The Kidnapped Army

by Shiloh White

  “Actually,” I said, cutting her off, “I had a rough weekend dealing with the grown woman-child at home, and I hardly slept! So pardon me if giving you boy advice, when I stink at that subject, didn't seem very important at the time.” I pushed past her and picked up my luggage to toss it in the trunk, looking for an open spot.

  “Don't lie,” Anna pushed. “You don't stink at boys. You were in a relationship long before me.” I stopped, halfway to getting my suitcase into the trunk, and turned to face Anna.

  “You think that ordeal was somehow enough to give you advice?” I asked. I was trying my hardest not to yell in a school parking lot at six in the morning, but I couldn't have been doing a great job. “It lasted two days. That was no relationship. Why even bring that up?"

  “I wouldn't have to if you answered your phone,” she said. “To hear me rant about my own problems for once, instead of complaining about having two loving parents again.” Before I could protest, Mrs. Nary yelled from the front of the bus with a megaphone:

  “STUDENTS, PLEASE BOARD THE BUS! WE DEPART IN TEN MINUTES. THANK YOU."

  Anna marched off before I could get another word in, which left me storming to the trunk. I found a real nice spot up in the left corner for my stuff, but I wouldn't be able to reach it. Luckily, my anger from Anna's comments fueled me to just chuck the bag up there. When I did, it bumped a couple other suitcases, and knocked them to the ground outside the bus.

  I cursed, and rushed to pick them up before their owners noticed what I did. But as I put the first one back, I knocked down another suitcase and it caused a pile of bags to shift in the trunk.

  “OUCH! That's really heavy!” someone shouted in a muffled voice. (I may or may not have screamed just then.) Was somebody trapped underneath the suitcases? What were they doing in the trunk to being with?

  “Just, uh…hold on!” I told them.

  I started pulling and moving suitcase after suitcase in search of who was speaking. As I got close, a hand began to help me from inside the trunk, pushing other pieces of luggage out of the way until another hand emerged and they each grabbed one of my wrists. The kid began to pull himself out, so I held my ground, using the bus to keep me from falling in. A second later, a mop of dirty blond hair emerged from under the suitcases, followed by a body and legs until the boy leapt out of the trunk, knocking me right onto the asphalt.

  “Oh, thank you, thank you!” the boy said. As I rose to my feet, I realized I knew his voice from somewhere. I turned around and my jaw fell open.

  “You're alive?!”

  7. The Skull Sends a Lackey

  Standing in front of me was Chug, the ex-Depression Agent I'd met in De Mentoria. He'd tried to shoot me and my friends with bullets to drive us insane just so he could join a gang, but in the end, helped us escape from some enemies of the gang. But in so doing, he'd floated away in a river, and we didn't have time to go back for him.

  “Last I checked, I'm doin' just fine,” he said, flashing a grin. Looking at him in natural daylight, not like that twilight musk that De Mentoria was always shrouded in, I could see Chug's features a little better.

  He stood about chest-high, with somewhat skinny limbs. But a closer look revealed that at least his legs were a little toned—he must have been doing a lot more running since I last saw him. On top of his head was the same disheveled mop of dirty blond hair, only now the sides were just long enough to tickle his ears. The front dropped down right about to his eyebrows, leaving an open view of his hazel eyes that darted in a new direction every second. He wore black shorts and a black band-tee (Did the Dust have bands?) underneath a black leather jacket that was about a size too big for him. But they were better than the pretty-much rags I'd seen him in the last time.

  His facial features and his dark clothes also accented his pale olive skin—which I definitely couldn't tell he had back in The Dust. Granted, we'd been running from two giant tempest clouds then, so there wasn't really any time to notice each other's heretical and gene pool traits.

  “STUDENTS, PLEASE BOARD THE BUS! WE LEAVE IN THREE MINUTES! THANK YOU,” Mrs. Nary called again from her megaphone.

  Looks like there wasn't any time now either.

  “I'm glad you're just fine,” I said, “but what are you doing here? No, better yet, how did you get here?”

