by C Lee Tocci
“So you snuck into Alamos Tierra and bought clothes?” Todd worked to keep from yelling.
“No!” Marla sounded as appalled as Todd felt, but then she added in a calmer voice, “I sent Ulex into town for me.”
It was quiet as Todd absorbed this. Since Ulex lived most of the day underground, and the caverns ran under all the continents, it was not impossible for him to get under any place in the world. So even though he’d never thought about it before, it wasn’t surprising that Ulex could get in and out of Kiva whenever he wanted to, but Todd was still baffled.
“I don’t get it.” Todd said, shaking his head. Ulex was over seven feet tall and made of bendable crystal. It wasn’t as if he could walk into the General Store in Alamos Tierra and just lift things off the shelf. “Did he find an abandoned well that someone is dropping new clothes into?”
“Well, no.” Marla was back to looking sheepish again. “That’s where Jeff came in.”
Relieved to be able to turn his anger on a more reasonable target, Todd spun back towards Jeff. “Aha!”
“I needed my internet access,” said Jeff. “Marla needed new clothes. I had a bank account set up in Alamos Tierra with the money I got when I sold Lilibit’s nugget. Marla has Ulex.” Jeff popped a chunk of cornbread into his mouth and talked around it as he chewed. “It’s a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
Todd really wanted to shove the rest of the cornbread, along with his fist, down Jeff’s throat, but he was not only angry, he was also a little ashamed of himself. He’d been so absorbed with Sylvie, he was completely out of the loop with his own clan.
Marla, perhaps misreading Todd’s silence, rushed to fill in the gaps. “We’ve rented a little cabin on the outskirts of town. We did it by mail; Ulex snuck into Alamos Tierra in the middle of the night and dropped the lease and a check into the mailbox. Then, through the mail again, Jeff ordered all the computer stuff he needed and had it shipped to the cabin. Ulex burrowed up into the cabin, picked up the stuff when it arrived and brought it here.”
Jeff pulled out a small computer device, not much bigger than his hand and waved it under Todd’s nose. “Now, all I have to do is find it on the web, have it shipped and Ulex picks it up.” Jeff gloated as he leaned back into his mushroom.
“Do the Elders know about this?” Todd rubbed his head as he calmed down. Usually, his hair buzzed when trouble was brewing, but his scalp was quiet on this one.
“Well, no.” Marla answered. “At least, I don’t think so.”
Todd plopped onto his mushroom chair and began picking at the food set out there. The others, with varying levels of relief, sat down and started eating as well. After a minute, conversations started up again but Todd was quiet, thinking.
“Marla,” Todd said after a while. “We may need to talk to Gil-Salla about this. If Ulex can come and go underground, then that’s a breach in Kiva’s defenses. I think she needs to know about that.”
“Oh, it’s okay.” Marla answered quickly, perhaps too quickly. “Ulex says no one can enter through the caverns but him. Sometimes, some of his friends from the Nether Rock come to visit and for some reason, they can’t pass any further than the point that runs under the Sienna Sentries. I think that whatever power protects the valley, it goes all the way down to the caverns and only Ulex can get through. I figure that it’s because he has Oji-Tay. Besides, there’s a whole bunch of Netherockians down there and they’re guarding the caverns leading to Kiva. Ulex says that the Elders of the Nether Rock want to be sure that the Infant Stone Voice is kept safe.”
Todd might have said more, but at that moment, said Infant Stone Voice herself, as oblivious as ever, decided to return. Lilibit, smudged with dirt from head to toe, made her usual exuberant entrance into the hogan and threw herself onto her favorite mushroom chair.
“I am so hungry!” she said as she grabbed a mango and bit into it without peeling it first. “I climbed all the way to the top of Otwega today. I bet I’m the first one ever to get all the way to the top!”
Todd gave up half a smile and went back to thinking. It was quiet while everyone watched him.
“What’s up?” Lilibit asked, picking up on the mood.
“Todd’s got wind of the Jeff and Ulex supply connection,” Devon whispered.
