Piper’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.
“I mean, I’m sure you’ve already thought about all this. It’s not like we’re the only ones.” Kimber laughed like she was being silly. “What’s on your list?”
“My list?”
“Well, what are you good at?” Kimber waited.
A day ago the first word out of Piper’s mouth would have been “flying,” but now she didn’t know if that was true. If she didn’t have flying, what did she have?
“Well, before,” Piper said slowly, “I had thought about opening a flying school.”
“So you want to be a teacher.” Kimber clapped her hands. “Great idea! Of course, you’ll have to go to teachers college and get your bachelor’s of education to do that. They’ve got a lot of good programs, but I hear they’re competitive to get into, so you’d better keep your grades up. Plus, if you specialize in something like flying, you’d probably have to get your master’s, too.”
“My master’s?”
“Of course. You can’t just go out and start a school without having the proper degrees.”
“Oh.” Having a flying school suddenly seemed like a difficult proposition, even if she was able to fly again. How had she not known it wasn’t as simple as putting up signs and getting students? Piper looked down at the books. “I didn’t know.”
“What? You thought you were just going to fly around saving the planet, and that would put food on the table?” Kimber snorted.
“Hardly.” Smitty laughed with her. “It’s not like we’re paid tips.”
“Can you imagine? It was our pleasure saving you from this burning building and now give us some cash?” Kimber rolled her eyes. “Like that’s going to happen. The world doesn’t work that way.”
“But…” Piper felt confused and heavy, and her lower back started to ache. “I thought we were helping out and doing good.”
“Sure we are.”
“Of course.”
“But that’s not how the grown-up world works, Piper. And sooner or later we’re all going to have to grow up.” Although Kimber’s words were blunt and to the point, as Kimber was herself, they were not unkind. She was trying to be helpful.
It wasn’t that Piper didn’t appreciate her advice; it was just one more thing that she had to figure out, and her plate was already crowded with things she didn’t know what to do with. The whole situation just made her feel tired.
“I think I’ll get some rest,” Piper said.
“Good idea! We won’t get there for another couple of hours. Plenty of time to fit in several catnaps.”
Kimber and Smitty returned to their studying, and Piper dragged herself up from the table and back to the too-soft couch. Gathering up a blanket, she collapsed beneath it and worried about not being able to fly, state requirements for opening up a flying school, entrance examinations for teachers college, and the fact that she’d been bitten by a bug the size of a small boulder, in no particular order.
CHAPTER
8
“The bugs are approximately twenty feet below the surface and coming up fast,” Smitty reported. “There’s a pod of ten—make that twelve. ETA at the surface: three minutes from now.”
“Give me exact coordinates.” Conrad was busy hacking into the orbiting satellite using a handheld device.
“Ten feet northwest of our current position.”
Their current position was a swamp. All eleven of them were clustered together on a small mound in the middle of what felt like a witch’s brew. The hot day had turned to a cold, inky night, and the water let off a thick, soupy steam. This wasn’t a problem for Smitty with his X-ray vision, but the rest of them were hard-pressed to see more than a few feet in any direction.
Piper was standing closest to the water, and her feet were sopping wet. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had wet shoes or stood in a dirty swamp—that’s what hovering was for. On any other mission she’d be scouting the area from above at that very moment, providing important information to the rest of the team. From where she stood now she couldn’t see a darn thing.
A ripple in the swamp caught Piper’s attention, and she leaned down for a closer look. It appeared that a group of fish was heading toward her. The size of the ripple in the water grew larger. Could it be a turtle? Piper bent over.
Suddenly the swamp erupted, and an alligator the size of a large log jettisoned up, its mouth wide, teeth shining. Its jaws snapped around Piper’s middle. Before she even knew what was going on, even before she could scream, the alligator pulled her down into the water and away.
Back on the mound the nine other kids witnessed the attack with unflappable calm. “I’m seeing about fifteen other alligators in the area,” Smitty remarked. “There’s a whack of snakes around here too.”
“We seriously don’t have time for this,” Conrad sighed. “Daisy, can you have a word with our alligator friend?”
Daisy dove into the water.
“As for the rest of you—Smitty, keep your eye on the prize. Violet, I want you down to your smallest. Lily, get into position so that you’re able to maneuver Violet. Ahmed and Nalen, would you please take care of this fog and break up the cloud cover so that we can have some decent visibility?”
Once again, the water next to the mound erupted as a thrashing alligator was ejected, landing with a wet thunk in front of the group. Piper was still fixed in its jaws, gasping for air. Moments later, Daisy trudged out of the muddy swamp.
While Piper coughed and spluttered, Daisy stomped one thick foot onto the alligator’s back, pinning it. With little effort, she next pried open its jaws, and Piper was dumped on the ground, bleeding like a stuck pig.
In short order, Jasper healed Piper, and Daisy shot-put the snappy alligator back into the swamp. Momentarily dazed, Piper remained in the wet mud, gathering herself. She got to her feet in a jerky, embarrassed way and brushed away the mud.
“It could have happened to anyone,” she said weakly.
