by James Gough
Will ended one session barking in Agent Flores’ face. In another, Kaya pulled the clip from his nose while he was swimming laps around Manning on the stone floor of the storage room. Once he snapped out of a binding instinct to find himself waltzing with Rizz.
Will had been so busy studying and darting from one lesson to another, he’d almost forgotten about Agent Liska and her ISPA goons. The same couldn’t be said for the rest of St. Grimm’s.
By day three, there was a general hatred toward Liska throughout the entire hospital. Doctors were tired of being interrogated about their past associations with Builders. Nurses kept finding ISPA microphones under patients’ bed linens. Throughout the mountain, Liska’s reputation for callousness spread like a disease.
Most enchants missed Sergeant Gnar being in charge. He had been relegated to giving out parking tickets and moping around the halls, enforcing rules against noise pollution. Liska had even taken over Sergeant Gnar’s office, claiming that any issue with St. Grimm’s security was likely related to the Builders and thereby under her jurisdiction.
Will was so busy he’d only seen Mars a few times in the past six days. She’d waved while being disciplined by Liska after dumping a vat of petroleum jelly down the tunnel between Cardiology and Gastroenterology. It turned the whole walkway into a giant slide.
Another time, Will passed Mars being marched down the hall by Dr. Bump. He was covered in a gallon of chocolate-alfalfa ice cream. Mars grinned when she passed, and Will bit his lip to keep from laughing out loud. He hated to admit it, but he missed her.
By the end of day four, Will was ready for a break. Enchant arts practice had been brutal. His nose still seemed a little crooked. Kaya’s binding instincts had made him dance the polka. The lecture from Dr. Noctua, about the public relations nightmare caused by a sea turtle enchant skinny dipping in Loch Ness, had lasted three hours. He had mud in his hair and water in his socks from crawling into hiding holes.
Fortunately, it was Rizz and Manning’s turn to escort him to dinner. The last time Flores had meal duty, he brought his own sack lunch. Will had to watch Flores eat a bowl of sesame locusts. It was almost as bad when Kaya brought her food. She was considerate enough to eat away from the herbivores, but the smell of roasted meats and smoked poultry always made Will jealous. Eating with two herbivores would at least let him enjoy his meal without thinking about what he was missing.
Manning prodded Will through the corridors. They were nine and a half minutes behind schedule, and Manning threatened to take it out of Will’s mealtime if he didn’t move faster. The smell of herbs and grilled veggies told Will that they were almost to the cafeteria. That’s when he heard screaming.
Will felt the floor tremble beneath his feet.
“Trouble.” Rizz perked his ears. “Run!”
“What?”
“I said run!” Rizz grabbed Will’s wrist and dragged him back down the hallway.
Behind them a roaring thunder grew.
“Go, go, go!” shouted Manning, pulling Will’s other arm.
Pieces of stone were chipping off the walls, and the floor shook like an earthquake. Will glanced over his shoulder. A stampede of screaming enchants was filling the tunnel behind him, their eyes wild with panic.
Will stumbled and lost hold of Manning. She was swept away under a huge moose enchant. Caribou, elk and horse enchants thundered down on Will. A hippo enchant slammed into his arm, and Rizz was gone.
Will pumped his legs, sprinting as fast as he could. He could feel hot breath on the back of his neck and hooves brushing his pant legs. A horn shoved him from behind. He staggered but didn’t fall.
Something trumpeted and the enchants surged forward. A water buffalo enchant went down, taking a gazelle with him. Another deafening trump and an elephant enchant broke through the stampede, pushing Will aside with his trunk. This time Will fell hard against the stone floor.
Hoofs and feet crashed all around him. He struggled to stand, but an enormous enchant with the head of a bull lost his balance and fell, his horns pointed at Will’s chest. He braced himself, but instead of pain, he was flying. Someone had lifted him into the air above the deadly stampede.
Will looked up at his rescuer. A Builder was carrying him along the ceiling with one tiny, segmented hand on Will’s collar and the other on his belt. He scurried above the stampede, gripping the roof with four, fast moving legs. The little Builder cocked his head to one side and met Will’s gaze, twitching his antennae.
