A Measure of Disorder (21 page)

Jenni opened her eyes in darkness and heard crickets and frogs singing in the night.

She sat up and shook some dirt from her hair. The air was muggy and she slapped at a mosquito buzzing around her ear.

“Jenni, are you all right?” Mrs. Osorio asked from the player.

“Yeah, I think so. Where are we?”

Crank sat up. “Did we make it?”

Mr. Kain rolled over and held his stomach.

“Mr. Kain, are you okay? How is your arm?” Jenni asked.

He moaned, then said, “Yeah, just nauseous. I think I’ll be okay in a minute. My arm feels better. I’m pretty sure the bleeding has stopped.”

Jenni took a look around. They were sitting in a plowed field with no landmarks in sight. She could see a cluster of lights off to her left, and others, here and there, dotting the horizon. Stars were out, but they weren’t as bright or numerous as those on Mother. A familiar Big Dipper twinkled at her.

She stood up and saw some strange marks in the ground a few feet in front of her. Walking over, she realized they were footprints — and dragonprints.

“We did it,” she said. “Brandon and the others were here, look!”

Crank came over and examined the area. He walked around the impression left by Brandon. “Looks like he was facing that way when he took off.” Crank pointed toward the group of lights.

“Well,” Jenni said, thinking out loud, “it would make sense they would want to find out where they were. And that looks like the closest thing to a town out here.”

Mr. Kain groaned and sat up. “We need to find some transportation. They’re going to get ahead of us in a hurry since they have Brandon to fly them around.”

Jenni took a breath and created her wings. Mr. Kain gasped. Jenni smiled and said, “Stay here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

She flew toward the lights, gaining altitude to get a better idea of the lay of the land. Soon, she could see the small town. A highway ran east and west on its north side. She spied a road sign that read, “Wilmot, South Dakota, Population: 487.”

She flew a quick circuit around. It was a sleepy little farm town, with few street lights. She saw a couple of gas stations, a bar, and a few other “mom and pop” businesses on the main street. A railroad track ran diagonally from the northwest to the southeast, on the east side of town. That was about it except for a smattering of houses and trees. Satisfied, she headed back to Crank and Mr. Kain.

Jenni arrived and saw them working on some sort of contraption.

She landed next to Mr. Kain, startling him. Jenni apologized and briefed them on the town of Wilmot.

“Doesn’t sound like much, but maybe we can find a car,” Mr. Kain said.

“What are you building?” Jenni asked.

“Matt had an idea for a cart that we can carry Mr. Kain in until he gets stronger,” Crank said. “Denny must be rubbing off on him.”

Jenni giggled and saw Matt had made two stone wheels and was working on a platform, like a litter, that Mr. Kain could lay on. She helped them hold the wheels up while Matt formed an axle between them and attached it to the platform. Finally, he made a stone handle that extended a short way from the front. Matt drew a quick picture of Jenni flying while pulling on the cart. She nodded and laughed.

“Got it, Matt,” she said. “Good idea.”

They loaded Mr. Kain and their small amount of supplies. There was room enough for Crank to sit by Mr. Kain’s feet. Jenni sprouted her wings and grabbed the handle.

The cart, loaded with its occupants, was heavy, but once she got it started, it bounced along fairly well. It was a good thing the road wasn’t far because she was sure the ride wasn’t very comfortable for her passengers.

Luckily, late at night, there was no traffic on the highway, or they certainly would have drawn a lot of attention.

Jenni stopped just outside of town and set the cart down. She was tired and sweating in the heat and humidity. It was much different from the cool mountains surrounding Mogritas’s castle. She reached into her pack and discovered they only had two
Tolenton’naie
left.

“Crank, have you eaten anything lately?” Jenni asked him.

He shook his head.

“Hm, well, let’s you and I split this one and save the last for Mr. Kain. We need him to build up his strength.” Jenni pinched and tore apart the fruit, handing half to Crank.

They ate while Mr. Kain stood up and stretched, trying to work some feeling back into his barely used muscles.

“I think I can walk for a ways at least,” he said after a couple of minutes. “Where were the gas stations you saw?”

