but it could not be heard above of the cheers and chants of the soldier assembly below. The creatures flew with her, straight up above the treetops to a platform high in the clouds. There they deposited her and flew away.
Aeryn was alone. All she could see around her were white puffy clouds and the platform beneath her feet. Without warning, the platform disappeared. Aeryn screamed. Falling, hurtling, end-over-end in space, she plummeted toward the ground. Racing faster and faster, the ground moving closer and closer, she hurtled through time.
“HELP ME!”
Two more green arrows shot out of the tree line and grabbed her. One held her right arm, and the other the bottom pant leg of her left side. They flew her back down to the crowd and dumped her in front of Ryder and the sergeant on her butt.
“Ryder!”
“Yes, sir.”
“Orient your charge.” He turned and walked away.
“Yes, sir,” Ryder answered, looking down at Aeryn sprawled on the ground.
She was weeping.
Chapter 32: Cell
Cell [sel] noun
a small room, as in a convent or prison; a small group acting as a unit within a larger organization
Aeryn slid from Ryder’s arms into the bed. “This is your barracks,” he said. “It will be your home as long as you are with us.” Aeryn continued to sob softly, unable to look him in the eye. “Aeryn,” Ryder whispered, “I know it is difficult at first, but you will get stronger.”
“You didn’t even try to help me. Why?” Her pleading eyes bore holes through his armor and into his soul. “You just stood there and let me fall. Why?”
“Because you wouldn’t have accepted it—” He reached down to slide the shoes from her feet, setting them together at the foot of her bed. “I can’t teach you to do something you are convinced you already know how to do. You need to understand what your limits are.”
“Why do I have to have limits?”
“A good soldier knows what he can and can’t do. He surrounds himself with others who complement his own strengths and weaknesses. No one is good at everything. We are not here on earth to be alone, or to be perfect. We all need each other.” He pulled the covers down for her to slide under. “You don’t have to be able to do everything, Aeryn. Just make sure you are around others who can. You will pair their weaknesses with your strengths, as well.”
She rolled toward the wall, refusing to look at him any longer.
“One day you’ll trust me. I just hope it’s not too late. The choice is yours.” The light switch clicked, the door closed, and the room was doused in darkness.
The night dragged on without a wink of sleep. Aeryn’s mind raced.
How did I get here?
Where is my family?
Why won’t Ryder help me?
The more she tried to contemplate the answer to one question, a dozen more bombarded her mind. She was aware of everything around her. Through the tiny window next to her bed, she could see the sentry guards watching over her barrack’s door.
Off in the distance, Aeryn could see an odd sight. Rows and rows of the green arrows lined up in formation. Only this time, it was not a traditional military formation. They were all huddled together in more of a circle than a line. It appeared as though the Praying Mantis-like creatures were communicating somehow. Aeryn climbed up onto her knees to see better.
The largest one was in the middle. The way he was sitting, the sharp jutting angles of his legs and arms, he looked like he was on his knees. Arm appendages were aimed skyward in an odd pointing manner. Surrounding this creature were all of the others, their arms all reaching out and touching the big one in the middle. With each additional touch, the one in the middle seemed to grow bigger and stronger, arms reaching higher and higher. The smaller mantises would move and circle, ensuring that each one had a chance to touch the leader and give him whatever strength or support he could glean from them. The circular motion that danced around outside her dorm window was like a well-oiled, well-practiced machine. There was no pushing or jockeying for position. Each one had a purpose and a time. When their time was up, that mantis would move and let another slide into its place, all the while the leader grew bigger and stronger before her eyes. She stood now, no longer trying to hide behind the wall or the window.
The stars twinkled above, brighter than any she had ever seen at home. Watching them through her window, it seemed as though the
y were circling her. It was hard to tell, but as one would disappear behind the roofline of her building, another would come out from the opposite side. Faster and faster they moved, forcing Aeryn to close her eyes to keep from getting dizzy. When she opened them again, the stars were spinning tightly in the sky like a top, leaving a long silver trail behind them. Spinning tighter and tighter, weaving the trails into a fine silver thread, the star formation now descended to the group of Praying Mantises in the middle of her compound.