  “I'm here for you.” he said plainly, as if he hid in bus trunks waiting for people every day. I raised an eyebrow at him. He didn't answer either of my questions, and made me feel a little icky at the same time.

  Chug held his hands up in defense and walked over to the back bumper of the bus and leaned against it. “Mr. Reggie asked for your help,” he explained, “and I'm here to follow through, so to speak. So if you're ready, let's go.”

  “Wait,” I said, “Follow through? Why couldn't Mr. Reggie do that? He had all weekend to contact me again; I spent the whole weekend waiting for him.”

  “And for that, I apologize on his behalf,” Chug said, “but he hasn't been waiting that long, remember?” I bit my lip. I'd almost forgotten about that detail.

  “I waited over two days for him,” I realized. “But then..."

  “Right,” Chug finished for me. “It's barely been over 8 hours for Mr. Reggie.”

  In the Dust, time moved at about one-seventh the speed that it did here on Earth. Or at least, I'd figured it did.

  I thought I was there for three days last November, but when I'd gotten back, “three weeks” was all I heard from everyone and their mother—mine included. While I'd spent so many minutes staring at a portrait of him, Mr. Reggie was probably still living the same day as when he'd contacted me.

  “By the way, I think I mentioned this once before,” Chug said, “but we need to go now.”

  “Go where?” I demanded.

  “Back to the Dust,” Chug shrugged, as if I should know all this stuff already. “We need to go help Mr. Reggie, and we need to go now.”

  “Now he needs to come get me? Not eight hours ago, but right now. In case you haven't noticed, I'm actually already about to go somewhere right now. And this somewhere is worth a quarter of my grade. And on top of that—"

  “Shut up,” Chug said. He reached out to cover my mouth with one hand and pointed around the side of the bus door with the other. “Someone's coming."

  I freed my mouth from his hand, and peeked around the door enough to see that it was Anna again, with the rest of her stuff. Instantly, my body tensed up. What the heck was I supposed to do? If she saw Chug sitting here, she'd ask who he is, and how I knew him, and everything would go downhill from there. I panicked and ran out from the trunk of the bus, almost bumping into Anna.

  “I'll, uhh, take your bag if you want,” I stammered, hoping I wasn't breaking out in a cold sweat. Good job, Lucy, I thought. That was totally not suspicious. Knowing Anna—and knowing that Anna knew me—I figured she'd see right through me and dare to find out what was going on at the trunk of the bus. But she just shrugged and set her stuff down.

  “Thanks,” she said rather coldly, then turned and got on the bus. I swear I even felt the chills emanating off her bags. I almost wished she'd gone after the trunk instead. I started lugging her things back to the trunk when I heard a stuck-up spoiled voice behind me.

  “Excuse me, please. Coming through, and you're in my way.”

  Katie Morris, all-around overachieving perfect high-school kid. Also an all-around snobby, spoiled rotten princess.

  The worst kind of princess. No one else's voice could make my blood boil like that. She was on her way to the trunk and rolled her two suitcases with ease, passing me by. I had to stop her from seeing Chug too. As perfect as she was, she'd know everyone in the class and probably rat the kid out as a troublemaker or stowaway middle-schooler. Then things would get bad when they couldn't find any records on him...

  “Katie, stop!” I yelled, commanding all the respect I could muster. Katie stopped and turned around. “What do you want, Lucy?” It worked. Didn't think about th
e plan this much, so I wasn't exactly sure what to do next. But at this point, I'd already opened my mouth to respond. Something had to come out, and it better be good.

  “Ahh, well, you see,” I stammered, looking for words, “I am in charge of loading the last supplies. So leave your luggage here and I'll get them on the bus.” Katie shakes her head and laughs. “I'll take care of my own luggage, thank you.” Then she walked down to the end of the bus.

  “No—Katie, wait!” I called, trying to run after her with Anna's luggage in my hands. She started speed-walking, as if out of spite. I might have caught her if I could've dropped the bags, but I didn't want to risk drawing attention to everyone on the bus, including Anna. Then Katie did it for me when she turned the corner and screamed.

