“She’s here!” someone yelled from the end of the hallway.
Wes. He stuck his head out of the control room. “I knew I smelled you. I’m sure you know where you need to go. Good luck.”
I did know where I needed to go. Straight downstairs to Mr. Mason. Down the elevator and a long hallway to his dark dismal office, which I’d consider to be a dungeon. At the great steel door, I knocked and waited. The door slid open on its own.
Inside, Mr. Mason sat in a huge armchair, the back of his chair reaching far above his head and folding back like a flower petal. Unfortunately, Cadence was also in the room sitting in a chair with her feet propped up. She rolled her large eyes when she saw me.
“Have a seat,” Mr. Mason said dryly.
Cadence patted the chair next to her. Slight amusement flashed in her eyes. I nestled myself into the seat. If I was about to be reamed a new one, I should at least be comfortable.
Mr. Mason sighed and rubbed his chin. “It seems we have a problem . . . again. Why is it that you have so many problems, Ms. Moss?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know. Dumb luck?
Mr. Mason looked from me to Cadence, who was probably savoring every second of this. Why did she have to be there?
“Anyway, you have broken the code, one of the most important and sacred rules at that. What were you thinking telling that girl about us?”
He had every right to be angry, so I didn’t bother to argue. “I didn’t mean to. When I told her, I made it sound like it were just a made up story. No Human would really believe it. Then on Monday, that was stupid. I had no idea she would follow me down here. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
Mr. Mason narrowed his eyes at me.
“What happened after that was worse,” Cadence said. “You tried to kill us for her. You put our lives in danger again to save a Human. How many times are we supposed to forgive you for that?”
It sounded awful when she put it that way. “I wasn’t going to hurt anybody but I wasn’t about to let them hurt Imani. She’s defenseless against you guys. I just wanted to scare you. She’s never done anything to anyone. All she’s guilty of is being nosey.”
Mr. Mason waved his hand dismissively. “No matter. My son has taken care of her.” Hollis must have lied to his father. I owed him big. Hollis had done a lot for me. “Anyway,” Mr. Mason continued. “Aside from you giving away our location, your ridiculous stunt could have killed every creature in that hallway. There must be a punishment for your infractions, this time. The next time there will be no forgiveness.”
I swallowed hard. “What kind of punishment?” It had been ages since my parents had grounded me, given me extra chores, or anything like that. Something told me Mr. Mason’s punishment was going to be much harsher.
“You’re coming with us to find snapperwhips in the woods,” Cadence announced cheerfully.
“What?” So many things about that sentence just sounded wrong.
“Snapperwhips,” Cadence repeated. “They’re the only things the Chupacabras will eat and we can only find them in certain parts of the woods. They’re incredibly disgusting and hard to find. I’m in charge of the weekly collection. You’ll be joining me and the others the day after tomorrow. I hope those shoes are comfy and you will be getting that pretty dress dirty.”
Mr. Mason removed a small hour glass from his top drawer and slammed it on his desk. “That’s letting you off easy. Of course, you will also have two days of solitary.” He pointed to the hour glass and light blue sand began to fall from the top half to the bottom half. “We have already notified your father so he will know not to expect you.”
I sat up in my seat. “What? What do you mean solitary?”
Mr. Mason scribbled something on a pad as if he were done talking to me. “You. In a room. By yourself for two days to contemplate the stupidity of your actions. We must think before we do things, especially you, when your thoughts can be deadly.”
I leapt to my feet, almost knocking my chair over. “I’m not doing that. You can’t make me stay here. I have to go to school and . . . stuff. I’m going home.”
Cadence chuckled and the door slid open. A massive creature walked in with the head and body of a boy, but the feet like a horse—a Cecrops. Roughly, he pinned my arms behind my back and pulled me from the room. Down the hallway I went with him, kicking and screaming to a dark room at the very end. Grunting, he shoved me inside, switched on the light, and then slammed the steel door shut behind me.