The first touch was electrifying. Sparks shot from the tips of the leader’s arms, landing on those surrounding him, causing them to all glow. The leader took on an electric blue color, fiery lightning bolts shooting out to all the others in the group. Held together by the glowing blue arc, they were one unit, one being with whatever was up in the sky.
The sound began very low. Buzzing. Hissing. Spitting and crackling. The sound grew louder and louder as the glow of the creatures increased. As the silver thread danced and swayed with the creatures below, so did their response. Their clacking mandibles could be heard above the increased frenzy in the compound.
They are messengers, Ryder had said. Whomever they were messengers for, it sure seemed like they were communicating with them now. The sound grew and grew, forcing Aeryn to cover her ears, but still daring not to take her eyes from the frenzied dance before her. Eyes wide, ears plugged, totally entranced, when—
SNAP.
The silver line burst into thousands of tiny shards of glass, raining down flaming sparks on the crew below. Each member was frozen in time at the split second the connection broke. With a uniformity only achieved in highly trained troops, hundreds of praying mantis heads all followed their leader and turned to look directly at Aeryn’s tiny window. Thousands of miniscule glistening glass eyes glared at her, then uniformly looked back skyward and nodded their assent. Panic seized Aeryn’s heart like a vise stopping it. When it started again, the beats thundered in her chest, neck, and head. Aeryn could feel the veins popping out on her temples with each throbbing pulse. She broke out in an instant sweat. Sliding down the wall, she dropped back down on her bed, buckled knees and wobbly legs unable to hold her weight.
One final star exploded above, and the world again went pitch black.
The silence was as deafening as the darkness that surrounded her. Aeryn’s ears rang and her mind soared with what she had seen. Explosions. Spinning stars. And those messengers— they were communicating with someone, or something. But who, or what? What was that silver rope-thing she had seen? Over and over again, the scene replayed itself in her mind. All reference to time was gone. The night stretched on and on, with the same movie playing again and again, each time as vivid and frightening as the time before.
Both time and darkness seemed without end, but slowly Aeryn’s mind finally cleared and the world settled back down around her. The spinning spots that had plagued her vision disappeared, and a little at a time, the normal everyday sounds of the world came creeping back into her senses. The one thing that she could not squelch was those eyes— tens of thousands of tiny glass facets, all staring at her. Then they all nodded in unison. She shivered involuntarily, though it was not cold.
The wind whispered ever so slightly through the tree feathers. The wildlife of the forest hooted and scurried around, foraging for food. The guards at the compound again marched in ranks outside the barracks, keeping watch against the night. Inside the safety of her dorm, curled up on her bed, Aeryn sat wide awake, unable to put the day’s events out of her mind. The rhythm of the night was somehow comforting though.
Marching.
Swaying.
Marching.
Clawing.
Scratching.
Clawing?
Aeryn sat up straight. She listened for the sound again.
There it was. Inside the room. She scooted to the edge of the bed and looked down.
More clawing. Was it under the bed?
Scratch, scratch.
Nope.
There—across the room.
Gathering her courage, Aeryn sprang from the bed and landed in the center of the room. She ran to the wall and hit the light switch.
The floor scattered. Tiny creatures shot from view to the hidden areas beneath beds and under dressers. As fast as cockroaches, their tiny legs scratched and clawed against the hardwood flooring for traction. Aeryn was about to scream when she noticed one single creature remained in the center of the floor, staring at her.
Eight tiny legs and two big red eyes glared at her from under a sea shell. The creature sized her up, shell tilting to one side and then the other as it regarded her from the middle of the floor.
“Hi. Umm. Hi.”
Aeryn’s jaw dropped. It took a minute to find her voice again. “You can speak.”
Click, clack, click, clack, click… It clawed its way a few steps closer to her.
“Are you a hermit crab?”
“Yeah, yeah. Crab. Uh huh, crab.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Came to get you out.”
“Me? Out of here? Can you help me find my dad?”
“Yeah, yeah. Take you to your dad.”
Chapter 33: Follower
fol·low·er :[fol-oh-er] noun
a person or thing that follows; a person who follows another in regard to his or her ideas or belief; disciple or adherent; a person who imitates, copies, or takes as a model or ideal
“I can’t see where I’m going.” Aeryn stumbled behind the clicking and clacking of the crabs’ claws against the floor.
