Hatch

by Kenneth Oppel

  —Esta!

  He had to warn her, to warn all of them.

  —Esta!

  Nothing. He couldn’t find a flicker of her light in his mind. Not Petra’s either, or Anaya’s.

  He heard the door open and footsteps. It sounded like two people.

  “You’re awake.”

  Ritter. Just hearing his voice filled Seth with rage. He tried to breathe, to calm himself. He didn’t want to lash out with that sound again. The power of it terrified him. He was relieved he couldn’t see that tempting string of vibrating light. Where was it?

  “It’s quite an exquisite weapon you have,” Ritter said from the foot of his bed. “You must be wondering why you can’t use it now.”

  “Why am I blindfolded?”

  “The hood has a microfiber that blocks radio waves. Which means you can’t use your telepathy. Or that sonic weapon. I’m assuming you’ve probably already tried to strike me by now.”

  “No,” Seth said, but he could tell by Ritter’s chuckle that he didn’t believe him.

  There was a strange emptiness in his head. Whatever that microfiber was, it blocked him totally.

  “Who else can do this?” Ritter asked.

  “No one.”

  “Ah, well. We’ll find out soon enough.”

  —Esta, he called out in vain. Petra! Anaya!

  He heard someone else sit down beside him. Metal things clinked on a tray.

  “What’s going on?” he demanded as a blood pressure cuff tightened around his arm. The cold circle of a stethoscope touched the inside of his elbow.

  “No need to be alarmed—this is only a pre-op physical,” Ritter said.

  Seth felt a prick, then something being quickly taped against the top of his hand.

  “Hey!”

  “We’re just setting you up for an IV,” Ritter informed him. “For the procedure.”

  “Don’t take off my feathers!” The words surged out of him.

  “Don’t worry,” said Ritter. “It’s not your feathers I’m going to remove.”

  Chapter Eleven

  PETRA’S STOMACH ACHED AS she stared at the cafeteria doors, waiting.

  The entire day she’d been worrying about Seth, and now it was almost dinner and Anaya and the others weren’t back either. What was Ritter doing with them?

  —Anaya! Charles!

  She even tried Darren. Wherever they were, they were still out of range. She was the only person in their little group who was here right now. It made her very uneasy. Had Ritter singled her out because she’d been useful to him and passed on information? Was she being rewarded? And if she was, did that mean Anaya and the others were being punished?

  She tried to banish that possibility from her mind. Whatever the reason, she hated being separated from her friends. She felt desperately lonely. Especially since she knew Anaya was pissed at her for talking to Ritter and Paul. If she lost Anaya as a friend, she didn’t know how she’d survive down here.

  And what about Seth?

  Upstairs, awaiting a procedure, Paul had said. She hoped it was just removing feathers—even though she knew how hard Seth would fight to stop them. But the way Paul said procedure made it sound like something so much worse.

  Her stomach cramped again. She wanted to move, to do something. The thought of them hurting Seth made her furious. Wasn’t Paul going to help him? He’d said he’d help them all escape, but how—and when? Another twist of her knotted stomach. She hoped she hadn’t been an idiot, talking to him.

  Finally the cafeteria doors swung open. She practically launched herself off her chair as Anaya and Charles walked in. Esta came next, then Darren, Vincent, and Siena. Her joy and relief cooled when she realized Seth wasn’t with them. Looking at Anaya’s eyes, she knew something terrible had happened to all of them.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  —Silent talking, Anaya told her.

  Petra didn’t need to ask why. Six guards remained inside the cafeteria after the doors were locked. This was new. They’d never had guards inside before. They took up positions along the walls, never staying too long in one spot.

  —What’s going on? she asked Anaya.

  Dinner was called out by the kitchen staff, and she collected her meal tray with the others. When they all sat down at their usual table, she listened as Anaya described what had happened to them. Petra’s eyes kept getting pulled back to the red puncture marks on their skin.

  —I can’t believe he locked you in there with those things!

  The thought of an alien bug on her, biting her, made her lose her appetite. But when a guard strolled slowly past their table, she forced herself to take a bite of her fish taco.

