“I should’ve listened when she said something was after her. But she’s very dramatic. I thought she was acting out to prove me wrong.”
“I know, Donna. Tahmi does these things all the time.”
“Remember the rat poison?”
“And what about my shoes? She hung all my work shoes like laundry in the back yard.”
Donna laughed.
Peg and the officers brushed past them. Men lugged heavy pieces of equipment on dollies and the CSI unit was nearly finished preparing their forensic gear.
“The police will find them,” Charles reassured her. “And the next time Tahmi says something odd we won’t dismiss it—no matter what.”
Donna hugged him tight. “Where do you think she is right now, Charles?”
TAHMI AND JERRY
Hundreds of enormous black bugs clanked their feet on the limestone walls. They scurried across the cave closing in on Tahmi and Jerry.
“Run!” Jerry shouted, dragging her around a large rock. They ran, slipping on the wet ground. Puddles of water dripped all around them.
“Go in there.” Tahmi pointed ahead at a narrow path. “Maybe it leads outside.”
“What if it’s a dead end?”
“Well, it’s a 50/50 shot, and better than our odds out here!”
Jerry ducked, pushing Tahmi in first. “Move it, move it!”
“I can’t go any faster.”
“Well, you better learn; I hear ‘em, they’re following us.”
Tahmi’s stomach hurt. Tiny knives stabbed her from inside. What was it? Each time she grew afraid, the pain worsened.
“Tahmi, please.” Jerry’s voice shook. “They’re right behind us!”
They screamed, smacking into a wall of rock. Jagged pieces of diamonds scratched their faces and hands. “I can’t see.”
Jerry scrambled about, rubbing his hands furiously on all the walls. There had to be an opening somewhere.
Clanking feet echoed in their ears. Jerry and Tahmi leaned their backs against the wall. It was pitch black and they couldn’t see anything except hundreds of glowing green eyes.
“Something’s on my foot!” Tahmi screamed, tears poured down her cheeks. “What’s happening? Jerry!”
Jerry tried to scream but couldn’t. Feelers tapped all around his torso, bugs crawled all around. He saw their eyes on the ground, the walls and even above his head. They made a hissing noise.
“Jerry!” Tahmi’s body was covered in bugs. She jerked about under them, struggling to break free. Tiny pinchers nipped at her skin, some tugged on her hair. Were they going to eat her?
Jerry couldn’t look. At least five one and two-foot bugs jumped, collapsing onto him.
ANDY AND TERI
Andy trembled, still leaning against the cave wall. If he could just get to the opening, then he could escape the carnivorous bugs. There weren’t just enormous roaches. There were spiders, stick bugs, wasps, beetles and a scorpion.
The scorpion stood inches from Teri. She tried to straighten out her hands. It was pointless. She was still too weak. Never had she suffered such torture, and now ugly bugs, too? Teri hated ugly things and these bugs were nothing like loonettes or loonypillars or loonders. Their green glowing eyes reminded her of an evil she’d seen only once as a little girl.
These creatures were evil.
“Get away from us!” Andy screamed, “Don’t eat us!”
The wasps buzzed, flapping their wings. The roaches extended their feelers.
Inches from them, Teri spotted the fire. She leaned down, ignoring the pain and grabbed the burning branch.
She waved it in front of the bugs. “Let us pass.”
The fire was out, but the branch still scalded her hand. “Andy walk, we need to get out of here.”
They backed out slowly with the bugs surrounding them more and more.
Trusty neighed, stamping his hooves into the mud outside.
Bugs slowly moved aside, letting them exit the cave.
Andy and Teri stumbled backwards, landing in the mud.
They were outside!
Bugs lined the entrance of the cave as if they were a military unit.
Trusty and Sandy stood over them. “Where’s Tahmi?” Teri said. “Is she safe?”
“Jerry and Tahmi aren’t out here.”
“What are we going to do?” Andy cried, “We can’t leave them in there!”