Conrad inhaled a pained, thoughtful tug of dirty swamp air through his nostrils. He wasn’t about to debate Piper on that point at this time. “Move out,” he said, and the kids dispatched quickly to their positions. To Piper he said, “Stay close to me. That’s an order.”
Sparks of fury bubbled and popped inside Piper’s chest. She wasn’t going to take orders from Conrad. They were a team; he wasn’t her boss!
“Here they come,” Smitty said over the comm. (Each of the children had a thin silver device in their ear that linked them for easy communication.)
Sure enough, large bomb-like bubbles rocketed out of the swamp, followed quickly by the appearance of the first bug thrashing up to the surface. The sight of it instinctively made Piper’s breath catch in her throat, and she took a step back.
Conrad said, “We’ve got a visual. Lily, that’s a ‘go’ for Violet.”
The bug was buzzing angrily in the water, pulling itself onto a stump. Once it had a foothold, it shook itself with force and stretched out its wings, roaring. There was something about the way the bug was moving that suddenly struck Piper. It was moving the way she felt inside, like it was uncomfortable to have to sit still in its own skin—like she wished she could throw her head back and roar up to the heavens her outrage and anger.
“Does it look like it’s—” Piper whispered to Conrad. “Like it’s in pain?”
“Shhh. I need to focus, Piper.” Conrad waved Piper back and away. “Not so fast, Lily. Bring her in lower and slower. Violet, get ready to grab tissue and hair samples, but blood would be ideal. The more the better.”
A second bug was now erupting from the water. This one was even closer to their position. Piper leaned in and watched carefully. The bug found footing between two rocks. It flapped its wings.
Piper moved her arms, imitating the flap.
Using its two front legs, the bug clawed at its chest in thrashing, angry movements.
Piper did the same, and it felt good to her. It felt l
ike relief.
The bug spread its wings, and with a wicked thrust, it pulled its bulky weight up, up, up.
Piper raised her arms, willing herself up, up, up. She could not follow, but she felt compelled upward. Her whole body felt the burning need to ascend.
As the second bug lifted off, another bug emerged behind them, closer still. When the water settled around it, Piper could see that this bug was smaller, much smaller, than the others. This bug was hardly bigger than a beach ball, and it latched on to a floating log with difficulty. Then came the roar and the flapping of its wings.
As it prepared to ascend, Piper saw a telltale ripple in the water coming right at the log the little bug floated on.
“Go, go,” she urged the bug. “Fly away.”
The bug flapped its wings, but it wasn’t strong, not like the last one. It lifted off the log and maintained a low altitude for a short burst before falling back down.
The ripple was moving quickly.
“Hurry! Hurry!”
The baby bug flapped its wings as hard as it might. The ripple was on it.
Piper yelled, “Fly away!”
The bug reached up.
The alligator erupted from the water, its mouth wide.
A thin, high squeal came out of the bug when the jaws of the alligator snapped shut. The sound pierced Piper’s eardrums like a knife.
The bug fought against the alligator, and the alligator fought back. Suddenly the red belly of the bug ignited.
Piper fell to her knees.
At once Conrad was beside her, and she could see his mouth moving but wasn’t able to hear what he was saying. All she could hear was a whispering chirp. She could not understand its meaning, but it felt like it was not only outside her but inside her, and it felled her with a sharp, stabbing pain.
The alligator was dragging the bug down. The bug had freed a wing and was flapping it. The belly of the bug was fire-engine red, about to blow.
Conrad reached out to Piper, touching her stomach. Piper looked down and saw that she was glowing red too. Out of her belly and back came the same glow as the bug’s.
Conrad’s lips moved urgently now.
Piper turned away from him and back to the bug as the alligator dragged it down one last time. It did not come back to the surface. The red light flickered and then went dim.
Piper fell to the ground.
* * *
Later, on the soft couch of the transport, Piper regained consciousness. Everyone was gathered around her, eyes serious and watching.
Piper felt her stomach. “What happened?”
“That’s what we want to know.” Conrad’s arms were crossed over his chest.
“It’s like you were on fire,” Jasper said softly. “Like you were burning up from the inside.”
Piper wrapped her arms around the place where embers of heat still smoldered. “I—I didn’t do anything. It just happened to me. I couldn’t control it.”
Ahmed let out a low whistle, and Nalen shook his head. Worried glances were exchanged right and left.
“It looked like there was a connection between you and the bug,” Conrad pointed out. “Like it was communicating with you. You were glowing at the same time and in the same rhythm.”
Piper thought about the strange chirping sound she had heard in her head and the other feelings that she had begun to feel since she’d been bitten.
“There is scientific evidence that some animals and insects communicate using sonic frequencies we can’t access,” Conrad continued. “They have a hive mentality and act as a collective.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that the bugs are communicating with you, and during the alligator attack you reacted in the same way they did. You lost control.”
“That can’t be true.” Piper shook her head and looked to Kimber, who could usually be counted on to back her up. The look on Kimber’s face told Piper she wasn’t going to get the support she was looking for. “I am not being controlled by the bugs!” Piper said.
“I’m not saying they are controlling you,” Conrad corrected. “I’m pointing out the fact that they are communicating with you and that you are responding to the communications that they are sending.”
