Cloak (YA Fantasy) (20 page)

Will was the designated bottle runner. Whenever one of the infants started bawling, he had to retrieve the correct bottle and hurry it to Rizz, who was a pro at holding it just right to quiet the shriek or moo or hiss. Enchant newborns were much different than those in a normal nursery. They kept trying to climb or jump out of their cribs, grabbing at bottles as Will passed by.

A thirty pound grizzly bear enchant snagged Will’s sleeve and pulled him into a crib, where the baby stole a bottle meant for a zebra enchant newborn. Rizz pried the grizzly’s paws apart until Will escaped the bear hug.

“Think he’s strong now? You should see this helpless little guy in about a year. He’ll be a head taller than you.”

Looking around at these powerful newborns, Will suddenly felt very inadequate.

The rest of the shift dragged on. By the time Will had carried a four-gallon bottle to a hippochant baby, he was exhausted and ready to go.

The shortest route to the herbivore cafeteria was still blocked off by yellow crime scene tape. The next closest route was stopped up by a crew trying to free an elderly elephantchant who’d gotten her trunk stuck in an elevator.

Rizz and Manning were unhappy about the detour. Scanning over their shoulders, they rushed Will through tunnels where stalactites and stalagmites spiked from the ceiling and floor like redundant rows of teeth. The walls were covered in a crust of red lichen that bounced crimson light into every shadow. Unlike the rest of St. Grimm’s, nothing green grew in this tunnel. The air was smothering. As they rounded a corner Will noticed strange noises and smells coming from a downward sloping tunnel to his right.

“What’s down there?” He sniffed the air and smelled bacon.“Carnivore cafeteria, kid.” Rizz perked his ears. Both he and Manning were on full alert. “Not a good place to be caught during dinner time.”

Laughter and an ominous howl floated up from the tunnel. The agents grabbed Will and picked up their pace.

“Hey, what’s the hurry? You three are going the wrong way,” hissed a cold, mocking voice.

Rizz and Manning turned back to back, keeping Will between them as a dozen scaly teenage reptiles emerged from the shadows. An iguana with spikes like a Mohawk and a pierced nose blocked the path while a crew of tattooed lizardchants with spines jutting from their heads closed in behind Will and his protectors. Above Manning, snake enchants coiled around white-tipped stalactites, rattling their tails. Each reptile wore a cast or a bandage.

“Venison, wild goat, and…” A waxy yellow boy leaning against a stalagmite flicked a forked tongue at Will from under his hooded jacket. “Rancid gerbil? Shouldn’t you be heading down to the kitchens, Meat?”

The gang of reptile enchants laughed.

“Meat. That was a good one, Cylus. He-he,” said a scrawny lizard with a big mouth and flaps of scaly skin hanging from his neck.

“Shut up, Wart!”

Wart withered and moved away.

Manning stepped forward, her fingers hovering over one of her daggers. “Back off, boy. Let us pass. We don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Oh, how scary. I’m being threatened by an appetizer.” Another round of laughter filled the cavern.

Rizz began to chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” snapped the waxy teen.

“You.” Rizz cracked his knuckles. “Cylus, is it? You and your entourage here have no clue what’s about to happen. Do you?”

Angry hisses filled the air.

“I’ll tell you what’s going to happen, grass-eater,” Cylus said. “We’re going to beat you to a pulp and drag you down that tunnel right there. Ever seen what happens to herbivores during a feeding frenzy?”

Rizz snorted. “You are hilarious, but your facts are a little off. What’s really going to happen is that in thirty seconds, your poky-headed iguanachant friend there is gonna be on the ground crying ’cause he just had his ugly nose ring ripped out. Then the viper triplets above my head, I’ll call them Larry, Mo, and Slimy, are gonna end up in a barely conscious knot over there.” Rizz pointed with his thumb. “Next, the four boneheads behind me are going be pinned to the wall and finally you, my friend, will kiss the floor while I administer an incredibly painful wedgie. After that, I imagine there will be a lot of cowering and fleeing by everybody who didn’t get their butts kicked. You get the picture.”

“Really?” Cylus flashed a black set of fangs. The group closed in. “And you’re going to do all that, Goat-man?”

“Me?” smirked Rizz. “Nope. I only do wedgies. Manning.”

There was a bellow at Will’s side, and Agent Manning charged forward. She launched herself into a twisting back flip, planted a tiny foot into the hoop in the iguana enchant’s nose, and used it as a springboard to catapult herself to the ceiling. The iguana teen fell to the ground wailing and grabbing his bleeding nose. The metal hoop clinked across the floor.

Manning roared as she flew between stalactites. Grabbing the three viper enchants by the tails, she slammed their heads together. The slithering mass fell to the floor in the exact spot where Rizz had pointed. Realizing they were next, the four lizard enchants started to run, but as they fled, their hooded jackets were pinned to the wall by the six-inch daggers Manning had thrown with ridiculous precision. She dropped to the floor and glared at Cylus. He took a step back, but was hampered by the cast on his foot. Manning was fast. She bolted forward into a triple handspring, sailed over Cylus, and grabbed the sides of his hood. Using his own weight, she flipped him over and pressed his face to the stone floor.

“Come on, kid.” Rizz led Will to where Manning had Cylus pinned down. “I have a promise to keep.”

Rizz bent down, found Cylus’s underwear band and yanked it until it reached the base of his skull.

As predicted, the gang scattered, limping off in every direction.

“You kids enjoy your dinner now.” Rizz waved as the reptile enchants fled.

Will stared open-mouthed at the agents.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Manning reached up and closed Will’s jaw with her tiny finger.

