He heard the door to the fifth-grade wing groan open. That was fast. Maybe his teacher really had just said hi to Mr. Reynolds and that was it. He returned the stone in his hands to the stack and scrambled over to help his teacher with the door. She couldn’t operate a wheelbarrow loaded down with supplies and hold open the door at the same time.
A tall, blond boy walked toward him, clearly having exited the school. The door clicked shut behind him, giving its trademark scrape at the end of its closing arc. Maybe Mr. Reynolds should screw the metal door plate tighter into the floor to end that telltale noise instead of chatting it up with his teacher every other Saturday.
Nelson returned to the puzzle at hand. He didn’t recognize the boy. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt with a PS4 controller lumbering through a cityscape as if it were a terrorizing Godzilla. Gamer Rampage! ran along the bottom of the image written in a lightning-bolt font.
Nelson pushed his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose.
The new arrival looked him up and down. Nelson made sure not to catch the boy’s gaze. He stared at his midsection, noting the beltless pants. What kind of maniac didn’t wear a belt?
The boy held up his left hand, offering Nelson a high five.
He stared at the upraised arm, thinking how the boy’s big hand looming overhead made him connect to a thundercloud about to disgorge its moisture. While he liked his comparison, both situations sparked his anxiety.
The boy gave him a confused look. “What’s the deal? Just being friendly.”
Lou rescued him. “He doesn’t do high fives.”
The boy fixed his gaze on her. She held a stepping stone in front of her waist with Nelson’s water bottle balanced at its center. She walked over to Nelson and poked out the stone a few inches, an invitation to take the water.
Nelson did and took two long sips.
The new boy studied Lou as if he’d never seen a girl in a black crop top with spaghetti strings and blue slacks before. Was he thrown by her Superman baseball cap? It seemed that way as his eyes lingered on her headgear, and he gave her a smirk. It being Fall, maybe he was thrown by her lack of layers. Lou was appropriately garbed for today’s unusual high of 73.
The boy brought his hand down and made a fist that he presented to Nelson. “Fist bump?”
“Doesn’t do fist bumps either.” Lou waited until Nelson placed the bottle back on the stone. Once he did, she spun around and walked it back to its designated spot on the bench.
Nelson relaxed, happy to have the bottle back where it was supposed to be.
The boy switched to his right hand and stuck it out expecting a handshake.
Lou didn’t even look back. “No handshaking either.”
The fact that she hadn’t seen him switch to a handshake and yet still identified the move floored him. “How’d you . . . ?”
She returned and grinned. “He does do hip-action finger guns as a warm hello.”
Nelson smiled and took his position, pointing a finger gun from either hip. He swiveled around to slightly face Lou. He made sure his imaginary aim was off so that the imaginary bullet would miss her. Proper imaginary gun safety was crucial, otherwise the hello wouldn’t come across as friendly. He fired from each hip, exaggerating the recoil by teetering backward. He imitated each gun blast my making a puffy P-sound with his mouth. Lou fired back.
The blond boy laughed. “I think I got it. Do me now.” He aped the same hand positions at his own hips, wagging his finger guns with pizzazz.
Nelson fired. Seconds later, the boy fired back, falling backward as if his guns had delivered way too powerful a kick. He landed on his rump in the grass, laughing.
Nelson stared at him, expectantly.
The boy stood, brushing some stray grass and leaves from his pants and back of his shirt. “I liked that. Maybe next time we can try firing bazookas at each other.”
Nelson said, “Why would we do that? Bazookas are so much more destructive.”
The boy laughed. “Whatever. I’m Hugo Hammersmith and I have to join this garden club.”
Lou nodded. “Cool name.”
Hugo winked. “Yeah, sound like some sort of adventure hero like Indiana Jones, doesn’t it?”
Nelson said, “What do you mean by ‘have’?”
Hugo stuck his hands in his front pockets. “Long story, but I need to build my resume. Me helping you, dirt nerds, keeps my parental units off my back.”
