Root

by LeeAnn McLennan

  Right now, I had a responsibility to stop that thing. I texted Aunt Kate with a description of the creature. When she responded, asking me to meet her at the warehouse, I Glamoured up and dashed off.

  The rest of the Brighthalls waited for me. Zoe and Kevin had already strapped on their weapons and Aunt Kate sat in front of the computer station with Uncle Dan pacing behind her. No one commented on the absence of Six. Obviously, she was invited only if she was aware of a hunt.

  To my relief, Aunt Kate didn’t bother asking me why I’d been on the esplanade so late. She went straight into briefing mode. “I think you ran into a volucris.” She displayed a drawing that matched the creature. I bent over to stare at the man-shaped thing with large, claw-tipped wings stretched out behind it. Like the one we’d seen at the waterfront, the creature’s face was cruel and overly toothy.

  I nodded. “Yeah, that’s it.” I took my sword when Zoe handed it to me. “What can it do? Can it fly?” Now that I thought about it, it was strange that the thing hadn’t flown after Anna and me.

  “No, it uses its wings to glide, and those claws on each wing are blade-sharp.” Aunt Kate tapped a few keys before continuing, “It prefers to live in high places and dive down on its prey.” She frowned, her lips pursing thoughtfully. “It’s unusual for it to attack from the ground.”

  “What’s the highest spot around there?” Zoe asked as she checked her gear.

  “Looks like there’s a concrete processing factory nearby,” Aunt Kate answered. “That’s a good place to start searching.”

  Kevin adjusted his sword. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  “Me, too.” I moved towards the door, anxious to stop the volucris before it hurt anyone. Assuming it hadn’t already.

  “Kids,” Uncle Dan spoke up for the first time since I arrived, “let’s try and take this alive. Since it can speak, maybe we question it. Maybe it knows why so many creatures are coming to Portland.”

  “Sure thing, Uncle Dan,” Zoe agreed.

  I wasn’t so sure I wanted the thing to live, not after it had threatened Anna. I didn’t say anything for fear of letting it slip about Anna knowing my secret.

  Zoe and Kevin followed me to the spot where the volucris had attacked Anna and me less than an hour ago. The shredded remains of the backpack lay scattered around the ground, along with the entire six-pack of beer. I wrinkled my nose at the sour smell of cheap alcohol. It didn’t hide the rank blood scent of the volucris. I wondered if it had tried to use the beer to mask its smell. If so, it would be cleverer than expected. Aunt Kate and the rest of the Brighthalls insisted the various creatures we hunted were just animals, incapable of complicated thoughts. I was starting to wonder if they were wrong – the Blattarian had displayed an unexpected level of strategy in luring us to the grain factory and the volucris had been passing for human fairly well. Up until the big reveal, of course.

  “This way.” I waved in the direction of the concrete factory, since the trail seemed to lead there.

  We moved cautiously, Glamoured up, each holding our weapon of choice. Once we got past the smell of beer, the trail was even easier to follow. The carrion scent was so strong even a normal would be able to smell it. I clenched my teeth in anger; this creature had threatened my best friend.

  The dark night was so quiet that I could hear the river flowing a quarter of a mile away. We followed the trail to the factory. There were several buildings enclosed within the chain link fence. I thought the most likely spot for the volucris to lurk was the tall structure made up of several silos of varying heights. Or possibly the conveyor leading from the forest silos to a larger, stand-alone silo.

  At Zoe’s wave, we leapt over the fence without a sound and approached the silos. It was dark and quiet, with very few lights around. In the faint light, I saw the glitter of glass on the ground. Glancing up, I saw that a few of the spotlights near the silos had broken light bulbs.

  At the base, I stood, looking up, my sword ready. My nose wrinkled at the smell. The thing was up there, and I knew it.

  “Guess we climb up?” Kevin asked uncertainly.

  “Yep.” Zoe looped her whip around her arm. Grasping the ladder on the side of the building, she started hauling herself up quickly.

  Whoop, thump. I stiffened at the noise of something landing behind me. I whirled around to face the volucris.

  “So, you came back.” The voice was barely recognizable. Now it was all hissy. “Couldn’t stay away, could you?”

  Zoe jumped down, landing in a crouch and flicking out her whip. Kevin took a sturdy fighting stance, angling his sword.