  —But you guys are okay, right?

  After they’d gotten out of the vault, Ritter had quarantined them on Level 100 to see if they’d been infected by the mosquito birds. Apparently, the virus was fast-acting, and symptoms appeared within two hours of being bitten. Fever, respiratory distress, possible coma.

  —We were just lucky, Charles said, entering the silent conversation. We’re all immune.

  It was the first time she’d had his voice inside her head. It flickered a dark green and smelled like coffee and the slightly dank place at the back of her yard, beneath the cedars.

  —Ritter’s crazy. We could’ve died!

  This new voice was like burned sugar, so sweet it almost smelled like garbage, and Petra realized it belonged to Vincent. Esta must have taught him about telepathy.

  —He doesn’t care if he kills us.

  That was Siena. And suddenly everyone was talking. Amazingly, having six silent voices in her head wasn’t confusing. Each carried its own light, its own smell or taste, which was soon as recognizable as someone’s face.

  —We need to get out of here, said Esta. We went over the plan while we were quarantined.

  —Paul said he was going to help us escape, Petra said. She figured Anaya would’ve already told them this.

  Esta’s gaze landed on her like a hammer blow.

  —Why? she asked.

  —He said Ritter had plans for more procedures. He said we weren’t safe.

  —So he’s going to help us, out of the goodness of his heart? Esta asked sarcastically.

  —What’s his plan? Darren wanted to know.

  —He didn’t say. Just that he needed more time.

  —We don’t have time, Charles said.

  —It’s a trick, Esta said. He wants us to keep waiting, doing nothing.

  —Why would we trust Paul? Anaya asked.

  —Look. You trust the cryptogen you’ve been talking to. I trust Paul. At least he’s human!

  —Why were you even talking to him? Esta again.

  Petra pushed her tray away. The smell of the fish was making her feel sick. In her head she sensed everyone waiting.

  —I was worried about Seth. I wanted to know where he was.

  That was the truth, but not the whole truth.

  —What did you tell him? Esta insisted.

  —Nothing that Darren hadn’t already told them!

  —Hey, Darren said, someone was tearing my brain apart. So I told Ritter that—

  But Petra barely heard him, because Esta was talking over him.

  —What exactly did you tell them, Petra?

  There was a sudden vibration in her head that became a small molten ball of pain.

  —I said Seth didn’t do anything, all right? He didn’t hurt Darren!

  She didn’t want to admit what else she’d said, but the noise in her head sharpened to a point. It was like a curved hook, sinking deeper and deeper. All she wanted was for it to stop.

  —And . . . , Esta prompted.

  —I told him it was you! she confessed, wincing.

  —You traitor!

  —I didn’t want them to hurt Seth!

  —Esta, stop it! Anaya told her.

  The sound made one last jab and then evaporated.

  —They know what we can do with sound
now, Esta said. They know because of her!

  —They know because you went nuclear on Darren in the first place! Petra shot back, massaging her temples.

  —I couldn’t help it! Esta said.

  —Yeah, well, I couldn’t help protecting Seth. And now he’s going to get punished. Thanks to you!

  —Stop, both of you, said Anaya. We don’t have time. We need to get Seth and get out of here.

  —Paul said they’d taken him upstairs for a procedure. She felt queasy just thinking that word.

  —Makes sense they’d take Seth upstairs, Anaya said. It’s out of range so we can’t talk to him. And Level 400, that’s where the surgical suite is. I passed it when they took me outside. We’ll get him on the way to the elevator.

  —You really have a plan? Petra asked.

  —We’ll need to make some changes, Anaya replied, now that we have guards inside.

  Petra looked at them. Six very solid men and women, each with a Taser.

  —Do we need to fight them?

  She’d never laid a hand on anyone. What if she couldn’t do it?

  —We have some very good weapons, Esta said.

  —We don’t all have the sound weapon, Petra reminded her.

  —No, Anaya said. But we’re strong. We can do it. Look what the three of us did on the eco-reserve.

