The Fortress of Clouds

by J. A. J. Peters

  “That’s okay, Cabra,” said Lorenz as he walked over to him. “Here, get out of the way. It’s my turn, you fool. Ojete!” Lorenz shoved him aside, and Cabra fell over into the dirt.

  Lorenz leaned his head back and gurgled in pantomime of Cabra. He shook his knees and pretended to lean on an imaginary cane. “Aghhh,” he groaned, “everything is going to be awesome tomorrow and we are going to kill the richest man in the country and rewrite the history of this backwards age.” He opened his eyes and sneered his sharpened teeth at Cabra. “See how easy that was, old man?”

  “Yes, well, it’s not that simple, General Lorenz,” said Cabra as he struggled to his feet.

  “Just leave, okay?” snapped Lorenz. “We don’t need your stupid garbage now.”

  Cabra cowered out of the room. Mitty, who had been patiently waiting by the side of the room, hurried after him.

  “We don’t need that stuff anymore,” yelled Lorenz as he turned back to face the room. “There is nothing spiritual or mystical about tomorrow, okay? It is a one-hundred percent certainty. Now, get moving. Start packing. We leave first thing in the morning.”

  In a hurry, lest they be the next focus of Lorenz’s terror, the four Graham kids filed out of the room with everyone else. There was a hushed choir of worry under everyone’s breath.

  “That’s friggin’ messed up,” said one of them.

  “What other choice do we have?” asked another.

  Chapter Twenty: A Way Out

  After they gorged themselves on cake and pizza in the Strand’s storeroom, the four Graham kids went to see Ming, who was in a veritable tizzy. She was swaying about in a daze as she tried to prioritize which books would go and which would be left behind. Her own blue album of family photos was the first to be put in a box, along with her secret shrine to Milagro, but she placed a bunch of accounting ledgers on top to shield it from prying eyes.

  “Oh, I cannot leave those,” she said as she uncovered a stack of old TV listings that looked like they had been leaning against the wall for years.

  “Do you really need them if you don’t, you know, read them?’ asked Thomas, vocalizing the very thought that Ben had decided was too rude to ask.

  “This may be only copy of April 2029 TV Listing anywhere,” shrieked Ming. “It is last issue! You laugh, but you know not how important this is.”

  “Ming, I think a lot of this is going to have to stay,” said Hannah. “I’m sorry.”

  “Maybe you can send some people to come back later to get all these books,” added Alison.

  “And besides,” said Ben. “This could be your own secret library. Everything’s going to stay safe here.”

  “Mmm,” sighed Ming. “I guess it is dry here. Better than in dump somewhere.” She hemmed and hawed for a few seconds, but then discovered a stack of pink paperbacks with pictures of swooning women on them. “But all these romance books need to go to new place.”

  Behind them, out in the main part of the cavern, groups were now loading some of the big electronic items into one of the tunnel runners. The machine started with a loud bang and accelerated out into the dark tunnel. The door was shut right behind it and, as usual, Ben’s heart sank. But surely some of the stuff would have to be taken out by hand. Maybe then they’d be able to slip away. When would the moment come? Would it announce itself, like in Ming’s story about the book in the box in China? No, Ben told himself. He would decide. The courage was going to come from him.

  But as he turned back to the box of books that he was packing, Ben’s thoughts were interrupted by a voice from behind.

  “Hallo, Ben. Could I bother ye for a second?” About twenty feet away, Cabra was leaning over his cane. His hat was pushed back, and the thin gray hair stuck to his scalp in wires and made him look quite old and frail. Mitty sat motionless beside him.

  “What is it?” asked Ben.

  “Mitty and I were on our way out, but thought we’d take a mosey around the place and say our goodbyes and such. Seems the General won’t be requiring our services any longer.” Cabra smiled sadly.

  “So what will you do now?” asked Ben. He felt sorry for Cabra, having been so humiliated by Lorenz for not giving the “right” prediction.

  “Oh well, ye know, we have some friends here and there we could call upon.”