  The volucris raised its wings, claws snapping menacingly. “You’re all so young, so tender.”

  I couldn’t stop the shudder down my back, but my sword didn’t waver. The thing was like a creepy stalker wrapped up in a bird costume. Fury surged through me and I raised my sword, stepping forward to engage the creature. I thought briefly of using my abilities, but I wanted the satisfaction of a fight with the creature to burn off my anger at it for menacing my friend.

  The volucris sliced a claw at me and I danced out of reach. It grinned, showing its multitude of tiny teeth. “So lucky to run into a Brighthall so soon after arriving in your lovely city.” It dodged away from the tip of Zoe’s whip. “You are all Brighthalls, I assume?”

  “Why are you here?” I shouted at it, lunging forward with my sword. Behind the volucris, Kevin shook a length of rope out of his bag.

  The thing winced when Zoe landed a series of blows on its back. It hissed at me, “He told me to pay you a visit.”

  He? Who was the creature talking about?

  Sensing my confusion, it darted forward and I managed to slice its leg with my sword. It stumbled back and Zoe’s whip lashed into its side.

  The volucris bent over, hands planted on its thighs, panting. Kevin came up from behind and lassoed it with the rope, pinning its arms and wings to its body. The volucris screamed – a piercing cry that made us all wince – and Kevin dropped the rope. When the rope went slack, the volucris raised its wings and ran at me. Instinctively I held up my sword in defense and the thing ran straight into the blade, coming within inches of my face before blood gurgled out of its mouth in a death rattle.

  Shocked, I shoved it away, staring as it landed in a limp heap on the ground – its eyes wide open in death. My sword stuck out of its chest.

  “What the…?” Kevin sounded as surprised as I felt. “Is it just me or did that thing run into your sword on purpose?”

  Zoe shook her head. “I don’t know. It looked like it did, didn’t it?” She pulled my sword out of the volucris’ chest with a sucking sound. I took it gingerly and cleaned it off in the grass before sheathing it.

  “Man, Uncle Dan’s going to be annoyed,” Kevin commented as he coiled up the rope.

  I winced. “I didn’t mean to kill it.” I appealed to my cousins, “You saw. It wanted to die instead of being captured, I guess.” The whole situation was surreal.

  “Well, we need some help with disposal.” Zoe pulled out her phone. “Hey, Mom. Yeah, the thing chose death,” she grimaced. “Yeah, I know but…” She rolled her eyes. “Okay, we’re at the factory.” She ended the call. “Uncle Dan is on his way with the van.”

  I sighed. “I guess we’d better do what we can to clean up while we’re waiting.” I regarded the body, remembering what the volucris had said. “Who do you think it meant? When it said ‘he’?”

  “I don’t know,” Kevin gave me a concerned look, “but it sounds like someone is sending these creatures here to target us, doesn’t it?”

  Chapter 11

  “I thought the plan was to take the creature alive?” Uncle Dan asked in a sardonic tone when he arrived with the van.

  I held my hands wide. “I know, but it chose death over dishonor.”

  I knew my lame attempt at a joke would fall flat, but I didn’t expect the dark glare from Uncle Dan.

  “Hey, Uncle Dan.” Zoe distracted him by l
ifting up the volucris. “Can you open the door?” The creature’s limp wings dragged on the ground as Zoe carried it to the back of the van.

  Uncle Dan opened the double doors so Zoe could slide the body onto the tarp spread across the floor.

  Kevin returned from scouting around the perimeter of the factory. He shook his head when Zoe asked if there was anyone around who might have seen the fight, then asked, “Did you tell Uncle Dan what the creature said?”

  Uncle Dan slammed the van doors shut. “No, they didn’t.”

  I quickly answered, “The volucris said it was sent. It said he sent it.” I remembered what the Blattarian had said. “Is this what the Blattarian meant by worse was coming our way?” I frowned and looked at Uncle Dan.

  He was staring at the van, chewing the inside of his cheek. He blew out a breath. “It didn’t say anything about who ‘he’ is?” He nodded as if he’d expected our chorus of ‘no’s.’ “Sure would be nice if it were alive to tell us more.”