“If they’re even still alive,” Teri said, scrambling to her feet. She rubbed her skin with mud. “I need to get this oil off me so I can kill these creatures.”
Sandy flapped her translucent wings, challenging the bugs. “What happened to you?” She reared up. “When did you become so heartless?”
The wasps disappeared inside.
“Those are just kids,” Trusty neighed, “babies.”
The roaches wouldn’t budge, holding their ground.
“As soon as I recuperate,” Teri snapped. “I’m going to kill you.”
The bugs clanked their feet like silver handles. The sound was monstrous.
“Why are they barricading the cave?” Andy asked.
“Because they’re guarding their water and food supply,” Trusty said.
“Or,” Sandy whinnied, “they’re preparing for an attack.”
They looked into the valley below. Hundreds of war pigs marched forward, grunting and clanking their spears in the mud.
THE REQUEST
Teri paced back and forth, tossing mud all around her. “What am I supposed to do?” She’d wished her whole life to have control of herself. Her biggest fear was loss of control. But now at this very moment she felt powerless and small. Teri pulled on her hair. Grime stuck in her fingernails. She’d lost all control—including what made her special. “I don’t know what to do.”
She knelt in the mud with her face in her hands.
Andy stepped closer, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Teri,” he whispered, “it’s okay.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes. No, it wasn’t. “Foolish boy.” Her voice deep. “I’m responsible for Tahmi’s wellbeing.”
“Nobody told you to protect her,” Andy said. “You chose to come. Your mother—the Queen ordered you to stay away. I heard you tell Sandy.”
Teri’s eyes darkened. She could feel some of her power flow through her fingers again. “That’s because you were eavesdropping.”
“And I think it’s honorable that you worry about her. She’s your sister.”
“Andy.” Her voice was solemn. “Thank you.”
He nodded.
Teri stood, her arms vibrating with fury. Andy was smarter than she thought. When she lost her temper the powers she possessed always amplified. He’d seen it numerous times—watched her try to control her emotions over and over. But, this time, he knew what buttons to press to activate her—at least enough to scare the war pigs some.
The black bugs grew louder behind her, scurrying about, some inching out of the cave’s entrance. Sandy kicked her back legs at them, racing behind Trusty. He dug his hooves into the mud, snorting.
“I can scare them away!” Teri shouted, glancing at the bugs. Two beady eyes bore through her flesh. “If you show me Tahmi—alive—then I’ll scare them away. You have to agree to give her back unharmed.”
The roach scurried up the wall and onto the cave’s ceiling. It disappeared into the darkness. The other bugs hissed loudly, pushing out, marching around them.
***
Tahmi woke.
She sat against the wall, barricaded inside the cave. Her skin and clothes were clean. There wasn’t a speck of oil left on her body! She felt her hair and giggled. “I had the most horrible nightmare,” she said.
Her voice echoed in the dark.
“Jerry?”
It was black as pitch and the only noise she could decipher was tiny drips splattering onto the limestone.
Splat.
Splat, splat.
“Jerry, are you there?”
Drip.
Drip, drip, drip.
Green eyes blinked inches away.
Tahmi screamed, pressing herself against stone.
Splat. Splat.
More eyes gathered, closing in.
“What do you want!?”
Fire lit the room, illuminating at least ten black roaches and the scorpion who towered over her with its tail pointed.
Where was Jerry?
Tahmi searched around, finally stopping on a human body across the room. It was Jerry! He was scrunched up. Was he dead?
“What’d you do to him?”
The scorpion’s tail vibrated and his claws snapped like scissors.
“Ot’tai stop that! The princess thinks you’re threatening her.”
Tahmi looked up at the ceiling. A loonette sat above her, with reddish orange eyes and a glowing bottom. She wasn’t ugly like the others, and she even looked familiar. Was she the same loonette that she saw in the reeds of the Gigantic flowers two days before?
“I’ve seen you,” Tahmi said. “In the gi-gi-gantic flower garden.”