Ahead, another passage connected to the hall. Without slowing, the Builder made the turn and entered a quiet side tunnel. Out of danger, he slowly lowered Will to the floor.
“Thanks.” Will grabbed his knees and nodded to his four-legged rescuer.
The Builder’s mandibles lifted into a sort of smile and Will saw a red stripe covering his tiny mouth. Was this the same Builder as outside Dervis’s lab?
The mandibles rose higher, and he nodded yes.
Will stared. Did he just read my thoughts?
The enchant shook his head no.
But how?
The Builder lifted a segmented hand and gestured like he was wafting air toward his nose.
Smell?
The enchant nodded.
Odd. Will was producing smells that an insect enchant could read like his thoughts? How am I doing it?
The Builder shrugged.
Will thought a question in his mind, hoping his body would continue to translate his thoughts into scent speech. Is this normal? Do you speak to others like me?
The Builder’s large, shining eyes remained locked on Will as the insect shook his head. No.
Great. Maybe this is an Immune thing or something.
The Builder’s antennae twitched, and his eyes widened.
Oops. Will realized that he had just spilled his secret.
Suddenly, the ant enchant focused past Will to the thinning stampede and flicked his antennae nervously. After looking at Will one more time, the Builder skittered away, disappearing into a vent in the wall.
“Wait. Don’t go. Hey!” Will tried to follow, but the enchant was too fast and the vent too small.
“Will! Where are you?”
“Tuttle! Will Tuttle!”
Rizz and Manning’s voices sounded worried.
Will peered into the vent once more, then moved back toward the main hallway.
“Will? Will!” Rizz spotted him from across the corridor and came limping. “Manning, he’s over here!” The agents fought their way through a few frantic sheep enchants and met Will in the side tunnel.
Rizz had a black eye and his jacket was shredded. “Are you alright?” He grabbed Will’s shoulders and spun him around looking for injuries.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Look at this kid. Not a scratch,” Rizz said to Manning. She had several bruises and a giant hoof print that covered most of her back.
“How’d you pull that one off, kid?”
“I just got lucky, I guess.” Will thought it best not to mention the Builder.
Rizz stepped back and stared skeptically. “Just got lucky?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged
“Well done, Tuttle. I saw you fall near that bull enchant—thought you were a goner for sure. Must have been your training.” She slapped Will on the back.
“Um, sure. I think it was just all the enchant arts practice,” Will lied.
“Told ya we’d get those instincts to kick in, Tuttle. It just took a near death experience.”
Will needed to change the subject. “So what caused the stampede?” He looked past the agents to the corridor that had now fallen quiet.
“Let’s find out.”
The hallway was in shambles. Stone arches were cracked and fissures spider-webbed across the polished floor. Hospital personnel picked their way through debris, tending to fallen enchants.
Rizz and Manning led Will toward the cafeteria. They passed the bull enchant that had nearly impaled Will. A nurse banda
ged his hoof. A caribou enchant lay moaning beneath a shattered table as two medics rushed to her aid.
The doors to the cafeteria were a pile of splinters and most of the tables were overturned. Vegetables and fruit littered the floor. Manning led the way, glass from shattered dishes crunching under her feet. Motionless enchants were strewn among the tables, most of them covered in broken pieces of what used to be the cafeteria.
A hand gripped Will’s shoulder from behind. He yelped.
“It’s okay. It’s just us,” Kaya whispered as she and Flores appeared at Will’s side. “Stay close.”
Something moved behind a stack of oversized tables and everyone froze. Manning moved in from the right and Rizz from the left. Together they yanked a table away and stepped back.
“Argh!” Elsa the cashier held half a chair over her head, ready to charge.
“Elsa!” Rizz shouted, putting his hooves in the air. “It’s okay.”
The bison-woman blinked and looked at the faces of the team, then grunted and dropped the chair. She was bleeding heavily from bite marks on her arms and leg. One orthopedic shoe was missing and shocks of wiry hair sprung from her torn hairnet. At her feet lay two huge, hairy enchants.
“Jackals,” said Kaya. She moved to examine them while Rizz and Manning helped Elsa to a seat.