  “Well, it was great getting to know you,” said Ben. He instantly realized how stupid that sounded. He didn’t know Cabra that well at all, and had never really developed a connection with him like he had with Ming or, to a lesser degree, Basho. “I’m sure we’ll meet again.”

  “I’m sure we will, Ben. I’m sure we will. But before we go, Ben, do ye remember the other day when I told ye that everyone carried something special around with ‘em ?” There was a kind sparkle of hope in Cabra’s eyes.

  “Actually, yeah,” said Ben.

  “Well, did ye think about what that might be for ye?”

  “I guess for me it’s about how you can never wait for the right time to do something, because the right time might never come.” At this, the door to the cavern gave out a great moan as it was opened. Ben shot a quick glance over to see the second tunnel runner growl away into the void. The stone-faced guard was inspecting each person leaving. There would be no slipping out as Ben had hoped.

  “Sure, sure, that’s a good one,” nodded Cabra. “But I was referring to something a bit more specific than that. Something a bit more . . . tangible, ye might say.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ye see, Mitty here tells me that ye might have something very valuable that ye might not want to leave behind tomorrow.”

  “What do you mean Mitty--?”

  “Well, ye been with an animal so long ye start to understand what each little noise means. It’s one of me more private gifts. I don’t like to talk about it. Figure people’ll make fun of me. Anyway, Mitty, he tells me that ye might have something very important, that last night ye threw it away.”

  Ben was having a hard time understanding this. “Mitty speaks to you?”

  “Well, ye see . . . when I saw Mitty this morning, I could see something in his eyes, something that told me that he had seen or heard something. Maybe it’s nothing, but I reckon this cat here knows more than I do most times. Anyway, this look in his eyes, it was like something very important had been thrown away.”

  “I think I know what you’re talking about,” said Ben. The twig--of course! And Mitty had been there when he had thrown it away.

  “Aha! So Mitty is right once again!” said Cabra as he clapped his hands in celebration. “Ben, ye’d better go find it now before it’s too late.” Cabra smiled and winked at Mitty, and the cat looked up and purred modestly.

  It was something important, and Ben had been stupid enough to throw it away in a fit of selfishness. Patience, where was your patience, he chided himself. Why can’t you just have a little faith?

  Where had he been standing when he threw it? Everything had been clouded in frustration and anger at his mother. He remembered seeing the dark outlines of the garage area on his left, and the mountains of equipment rising up in front of him. He hurried over to the garage where four kids were preparing to leave with loads of weapons on their backs.

  He rummaged through the piles of junk: pieces of metal, tangles of wire, empty boxes, wine bottles, and old furniture that had been tossed whenever someone stole a better item. Everything stank, and he tried not to think about the rodents or spiders that might be lurking in the dark crevices.

  And then it fell into his hand. It looked almost smaller now, and for a second Ben couldn’t believe his luck in finding it. He grasped it tightly in his palm and then looked up to see where Cabra was. But Cabra was right beside him.

  “Is that it, then?” asked Cabra. “Ah, yes, that does look like something ye’d want to take with ye.”

  “Our mother gave it to us,” said Ben, feeling a little sheepish about telling Cabra this, but overjoyed that the little “souvenir” that had ca
used him so much consternation now all of a sudden meant something. “She said to hold on to it, just in case. So what do you think it is?”

  Cabra rubbed his chin as he studied it. “Oh, this is a very special item, Ben. I can tell. Yes, ye don’t want to leave this behind. Ye see these inscriptions? It is from a particular part of South America. Yes, I’d wager it’s incredibly valuable.” Cabra held it up to a distant light bulb as if he was a jeweler looking at a diamond. “Ben, I am going to propose something. How would ye like to go on a bit of a trip? Tonight, in fact. We could escape all of this craziness that they’ve got planned for tomorrow.”

  “What?”

  “Ye see, I’ve got a good friend who knows quite a bit about South American art. Just a couple of blocks away up there on the surface, actually. He’s where Mitty and me were going to go anyway. We could go right now if ye’d like.” He smiled and then hesitated for a second. “I think there’s something very important going on here.”

  “Should I go get my brother and sisters?”

  “Sure, go find them quickly and we’ll leave at once, without, you know,” he motioned over to Lorenz’s office, “General Spikehead knowing.”