I groped at the door, but like other doors in the lair, there was no handle. No way to open it, at least from the inside. In one corner of the room was an old beat up mattress. In the other corner, a tiny room which contained a toilet and a sink. That was all.
I banged on the door, screaming until my throat was raw, even though I knew there was little chance anyone down there would help me. Maybe Dad would make Mason release me. There was no way he could be okay with this. One thing I knew for sure, I was going to lose it being stuck in that room for two days.
Exhausted from the banging and yelling, I collapsed onto the mattress. The thin sheet that covered it smelled surprisingly like the dryer sheets Mom used.
I clutched the sheet to my chest and leaned against the wall. There, I spent hours sitting in silence, wondering how my life had become so insane, until someone finally came to the door.
It must have been night by then. Cadence entered the room with a steaming bowl of something. She was the last person I wanted to see, but I was starving. I snatched the hot bowl gratefully.
Whatever is was, it looked like oatmeal. “What is this?” I asked, sniffing the contents.
Cadence rolled her eyes. “Cornish hen mash. It’s delicious. Or would you like us to order a pizza and caviar for her majesty?”
I stuck my spoon into the bowl and sighed. I wasn’t about to give Cadence the satisfaction of rattling me. She wanted to see me break. If anything, I was about to pretend that this solitary confinement was perfectly okay.
“This is fine.” I tasted a tiny mouthful. “Hmmmm.” And it was good. I hadn’t tasted anything in the lair that tasted bad even though their food was different from what I was used to. I guessed I had the taste buds for Taker food.
I waited for Cadence to leave but instead she crouched in front of me, staring me down as I ate.
“Do you need something?” I asked.
She had a mischievous glint in her eye. “Tomorrow night is not going to be a picnic for you.”
I straightened my shoulders to show her I wasn’t nervous. She would feed off that. “I don’t expect it to be.”
Then Cadence did something unexpected. She reached out and lay her hand on my cheek. Her touch was ice cold—so cold, it almost stung. “What’s it like?”
I shivered. “What’s what like?”
“Being able to pass. To be one of them. To do whatever you want to do. To be beautiful.”
I wasn’t sure how to answer that or how to take Cadence’s demeanor. She didn’t seem angry as she usually did. She seemed like she genuinely wanted to know what it was like to be me.
“There’s not much going on outside of here,” I lied. There were millions of opportunities out there, but they would never be available to Cadence, so what would be the point of bringing them up? “What do you think you’re missing?”
She shrugged and picked at a loose thread on her jeans. I knew right then what I would do with my lilac fabric; make Cadence a dress. She needed to feel beautiful and a pretty dress always did that for me. Cadence let out a deep breath. “Choices. Options. The world is a big place, Arden and you have access to all of it. We don’t. We have no choice but to stay hidden. And . . .”
“And what?”
“Never mind.”
“Is it about Hollis?” I knew I was taking a risk asking that, but I wanted to know. I had a feeling Cadence was overdue for some girl talk. As far as I knew, she was the oldest girl in the lair and she probably didn’t have many people
to talk to. I sensed a lot of her anger stemmed from me being able to live like a normal teenager, when she couldn’t. Even though she would never admit it, I knew Cadence wanted that.
She looked at me sharply and then back down again. “Hollis and I are friends, nothing more.”
“I know, but I think you’d like to be more than friends, but you can’t because he’s an Aswang and you’re a Harpy.”
Mixing across species was strictly forbidden in the creature world. My biological parents had done it and the result had been me. Now according to creature law, I could never mix with anyone.
I placed the bowl on the floor beside me. “Listen, Cadence, love and dating aren’t all it’s cracked up to be. As a matter of fact, it sucks for me. I like one guy who won’t like me back. Another has this creepy obsession with me that I can’t even go into, and just the other day I was forced into a date with the person I hate the most in this world. Trust me, you’ll probably be much better off pairing off with a nice Harpy.”
She stood, brushing her jeans off with broad swipes. “Maybe so. I don’t care much anyways. I’ll see you for breakfast.”