As they walked away, Will peeked over his shoulder. Cylus was standing at the entrance to the carnivore cafeteria fixing his pants, his black eyes fuming. He stared at Will and flashed his fangs. Slowly, he pulled a scaly finger across his throat, then pointed the same finger directly at Will.

20

Flight

D
inner was a wash. Will’s insides were too tied in knots to allow him to concentrate on food. The word
helpless
kept gnawing at the back of his brain. He thought of how tiny Manning had pummeled a gang by herself. Rizz had looked at mortal danger and laughed. Will had cowered. Helpless Will.

Rizz took Will back to his room and warned him that the noise at night might be a little distracting. Distracting? It sounded like a herd of elephants playing basketball in a china shop. There was clanking and banging and obnoxious voices for two hours straight.

Will lay in bed worrying about naturalization. What if it made him deaf or blind or worse? Should he just jump in like he’d always done? His entire life had been a series of stupid risks—midnight strolls behind Nurse Grundel’s back, allergy experiments for his yellow journal, commuter roulette. And now he was nervous about a possible loss of a few senses?

Will was trying to make the biggest decision of his life. The tremendous clamor wasn’t helping. He tried a pillow over his head, then two. How could anyone think?

Forget sleeping. Will threw the pillows. He padded to the balcony doors and wrenched them open. The noise tripled. He peered over the edge. A traffic jam had clotted the bottom of the atrium. Enchants of all sizes were toting suitcases and pressing toward the check-out desk in total chaos. Dr. Bump tried in vain to control the crowd. Not even Sergeant Gnar could quiet the crazed enchants. Will looked across the atrium. Gawkers gazed down from most of the balconies. At least he wasn’t the only one distracted by the racket.

“Having trouble sleeping?” Rizz snorted from the next balcony over. He was wearing old sweat pants and a t-shirt with “Got Horns?” faded across the chest. He had his hooves up on the railing, reading a paper.

“What’s going on?” Will kneaded his eye with a latex-covered fist.

“This.” Rizz sent a newspaper sailing between the balconies. “Check out the front page.”

Will unfolded the copy of
The New Wik Times
and stared at the headline, “The Builders are Back!” There was a color picture one of the tourists must have taken. It was grainy, but it clearly captured six Builders on the wall of the Gathering Hall. It also showed Will from behind, staring up at them. The caption under the photo read, “Gerbilchant, Wilhelm Tuttle, frozen and helpless in the presence of an attacking platoon of Builders.”

“So much for keeping a low profile,” quipped Rizz and chuckled.

“I find no humor in this,” said Agent Flores, who was blending in with the stone and foliage on the other balcony adjacent to Will’s. Flores had changed out of the tuxedo but was still dressed in a crisp, Italian suit and wearing sunglasses. He stood rigid, checking his teeth in his mirror. “I cannot believe that the boy’s name was released to the press. What was Dr. Bump thinking?”

“Bump is an idiot. We all know that,” shrugged Rizz. “And besides, this might be good. It makes Will seem more believable as an enchant. There’s a rumor going around now that gerbil musk wards off Builders. This might actually make your stink popular, kid.”

“Oh, that is
perfecto
,” grumbled Flores, slipping his hand mirror back into his pocket. “How are we supposed to keep the boy safe with more enchants around him? This defeats the purpose of the gerbil cover completely.”

“Oh, don’t mind Flores, kid. He’s just cranky because he has to pull a double shift tonight.” Rizz looked at the bags under Will’s eyes. “I’ll tell you what. If you want, I can have Nurse Starr swing by for a little sleep aid.”

“Pills?” asked Will.

“Nah. Didn’t you notice last night? The woman can knock out a whalechant just by standing next to him.”

“Huh?” Will didn’t remember the nurse doing anything.

“Pheromones, kid. You know, the ‘old sniff and follow?’ You’ve never heard about body chemistry that can influence others through smells?”

Will shook his head.

“Well, there’s a lot of that among enchants, let me tell you. Mostly pheromones are for pickin’ up the ladies.” Rizz locked his fingers behind his head. “But Georgia can produce a sedative pheromone that will put you out in seconds. Why do you think she’s such a good nurse? The lady’s a walking tranquilizer.”

Will remembered Nurse Georgia Starr’s intoxicating lavender scent. “The perfume?”

“Bingo. But that isn’t perfume. You just sit tight. I’ll give her a call.” Rizz paused for a second. “Oh, but don’t tell her you know about the pheromone thing. She likes patients to think that it’s her soothing personality that helps them relax.”

Phermones? Did everyone have abilities? Will glanced back at the caption under his picture.
Helpless.
That word again.

“Rizz.”

“Yeah, kid?”

“I made my decision about the naturalization.”

“Really?” Rizz popped to his feet. “What’d you decide?”

“I want to tell everybody together. In the morning, before breakfast?”

“Sure. I’ll set it up. But how about a preview? A clue?”

Will smirked and folded his arms. “Now if I told you, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise, now would it?”

“Touché,” Rizz snorted.

Ten minutes later Nurse Starr stopped by Will’s room with a glass of warm milk and insisted that she tuck him into bed. Will took deep breaths and let the smell of lilacs fill his lungs. With his decision made, and Nurse Starr’s help, it didn’t take long before the noises faded and his eyelids fell.

Will was dreaming of bacon—big steaming plates of smoky goodness. His mouth watered as he ordered plate after plate from a waitress dressed as a pancake. The dream was so vivid he could smell it. Will went to grab a piece and was stopped by a huge hand covered in black fur. He gasped and pulled back. Sitting across the table was the wolf enchant, growling and glaring with milky white eyes. Will tried to stand up, but his way was blocked by Builders dressed as waiters, carrying more platters of bacon. The pancake waitress grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.