Cloak (YA Fantasy) (15 page)

Mars closed one footlocker with a bang and opened another.

“Hey. What are you doing?”

In answer to his question, a t-shirt hit Will in the face.

“Put it on. I’ll cover my eyes.” She put her hands over her face.

Will threw back the covers and started to pull the shirt over his head. “Hold on. I thought you said you were blind?”

“I am,” she said impatiently from behind her hands. “Geez, it takes you a long time to put on a shirt.”

Will hurried and finished.

Mars uncovered her eyes and smiled. “Much better.”

“If you’re blind how did you know I was done?”

“Okay. I’ll take this slow so…you…can…follow. I
am
blind.” She waved her hand over her eyes. “Don’t even think about telling any of those ‘blind as a bat’ jokes, or I’ll kick your butt. I really hate bat jokes. And blind jokes. How would you like it? You know, if you were a bat or blind? See, most batchants aren’t blind, you know. Just me.”

“But, how’d you know I was dressed if you can’t see?”

“Hello! I’m part bat. Can you say r-a-d-a-r?” She made her hands into a cone and held them to her forehead like a satellite dish. “I can see through and around stuff with my ears, well not
see
see, just you know,
radar
see. It’s complicated.”

Mars turned and opened a set of double wooden doors that led to a closet. She walked in and started sifting through more of Will’s clothes. Will leaned in, trying to see what she was doing.

Mars was barely four feet tall. Baggy jeans rode low on her waist, held up by a studded belt. Long bare toes poked out from under frayed jean cuffs. She wore a tight red t-shirt with a black tank over top. Her leathery bat wings jutted from her back, just inside her shoulder blades. The right wing was different than the other; part of it looked synthetic.

She stepped out of the closet holding up a pair of Will’s jeans. “Are these light or dark?”

“Um, dark.”

The jeans hit him in the side of the head.

Mars was back in the closet again. Will could see her in the mirror as she ransacked his stuff. She was skinny and wiry, but tough looking. Her fingers and thumbs were full of rings, and a dozen bracelets covered her left arm. Three silver studs and one hoop hung from each ear. A pair of goggle shades sat on top of her head to keep her wild purple and black hair out of her face. Her eyes were huge, kind of an icy blue-gray color, even the pupils. A band of thick, dark eyelashes made it look like she was wearing severe eye makeup. She was almost as pale as Will, which accentuated her eyes, and caused her small upturned nose and pale lips to fade into the background.

Will suddenly felt uncomfortable watching Mars so intently. He looked away. “Uh, why are you in my room?”

“Why do you sleep with rubber gloves?” Mars shot back and sent a pair of socks flying his direction.

He self-consciously pulled at his latex-covered fingers and frowned.

Her face popped out of the closet. “Oh, don’t pout. I was just wondering if you’d been burned or something, ’cause your hands seem fine underneath.”

“I used to have allergies,” Will muttered.

“Used to? Then why still wear them? That’s kind of weird.” She cocked her head to the side. “Are you going to get dressed or what?”

Will looked at the jeans in his hand. Mars might be blind, but he wasn’t about to change in front of her.

The bat-girl shook her head. “Oh, fine.” She reached out and closed the closet doors, shutting herself inside. “Now, will you please get dressed? We have a lot to do.”

Will hesitated, then kicked off his covers and changed into the jeans. As soon as he buttoned the pants, the doors to the closet flew open and Mars appeared with a look of satisfaction. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”

She skipped across the room and jumped, landing on the edge of the bed.

Will scrunched farther into the corner. This girl had no regard for personal boundaries.

“Can you maybe sit over there?” Will pointed to a chair on the other side of the room.

“No. I like it here. Why are you in your room?” she said. “Breakfast started an hour ago. I was waiting to introduce myself there. Then I was going to show you around, because I know St. Grimm’s better than pretty much anybody. You know, ‘cause I live here. But you never showed at breakfast. So I came here, but you were asleep, so I waited, Wilhelm.”

“It’s Will. Wait, how do you know my name?”

Mars was rummaging through his backpack, which had been sitting next to the bed. “I was eavesdropping last night when Agent Manning was talking to Nurse Starr. My hearing is pretty good. What happened with the wolf?”

“What? How do you know about that?”

