Cloak (YA Fantasy)

by James Gough

  “I’m cured?” Will stood on the bed.

  “Not completely,” said Dr. Noctua. “You will still need medication. But you will not need the bubble anymore, or the suits. You can eat anything and wear normal clothes. Yes, Wilhelm, for all intents and purposes, you are cured.”

  Will whooped and jumped in a circle. Cured! “How did you do it?”

  “Anti-Cloak medication.” The owl-man tapped the IV bag with his cane.

  “Cloak? The stuff that hides enchants?”

  Dr. Noctua nodded. “All Immunes have profound reactions to Cloak. The Enchant Freedom Act of 1961 gave enchants permission to add Cloak into most Nep mass-produced products. They called it general inoculation, like putting iodine in salt to prevent scurvy. That is why you could only use products that predated 1961.”

  “There’s Cloak in everything?” Will sat down.

  Noctua readjusted his glasses. “It’s perfectly safe. Except if you are an Immune. Even then, your reactions were the strongest we’ve ever seen.”

  “Is that bad?”

  “No. It is unique. Like you.”

  “So if I take my meds, I’ll be able to travel?”

  “Yes.”

  “To go to a real school?”

  “Yes.”

  “Play sports? Go to restaurants? See movies?”

  “Certainly,” hooted Dr. Noctua. “Though I advise pacing yourself. We will need to monitor your medications. Your parents agreed to have you transferred somewhere where we can observe your progress.”

  “Really? Where? What’s it called?”

  A sound came from a box of dental floss in Kaya’s pocket. “Das here,” she said into the waxed strings.

  “The route to X-ray is clear,” replied a muffled voice.

  “Got it. We’re moving him now. Stand by,” answered Kaya. She and Dr. Noctua slipped back into their plastic suits.

  “Miracle cures are hard to explain.” The doctor held up the plastic hood. “Best to keep your cure under wraps for now.”

  Will nodded. “But why an X-ray?”

  “We just want to make sure there are no enchant traits in there that we missed.”

  “Seriously?”

  Noctua just clicked his beak and helped Will into the zip-up bubble-boy wheelchair.

  “There’s nothing to worry about,” assured the owl-man, patting Will’s shoulder. The doctor motioned to Kaya, and the cat-woman rolled Will through the airlock and down the hallway.

  Will hated backless hospital gowns. He tugged at the edges riding up on his thighs, crinkling the paper on the X-ray table. Kaya sat ten feet away near the door of the sterile X-ray room. She pretended to read a fashion magazine, but her ears were perked, her eyes alert. Her tail flicked under her seat. Inside the plastic suit, her breath created little bursts of fog on the facemask. She glanced in Will’s direction, then back to the magazine.

  Although beautiful and exotic, the cat-woman was still a claw-wielding predator. Kaya hadn’t spoken to him since Noctua’s history lesson, and now they were alone, without the doctor to referee.

  Uncomfortable wrinkles under his left thigh made Will shift. A twinge of pain zipped through his shoulder. It had been a full day since Kaya’s attack. Deep, purple bruises and five small puncture wounds throbbed above his collarbone. Will rubbed his shoulder.

  “Ah. I’m sorry about that.” Kaya closed her magazine and laid it in her lap. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I forget that Neps are fragile.”

  “I’m not fragile. I was in anaphylactic shock,” Will muttered.

  “No. I didn’t mean you were fragile; I just meant I’m stronger. No, that’s not what I meant either.” Kaya ground her teeth. A pink hue crept into her cheeks. She breathed deeply, then started again. “I’m not used to being ID’d by Neps, so when I saw that you could see my… my tail, I overreacted… a little.”

  “A little? You mauled me!”

  “Oh, please. I did not,” she shot back. “Besides, how was I supposed to know you were an Immune?”

  “Isn’t that your job?”

  “Yes, but there hasn’t been an Immune in years. I thought you were a spy.” A growl crept into the cat-woman’s voice. Her pupils contracted. Kaya wrenched her eyes away from Will and focused on a poster explaining the dangers of overexposure to X-ray radiation. “It was a stupid mistake.” She took calm breaths until her pupils returned to normal.