Jenni pointed at the main street in front of them, which, they saw as they walked closer, was called “Main Street.”
Funny how that works,
she chuckled to herself. They abandoned the cart and Matt turned it into a simple pile of rocks by the side of the road.

The first station looked deserted. The attendant area was boarded up and the pumps read, “Credit Card Only.” The other station she had seen was at the far end of the street, about five or six blocks.

Mr. Kain ate the last
Tolenton’naie
as they walked, and he seemed to be gaining some strength with the exercise. Jenni hoped the healing effects of the fruit would still work here on Earth.

They reached the end of the street and found the second station much more promising. It was closed for the night, but there was a service garage with two bays, along with the gas pumps. Beside the building was a dirt parking lot with three cars and a pickup truck — all with “For Sale” signs in the windows.

“So, what now?” Jenni asked.

Mr. Kain looked at the cars briefly, then moved to stand next to a relatively new blue sedan. “Well, I’m hoping that between, Matt, Mrs. Osorio and the others, we can get into one of these and get it running.”

“We’re going to
steal
a car?!” Jenni said in surprise.

Mr. Kain sighed. “I don’t like it either, but I don’t see that we have much choice. We’re out here in the middle of nowhere with no money or credit cards — or any identification for that matter. We need to keep up with Brandon and the others.”

“We don’t even know where they went,” Jenni said dejectedly.

“Well, where would you go?” Mr. Kain asked.

Jenni thought about it. “Home. I’d go home first.”

Mr. Kain nodded. “That was my thought, too. So until we can get a better lead, I’d say we head west.”

Jenni couldn’t think of a better plan, and Crank was completely out of his element. He’d been staring in awe at the shop windows they had passed along their walk down the street.
Wait ‘til we get to a real town,
Jenni thought.

“Okay, Mrs. Osorio, Matt? Can you guys do this?” she asked.

“I believe I can get it started if Matt can get us in.”

Jenni held Matt to the lock on the passenger side door and he worked his magic. Jenni heard a clunk and she opened the door. She got in and reached across to unlock the driver’s side. They put their bags in the back seat and Jenni pulled Mrs. Osorio out of her pouch and handed her to Mr. Kain.

“Hold me near the ignition, please,” she instructed.

Mr. Kain did so, and a spark jumped from the MP3 player to the ignition. The car started a couple of seconds later.

“It worked! Amazing!” Mr. Kain said.

A spark shot back to the player, and the screen lit up once more. “Okay, I think we’re good to go,” Mrs. Osorio said, sounding pleased with herself.

Mr. Kain buckled himself in and checked the dashboard. “Only about a quarter tank of gas, but let’s get moving. We’ll figure out the fuel situation later.”

Jenni nodded and buckled herself and Crank next to each other with the seat belt. Crank’s eyes got even wider as Mr. Kain put the car in drive and pulled out of the lot. Jenni giggled and patted Crank on the arm.

Mr. Kain guided the car out to the highway and turned left, to the west, and home.

They drove for an hour or more and stopped at a credit card pump in another small town. Mrs. Osorio explained on the drive that, from her time spent in the MP3 player, she had been learning how to operate the computer inside. She told them she almost felt like a computer program herself — she could make it do almost anything she wanted.

Indeed, she convinced the pump they had a valid credit card and they filled up the tank without a hitch. They continued on, driving the rest of the night.

Jenni dozed for a while. She was exhausted from the long flight to Mogritas’s fortress, and she hadn’t slept except for the short time of their transition to Earth from Mother. Crank had finally relaxed enough to get some rest also and snored softly beside her.

Dawn came, and shortly thereafter, Mr. Kain pulled the car off the main road and found a small clump of trees to park beside. He needed to rest for a while too, and felt it was better to drive at night when they could anyway. Jenni agreed, and she and Crank got out to stretch their legs for a few minutes.

“Hey!” Mrs. Osorio exclaimed from Jenni’s pocket. “I’ve got Internet!”

“What?” Jenni said in surprise.

“This player has a phone in it also. There must be a tower close by because I’ve got a signal. Give me a few minutes and I’ll see what I can find out.”