“Oh, good.” Lilibit said as she nibbled on cheese. “’Bout time. He needs new shoes.”
Todd snorted a laugh as he looked down at his feet. His heels hung over the backs of his sneakers and the laces had long since shredded into dust.
“Black. Size eight and a half,” he said as he reached for a hunk of corn bread.
“On their way, boss!” The palm computer beeped without Jeff even touching the buttons and the screen glowed with a picture of a pair of new sneakers. “They’ll be here tomorrow night.”
Todd was still feeling a little uneasy about the whole thing, but he couldn’t remember ever owning a brand new pair of sneakers before, so he swallowed his misgivings along with the cornbread and reached for one of the boiled eggs.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The Flight of the Hummingbird
It was an hour or two before dawn and the sky had just begun thinking about getting light. Lilibit had a little trouble finding the right spot, but eventually she reached it.
Crawling up the bluff, she looked down into the gap where Todd and Sylvie had been face-sucking until she’d ambushed them. Looking around, she tried to remember what happened next.
Devon, Nita and I ran down this way, she thought as she retraced her steps. Then, about here, we split up. Lilibit trotted as she looked around. And it was right about here that Todd almost caught me. And then, all of a sudden, I was flying.
She leapt, trying to recapture the feeling, but nothing happened. She tried again. And again, nothing. She bit her lip and went back to the top of the bluff.
This time she ran as if she were being chased, as fast as she could, her legs pumping as her feet skidded over the gravel. She reached the point where Todd had almost caught her and she leaped.
She fell forward, skinning her knees and her palms. She sat on the ground for a moment, fuming, staring back at the bluff and waiting for her hands to stop stinging. She pulled herself to her feet, brushed off her legs and walked slowly back up.
What was it that Keotak-se said? A trigger is a phrase that helps you recall the sensation of the morph. For the wolf, she’d found that one pretty easily. Stupid Nov’m, she thought with a smirk. But she hadn’t been saying anything when she’d turned into a hummingbird.
She started running again, remembering how Devon and Nita were slowing her down. Split Up! she’d yelled. Lilibit leapt forward as she called out “Split Up!”
Lilibit looked down. Her very human feet still ran on the ground beneath her.
She kept up her sprint as she tried to remember. No, it had been a minute or two after Devon and Nita had peeled off before she’d changed. What had she been doing? Todd had been gaining on her, he’d been really mad. Lilibit grinned at the memory. But then he started to slow down a bit, so she’d said… what did she say?
Oh, yeah, now I remember.
“Kissy Kissy Kissy Face!” she cried, and looked down again.
It was hard to say what she noticed first; that her breath no longer tugged ragged in her chest, or that the ground was suddenly ten feet beneath her. She could see her hummingbird wings blurring at the edge of her vision.
She whizzed back and forth, delighting in her speed and mobility. She could fly so fast, then stop and hover. She zipped like a ricocheting bullet over the meadows.
It was harder to hold the form of a hummingbird. Twice Lilibit felt herself changing back. She tried calling out Kissy Kissy! In her head, but she kept falling. But when she tried Kissy Face! it worked. The first time she caught herself right before she would have hit the ground, but the second time, she barely lost her hummingbird form at all.
The sun was almost up. The Raven’s hogan would be waking up soon and th
ey’d be looking for her. Besides, it was getting too light out. She didn’t want all the Busybodies-Who-Watch-And-Wait to see what she’d been up to. For now, this would be her secret.
Quite proud of herself, she morphed into a wolf and scampered back to the Crescent Courtyard.
Lilibit knew she should be heading straight for 660 Main Street, but the cactus flowers were blooming and they smelled so sweet. She stopped again to take a sip. She’d lost track of the number of blossoms she’d tasted on the way; the nectar smelled too delicious to pass by.
Finally, once clear of the Sienna Sentries, she morphed back into a girl. Standing under a budding oak, she felt a little uneasy. She hadn’t been this anxious when she snuck out of Alamos Tierra last time, but this time, she felt a prickly feeling down her spine, as if someone were watching her. Yet when she scanned the horizon, all she could see were rocky cliffs and scrabbly desert. She shook her head and turned to the south. The buildings of Alamos Tierra looked like a stripe of dark brown against the tan and green hills behind it.