“Yes.” The loonette fluttered her wings, landing on the scorpion’s head. “This is Ot’tai. He’s the black resistance leader and the only one of his kind that’s left.”
“And who are you?” Tahmi’s eyes squinted, “And what about Jerry? Is he okay?”
“I’m Anala, one made of fire, and yes, Jerry is fine. He’s sleeping. We gave him a tranquilizer.”
“What’d you do that for?” Tahmi exclaimed, “What’s going on? Why’d you capture me? Are you going to kill me? Where are my friends and my sister?”
“Calm down, please, princess.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Ot’tai asked the others to clean you.”
“Clean me?”
“The oil, they worked vigorously making sure you were clean.”
Tahmi blinked.
“Princess Teri and the others ran from us and threatened to burn some of the subjects so they’re outside.”
“So you guys aren’t going to eat us?”
Anala the loonette jumped. “Goodness, no! That’s a horrific thought!”
“What do you want, then?”
“Ot’tai asked me to come speak to you on his behalf. Before Mary destroyed what is now called the Muddy Palace Realm, Gadaenites lived in the areas now covered in mud. But, Gadaenites hate ugly things and so they escaped, hiding in the underground caves that belong to the ‘black ones’.”
“You mean the bugs.”
“That’s a very derogatory term,” the loonette snapped, her eyes narrowing.
“Okay, sorry.” Tahmi recoiled as the scorpion, Ot’tai, hissed.
“I was hoping you’d be different.” Anala frowned. “The ‘black ones’ needed your help.” Her big eyes closed. “But I don’t think that you’re the one.”
“The one?”
“The “king of all kings” said that the youngest princess would rule over all five worlds and I thought that was you.” Anala hopped off Ot’tai’s back.
“I’m just a girl.” Tahmi’s eyes blurred. “And I’m sorry I was disrespectful. This place is not like my home. I don’t understand it.”
Anala stopped. “You’re just a child, I know.”
“Can you please at least finish your story about these Gadaenite things?”
Anala hissed, almost as if she were laughing. “Things, I love it! They’d die if they heard you call them that!”
“Sorry.”
“We don’t particularly like them.”
“Why not?”
“The Gadaenites didn’t want to share the caves with the ‘black ones’ and so they were forced out or killed. This is the only cave that the black ones still have. As you see, there isn’t enough food for everyone anymore and the war pigs are starving too. They’ve begun pillaging whatever’s left and even—”
Anala looked away.
“Even what?”
Tahmi’s heart pumped. They were eating them. “That’s disgusting!”
“The black ones are scared and don’t want to fight. They’re starving and cannot eat the same foods as I for I am another type of ‘one’ from a different realm.”
“So, you need food and safety, right?”
“Yes, and also, we need a favor from you.”
“What’s that?”
“Ask Princess Teri to ward off the war pigs. They’re approaching fast.”
“Okay.”
“I don’t believe in lying.” Anala sighed. “Teri says if we do not show you to her right now unharmed then she will not help us. It is her bargaining tool.”
“Well, then, let’s go.” Tahmi stood. Ot’tai hissed, inching closer. “I’ll walk, thank you.”
Tahmi and the bugs crawled out of the room, leaving Jerry passed out on the ground. He snored loudly and Tahmi grinned.
She followed the bugs in the faint light. Their green glowing eyes led the way. They sounded like an army marching into battle.
Clank, Clank.
Clank, Clank, Clank.
Outside, Tahmi could see Andy poking Teri. She looked flustered. Why was Andy doing that?
“Teri!”
THE DEAL
The freckled boy kept antagonizing, to keep her annoyed.
Teri could’ve sworn she heard something.
“Andy, stop.” She pushed him away making him fall into the mud. “Do you hear that?”
“Teri!”
“It’s Tahmi!” Andy pointed. Tears brimmed in his eyes. “She’s alive!”
Teri’s black hair fluttered. If her sister was alive then that meant she had the bugs on her side. She stretched her hands out and raised them up above her waist.