Jenni pulled the player out of her pocket and looked at the screen. Web pages and images flashed by faster than her eye could follow. She sat in the shade of one of the trees and waited. Crank came over and sat with her, his eyes watching the screen in amazement. Jenni glanced at the battery indicator, which read half full. So, the batteries were working normally again; that meant they were going to have to find a way to recharge the player somehow. She hadn’t packed any of those cords, not thinking they would be needed.

A gasp of surprise issued from the player. “I found Zoe!”

“What! You’re kidding!”

Jenni spent a couple of long, helpless minutes waiting; staring at the player.

Finally, Mrs. Osorio spoke again. “Okay, I’ve got it! Zoe had to go, but I know where they’re headed.” An image popped up: a satellite map. “It’s Hanford, Washington. There’s an old nuclear power plant there and the site was used for plutonium production since World War II, all the way up ‘til the eighties. The government began a cleanup operation after that, which is still going on. There are literally tons of spent nuclear fuel rods, coolant water and other byproducts — all of which are extremely toxic and dangerous.”

Jenni took a moment to digest this and studied the screen. “The place is huge! And controlled by the government — how do they expect to get in there and steal a bunch of waste?”

“We stole a car, gassed it up and have been driving across the country. They have more muscle, they have Alisha, and they have a dragon with them. What do you think?” Mrs. Osorio replied.

She’s right,
Jenni thought.
The government didn’t stand a chance.

“How did you find Zoe?” Crank asked.

“They discovered the same thing we have — fire spirits can exist in electronics — and Zoe is helping them to search the Web. She and I were looking at the same sites and I, well, felt her. That’s the only way I can describe it.” Mrs. Osorio paused a moment. “Mrs. Minch has complete control over the spirits. She must be one of those
Strodin’i
that Ba’ize talked about.”

“What I can’t understand,” Jenni said, “is why they’re doing this. What did Mogritas tell them that makes them think this is okay?”

“I don’t know, but we’d better keep moving. Mr. Kain still needs rest. Jenni …” Mrs. Osorio asked her hesitantly, “… do you know how to drive a car?”

Alisha stepped into her room and felt like she was walking into a dream. Or out of a nightmare.

They had arrived in the early hours of the morning, three days after their return to Earth. Brandon had dropped them off at Alisha’s house and left to go hunting in the mountains and get some rest for the day. They had only traveled at night, which only gave them about eight hours of darkness just after the peak of summer. It was August 7th, over two and a half months since the field trip that had begun their troubles.

Alisha’s parents were in Europe, as they always were in the summer months, so they had the place to themselves. It had taken Alisha a couple of tries to remember the code for the security system, but she had gotten it disarmed before it alerted the police.

First, they had raided the refrigerator. Food had been hard to come by since they had tried to stay away from populated areas. Brandon could create illusions, but it required his complete concentration — not something he could do in his sleep. It was hard to hide a hundred-foot long black dragon.

Alisha had ventured into a couple of towns along the way and bought an army’s worth of hamburgers and fries with the credit card she still had in her purse, but it had been risky. She was the only one who still looked human, so she had to go alone. A man had tried to follow her the second time, but she had convinced him it was a bad idea with the use of her power.

After everyone had eaten their fill in the kitchen, Alisha had assigned them rooms, couches, etc., and they had fallen asleep. The door to her room had been closed. She opened it, and it had been like stepping back in time.

She dropped her purse on the floor and flopped down on her bed. Familiar smells mixed with a mustiness from lack of use and her own need of a good, long shower. She thought of her parents, probably lying on a beach in southern France, or dining in a fancy restaurant, and wondered if they missed her.
Probably not,
she decided. She had always been a disappointment to them. They had tried to put her in a prestigious boarding school, but her test scores hadn’t been high enough, and her father hadn’t been willing to spend the extra money for the school to “overlook” the bad scores. She had taken dance and music lessons when she was younger, but had never shown much promise in either. Her two, much older brothers, had both graduated from college with promising careers. Alisha had been an accident of a drunken Christmas party — a complication at a time when her parents had been looking forward to their years with no children in the house. They were probably glad to be rid of her.

She drifted off to sleep, tear stains coloring her pillow.