“Stupid Nov’m!” she cried.
A small black wolf raced towards the little town.
On the outskirts of town, she morphed back into a hummingbird. A wolf, even a small black one, walking the streets of Alamos Tierra would definitely be noticed, but no one would look twice at a small bird. She flitted and dove down the streets.
Even this close to her goal, there was something about the sweet smell of pollen in the air that kept distracting her. She stopped again and again to drink, but at least she was heading in the right direction. Finally, she found a lemon tree full of tiny blossoms, right behind the building numbered 660 Main Street. She sipped through a half dozen flowers before she whizzed down an alley, landing on a trash bin. It toppled as she changed back into a human and both she and the bin clattered onto the ground. She looked around sheepishly as she stood up and brushed dust and garbage off her clothes.
The building at 660 Main Street seemed out of place in Alamos Tierra. Only three stories tall, it was still the tallest building in town. And although it was twenty or more years old, it was the newest building in town with large tinted glass windows and shiny chrome trim. Lilibit’s hands made two sloppy smudges on the glass door as she pushed into the lobby.
The walls and furniture were all different shades of grey. The air smelled strange and stale and when the door closed behind her, all the sounds of the world outside disappeared, sucked up into the plush carpet. At the far end of the lobby, a woman sat behind a counter, her hair sprayed into a rigid helmet. She didn’t acknowledge Lilibit’s entrance, but kept tapping her fingers on a keyboard and staring at a flashing monitor.
Lilibit walked slowly across the lobby. The room felt weird to her, as if people never smiled here. It reminded her of someplace she’d been before. A flash of a memory flitted through her mind; but that was a white room and cold faces with white clothes. This room was all grey. She shook off the thought and approached the desk.
The woman did not look up from the screen. Lilibit shifted her weight from one foot to another and cleared her throat. Still, the woman ignored her. Lilibit rose up on tiptoes and leaned over the desk, trying to peek at what could be on the monitor that was so interesting. Finally, the woman looked over at her coldly.
“My friend, Jeff has a computer too!” Lilibit shared with a smile. “He can go anywhere with it!”
“Really.” The woman sounded annoyed and bored. “Are you looking for someone?”
“Yes!” Lilibit beamed a smile at her. “My aunts.”
“Are you supposed to meet them here?”
“I don’t know.” Lilibit frowned. “Are they here?”
The woman glared at Lilibit. “Obviously not. Why don’t you go someplace else and find them.”
Lilibit pulled out the tattered and stained business card from her pocket. “Do you know someone named Serafino Sexton?” she asked as she read the name.
The woman’s attitude changed immediately. She straightened in her chair and looked at Lilibit with surprise before rising swiftly to her feet. “Please. Have a seat. I’ll be right back.” She turned and walked to the wall in the back of the lobby, pushing through a door that blended into the wall so closely, Lilibit hadn’t noticed it before.
Lilibit looked around the room. There were a couple of pieces of furniture that might be chairs, but they looked hard and uncomfortable. She opted to sit on the floor instead. The carpet smelled like chemicals, but it was softer than the chairs. Lilibit waited.
She didn’t have to wait long. The woman returned quickly and with a smile as warm as it was phony, she held open the disappearing door. “Please. Follow me.”
Lilibit jumped up and walked through the door. The woman wrinkled her nose and pursed her lips as she passed. The walls in this hallway were done in lighter shades of grey and were hung with framed pictures of oddly colored nothings. Lilibit stopped to stare at one that looked a green bat having a squirt gun fight with a purple watermelon.
“Ahem.” The woman was at the end of the hallway, standing by a closed door. Lilibit scurried to catch up.
She opened the door and held it ajar, not entering herself. “Here she is, sir.”
Lilibit stepped in and stared.