Nelson liked how Hugo referred to his parents.
“Well then, start hauling stepping stones with us.” Lou squinted at him. “Ms. Deavours’ll be out soon. She does know you’re supposed to be here, right?”
“Yep.” Hugo pretended to roll up imaginary long sleeves. “You have names or do I get to give you ones? And if you give me that opportunity, you’ll likely not appreciate my humor.”
“Nelson Rivers.” He was already back at the stacks and had his hands on a stone that was the biggest he’d carried to date. He lifted it up and braced himself for the burden. He stagger-stepped over to the path and dropped it a little higher than normal simply because he’d overextended himself.
“Lou Walker.” She drank half her water and placed it in the shade. She tugged another bottle from her pack and threw it at Hugo. “You came unprepared. I’ll share.”
He caught it and took a long swig. Already, he was sweating, especially around his long bangs that fell into his eyes. Nelson wondered why anyone would elect to have such an impractical haircut. His mom shaved his head every fifteen days, keeping it tight to his scalp.
Hugo looked around for a spot for his bottle. He noticed the statue and headed toward it. “What’s this? Looks like a little rock dwarf or lava midget?”
Lou explained its presence very concisely, only needed four sentences to recap their early morning surprise.
Hugo studied the statue from all sides before placing his water on its relatively flat top. He then acted as if he was knighting the statue with an invisible sword. “I dub thee, Coaster Boy, water attendant to Sir Hugo the Exquisite.”
Nelson worried the new arrival’s blathering would ruin their entire morning, but Hugo got quiet a few minutes later when Ms. Reynolds waddled out with the wheelbarrow.
She nodded at Sir Hugo. “Oh, wonderful. New guy’s here. Good to see you again, Hugo.”
He smiled warmly at her. “You too, Ms. D.” He surveyed each of them. “Is it just the three of us in this club?”
Nelson offered, “Spencer comes but not a lot.”
“Oh.”
They continued placing the stepping stones. Several times, Hugo poorly timed his comings and goings and got in Nelson’s way. Nelson tried not to let his frustration show that his and Lou’s normally synchronized treks were now thrown irreparably off, but he feared Hugo detected it.
Fortunately, that seemed to quiet Hugo even further. Twenty minutes later, the path was done, and they took a water break. Soon after, they started on weeding the back left corner. Hugo dwelled on the possibility of running across snakes, and Lou shared how they’d mostly come across garter snakes so far. Hugo thought it would be ‘neat’ if a cobra put in an appearance, and Nelson quickly shot his merriment down by detailing that the territory of such snakes definitely did not extend to North America.
A few minutes into the weed tug-of-war, Ms. Deavours excused herself to use the bathroom, promising to return with a cool treat.
Lou shot Nelson a glance.
Hugo saw it. “What’s that look?”
Nelson waited for his teacher to disappear around the corner and then the familiar scrape that told him she was safely inside and out of earshot before sharing. “She likes Mr. Reynolds and will probably stop by and see him in the cafeteria. They will maybe hold hands.”
Hugo grimaced and then smirked. “Yeah, holding hands.”
Nelson didn’t know what he meant. He was about to offer up the three dates where he’d observed the two holding hands as evidence but didn’t get out a single word.
Lou shrieked and backed away from the bird blind, pointing up at the top of the structure. “Look!”
Four black snakes rested on the top of the fencing, their front halves curling down and away from it, while their tail ends pointed back and to the sky. Midway along their bodies, tiny bat wings fluttered slowly.
“What the . . . ?” Hugo said. He took a step toward the bird blind.
Nelson stiffened then retreated, placing the odd statue between himself and the strange creatures. “What are you doing?”
Hugo said, “Snakes don’t have wings.” He took two quick steps forward as if the nimble footwork would go unnoticed.
All four snakes bobbed their heads and tracked Hugo’s approach.
Nelson said, “They are really dark like that bat from yesterday.” He squinted. “And the yellow eyes are the same.”