“You talk in your sleep. ‘Oh, no. Stop! Watch out! The wolf!’” Mars imitated Will’s voice. “You’re kind of loud. I was on your balcony and I didn’t even have to listen that hard to hear you. So is that why you’re here, because of a wolfchant?”

“I…um.”

Mars held up and shook the bottle of Will’s anti-Cloak medication disguised as gas pills.

“I heard Starr say you were from New York. I’ve never been to New York before. Are you from the city or the state? I guess they’re kind of the same thing. But I meant more like city or the country. Probably city. You seem like a city boy. Do you know Donald Trump? Did you know we are the same age? Cool, huh?”

Trying to follow Mars’s logic was like chasing a feather in a tornado.

“What’s this?” She flipped through Will’s yellow journal.

“Hey. Don’t read that.” Will grabbed for the book, but Mars pulled it away.

“Read it?” She ran her hand over the pages. “Unless it’s in Braille, your secrets are safe. Radar isn’t so good for reading.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’m not. Trust me, I’d rather be blind than to smell like a hippochant’s outhouse.” She took a sniff in Will’s direction and wrinkled her nose. “But I have to say, you don’t reek as bad as you did last night.”

Agent Manning had instructed Will to spray with the gerbil scent every morning to keep up his cover. It must be wearing off. He wasn’t sure how to spray now with Mars in his room.

“Um…well…I…” He was saved by a knock on the door. The electronic lock pinged, and Rizz stepped into the room.

“Good morning?” Rizz raised his eyebrow and eyed Mars and Will.

Realizing how it must look, Will flushed with embarrassment.

“Rizz! You’re back.” Mars squealed and jumped off the bed, grabbing one of Rizz’s horns and swinging onto his back like he was a horse.

“How you doing, Mars?”

Mars was studying the back of Rizz’s horn with her fingers. “Is that a new carving? A mongoose? Oh man. When are you gonna put a bat on there?”

“Now why would I want to do that? I already got a bat on there. How could I replace you?”

Mars punched him in the shoulder.

“Hey, what was that for?”

“For staying away so long. Were you doing more spy stuff? Something dangerous?”

“Mars, how many times do I have to tell you? I’m just a bodyguard for the Doc.”

“Oh, yeah right, whatever. I know what you guys are.” Mars leaned forward and whispered loudly, “You’re super-spies.”

“You can believe what you want.” Rizz changed his voice to sound like a Russian spy. “But if dat is vot you tink, vee vill have to silence you, Batgirl!”

He threw his head back and forth, trying to shake her off, until Rizz noticed Will scrunched into a ball in the corner of his bed. “Geez, Mars. What’d you do to the kid?”

“Nothing.” She slid to the floor and crossed her arms. “I just wanted to introduce myself and show him around. But he was asleep.”

“Aw, Mars. You didn’t wake him up, did you?”“No.” She flitted toward the double doors on the opposite side of the room that led to a balcony. “He woke up on his own, but it took a while.”

“You snuck in while he was sleeping?” Rizz turned to confront Mars, but she was already out the door.

“Bye, Rizz. See ya later, Stinky.”

“I’m telling Nurse Starr and your dad, you little sneak.”

Mars was over the balcony, her wings beating the air. “Tattle-tale!” she called over her shoulder.

“Ding bat!” Rizz shot back with a chuckle that faded when he turned back to Will, who still sat, dazed, with a severe case of bed-head.

“You okay, kid? I should have warned you about Mars. Sometimes she can be a little forward.”

“I heard that!” Mars yelled from the atrium. Rizz shut the doors, pulled a packet of breath mints from his pocket and set it on the desk. He tapped the container twice and it emitted a high-pitched beep, followed by a soft whirring sound.

“There. She won’t hear anything else, the little snoop. It’s an anti-eavesdropper device. Messes with the frequencies that super-hearers like Mars can pick up.” Rizz leaned closer. “That’s why she thinks we’re all spies. Because we turn these on whenever we need to talk. It drives her crazy.”

“How do you know her?”

“Know her? I practically raised her. Well, technically the doc raised her. He adopted her when she was just a baby.”

“Her dad is Dr. Noctua?”

Rizz nodded. “Mars lost both parents, her sight, and a wing at the same time, but she survived—toughest kid I’ve ever seen. The doc fixed her up and took her in. And our team kind of adopted her as our own. Ha! Believe me, it takes a team to raise that kid.”