“Them jackalchants and the other big one in the hood just barged in and started biting,” grunted Elsa. “They was growlin’ and cacklin’—said they was searchin’ for someone. Then the big hooded one picks up a teenage hamsterchant, sniffs him and throws him against the wall. Sergeant Gnar tried to stop ’em, but the jackals bit his Achilles and brought him down hard. That started the stampede. Enchants runnin’ crazy. But no mangy carnies is gonna run me out of my own cafeteria—so I worked ’em over while everybody got out. Did I finish ’em off?”
“No. They’re just unconscious,” stated Kaya. “But they’re going to need some medical attention. What did you hit this one with, Elsa? He’s a mess.”
“Cash register.” Elsa nodded to the dented machine on the ground. “Guess we gotta get a new one.”
“You said there was a third attacker? The big one?” asked Manning. “What’d he look like?”
The bison enchant rubbed her head. “It was hard to tell. He was wearing a hood and a scarf over his mouth. Alls I could see was his eye.”
“Eye? Singular?” asked Agent Flores.
Elsa nodded. “Real scary, too. It was all white. The other one was covered with a patch, like a pirate.”
The agents exchanged wary looks as Will’s stomach dropped to his shoes. The wolfchant, here?
“Where’d he go?”
“Don’t know. He ran when I started swinging.” Elsa blinked and looked around. “Oh, look at this mess. I better get cleanin’.” She tried to stand, then wobbled and plopped back down.
“First, let’s get those bites looked at.” Rizz and Manning helped Elsa to her feet and began moving toward the door. “Will, you stay here with Kaya and Flores. Help check on Sergeant Gnar.” Rizz motioned to the unconscious rhino enchant breathing heavily against the wall. “We’ll just take Elsa to the hall and be right back.”
“No! Take him away from here now,” Kaya roared. She was still hunched over the jackal enchants, but her body had gone stiff and she was shaking.
“What’s wrong?” Flores stepped forward.
“Get back!” Her voice was deadly, her claws extended. “All of you get out now!”
“But—”
“Now!” Kaya roared viciously and faced the group. Her pupils were wild slits and her teeth were bared. A deep growl thundered in her throat.
“Get back.” Rizz said to Will. “Slowly.”
Kaya was licking her lips and salivating. Her eyes were following Will’s every movement.
“What’s wrong with her?”
“I don’t know. But on the count of three you run, okay? We’ll hold her off. One. Two—”
Before Rizz could finish, Kaya lunged, her teeth aimed at Will’s throat.
An ear-splitting shriek filled the air and something with huge, powerful wings flew between Will and Kaya.
Kaya reared back. The attacking bird-man raised his wings and shot forward, delivering a powerful blow to Kaya’s wounded ribs. She roared and staggered, grabbing her side.
For a moment she crouched defensively, hissing at the bird enchant. Her wild eyes rested on Will. She blinked and raised her trembling hand, staring at the claws extending from her fingers.
A look of horror flashed in her face. Without warning, Kaya whirled and sprinted across the cafeteria, crashing through the doors to the cliff-side terraces.
“Wilhelm, are you alright?” Dr. Noctua alighted at Will’s side.
The old owl enchant had driven off Kaya. He wore the same pilot’s suit Will had seen in the Aviary. Noctua gripped Will’s shoulders. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” he gasped.
Dr. Noctua turned to the others. “Agent Manning, track Kaya. I will join you shortly.”
Manning nodded and sprinted toward the door, holding two curved knives.
“Be careful. Don’t hurt her.”
“I won’t unless I have to.” Manning bounded through the splintered door into the night.
Dr. Noctua faced Rizz and Agent Flores. “Take Wilhelm back to his room and secure him.”
Rizz nodded once. Dr. Noctua clipped his beak, spread his wings, and flapped over the ruined cafeteria and through the doors Kaya had shattered.
Will stood, stunned at what had just taken place.
Rizz clapped a cloven hand on his shoulder. “Time to go, kid.”