Hugo gawked at Lou and Nelson. “Bat?”
Before Nelson could explain about the dive-bombing bat, the snakes flew up into the air.
Lou darted left toward the wheelbarrow. She snatched up a rake and flung a hand shovel at Nelson. He let it land in the mulch. He scooped it up and assessed the situation.
Two of the snakes dove toward Hugo, while the others peeled off and zoomed toward Lou, their wings a blur. Even though the webbed appendages flapped at hummingbird speed, there was no way they could generate enough lift to keep the snakes in the air. Physics dictated they shouldn’t be capable of flight.
Lou swept the rake wide and smacked the closest snake, sending it crashing into the tall grasses. The other slashed through the air and clamped its jaws down on her right forearm.
She howled.
Nelson jumped into action. He bounded over and whacked the snake still holding onto her arm, hitting it three times. Lou flailed about and slapped at it as well.
Nelson dropped his spade and wrapped his hands around the snake above its flapping wings. He yanked hard, and the snake released its jaws.
He swung it around, whipping it about to keep the snake from latching onto him. And it was viciously trying to do just that.
He tripped backwards, landing feet from the statue. The snake snapped at his face, coming within inches of his eyes.
He suddenly realized his glasses had fallen off in the shuffle. He winced. While he wasn’t blind, he did need them to read. Not that Nelson was going to peruse a textbook on dealing with menacing flying snakes at the moment. He needed to improvise, something Lou was much better at than he was.
Lou was again using the rake to bat away the snake that she’d sent into the tall grasses. It was back, biting at the air around her head. It moved slower than before, so at least she’d managed to stun it.
Nelson brought his hands closer to his snake’s head, reducing its range. Now when it lunged, it didn’t come close to his face. The snake realized its limits as well and went after his forearms instead. He squeezed it tighter, surprised to find no scales jabbing into his flesh. He didn’t think he had the muscle mass to choke it.
The snake landed its upper fangs into his left arm, and he swung it right, bashing it into the side of the statue. The snake disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Nelson blinked and reflexively grasped the empty air several times before realizing he no longer held onto anything.
Lou said, “What did you do?”
He scrambled to his feet. “I don’t know. It disappeared when it hit the statue.”
“I saw.” She pulled back her rake, preparing to deliver a big swing to the snake diving at her. “Clear out.”
He raced to his left, suddenly deducing what she was about to attempt. Lou was clever and a quick study.
She smacked the snake, sending it squirming through the air. It hissed in outrage all the way up until it collided with the statue’s potbelly. The second it hit the sculpture, it disappeared, leaving behind a wisp of black smoke that quickly dissipated upward.
Hugo shouted, “Gangway!” He somehow held a snake in each hand, wisely gripping them just behind their hissing heads. Both creatures had their bodies wrapped around his arms, constricting to a dangerous degree.
Hugo looked in a great deal of pain, but he still plowed forward. He tripped and fell but didn’t let go of his vicious cargo. He spat out a mouthful of mulch and growled in anger. The boy then crawled the last few feet and dramatically smashed the heads of each snake into the statue’s tiny cauliflower ears. The creatures went up in smoke, too.
Hugo gulped in some air and stared at his arms. Pale indentations displayed how the snakes had curled tight against his slender limbs.“What were those things?”
Nelson said, “A new species, but why’d they disappear when we hit them against the statue?”
“Maybe the harder they’re hit is key,” Hugo said.
Lou shook her head and waved her rake as she looked around, clearly expecting another attack. “No, because I nailed them just as hard with this.”
Nelson examined the statue. “There should be blood, guts.”
Hugo snickered. “Aren’t you the nasty one.”
“I don’t understand.” Nelson tapped at his chin and looked at the top of the fence and back at the statue. “Their wings weren’t big enough to propel them through the air, and they somehow just disappeared. That’s impossible.”