  Ben ran back to the House of Proof with an energy he hadn’t felt in a long time. At last they would find out what the twig was, and maybe what was going on with their mother and Milagro. For the first time since the whole bizarre episode began, it felt like things were going to be okay. The purposeless universe was slowly rearranging itself.

  Ming was sitting on a precarious stack of magazines, fanning herself with a newspaper and shaking her head back and forth. “Impossible. Impossible to leave all these things here.”

  Hannah and Thomas seemed to be making the choices for her, showing each other various books and making a joint decision whether to turf them or pack them. They had apparently heeded Lorenz’s advice to help themselves to the kitchen storeroom, and both ate furiously as they packed the boxes: smoked salmon and caviar for Thomas, cupcakes and chocolate for Hannah. Each book being placed in the boxes had been given their own personal seals of approval: smears of fish grease from Thomas, and icing sugar smudges from his twin sister. Ben had never seen the two of them work together on something. Maybe it was because their mouths were full that they couldn’t fight.

  “Hannah, Thomas, listen,” said Ben. “We’re getting out of here. Cabra is going to take us to see a friend of his. Come on.”

  “What?” said Thomas. “What do you mean Cabra is--”

  “Thomas, that twig thing--I was talking to Cabra and I showed it to him and he says that he might know what it is, or at least a friend of his might. Hey, where’s Alison?”

  After a few seconds of looking around, Ben thought he caught a glimpse of her through a gap in the walls of books. But something was strange: her eyes were closed. She leaned forward and her face disappeared behind the books.

  “Alison!” called Ben, but she didn’t hear him. He walked around to the far side of the wall and coming around the corner he almost impaled himself on the set of spikes that reared up in front of him. The air stank of cigar smoke.

  Ben heard Lorenz quietly say something that sounded like you know, it’s crazy--this could be it.

  Alison looked up through the black spikes at Ben. She quickly wiped her lips. “Oh . . . hi, Ben.”

  “All ready for tomorrow?” said Lorenz without turning around, apparently not surprised that Ben had just appeared behind him.

  “Uhhh . . . yeah,” said Ben, trying to hide a whole bunch of weird emotions. “You just say when and we’ll be there, Lorenz.” What was going on here? Ben struggled to figure out what had just happened.

  “Excellent, Ben,” said Lorenz in a calm voice. He turned around to bare a sharp-toothed grin. “I was just explaining to your sister here how important the day is going to be . . . and how much I trust you.”

  Alison was looking at the ground.

  “Wait, didn’t you just accuse us of being spies?” asked Ben.

  “What?” Lorenz put on a phony look of insult. “Oh, that. Yeah, sorry about that. All part of the act, you know.”

  “Right,” said Ben. “Alison, could I talk to you for a moment?”

  “Sure,” said Alison in a cheerful voice.

  “Well, I’ll, uh, be seeing you both soon,” said Lorenz, and then he quickly took off back to his office, whistling and looking around. As he passed the now weeping Ming, he called out, “How is the pack up job going, Old Woman?”

  “Alison,” said Ben as he turned back to her, “Cabra says that amulet thing--you know, the twig--is really valuable and it he thinks it means something. It’s not a worthless souvenir. He’s going to take us to a South American history expert right now. Come on, we’re getting out of here.”

  “Oh, um . . . okay,” said Alison.

  As Ben led Alison away, and as the four of them ran over to Cabra, it felt like there something holding her back. It was as if she was less interested in where she was going than what she was leaving behind.

  Cabra and Mitty were waiting.

  “Are ye all ready, then? I suppose we shouldn’t tell Lorenz what we’re up to. Seems he’s got enough on his mind at the moment without havin’ to worry about what everyone’s doing. So, we’ll get Mitty to make a wee bit of a distraction here while we all sneak out.”