A man behind a large desk rose to his feet. His hair was blond, his skin was golden brown, his eyes were blue and his chin was strong and chiseled. He looked like he could be the hero in one of the books she read, maybe even a prince. Lilibit mouth opened in awe.
The door closed quietly behind her.
“Please,” he said with a voice as soft as a breeze. “Come in. Have a seat.”
Lilibit edged her way into the room. Unlike the hallways and the lobby, this room was decorated with plants and pastels. A large sunny window looked out onto the lemon tree out back. She sat on one of the chairs and stared at the man.
“Are you Serafino Sexton?” Her own voice sounded tiny and stupid in her ears.
The man smiled. A gleaming white smile. The most beautiful smile Lilibit had ever seen. “No, but he is a friend of mine. My name is David Dauntry, but you may call me Duke. How can I help you?”
Lilibit couldn’t help but smile back. “Well, Mr. Duke. Someone told me that Mr. Sexton might know my aunts. Do you think you could call him and ask him?”
“And what would your name be?”
“Lilibit,” she answered. “I don’t know anymore than just Lilibit.”
Duke nodded as if he had already known the answer to his own question before he asked it. “In that case, I think I can help you.”
Lilibit held her breath.
“I have both sad news and happy news for you.” Duke looked sad and sympathetic. “I’m afraid your aunts are no longer with us.”
For a moment, Lilibit stared, not understanding what he meant.
“Where’d they go?” she asked at last.
Duke watched her closely as he spoke gently. “I’m afraid they died in a car accident. The same one that caused your head injury.”
“Oh.” Lilibit struggled to absorb this new information. She had aunts once, but now they were dead.
Duke reached out and patted Lilibit’s arm.
“What were their names?” Lilibit asked with a whisper. “I can’t remember them at all.”
“Shalla and Wolla Moore. They took care of you after your parents died when you were a baby.”
“Oh,” Lilibit said again. The names might be familiar, but she had no memories to link them. They meant nothing to her. “How did my parents die?”
“In a fire. Your aunts told me once, the apartment building caught fire and they were able to throw you to safety, but they didn’t get out themselves.” Duke voice practically ached with sympathy.
“Oh.” She didn’t seem able to say anything else. She stood up blindly. “Well, I think I have to go now. Thank you for telling me this.”
“Wait!” The small sympathetic smile was gone. He was back to his big gleaming smile. “I tol
d you I had good news for you too! Don’t you want to hear it?”
Lilibit shook her head trying to shake her mind back to work, but Duke assumed she was saying no.
“Oh, c’mon! It’s very good news! I’m so excited to tell you!”
Lilibit forced a polite smile. “Okay,” she said softly.
“Before your aunts died, they named me as your guardian. I’ve already gone through all the legal steps. It’s official! I’ve adopted you. You’re my little girl! Isn’t that wonderful?”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Uncle Duke
Adopted?
Bewildered, Lilibit stared at Duke as he smiled blindingly.
“But I don’t want to be adopted.” Lilibit thought she sounded ruder than she meant to, so she added. “I mean, thank you very much, but I don’t want to be adopted. Sir. I’m fine.”
“Now don’t be silly,” Duke was patience itself. “All children need a grownup to take care of them. Make sure that they have food and clothing. And toys. Any toy you could imagine! I’m very rich. I could buy you anything you’d want. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Lilibit didn’t have to think about that question for too long. She wasn’t that interested in clothes and she didn’t have much experience with toys. Jeff had told her about all the things he could get now with his new computer, but even though Jeff was very excited about them all, they weren’t that appealing to her.
“No, thank you,” she answered politely. “I have plenty of food and clothes and I don’t need toys. I really have to get going now. I’ll be in big trouble if I don’t get back before dinner.”
She headed for the door but it opened before she could reach it. The helmet-haired receptionist stepped in, looking only at Duke.
“Holly,” Duke asked with a smile, “could you get us some milk and cookies?”
Helmet-haired Holly looked appalled for only a moment before fixing a glassy smile on her face. “Yes, sir,” she answered. She shot a quick look at Lilibit as if she were a bug. The door closed behind her with a click.