  “Um, if it makes you feel better, I didn’t know I was an Immune either.”

  Kaya’s expression softened. “Thanks.”

  There was a lull in the conversation while a clock ticked on the wall.

  Will spoke first. “So, are you my guard?”

  “Something like that. More of a bodyguard—we’re like the Secret Service.”

  “We? Like you and Dr. Noctua?”

  “I have a whole team assigned to you.”

  “Including the guy that you talked to on your dental floss? Are you the leader?”

  “Something like that,” she said with a note of pride, then deflated. “But after I… attacked you, I’ll probably be demoted, or sent back to the Everglades on RRD.”

  “RRD?”

  “Reptile Rehabilitation Detail.”

  “What’s that?”

  Kaya hesitated. “Well, since the doctor’s broken every law of secrecy…” She shrugged. “I used to be stationed at a maximum security ISPA penitentiary in the Everglades that houses enchants that are too dangerous to run free. I worked in the corrections and parole department for two years with the reptilian inmates. Reptilechant prisoners don’t care for mammals unless they’re on the menu. So staying in one piece wasn’t easy. One day I had trouble with a viper inmate who thought I looked like dinner. He ended up in the infirmary. I ended up—well, it’s a long story.” Kaya opened her magazine, putting an end to the conversation. The awkward quiet settled back into the room.

  Will studied Kaya. Under the facemask, her eyes were sad, glistening at the corners. He opened his mouth to apologize, but no words came. The clock continued to tick.

  The air pressure changed as a large X-ray technician walked through the airlock carrying a lead-lined vest. Will noticed thick forearms and biceps bulging beneath his plastic suit. His hands barely fit in his latex gloves. A surgeon’s mask hid most of his face.

  “Lay down,” he said in a low voice that made the table vibrate. The technician lifted his head and flashed two hideous, milky white eyes, each surrounded by reddish black fur.

  Will recoiled and slid backward across the table.

  Kaya’s chair squeaked.

  The technician’s eyes narrowed.

  In a blur of motion he spun and swung the lead vest like a baseball bat, knocking the pouncing cat-woman out of the air and across the room. Kaya slammed into the X-ray machine with a sickening crunch, then crumpled to the ground, motionless.

  Will searched for some way to defend himself.

  The monster stepped closer, a growl like a diesel engine rumbling through his massive chest.

  Will lost his balance, teetering backward off the table.

  The beast caught him by the leg and threw him over his shoulder with one hand. His strength was unbelievable.

  Will flailed and kicked, looking for a weakness. He punched the monster in the kidneys and booted him in the head. It was useless, like pounding against stone.

  The kidnapper burst through the airlock with Will bouncing against his back. Every stride slammed the air out of Will’s lungs, making it impossible to yell for help. They careened down an empty corridor and around a corner.

  In a moment of terror, Will saw they were heading for the exit—stairs next to a set of elevators. If they left the building, he was a goner, a picture on a milk carton.

  The elevator dinged and the kidnapper hesitated.

  Will saw his chance. He used the attacker’s next lunge to swing himself up and twist back, grabbing the assailant’s facemask from behind. He clawed and scratched, trying to find anything vuln
erable. Ripping the hood and surgeon’s mask away, Will felt the fur and a muzzle like a dog. Panic turned to desperation. His fingers found something soft and he gouged with all his strength. The kidnapper howled and stumbled, prying Will’s fingers off his face.

  The elevator opened, a man yelled, and Will flew through the air like a ragdoll. He crashed into the wall, his head and side hitting something soft before he tumbled to the floor. Will pushed himself up. His fall had been broken by a doctor who lay unconscious, a cut crossing his forehead.

  A large shoe stepped into the elevator. Will scurried into the corner and looked up. A wolf-man stood hunched over him, glowering with one ghastly white eye. Blood trickled between the fingers of the gloved hand covering his other eye. His huge yellow canines were bared. The wolf’s growl turned into a wild roar and he lunged, sharp claws popping through his latex gloves.

  Will braced for the pain.

  But in an instant, the wolf-man’s expression changed from outrage to surprise. He flew into the air and slammed into the metal ceiling of the elevator. His body smashed into one sidewall then crashed into the other, leaving craters in the steel. Finally, his limp body fell to the floor in a heap.