Rizz and Flores treated every corner as a possible ambush. Flores scouted ahead, using his mirror to peek around corners. Rizz stayed at Will’s side, his head on a swivel. The empty halls were unnerving. Will kept expecting a white eye in every shadow. He held his breath all the way back to his room.
“Nobody comes in tonight. Nobody goes out. Got it?” Rizz was stern and serious. He clopped over to the balcony door and locked the latch. “Deadbolt the door behind us. Oh, and put your hearing enhancer in. Keep your ears open for anything strange.”
“Like the wolf?” he said, trying to control his breathing.
“We don’t know it was him.”
“Right, it could have been another one-eyed assassin,” said Will sarcastically.
“Hey, I promise you’ll be safe. Here.” Rizz placed a pack of gum in Will’s latex-covered palm. “It’s an emergency beacon. If you are in any trouble, press the logo and I’ll be there, I promise. Got it?”
Will nodded.
Flores appeared in the doorway. “We will track down the wolf…er…whatever Elsa saw. If anything goes wrong, do how I trained you.”
“What?” spat Will. “Crawl in a hole?”
“You never know,” shrugged the Flores. “It could work.”
Flores closed the door, and Will checked the bolt twice. He grabbed his bag, found the little pink triangle and pressed it into his ear.
In the security in his room, the events of the evening began to replay in Will’s mind. His fear was pushed away by the confidence of the enhancer, but not even super-hearing could erase the look in Kaya’s eyes and the raw power of Dr. Noctua’s flight. And the white-eyed wolf was somewhere inside St. Grimm’s.
His hands and knees shook uncontrollably. Calm down, he told himself again and again. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.
Something moved in the closet.
Will focused his ears that direction—breathing. Someone was hiding behind the door. He needed a weapon. His can of gerbil musk deodorant was on his nightstand. He stepped quietly. His fingers touched the doorknob.
Will pulled open the closet and sprayed.
“Hey! Stop! Stop! It’s me,” Mars shouted back, gagging and covering her face as she hung upside down from a clothes rack.
“Mars? What are you doing in there?”
“I’m dying. What does
it look like?” She dropped to the ground and crawled out of the closet, coughing and sputtering.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was you.” He helped her off the floor.
“I had my mouth open. Do you have any idea how bad that tastes?” Mars stumbled to the sink, emptied an entire tube of toothpaste into her mouth then stuck her whole head under the running water. “This is what I get for trying to be nice.”
“Nice? What are you talking about? You were lurking in my closet.”
“Yeah, so I could give you a present, Stinky.”
“A present?”
“Yeah, here.” She shoved a small black box with a bow into Will’s hand, then grabbed a towel.
“Um…thanks.” He held the gift at arm’s length, wondering if it might explode.
“Well, don’t just hold it there. Open it. Or do you want to attack it with stink spray first?”
Will held his breath and took off the lid. He reached in and pulled out a silver chain. From it dangled Cylus’s broken fang.
“No way!” The rough edges had been polished smooth, but there was no doubt it was the same tooth.
“Do you like it, Stinky? Me and Berko had it made. Ralph Ganger down in the morgue is great at preserving stuff and we got the chain at Zwick’s.” Mars crossed her arms. “Now you see why I had to hide in the closet. I didn’t think your babysitters would think it was cool.”
“It’s kind of freaky. Cool, but freaky.” Will held the fang up to see the light filter through the hollow bone.
“I thought you’d like it. Well, put it on. Go on, go on.” Mars snatched the chain from Will and looped it around his neck.
Will looked in the mirror.
“So?”
“It’s awesome, Mars. Thanks. And thank Berko for me too.”
Mars beamed. “Don’t thank us, you earned it. Just call it your insanity trophy. Fangs, choco-bombs, stampedes—you win.”
“You heard about the stampede?”
“I kind of overheard about it. I was eavesdropping on Liska, the red witch. Rumor is that you walked away without a bruise.”
“Wait, how did Liska know that?”
“She got a text or something. All I know is I heard a ping when she was running to the herbivore cafeteria. She pulled out some sort of phone, then told her ISPA jerks that you were unharmed and being taken to your room. She also said she thinks you probably started the stampede with your Builder accomplices. I really hate that lady.”