Then she left me alone to wander what my family was doing and if they were missing me. For the rest of the night it was just me, my bowl of mush and the rumbling of the beasts in the sixth tunnel. I longed for my own bed where I felt safe and didn’t have to listen to the constant roaring of vicious monsters.
In the morning Cadence didn’t bring my breakfast as I expected, Violet did. I had to admit I was much happier to see her.
She handed me a metal plate. “Scrambled pheasant eggs. They’re the best.”
I dug in hungrily as she settled herself on the mattress beside me. “I asked if I could bring you breakfast because I wanted to see you.”
“Why?”
“People still call me Cuddle Bug.”
I wished I had more advice for her, but I didn’t. “Keep at it. Stay strong on your demands and don’t answer to it. They’ll come around.”
Violet stared at her hands as I ate. I had been meaning to talk to her about something for a while. “Violet, you know how we’ve been having a lot of storms and raining recently? You wouldn’t have anything to do with that, would you?”
She made a face as if I had just stated the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. “Yeah, right. I wish I could do something so awesome. I make shapes out of clouds, that’s it. The other day I made a unicorn for the first time.”
She clearly wasn’t ready to tell me the truth so I dropped it. We sat silently for a moment while I ate. “I hope this day goes by really slowly,” I said between bites. “I’m not looking forward to tonight.”
Violet nodded. “I put my name on the list to go. Nobody really volunteers. It’s usually just a punishment, but if you’re going, I want to go. I’ve only been once when I forgot to do my lessons. Mr. Mason is very strict about that kind of stuff, but it’s good for us, I guess.”
“What was it like, going to hunt for those whatevers?”
“Snapperwhips. They’re awful. They sting and bite and we have to catch so many of them to feed the Chupacabras. We can’t come back to the lair until we’ve reached our quota. That’s why I’m going tonight. I figure the more people to collect Snapperwhips, the quicker you can come back.”
I grinned. “Thanks, Violet. I appreciate that.” Violet had always accepted me for who I was, even from the beginning. Unlike some of the others, she’d never held my mistakes against me.
The door slid open and Cadence stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, glaring at Violet. “Hey, I told you to bring her food and that’s it. You’re not supposed to be visiting with her. Solitary is called solitary for a reason.”
I wanted to point out to Cadence that she’d had a conversation with me the night before, but I didn’t. It wouldn’t help anything. Violet gave me a small smile and then scurried from the room. Cadence looked me up and down before slamming the door shut. I guessed the moment we had shared was buried and forgotten.
Chapter Nineteen
Nightfall came way too soon. Another Cecrops came into the room and flung a black hooded cloak at me. This Cecrops had the top half of a blond-haired boy but from the abdomen down he was a snake covered in olive green and brown scales. “Put this on. We can’t be seen,” he said tersely. He tossed me a pair of thick, padded gloves. “Wear these at all times if you want to come back with ten fingers.”
He stood there watching me expectantly, so I moved to throw on the cloak and the gloves. Once I was ready, he led me from the room to the sliding wall that led to the janitor’s closet where several pairs of black galoshes were lined up. “Put on a pair. The others are on the way.”
He slithered away to yell down the hall for the others.
Cadence and Violet emerged dressed in their gear. The Grims joined us soon after wearing their usual attire plus the special gloves.
“You guys are coming?” I asked.
“Yes, Cousin. Of course we will help,” one said.
After all this time, I felt horrible not knowing their names. “What are your names?”
“Grim,” they said in unison.
“Yeah, I know but what are your individual names?”
“Grim is the name for all of us, Cousin.”
I hated that. Maybe the only thing worse than not being called your name was not having your own name at all.
Cadence checked her phone and then slid it into her pocket. “Well, look at you, Dust. You draw quite the crowd for snapperwhip hunting,” she said bitterly.
I ignored her because jealousy was a personal problem I couldn’t help her with. She hated that Violet and the Grims were fond of me.