  “Hey!” I started to protest, but Kevin gripped my arm in warning when Uncle Dan slowly faced me.

  “Olivia, we will work on your reflexes in your next training session.” Uncle Dan pointed at the van, indicating we should all get in. “Obviously, you’re too quick to kill.”

  Stunned by his assumption I’d killed the volucris on purpose, I stood still, trying to come up with a defense. Kevin gave me a gentle nudge to get into the van before I could think of anything to say.

  I climbed into the back seat and slumped down, arms crossed, sulking. No one spoke on the short drive back to the warehouse.

  Aunt Kate waited for us in the containment room. “Put it on the examination table, please.”

  Zoe draped the volucris on the steel table as we clustered around to look down at the body.

  Aunt Kate looked critically at the gaping hole in the volucris’ chest. A thin line of blood dribbled out of the wound, staining the tattered shirt. She lifted up one claw, peering closely at it with obvious fascination.

  Before she could comment on the dead state of the volucris, I said, “So the thing, the volucris, told us someone sent it.”

  She set down the claw and straightened up with a puzzled look. “Someone sent it?” She looked at the body as if hoping for an answer. “Interesting.” She tapped a finger on her lips, eyebrows drawn together thoughtfully. After a moment, she looked at me. “And the Blattarian said worse was coming our way.” She didn’t wait for my nod before muttering, “Who would do this? Why?” as she walked out of the room.

  Recognizing Aunt Kate in the throes of deep thought, we all followed her back to her workstation. She tapped a few keys on the wireless keyboard as she stepped back to look at the large wall screen that displayed her map of our hunts over the past month. As I watched, a flashing red dot appeared over the factory where we’d fought the volucris.

  Uncle Dan stood to one side, glaring darkly at the screen as if it existed to offend him personally. He folded his arms over his chest but stayed silent.

  Zoe, Kevin, and I all found chairs, exchanging glances that acknowledged Aunt Kate’s investigative mood.

  “I guess the best explanation for the increased number of creatures is that someone is sending them to Portland.” Aunt Kate’s eyes were narrow as she gazed at the screen. “But why? To what purpose? And who?”

  I stifled a laugh when Zoe raised her hand. She ignored me as she asked her mother, “The Council? Could they be the ones sending the monsters?”

  “What reason would the Council have for sending a bunch of monsters to Portland?” Kevin asked.

  “Well,” Zoe shifted uncomfortably, shooting a look at Uncle Dan before saying quickly, “because they blame us for what happened with Emma.”

  I held my breath, expecting Uncle Dan to explode with anger.

  “Young lady –” he snapped.

  But Aunt Kate said, “Dan, quiet.”

  He subsided with a frown.

  Keeping her eyes on her brother, Aunt Kate continued talking. “That’s an interesting idea, Zoe, but I doubt the Council would be so sneaky about administering punishment on us if they really believed we were responsible in any way.”

  “So who could it be?” I stared at the numerous dots scattered across the map, my fingers twitching at the memory of so many hunts.

  “Other than the Council not liking us too much right now, I guess there’s Emma. Could her escape be connected?” Zoe asked tentatively, very obviously not looking at Uncle Dan.

  “Perhaps. We can’t discount it, but the timing is off. The increase in monster incursions started two weeks before the escape.” Aunt Kate shook her head. “I need to think about this and do some digging.” She glanced at the clock. “And it’s late. Time everyone went home for the night.”

  Kevin didn’t move. “One question. Do we tell Six and, by extension, The Octad?”

  “And possibly the Council?” I added.

  Aunt Kate set down the keyboard while giving Uncle Dan a querying look. When he shook his head, she grimaced and nodded. “Not yet. We need to collect more data.” She rubbed the back of her neck tiredly. “For all we know, the volucris always says someone sent it.”

  Her weak tone told me she didn’t believe that for a minute, but I agreed we shouldn’t tell Six anything until we knew more. From my cousins’ expressions, I could tell they felt the same way. If someone was targeting the Brighthalls, we needed to find out why and stop them ourselves.

  In a flat voice, Uncle Dan reminded us to clean our weapons before grabbing his jacket and stalking out of the warehouse.

  As I cleaned the last of the volucris blood from my sword, Zoe leaned beside me, running her hands over the leather of her whip, checking it for damage. I said quietly, “Could it be Mountain of Ash?”