Her vision still blurred and her power barely available, Teri sucked in a large breath. “GO AWAY!”
She screamed like a raven.
A gust of wind sucked half the bugs and Tahmi out of the cave. Andy rolled sideways and the horses lowered their heads to avoid its intensity.
Teri slowly formed a small twister that quickly filled itself with mud and war pigs.
The war pigs’ squeals went off in their ears like sirens. The bugs scurried inside, hissing in pain. Tahmi held her pounding temples crippled in the mud.
The wind grew stronger and picked up another set of war pigs. Teri forced herself to concentrate. The war pigs were deafening and she grew weaker by the second.
“Retreat!”
“Retreat!”
Many raced off into the barren trees. Teri’s arms shook, losing their power. She lowered her hands and dropped to her knees.
The wind tunnel evaporated, and the war pigs fell to their deaths hitting the muddy landscape like iron balls.
“Teri!” Tahmi shouted. “Bring everyone into the cave.”
Andy glanced at Teri. “Think it’s a trap?”
“No,” she sighed. “Tahmi would never do that.”
Andy nodded. “Yeah, that’s true.”
“Trusty, Sandy, follow us.”
***
Tahmi watched her sister and friends trudge back into the cave. She itched with nervousness. What if there wasn’t a solution to the bugs’ or “the ones” problem? Would they kill them?
Ot’tai clapped his claws and shook his tail at Teri. She stepped back, raising her arms. “It’s a trap!”
“No, it’s not.” Tahmi laughed. “That how Ot’tai says ‘welcome’ or at least I think that’s what it means.”
“So now you speak bug?” Teri snapped.
Tahmi rolled her eyes. “Don’t call them bugs it’s not proper.”
The raven-like princess narrowed her eyes at the scorpion leader. “What should I call you then?”
He hissed.
Teri smacked herself in the forehead. “Hiss; figures.”
“No.” Tahmi laughed. “They’re called the ‘black ones’.”
“What did you bring us back in here for?”
“We need to help the black ones.”
&n
bsp; Teri gagged. Andy pounded his fist into her back. She pushed him away.
“Teri, they’re running out of food and the Gadaenites kicked them out of their home when Mary destroyed the ‘above’.”
“The above?”
“Well, this place with all the mud—what do you call it again?”
“The Muddy Palace Realm.”
“Right, this was the Gadaenites’ home but it was too ugly or something so they took the ‘ones’ caves as their own.”
“What do they want?”
Tahmi sighed. “Are you that thick? They want food and protection from the war pigs. Those nasty creatures steal their food and now that food is scarce they are,” she leaned in close to Teri’s face, “eating them.”
Teri jumped back, scrambling for the exit. “Get out of the cave!”
Trusty neighed searching around. “Where’s Jerry?”
“He’s fine!” Tahmi calmed them. “What’s with you Teri?”
“They eat war pigs and here you want us to help them?”
Tahmi smiled.
“What’s so funny?” Teri placed her hands on her hips, “you laugh too much.”
“They don’t eat war pigs. I thought you were intelligent? How come you’re having a hard time following me?”
Anala fluttered down from the ceiling. She landed in between the princesses. “She’s not herself with the oil all over her. The black ones will clean them—if they allow it.”
“What’s a loonette doing over here?” Teri asked.
Anala did not acknowledge the princess.
“Let the ‘ones’ crawl all over you and get you cleaned up so that you can become,” Tahmi rolled her eyes, “‘special’ again.”
Andy froze. “I’m not letting a bunch of—”
“Andy.” Tahmi pointed. “Do it or you’ll end up sick.”
Back home on Earth, his biggest fear was bugs. When he and Tahmi were five they got this awful cold and were given Rhondec; a children’s cough suppressant. Only one in a million suffer hallucinations. And he just so happened to be that one in a million.
Colorful bugs crawled up his arms and legs biting him with their feelers. The last thing he wanted to do was let bugs on him again.
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