Moments later a few more creatures joined us: three Zombies and two Gorgon girls with matching, snake-like hair. The Cecrops handed us each a large, filthy bucket which had a disgusting odor like nothing I had ever smelled before, while Cadence rattled off last-minute instructions.
Myself, Violet, the Grims, the Zombies, and the Gorgons stood against the wall listening silently. There were fourteen of us altogether. I didn’t know how many usually went out, but I hoped fourteen was enough to make this go by quickly.
“You are not done until your bucket is completely full, even then you’re not really done because you should be helping others fill their buckets. Of course those of us that are a little more inexperienced when it comes to snapperwhip collecting, it might take them a little longer so make sure to help them out.”
Why didn’t she just say me?
Cadence continued. “As usual, move as quietly as possible.” She looked directly at me. “No screaming for any reason. The woods are still being watched after those Wendigo attacks so govern yourselves accordingly. Everyone understand?”
No screaming? What would there be to scream about?
Cadence led us from the lair, off the school campus and to the nearest wooded area. No one spoke a word as we ducked and dodged to stay in the shadows. The streets were completely empty so I figured it had to be after midnight. I had no sense of time after being locked in solitary.
Once my shovel clanged noisily inside of my bucket. “Shhhh,” Cadence hissed, shooting me a dirty look.
Our group entered the woods. “Okay. Split up and meet back here in an hour,” Cadence ordered. I didn’t like the thought of splitting up at all. I had been under the impression that we were going to stay together as a group. Besides that, an hour seemed like an awful long time.
“We will stay with you, Cousin,” said one of the Grims.
“No!” Cadence snapped. “You know the rules. We’ll collect faster if we split up.”
The Grims ignored her and pushed me forward with them. Violet followed. I liked the way the Grims marched to their own drums and I was grateful for their support. Cadence said nothing about their disobedience and I hadn’t bother to look back to see her face. I didn’t have to do that to know she was pissed.
Violet whispered beside me. “Sna
pperwhipps like to live under tree roots so we usually dig there.”
Once we were at a far enough distance from the others, we found a large tree and started to dig. I had no idea what we were looking for. No one had bothered to show me what a snapperwhip looked like. Violet told me I would know one when I saw it.
The others got to digging. The ground was cold and hard but once I through the top layer, it got easier.
“Got one,” announced one of the Grims in a hollowed, raspy voice.
I moved over to where she was to get a glimpse of the thing she had just thrown into her bucket. Using the light from my phone, I shone it on the creature.
The snapperwhip looked like a scorpion on steroids. It had a catlike head with tiny sharp gnashing teeth. Its tail thrashed back and forth as it snapped at us. I couldn’t believe something so incredible had been living under the soil all this time.
“Can’t they just crawl out of the bucket?” I asked the Grim.
She picked the creature up and squeezed it until it stopped moving. “No. Don’t squeeze too hard and let the juices out.” The Grim let the creature drop back into the bucket.
I wanted to throw up in my mouth but I resisted the urge. Everyone had found snapperwhips but me, so I had to kick things up a notch. Digging deeper, I finally found one.
It poked its tiny head out of the soil, snapping its teeth at me. I went to grab it, but hesitated. “It’s okay,” Violet said from behind me. “They can’t bite you through your gloves.”
I took a deep breath, snatched it up, squeezed it lifeless, and then tossed it into my bucket before I could really think about what I was doing. I felt slightly accomplished, but that was only one. I couldn’t imagine filling that huge bucket. We would probably be out there all night. I didn’t know how Cadence expected us to be back in an hour. Before an hour had seemed too long, now it seemed impossible.
Just then a Zombie named Harris dashed by us, swinging his bucket wildly. He was surprisingly playful and lively for a zombie. “Hey guys,” he shouted which was totally against the rules. “My bucket’s already half full. Let’s have a contest to see who can fill their bucket first.”
Dust and Roses: Book Two of the Dust Trilogy Page 13