  Kaya stood above the unconscious wolf-man with her claws gleaming, wild triumph in her eyes. As she stepped over him, she gave the kidnapper a sharp kick to the head.

  “Are you okay?” She helped Will off the floor.

  Will stared. “I thought you were…”

  “Dead? Ha. It’d take more than a cheap shot to bring me down.”

  A groan came from the far side of the elevator.

  Kaya pulled Will behind her. The wounded doctor stirred. Kaya reached to lift him but winced, grabbing her ribs. Will caught the doctor by the other arm and they stumbled over the wolf enchant and into the hallway.

  “Thanks.” Kaya untangled herself from the doctor and laid him on an empty gurney against the tiled wall. She checked his pulse and eyes. “He has a concussion. He’ll be alright if we–No!” Kaya struggled to get back to the elevator, but the doors continued to slide shut. The wolf-man was on one knee holding the close button and grinning, the blood from his face turning his yellow teeth red.

  The world was in slow motion.

  Kaya dove, but the wolf-man disappeared behind the metal doors.

  The down arrow glowed.

  The elevator whirred.

  Kaya punched the button repeatedly. She slammed her fist against the steel, then flinched, grabbing her ribs. Leaning against the door, she yelled into her dental floss.

  “Rizz. This is Das. Come in. Rizz, where are you?” She put her finger to her ear and waited.

  Nothing.

  She growled and pressed the floss again.

  “Manning. Are you there?” Kaya listened. “We’ve just been attacked by a hunter disguised as an X-ray technician. A wolfchant. He’s injured and dangerous. Last seen on the elevator, tenth floor heading down. Send Flores to intercept. Find Rizz, stat. He’s not answering.” She pressed her finger to her ear, glanced at Will and spoke into the floss. “No, he’s alright. Just a little shaken. But that was too close. Initiate evacuation plan Alpha now. Understood?” She listened again. “Good. Das out.” Holding her side, she limped back to where Will sat and slid down the wall.

  “What was that?” Will panted.

  “A hunter—an enchant assassin.”

  Will almost choked. “Do you think they’ll catch him?”

  “I’m sure they will.” Kaya’s eyes were full of worry.

  He knew she was lying.

  10

  Evacuation Plan Alpha

  The aftermath of the wolfchant’s attack was a whirlwind. Three people in hazmat suits with long, reflective facemasks burst through the stairwell door and surrounded Will. Two of them hoisted him onto a gurney without a word. The third reported to Kaya, his voice muffled by the mask.

  “The hunter escaped, jumped off the elevator between floors and went through a window. He could be anywhere.”

  Kaya gritted her teeth. “How did a hunter know about the Immune in the first place?”

  “I don’t know. But he knew our positions. He got the drop on me, hit me from behind. I never smelled him coming.”

  “Neither did I. He was good.” Kaya moved beside Will’s gurney. “There’s nothing we can do now but focus on evacuating the Immune. Is everything in place?”

  The man in the reflective mask nodded and handed Kaya a doctor’s coat.

  “Good.” As she put it on, she winced and grabbed her side.

  “You’re hurt.”

  “Just a couple of ribs.”

  “Can you keep up?”

  “Don’t worry about me. I’ve outrun you with worse,” growled Kaya.

  The man snorted behind his mask.

  Kaya took up a position next to Will’s shoulder and gripped the rail of the gurney. The three others did the same. They all crouched low, like a four-man bobsled team ready to start a race. Will was the bobsled.

  “Remember your training. Let’s make this clean and fast. The hunter could be waiting.” Kaya looked down at Will. “I need you to hold on tight and look sick.”

  Will nodded. His stomach was a ball of knots. Looking sick would be easy.

  There was a groan.

  “What about him?” Will pointed to the injured doctor on the other gurney. Kaya had bandaged his cut, but he was still unconscious.

  The cat-woman reached above the doctor and yanked down on a fire alarm. “The Neps will take care of him.” She turned to the others. “Ready?”

  Three hazmat hoods nodded.

  “Let’s move.”

  The burst of speed almost threw Will off the gurney. He squeezed the railings, his knuckles white under his latex gloves. Wind whipped his face and tore at the edges of his hospital gown as they blew around a corner.