“No need to see. Yeah, yeah. Just follow.”
“But, how do I know I’m going the right direction?” Aeryn turned her head all directions but could see nothing. She had felt her way out of her dorm room following the crab sounds. Now she was in a hallway of some kind. Trying to remember which way she had come in with Ryder, Aeryn stopped. “Wait,” she said. “I think I came in from over th- - -”
“Shhhh! Must be quiet. Come this way,” the command came through the darkness. “Yeah, yeah. This way.” The scratching continued moving away from her. Aeryn followed.
She felt her way along the walls to the end of the corridor. There she reached the door — the door to outside. “Do I open it?”
“Shhhh. Must be quiet. Down here. Yeah, yeah. Down here.”
A small ray of moonlight shone in from the base of the door. Kneeling, Aeryn noticed a vent to the outside. Crabs of all shapes and sizes scurried through the opening around her. Putting her face down close to the vent, she whispered to the leader. “This is how I am supposed to get out?”
“Yeah, yeah. Come on.”
“But I can’t fit.”
“Take the cover off, stupid.”
Aeryn couldn’t believe her ears. “I am not stupid!” she blurted.
“Shhhhhhh. Must - Be - Quiet! Want to see your father again?”
“Yes.” She was whispering again.
“Must crawl, like a sp—, ummm, a crab. Yeah, yeah. Crawl like a crab.”
“Ok. Ok. I’ll crawl.” Aeryn grabbed the vent grate with both hands. She tugged one direction and then another. She pushed and pulled. “It’s stuck. I can’t get it off,” she whispered through the vents.
“Leaving.” Clicking began.
“No! Wait.”
“Too dangerous to wait. Girl does not wish to help her father. Must go now.”
“No, please.” Fighting tears, Aeryn called out again. “I’m coming.” With one mighty jerk, she ripped the grate from the wall, leaned way down onto all fours, and squeezed through the hole. Halfway out, she turned and looked at the place where she and Ryder had last stood together.
I can’t help you. His voice resounded in her head. You have to learn your limits. You can’t do everything, Aeryn.
“I’ll show you, Iron Ryder.” She put her head down and finished crawling through the small space.
They were getting—well, not louder exactly. More like—just m
ore. There were more tiny feet hitting the ground around her. The sound was much more intense than before. Still too dark to see, she followed the scratching and clacking. Through the feather trees and into a clearing, more moonlight filtered through the thick brush and on to the ground. Aeryn looked down. The ground scattered. She rubbed her eyes and tried to focus hard. Yes, the ground was moving. Black blobs were scattering from the clearing and lining up at the edge of the tree line. In front of her remained the crabs.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “What are all those things?” She pointed to the rolling black blobs.
“You don’t remember?” the big crab asked.
“Yeah, yeah. She don’t remember.”
Clicking and clacking, with another sound, surrounded her. The shells of the hermit crabs were twitching. Not quite shudders, but like laughter—suppressed laughter.
“He-he-he-he-he-he. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.” The snickers surrounded her. They started low, and rose up behind her as the hairs on her neck stiffened.
“Are you—laughing at me?”
“Yeah. Yeah. Laughing! Stupid girl.” The crab shell shook harder.
“Hey, that’s not nice.” Aeryn turned around to leave, but the black blobs had grown into a black wall behind her. Legs stuck out at odd angles, linking together forming chains between the pillars of blobs. As she stared at them, red glowing eyes opened. Recognition hit a split second too late. She spun back around to the crabs.
“He-he-he-he-he-he-he-he. I think she remembers now.” The crab hunched over, and the shell popped off his back, shooting up into the air. Underneath was a jet-black Spatz.
Shells shot up all around her. At her feet, spider-bats first circled then took flight with the bat-like wings peeling up from each angular leg. They circled her, slapping at her head and arms, just like earlier in the day when she’d first landed here. Aeryn screamed, dropped to the ground and curled into a tight ball. The wall of black spider-bats closed in, creating a living jail cell, bars locked into place with the interlocking legs.
Aeryn wept.
“Don’t think those tears will have any effect on us, missy. You came here of your own free will. It was your choice.” A big spider circled her, still prone on the ground.
The PriZin of Zin Page 17