  She nodded. “I’m kind of wondering that myself.” She gave me a serious look. “But I keep coming back to why? Do they consider us a threat? Or do they just want to harass us?” She coiled up her whip and placed it in her locker.

  My sword clean, I carefully sheathed it and hung it in my own locker. “I don’t know enough about Mountain of Ash to know what their motivation might be.” I shrugged one shoulder in frustration, realizing I was too tired to process it now. “I’d better get home.”

  “Yeah. See you tomorrow.” Zoe headed over to talk to her mother.

  I realized Kevin had already left without saying goodbye. I waved to Aunt Kate as I exited the warehouse. My run home was mercifully uneventful.

  Dad had left a large bowl of gumbo for me to heat up, along with a note that he had an early morning and had gone to bed. I stuck my head into his bedroom to tell him I was home before warming up my dinner.

  While I ate, I texted Anna. Mission successful. I didn’t want to go into details in a text in case someone other than Anna saw the exchange.

  A few minutes later, she texted back. Cool. L8r.

  Once dinner was finished, I remembered an essay I had only partially written that was due tomorrow. With a sigh, I headed to my room to finish it and the rest of my homework, wishing one of the supernormal package abilities was the power to get out of doing schoolwork.

  Chapter 12

  When I arrived at the warehouse after school on Wednesday, Kevin was waiting outside, jiggling car keys and bouncing on the balls of his feet. When he saw me walking towards him, he said, “Hey, come on, we’ve got a monster hunt.” He steered me towards the Sprinter van.

  I pulled away, puzzled by his haste. “Can I drop my bag off first?”

  “No.” Kevin tugged at the strap of my book bag. “Six is in there and if you go in, she’ll want to come with us.”

  “Okay, yeah, let’s go.” The firebug hunt with Six had been fine, but I didn’t want her along as a habit, especially since we’d decided not to mention what the volucris had said. If this latest creature talked about being sent to Portland while Six was around, it would be awkward.

  “Olivia, Kevin, where are you going? You need to wait for Six t
o join you. Reports are that it’s an animal-like creature.” Uncle Dan’s voice stopped us both. We exchanged chagrined looks before facing our uncle. I noted his description of the creature being animal-like. It must be his code to assure Kevin and me that this creature can’t talk to us and give anything away about the possibility it came to Portland to mess with the Brighthalls.

  Despite my annoyance at not making our escape in time, I had to hold back a laugh. Six was dressed all in black, down to her sturdy boots. She even wore a black hoodie with the hood pulled up. She looked like a stylish ninja. I glanced down at my jeans, striped shirt and rain jacket. Kevin’s outfit matched mine in style but not color. No one would take us for anything but high school students hanging out. Even though we used the Glamour to move undetected, it was still best to dress to blend in.

  Kevin glanced at the ground. “Sorry Uncle Dan.”

  Uncle Dan harrumphed before saying, “Check in when you get back.” He turned and walked back into the warehouse.

  We stood awkwardly for a moment while I tried to think of something to say that didn’t sound like we were making excuses to leave Six behind. Finally, Six broke the silence.

  “We expect to be included in all activities. Trying to exclude us makes you look like you have something to hide.” She folded her arms over her chest, her face shadowed by the black cloth of her hoodie.

  Kevin’s head jerked up as if she’d hit him and he glared at her. “You don’t know any –”

  “Hey, let’s get going. Lots to do, monsters to catch,” I said hastily before Kevin could say something stupid.

  Kevin turned and marched off to the van with Six and me trailing along behind.

  According to Kevin, the last report of the creature had come from near Colonel Summers Park. Kevin drove while Six sat shotgun and I sat behind Kevin. I studied the back of Six’s head as she swayed slightly with the motion of Kevin’s erratic driving. In addition to her ninja style outfit, she’d pulled her long hair back into a tight French braid. I ruffled the ends of my jaw-length hair, wondering if Aunt Kate would have let me keep my long hair if I’d agreed to braid it for patrol. I doubted it; Aunt Kate’s rules were all about being ready to fight. Moreover, long hair was like a superhero’s cape – easy to grab onto during a fight. The big bads weren’t likely to wait while I carefully braided my hair back.