“But I’m fine. I am.” Piper got to her feet. “It won’t happen again. It was just a fluke.”
Her remark was met with silence.
“Really,” Piper insisted. “I’m fine.”
CHAPTER
9
Joe McCloud used the force of his weight to push his shovel into the soil, scooping out a helping and then going back for more. He did this over and over again. Joe was a sycamore tree of a man: lean and silent, weathered and strong. He liked the steadiness of farmwork and the feeling he had at the end of the day when he returned his weary body to the kitchen and Betty placed a hearty plate of good food in front of him. His life was uncomplicated and honest, like his nature. But more than anything, Joe McCloud loved his child.
It pained him to see Piper now, perched like a baby bird on a nearby rock, watching him work. After the events of the last week, she was a shadow of her normally buoyant self.
“Pa, can I tell you something?”
Joe shoveled to a steady rhythm, waiting on Piper’s words.
“Nothing’s working.” Piper’s chest heaved up and down several times before she could manage to get a handle on herself again.
“I’ve tried everything. I truly have. I jumped off anything I could find; then I stayed real still and thought about the sky. I tried to run into flying too.” She shook her head sadly, thinking about how that didn’t work, either. “Everyone’s doing everything they can to help me. Daisy used all her strength to throw me way up in the air. Lily telekinetically dangled me under the clouds to see if that would start it up again. Conrad made some wings, then got Ahmed and Nalen to start a windstorm, and they flew me like a kite. Smitty cooked up a catapult and shot me into the air. Kimber even tried shock therapy. That hurt.
“But none of it worked.” Piper let out a jagged sigh. “I’ve got to face the fact that I might never fly again.”
Joe looked up sharply, and Piper put up her hand. “I know what you’re gonna say: if I give it time, it might come back. Conrad says the same thing. You know I’m not someone who gives up, and I’m not giving up now, either.” Piper’s hand felt the place in her stomach that had a knowing. “But I don’t feel like I used to. It feels like the sky isn’t in me anymore.”
Joe shoveled thoughtfully, sadly. Piper wound her arms around herself, hugging her midsection.
“And the worst part of it is that I think it’s my fault.”
Joe stopped working.
Piper’s face was all storm clouds. “I’m not saying that I wanted that bug to bite me or that I don’t want to fly. No, it’s not that at all. But things are different now. Everything is changing. And I’m getting to be different too, so that sometimes I hardly know who I am. Take last Sunday, when the preacher announced the spring dance. Before, I would have been real excited about getting ice cream or making friends, but when I heard about it, all I could think of was that I didn’t have a nice dress to wear and that I wanted to look pretty. And then I got to worrying about the fact that maybe no one would invite me to the dance. You see, Jasper asked Lily to go with him, then Smitty asked Kimber, but no one asked me. I thought Con—Well, I thought maybe someone would ask me to go. But he didn’t.”
Piper tugged at her hair like she was angry at it, like it was the problem. “I’m twelve years old. I’m going to be thirteen in a few months, and my hair’s always flying around like it’s got a mind of its own. I’m not a child anymore.”
Piper chewed on her lip, considering all the things one has to consider when they are on the verge of being grown-up.
“Lily said that I need to wear my hair down more. She said that I should put on a dress, and then maybe Con—maybe someone would invite me to the dance. But the trouble is, if you’re flying and y
ou leave your hair down, it gets in your face so that you can’t see. Plus, it’s so windy my dress flies up, and I’ve got to hold it down. Then when Max got up to no good and I was flying around, I couldn’t see the way I normally do, so I didn’t spot Jasper until it was too late. Then I was slow flying to get to him because I had to hold my dress down.”
Piper sighed out her regret and frustration and disappointment.
“Sure, I saved Jasper, but it was my fault he got into trouble in the first place. If I’d braided my hair back like I normally do and had a good pair of jeans on, we wouldn’t have been where we shouldn’t, and I wouldn’t have gotten bit. And that’s the truth.
“I want to fly fast and be strong, but I want to be invited to the dance, too. And now I can’t fly and I’m not going to the dance and I’ve ruined everything.”
Joe put his shovel down and went to Piper.
“I just don’t know what I’m gonna do if I never get to fly again.” Piper’s voice was thin and hollow. “It makes my whole body ache to think about it. What am I going to do, Pa?”
Joe McCloud put his arms around his broken bird and held her close. Piper sighed and leaned into him.
CHAPTER
10
At some point in the middle of the night, as often happened, there was an emergency. For all the years the kids had been together, it always went down the same way: a specially designed monitoring system was triggered by a disaster or calamity; the warning system woke Conrad; Conrad woke the others.
That night, nobody woke Piper. When she came down to breakfast, she found Fido scrounging around the empty kitchen and instantly knew they’d left her behind. Not one of them had thought to wake her. Or worse, they had thought about it and decided not to.
Piper plunked herself down at the kitchen table and sulked. A slumped-over human was a perfect target for a ravenous pet, and Fido flapped his leathery wings until he was on the table in front of Piper’s face. When she didn’t pat him, he gave her a few prickly licks from his purple tongue.
The Girl Who Fell Out of the Sky Page 5