  Anaya was looking right at her, and Petra nodded gratefully. She felt a swell of pride and also confidence. They’d fought venom-spitting water lilies and strangling vines, and they’d killed a massive pit plant. That was just her, Anaya, and Seth. They were amazing. And there were way more of them now. If only Seth were here.

  —First we need to tell the other kids what’s happening, Anaya said. Silently.

  —You mean teach them telepathy? Charles asked in surprise.

  —We don’t have that much time, Esta said.

  —Better teach them fast, then, said Anaya. We’re not leaving anyone behind.

  IN THE MIDDLE OF the cafeteria, Anaya jumped, knocking a lightweight ceiling tile out of its frame. She caught it as it dropped and handed it to Vincent, who passed it on to someone else.

  “Hey!” one of the guards shouted. “Stop that!”

  With a crazy monkey whoop she jumped again. It felt good to use her legs, to give her body something to do with that pounding heart of hers. She couldn’t help giggling at the mayhem of it, even as her stomach knotted tighter with anxiety. Beside her, Charles was jumping, too. Together they smacked down more ceiling tiles. Nia and Adam and a bunch of other kids snatched them up.

  All the guards were glaring at her, which was exactly what she wanted.

  She was the distraction.

  Across the cafeteria, Darren did bench presses on the machine. He lifted up a big stack of weights, and Esta quickly slid her plastered arm into the gap underneath. Darren let go, and the stack fell down with a crack. Anaya made a whoop to cover up the noise.

  She knocked out two more tiles and saw something slither into the shadows of the ducting.

  —Vines up there! she said to Charles.

  Vines meant a pit plant, but she had no time to worry about that because two guards were strutting over.

  “That’s enough!” one of them shouted. Both had their Tasers drawn.

  —Here we go, she said to Charles.

  She’d never done anything like this in her life. She’d never been in a fight. She’d certainly never hit a grown-up. All her muscles throbbed.

  “I want you sitting on the floor!” a guard shouted.

  Her eyes drifted past the guards. Darren lifted and dropped the stack of weights again, this time onto Esta’s other arm. Anaya whooped again as shards of cracked plaster danced through the air.

  “Sit!” the guard bellowed at her.

  A shout dragged her eyes across the cafeteria, where three guards were now charging toward the exercise area. Darren was frantically helping Esta rip off the remains of her cracked casts. She stretched out her arms. Her feathers flared like they’d been waiting forever for this moment. They were quite long now, and their strange metallic colors painted a pattern that made Anaya think: Dragon. Suddenly Esta seemed an altogether different creature.

  The guard nearest Esta fired his Taser, and the barbs snagged in the feathers of her right arm. With a gasp, Anaya waited for Esta to drop, stunned with high voltage. But she stood tall. Sparks crackled along her feathers, making it look like her arm was on fire.

  Esta struck the guard. The sparks leapt onto him, stunning him. He dropped to the floor. With her left arm, Esta slashed through the two Taser wires, then whirled to face the other guards.

  Anaya snapped her attention back to her own guards. One was shouting at Charles, the other into his shoulder mic for more backup. When a guard aimed his Taser at her, Anaya raised her ceiling tile like a shield. She felt the barbs smack against it uselessly, then tossed the tile aside and launched a flying kangaroo kick at the guard, hitting him with both feet. The impact blasted him backward, and a bunch of kids immediately piled on top of him.

  The second guard rounded on her now.

  —Vincent! she shouted silently. Zap him.

  The flyer squinted at the guard, who instantly let out a moan and fell to his knees. His Taser clattered to the floor, and Vincent kicked it across the linoleum to Petra, who snatched it up and rushed off with Siena to help Esta and Darren.

  While the guard was still moaning in pain, Anaya snapped the handcuffs off his belt and manacled his hands. She looked for a ring of keys but didn’t see one.

  —You can stop now, she told Vincent.

  Pale, Vincent let out a big breath.

  Anaya glanced over at the guard she’d kangaroo-kicked and saw that Charles and the other hybrids had already cuffed him. Every time he tried to stand up, someone knocked him over again.