“So she really lives here?”

“Yep. There are lots of full-timers at St. Grimm’s. It’s kind of a cross between a hospital and a halfway house with an orphanage and a historical landmark thrown in for good measure. Like its own little village. But that’s how the doc wants it, so that’s how it is.” Rizz put his arms behind his head and stretched out his legs. “Yeah, when you pay the bills you get to call the shots.”

“You mean he owns St. Grimm’s, too?”

“For the record, he gave a generous donation—generous enough that there will never need to be another donation, if you know what I mean. Must be nice to be a ga-zillionaire.”

It was hard to picture Dr. Noctua with the kind of wealth or power that Rizz was talking about.

“So, you and Mars?” Rizz gave Will an appraising look.

“What?” Will blushed. “I woke up and she was in the room. Then she started going through my stuff and throwing clothes at me. Half the time I couldn’t follow what she was saying.”

Rizz looked skeptical.

“Oh, come on, Rizz. She broke in while I was asleep, like a stalker or something.”

Rizz threw his head back in snorting laughter, almost falling off the trunk. “I know, kid. I’m just messing with you. She does that to every new arrival. It always leaves one heck of a first impression.”

“Wait, you knew she was going to break in here?”

“Well, not while you were sleeping. That’s a new one. Usually she just lands on the balcony when somebody is settling in. She must really like you.”

“It’s not funny.” Will tried to stop giggling but Rizz’s chuckle was contagious. “That girl scared the crap out of me.”

That brought a new snort from Rizz. “Okay, okay, okay.” He took a deep breath. “You hungry?”

The thought of food made Will’s stomach growl.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” said Rizz. “Why don’t you get ready, and I’ll take you down to the cafeteria.”

Until yesterday, every flavorful food had been off limits. His whole life had been one bland, limp meal after another. Veggies, fruits, breads, and even meats had to be totally drained of flavor in a pot of hot water. Until now. Food was the one thing that had been tickling the back of Will’s mind ever since he’d been cured of his allergies. Once when he was nine, Will had snuck a piece of bacon when Nurse Grundel was watching her soaps. The salty smokiness was such a contrast to the rubbery, boiled stuff that he’d been forced to stomach for so long. He had taken two more slices and shoved them in his mouth. They’d caused a blistering rash on his neck, but the crispy bacon had been worth the itch.

“Is there any bacon?” Will blurted as he hurried to put on his shoes.

Rizz looked disgusted. “Sorry, kid. I’m taking you to the herbivore cafeteria—strictly vegan. Some of us don’t do meat, you know, ’cause we kind of
are
meat. You’re gonna have to be a vegetarian for a while too…being a
gerbilchant
and all.”

Will stopped. “Oh, yeah.” Not having bacon was a disappointment, but anything would be better than boiled lettuce.

“After we eat, Doc Noctua suggested I take you on a tour of St. Grimm’s to kind of help you get your bearings. But only if you’re up for it.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve lived in a bubble my whole life. I’m up for anything that doesn’t involve plastic walls.”

“Excellent.” Rizz stood. “We have all morning, since your shift doesn’t start until this afternoon.”

“My shift?” Will paused midway through tying his laces.

“Yep. See, at St. Grimm’s, everybody pitches in. If you can walk, you can work. Even if you can’t walk, you work.”

“But this is a hospital. The patients have chores?”

“Sure,” shrugged Rizz. “How are you supposed to feel better if you’re just lying around moaning all day?”

Will couldn’t argue with the logic. “So, what do I have to do?” he asked, remembering the fate of the teens from the night before. He hoped bedpans were out of the picture.

Rizz raised an eyebrow. “Now if I told you, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise, would it?”

“Oh, come on. At least tell me if it’s a good surprise or a bad one.”

He shook his head and turned toward the door. “Let’s get you some breakfast.”

“Not cool,” mumbled Will and started to follow.

“Whoa,” said Rizz, sniffing the air. “Before we head out, you’d better re-gerbil and take your anti-Cloak meds. We don’t want to let your little secret out just yet. If you’re lucky, maybe that gerbil stink will keep Mars out of your room.”

“In that case, I think I’ll spray twice.” Will grabbed his pack, pulled out the spray, and prepared for his first full day as an enchant.