  “Make way! This is a code red! Move!” roared Kaya, causing a clot of doctors to spill their coffee as they dove out of the way. The pace was impossibly fast. The four enchants moved with fluid grace, choreographed power. Gurney wheels squealed around the corner. The man at Will’s shoulder sprinted up the wall to avoid a collision. The agents at his feet bounded over food carts, somersaulted in the air, and landed without missing a step.

  “Watch out!” yelled Kaya. A chubby nurse screamed and landed upside down in a bin of towels.

  “I’ll give her an eight on the dive but only a four on the entry,” joked the man running next to Will.

  “Rizz!” Kaya chastised.

  “What?” The man feigned innocence.

  Kaya maintained her glare, even while pirouetting around an orderly with a mop.

  After speeding through the halls, the elevator ride to the basement was surreal. Sappy seventies music played until the bell pinged and the gurney shot through the doors.

  “This way. The transport is in the alley.”

  They roared through the kitchen as cooks upended pots of tomato soup and spilled boxes of potato flakes.

  Bursting through the delivery bay doors, they blinked against the daylight.

  “A bread truck?” Will looked up at the doors of an old, beaten truck from The Long Island Bread Company idling in an alley.

  “It’s standard Special Branch Transport. Top of the line.” Kaya stepped forward and pressed pieces of dried gum stuck to the door of the truck. Like a pre-chewed combination lock, the gum beeped each time her finger made contact—grape, orange, orange, strawberry, lime, grape. After the grape, the tumblers clanked and the door opened.

  “Wilhelm, thank goodness!” Dr. Noctua was waiting inside. “How are you? Where does it hurt?” The gurney was lifted into the truck. The owlish doctor clicked his beak and checked Will’s vitals.

  Will tried to speak, but the doctor shoved a tongue depressor in his mouth.

  “Attacked only hours after I diagnosed you as an Immune,” he muttered. “How could word have leaked so fast?”

  “I was wondering that myself,” answered Kaya,
slamming the door behind her after the others had climbed in. “There must be a mole in ISPA. From now on, we limit all details about Will to the team present here. Understood?”

  Everyone nodded. Will’s gurney was pushed between piles of pastry boxes and a teetering stack of deli rolls. There was no seating in the truck. Kaya balanced on bags of baguettes while the others made makeshift seats out of boxes of bagels, mounds of pumpernickel and racks of sourdough. The air had the bitter smell of stale bread and moldy buns. Bands of rust crept along the edges of the walls and the whole truck listed to one side.

  Kaya pounded the roof twice with her fist. The truck revved and lurched forward, tossing the boxes as it rumbled onto the street.

  “All clear.”

  Will sat up, careful to hold his backless robe.

  “A few bruises and scrapes.” The doctor finished checking Will’s toes for hairline fractures. “You are a fortunate young man.”

  “Yeah, I am. Thanks to Kaya.”

  The cat-woman flickered a small smile.

  “Fortune favors the brave,” said Dr. Noctua, pressing his spectacles back onto the bridge of his beak. “I heard you did much of the escaping yourself.”

  “It’s true,” purred Kaya. “He fought well. Will’s quick action forced the hunter into the elevator. Had he taken the stairs, we would not be speaking right now.”

  Will blanched at the thought.

  “If we’d been better, he wouldn’t have needed to save himself,” grumbled the smallest of the three people in hoods.

  “Val, it was no one’s fault. That’s what is going into the official report.”

  “Reports don’t save lives.” The tiny woman reached up and removed her hood, flinging it at a crate of banana cupcakes. Seated on a squashed box of Chocolate Covered Nutty-Pals, the petite, middle-aged woman’s feet couldn’t touch the floor. She had fawn-like eyes, soft white spots, and a voice much too big for her body. Her face looked human, except for the six-inch antlers curving from her temples. Part of her right earlobe was missing. Faded scars dotted her face and neck. The deer-woman moved with rigid precision and remarkable speed as she stripped off her gloves and wiped the sweat from her brow. With a diminutive hoof-hand, she reached up to fluff the sweaty, caramel-colored hair matted between her antlers.