“Magic.” Hugo took the rake out of Lou’s hand and returned it to where she’d gotten it. Along the way, he retrieved Nelson’s spade and also put it back.
“Magic?” Lou said. “Like those things were little snake dragons or something?”
“Wyverns, maybe.” Hugo pulled out his phone and typed something in. He then held out his screen for them to see. “Sort of like these but without the legs.”
The image was of a winged snake with hind legs.
“I’ve read about them in books. How did you know what they were?” Lou said.
“Song of Dragons. It’s a computer game. You have to sneak into a den of those ugs near the end. It’s not easy, but I’m the boss in stealth mode.”
“You think it’s like a cousin to the bat that attacked us?” Lou looked at Nelson.
“A bat? Like, it came at your house last night?” Hugo said, his voice squeaky.
“No, in the day. It flew off, though. These were much more relentless.” Nelson fetched his own water and drank.
“The bat was black with yellow eyes just like these guys. And it had a tail.” Lou tapped the ground with her left foot.
Hugo looked rattled. He tugged at Lou’s crop top. “Wait, your bat had a tail?”
“Yes.”
“Um, well, you’re not going to like this.” He swallowed. “A bat, with a tail, attacked me like close to eleven last night. I killed it, only it didn’t go up in smoke or whatever.”
“What did you do with the body?” Nelson asked.
“Buried it. It’s still there, I think.”
Lou struck a contemplative pose. She wagged a finger at Hugo. “We’re gonna need to confirm that. Where do you live?”
“Wait, you’re coming over? Now?”
Nelson said, “Yes, it makes the most sense. Maybe we should dissect it to see if that gives us any answers.”
Hugo looked a little pale. “You talk like you’ve dissected something before.”
“Well, yes, I have. My parents got me this kit for Christmas and paid extra to get a dead mouse. They ship them frozen, just so you know.”
Hugo covered his mouth and shook his head weakly.
Lou grabbed Nelson’s water bottle and wiggled it to get his attention. She whispered in Nelson’s ear, “You’re getting too graphic. Boundaries, little guy.”
He clammed up and studied Hugo. The boy did look symptomatic of someone about to disgorge what they’d had for breakfast.
Nelson resisted talking further about mice. It made him a little anxious. It was hard for him to hold in a thought that was already loaded in the cerebral chute and ready to be launched into the world. He’d been about to share the best way to access the abdo
men without nicking any of the rodent’s vitals. Maybe he could finish his thought with Lou later. She’d understand.
After a lot of searching, Lou found his glasses. Surprisingly, they were intact; no one had stepped on them in all the craziness.
Ms. Deavours returned at that moment bearing popsicles. All four sat at the nearby picnic table and slurped up the fruity treats. No one brought up the bats or legless wyverns for the rest of garden club. They worked fast, eager to be done and move onto delving deeper into the bat mystery. They walked to the front of the school five minutes ahead of the regular pick-up time. None of their rides were there yet.
While they waited, the three of them programmed each other’s numbers into their phones and agreed to rendezvous at Hugo’s house at three o’clock sharp. They were careful not to mention the reason why they were getting together as Ms. Deavours hovered nearby, waiting with them until their parents arrived.
Nelson could tell she liked that they were getting together outside of the club. She kept smiling and nodding to herself as they made plans.
Lou’s mom picked her up first. Nelson stood silently, waving once when they reached the stop sign.
Hugo rocked on his sneakers and looked like he wanted to say something several times but didn’t.
Nelson remained tight-lipped. He wasn’t being rude. They couldn’t talk about what they both wanted to talk about in front of his teacher, and he also didn’t want Lou to miss anything either of them had to say. He toyed with resuming his discussion of mouse dissection, but Lou’s voice scolded him in his head.
At the same time, he got a text from her. I know you had more to say about mice. Call me when you get home and you can let it all out with me, okay?
He texted back. Okay.
Hugo got into a red Camry and pretended to fire one finger gun at Nelson through the back window.
Heroes of Perpetua Page 4