  Across the cafeteria, Esta was rushing at the last guard standing, slashing her glinting arms. The guard fell back. But it wasn’t the razor-sharp feathers that brought him to his knees; it was her terrible sound weapon. He cried out, begging her to stop. Darren dragged the guard’s arms behind his back and handcuffed him.

  —Don’t kill him! Anaya called to Esta.

  Esta looked over. “This was a piece of cake,” she shouted across the room, her face flushed, eyes dangerously bright. “We should’ve done this sooner!”

  “Darren!” Anaya said. “Help Vincent and Siena get their casts off, too.”

  The cafeteria doors flew open and guards in body armor poured inside.

  “Take down the flyers first!” shouted the one in the lead, and they fanned out.

  All around Anaya things happened in explosive bursts. A kid hurled a barbell at a guard. Runners punched and kicked with their clawed feet. Siena, only one arm free of its cast, used sound to make a guard clutch his head in pain while a few other kids manacled him. Petra tased a guard, but the barbs bounced off his armored chest. Her tail had better luck. Like a cobra it struck the guard behind the knee and he swore. Then his leg buckled and he fell to the floor and lay completely still.

  —Anaya, look out!

  The moment she heard Charles’s warning, she whirled. A guard came at her, Taser pointed. She jumped high, pulling her legs up tight as the two barbed wires whizzed past beneath her. She grabbed hold of the ceiling frame and swung, kicking the guard in the chin, sending him sprawling.

  I like my legs, she thought.

  She felt the flimsy ceiling give way—So stupid!—and plunged down on top of the unconscious guard in a cascade of ceiling tiles and twisted aluminum. On his belt was a ring of keys, and she yanked it off and pocketed it.

  Behind her she heard more ceiling tiles clatter down—and then something else landed with a heavy smack.

  When she turned, she saw the pit plant, a livid bruised purple, ensnarled in its Medusa nest of black vines. Some of the vines still clung to the ceiling; others were already twitching hungrily across the floor.

  Anaya jumped up and skipped away from the questing vi
nes. Nearby a guard had tased a kid and was crouched over, starting to handcuff him. A black vine looped around the guard’s ankle and jerked his leg out from underneath him. With a curse he toppled.

  Before the guard could scramble up, the pit plant was actually moving, pulled by all the vines flexing on the floor. Maw open wide, the pit plant streaked toward the guard with such speed that Anaya shrieked.

  And then suddenly the guard wasn’t there anymore. The pit plant had swallowed him whole. Inside its elastic flesh, Anaya saw the guard’s thrashing shape, even his mouth trying to scream. But the plant had sealed tight, like someone smirking with a terrible secret. A skinny stream of acid leaked from its smug lips and began hissing and smoking on the linoleum tiles.

  “Out!” Anaya shouted to everyone.

  Two more guards came rushing through the doors, but Esta and Vincent didn’t even break stride. They just looked at the guards and, with sound, crumpled them into moaning heaps.

  “Come on!” she yelled.

  It was crucial they get out fast enough to lock the door behind them—and trap the guards inside. Kids poured out into the corridor. The one who’d been tased was supported by two of his friends. When the very last was out, Anaya slammed the door.

  She fumbled with the keys to find the right one. It took her three tries. Finally the dead bolt shot into place. There were steel rods that locked into the floor and ceiling. Esta did those.

  All according to plan. They were out. They had keys. So far so good.

  Anaya led the way down corridors, reciting landmarks to herself. Red door labeled FIRE EQUIPMENT, dented gray lockers, TOOL CRIB, and there! The set of double doors labeled A-200.

  Hands shaking, she unlocked the doors to the stairwell. From above came the thunder of footsteps. Fast, Anaya ushered everyone down the stairs toward Level 100 and waited out of sight till the guards pounded past. No doubt they were headed for the cafeteria. Once they freed the guards in there, things were going to get a lot worse.

  The path was clear: she sprinted up the stairs. She didn’t know how many of these security cameras worked, but she hoped no one was paying attention. They reached the landing of Level 400.

  —Guard behind the doors, she told Esta.