  Cabra bent down and whispered something into Mitty’s ear. The cat took off at once towards a collection of shelving units near the front door of the cavern. With the dexterity of a human, Mitty took a piece of rope in his teeth and jumped up onto the top shelf. By pushing the end of the rope through a hole in one of the rails, and then running around the piece of metal a few times, he fastened the rope tight. Next, he leaped down to the ground, picked up the other end of the rope, and ran in and out of the other shelving units until he had created a massive pulley system. He readjusted his bite on the end of the rope and then, with little feline grunts, tugged and tugged on the rope until the shelving unit started to sway back and forth. On the sixth tug, the whole thing toppled over and collided into the next shelving unit, until one by one, a giant cascade of dominoes tumbled through the cavern. Boxes came hurtling to the ground from every angle, and everyone, including the guard by the door, ran for cover. The cloud of dust was like an atomic blast.

  “Well, that should do it. Well done, Mitty!” said Cabra. He led them through the mess and over to the door. “And here we go!” he said. Mitty slipped through and Cabra gently closed the door after them. The last thing they heard of that place was Ming’s voice yelling above the chaos.

  “Argh, where is evil cat?!”

  After only thirty seconds, Ben noticed that Cabra had begun to walk much quicker. He couldn’t be certain in the faint light of Cabra’s flashlight, but it was almost like Cabra’s limp had disappeared.

  “How did Mitty do that?” asked Thomas.

  “Hmm?” said Cabra. “Oh, he’s a different cat, Thomas. I’ll show you what I mean once we get to my friend’s place.”

  After some random turns, but maybe only a minute or two, Cabra shone his flashlight up and revealed a hole in the ceiling. A rope ladder hung in the darkness.

  “I have my own little route in and out of here, ye see,” said Cabra. “Allows me a bit of freedom to come and go without anyone knowing my specific routes.” Cabra scrambled up the ladder and heaved open a hatch. The tunnel immediately filled with the smell of rain, the soft, warm fragrance that Ben hadn’t smelled in weeks. The ladder surfaced into an alley beside a garbage dumpster that looked strangely familiar.

  “Do ye know where we are, kids?” asked Cabra as he helped them up and out of the hole. “This very spot is where we first met. Ye were tryin’ to get to the airport if I recall correctly.”

  “Ahh,” said Thomas appreciatively.

  “That seems like so long ago,” said Hannah.

  The rainstorm was brutal and their clothes were soaked in seconds. Piles of trash had turned to mush and cars made whooshing
noises as they sliced through huge puddles.

  “Well then,” said Cabra as he turned up his collar against the rain. He picked Mitty up off the ground. “Hold Mitty for a second if ye would, Hannah. Yes, me old friend will know what to do. I think whatever ye have there, Ben, is probably quite valuable. And definitely more important than preparing for that little fracas Lorenz has planned for tomorrow. I do think he’s gone too far, unfortunately. Oh well, I’m sure no one will mind if we conveniently miss that unfortunate event.”

  “So where are you taking us?” asked Alison.

  Cabra didn’t seem to register the question. “Ben, now that we’re outside, could I see that amulet again?” Ben handed it over.

  Cabra placed it in his left pocket, and then reached into the right one. He pulled out a few small, silver disks that looked like coins. He arranged one on the tip of each finger and then, holding his fist out in front of him, slowly spread his fingers. Between each of them appeared a matrix of tiny blues lines. It almost looked as if he had grabbed a mess of bubblegum from his pocket and was making a sticky web in his fingers. He dangled the fingers of his other hand into the soup-like tangle of light. The lines of light started to spark and flash. A screen came to life on his palm, and then a face materialized. Through the rain and the dim light, Ben couldn’t make it out very well. Thomas, being Thomas, leaned in to get a closer look.

  “Eh, you kids mind?” said Cabra. “Top secret stuff here. Gimme some goddamned room.”

  “Yes?” asked a voice from Cabra’s hand.

  “Yeah, Cabra here. I need a car. Corner of Fifth and Riverbrook. Yeah, I got it. I’ll bring the kids, too. Just to be sure.” Cabra’s voice had changed. He had dropped his Scottish accent and was talking without his usual gentle politeness. He turned to the four of them and smiled. “Pretty damn cool, eh?” He closed his hand and the screen went dark. With his other hand, he picked the tiny silver stickers off each finger and dropped them back into his pocket.