  ✽✽✽

  I caught up to Katie and my look of horror morphed into one of confusion at one tiny detail: Chug was no longer sitting on the back bumper. And thanks to some of the luggage still sitting scattered on the ground, I could see further into the trunk. Chug hadn't gone to hide in there again either. So where was he?

  “Awful great job you're doing at loading the last of the luggage,” Katie stabbed. She set her two suitcases as nice and neat as possible in the trunk and then went off to board the bus, enjoying a giggle as she left. Probably at me. Whatever. I had more important problems.

  “Chug, where did you go?” I muttered, taking another look in the trunk. No success. I bent down and looked underneath the bus; maybe he went low. No one would really look there as long as he got out of the way when the bus began moving.

  “ROLL CALL. STUDENTS, I NEED YOU ALL ON THE BUS BY THE TIME I CALL YOUR NAME!” Mrs. Nary shouted from the front of the bus with her megaphone. Perfect. Just perfect, I thought. In a minute or two, I'd be out of time and right back where I started yesterday: no closer to the Dust or Dart. And no closer to passing History.

  “You've grown a lot nicer since I've seen you last,” he joked. I pulled myself up off the ground and almost fell back in surprise.

  “You're back!” I exclaimed in surprise. “Where'd you go? And what do you mean, 'nicer'?”

  “You always have so many questions,” Chug complained. “First...” he held up his hand, gesturing with the other to keep a close eye on it. Then he moved it back and forth, faster and faster with each movement until I realized I wasn't looking at a hand at all anymore. Instead a thin layer of fog spread out from Chug's wrist upward.

  "...that's how I hid. Don't tell me you forgot we could do that?” he asked. I bit my tongue. I mean, I'd seen a few other Agents transform into this smoky tornado form, but Chug's was just a really light fog. If I hadn't been looking right at it, I might have even missed it.

  “Also,” he continued, changing his fog back into a hand, “by nicer, I meant how you helped those two girls with their stuff. So kind and selfless, you know?” I shot him a look of contempt.

  “I did it so they wouldn't see you, genius! Who knows what they'd do?”

  “I know what they wouldn't do,” Chug said, his mouth snaking into a smug grin, “and that's catch me, because I'll be long gone by that time, and you will be too. Now let's go!” He hopped off the bumper and grabbed my hand, trying to run across the parking lot with me in tow. Unfortunately, Chug's adolescent body didn't budge me more than an inch.

  “What are you doing?” Chug asked, still trying to pull me along. “We need to go!”

  “It's too late for that now!” I protested. “Nary's taking roll!"

  “What the heck does that mean?”

  I pushed my free hand against my face, rubbing my temple and trying not to scream at this kid. How was it possible to be this upset this early in the morning? I tried to remind myself the way Chug lived, he probably had no concept of school.

  “Okay, listen.” I said, taking a deep breath, “I have nothing against going back to the Dust. But I'm leaving with my school on a trip."

  “Got it,” Chug said.

  “Right now,” I added.

  “I understand that,” he said. “Hence the bus being here.” I nodded. Simple enough for him to understand so far.

  “Right. And roll is when they call everyone's name to make sure they're all there before the bus leaves. Once they call my name—"

  “LUCY HALE! IS LUCY HALE PRESENT? HAS ANYONE SEEN LUCY HALE?” Mrs. Nary shouted from her megaphone.

  "—I have to be on the bus.” I said to Chug.

  “Agh!” Chug grunted. “You see, that's what we don't have time for: a field trip. We need to leave now!”

  But his efforts weren't going to change my mind.

  “If we leave now, it'll cause a scene, and everyone will think I'm missing again, just like last time,” I explained. “We're not doing that aga—"

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something. I turned and looked down at the front of the bus, and I froze. A few of the students, Katie, Anna, and a couple others, followed by Mrs. Nary herself, were getting off the bus and coming this way. Katie muttered something to the others about her loading luggage.

  Great, I thought. Now we were really out of time.

  “You need to hide,” I told him, pulling my arm free. “Now.” He danced around for a moment, shifting from foot to foot with no obvious decision coming soon.

  “Oh, for Dust’s sake,” I said, shoving some bags aside in the trunk, and then ushering Chug. “Get in."

  “Not back in the bus,” he protested. “I hated it in there. I might have died if you didn't show up when you did.”

  “I swear she's back here—I can hear her failing to lift stuff,” Katie said, taunting me from right around the corner.

  “Get in,” I insisted, shooting the order straight through his hazel eyes with my green ones. “Right now,” I continued, “or it's over—for you, me, Dart; all of us.” We didn't have any more time to ponder. I needed Chug to make a move quick.

  The right move.

  8. I Dabble In Smuggling…And He Escapes

  “Okay, fine!” Chug shook himself from my gaze, and dove into the bus, crouching down so he wasn't in sight. I quickly went to work, hurriedly covering him with softer luggage; bags and pillows and whatnot. Then I quickly grabbed the other suitcases that had fallen out and set them in the trunk as well.

  I was picking up Anna's things when Katie turned the corner, yelling “I told you so!” right in my ears. (Why? You tell me.)

  I ignored her and the other students and waited for Mrs. Nary to turn the corner. A moment later she walked over, joining me and the other students.

  “Ahh,” Mrs. Nary smiled, “There you are, Lucy. I'm not sure if you heard the megaphone, but we're taking roll now."

  “Oh, I must have missed it,” I said quietly, avoiding eye contact. I wanted to play it off in a way that wouldn't attract any attention. “I'm sorry, ma'am.” I said. “I'll get on the bus right now. These are the last bags.” I held Anna's bags up for the girls to see, making a quick involuntary look at Anna. She just shook her head at me and turned around to get back on the bus. The rest of the girls followed suit, including Katie, who felt the need to walk right into me on her way back onto the bus.

  I gritted my teeth and bit back my anger. When I set down Anna's bags in the trunk, I knelt down and whispered to where Chug was hiding.

  “Stay put,” I told him. “I'll be back when we get there.”

  Chug's answer was really muffled, but I was pretty sure he'd said something like, “You got it, Lucy! I'm not goin' anywhere anyway. These bags are packed real tightly together. Super awesome idea!.”

  When I backed up from the trunk, reaching for the doors to shut it, Mrs. Nary was gone too. Back to the front as well. I shut the doors and joined everyone over there.

  Getting on the bus, I passed Katie and her perfectly fake friends. They sat up front, giggling and snickering at something stupid. Hopefully each other. But the sudden silence when I walked by told me otherwise.

  A few seats behind them, Anna lay against her boyfriend's shoulder, both of
them glued to the other's face. All desire to apologize was replaced with the urge to hurl.

  “If you would please, take your seat, Lucy,” Mrs. Nary said from the front of the bus.

  “Right. I will, thanks,” I stammered, still a little frazzled. I walked all the way to the back of the bus, trying not to make eye contact with any of other students. It just reminded me not one of them were facing a problem as big as mine.

  “Alright class, off we go!” Mrs. Nary exclaimed. Some students cheered. Others booed. I just kept my mouth shut, trying to figure out what to do when I got there. If someone were to open up the trunk and see him, that'd be it. But sitting where I was, although it kept a good distance from any of the class overhearing Chug's possible antics, there would be no way for me to make it to the luggage first.

  I continued to stress about this so much, I almost didn't notice that we were turning the corner on the elementary campus. There stood a lot of the classes' parents, some with younger siblings, waving at the bus. Almost all of the class piled onto the side of the bus facing their parents and gave a quick wave. And there in the parking lot by the front gate, Dad and Chloe stood by the car—well, Chloe was standing on the car—waving goodbye. I waved back, but it was probably too late for them to see me. They might have seen me if I'd noticed them earlier, like all the rest of the class.

  But then again, the rest of the class didn't have to think about the fact that they were smuggling what appeared to be a thirteen-year-old boy across state borders in a school bus.

  Maybe I should have left with him when I had the chance…

  ✽✽✽

  “Lucy, wake up!”

  I peeled my eyes open to see Anna was standing in front of me, shaking my arm.

  All the anxiety about Chug swirling in my head—and my stomach—along with my anger at Katie must have drained my batteries.

  I guess it was a good thing that I got them recharged, since what I saw next brought a new wave of anxiety.