Cloak (YA Fantasy) (34 page)

I didn’t tell anyone. Who are you?
thought Will, struggling against whatever bound him.

Hissing laughter filled Will’s mind.
Foolish boy. You really should learn to calm your feelings. Such uncontrolled emotions for a scent-speaker can be very dangerous. You’ve been spilling your worries and curiosities and fears since the moment I met you. Of course, you are still rather weak, so I could only read you when you were close. That’s why I insisted Liska question you in my office. You told me about Dean and your red-striped Builder friend. Liska’s charges were weak. Yet you stupidly brought incriminating evidence with you. It’s a good thing you can’t hide a secret. You should thank me for keeping you out of prison.

The enchant stepped closer and his blurry scent drifted together like steam, forming a small misshapen face.

“Dr. Bump?”

“Oops. Now I’ve spoiled my fun,” said the high, pinched voice.

REMOVE THE BOY’S BLINDFOLD.

The scent-command was so powerful that Will tried to obey even though he knew Bump’s order was not intended for him. The red-eyed soldier Builder tore away the sticky substance covering Will’s eyes. Dr. Bump held the fang on a chain, sneering. He reached up and pressed hard against the smell enhancer, forcing scent words into Will’s mind.
Never believe what you see. Never believe what you hear. Never believe what you smell.
“I thought that Special Branch team of yours warned you, Wilhelm.”

“It was you?” Will struggled against the hardened amber that pinned him to the rock wall.

“You can wiggle all you want. Builder saliva is hard as stone. You and your friends aren’t going anywhere.”

Two more amber-covered figures were plastered next to Will.

“Besides,” said Bump, “where would you go?”

Will looked up. They were in a huge stone lab shaped like a beehive. Thousands of Builders entered and exited through hundreds of holes. Workers carried glass globes to giant tanks filled with swirling gas. Soldiers patrolled the perimeter, guarding rows of cages lining the far wall. One of the cells held a tank of dingy water where Dervis was curled up in a corner, shaking uncontrollably and covering his face with his tentacles.

In the center of the largest cage, a huge female Builder with a long sleek thorax was bound to a table with leather straps. A machine pumped an acid green liquid into her body through tubes attached to her exoskeleton.

The female Builder met Will’s eyes and raised her hand, reaching for him, then she dropped it and turned away.

In the cell next to hers, the white-eyed wolf paced behind the bars, his single eye locked on Will.

“It was you? You sent the hunter after me? You’ve been controlling the Builders and you turned the enchants wild?” sputtered Will.

Bump held up his hands. “Guilty.”

“But why?”

“I’ll show you.” Bump picked up a large, empty syringe and stepped forward. “You may feel a pinch.”

Will screamed as the beetle tore away a chunk of amber and inserted the needle just below his ribs. It felt like a raging fire in his side and back. Bump backed away. The agony subsided. Will coughed.

Dr. Bump held up the syringe, now containing a small amount of yellowish liquid. “Adrenaline.” He stroked the glass. “It’s what provides that little rush of excitement. But in your case, it also powers your enhancers, let’s you see through Cloak, allows you to scent-speak, and provides you with the ability to command Builders.”

“What? I can’t command Builders,” coughed Will.

“Well, you’re not very good at it, but you will be in time. I knew you had the gift when you summoned the Builders in the Gathering Hall—that curiosity pheromone of yours has quite a potent scent. Granted, I wasn’t pleased that you brought my Builders out into the open. That almost ruined my little surprise. Then you confirmed your ability with your dream. Bacon? Do you know how upset I would have been if eleven years of planning were destroyed because my minions were caught delivering a midnight snack to a teenager who couldn’t curb his hunger pheromones? You have no restraint. Not yet. But I will teach you how. Controlling Builders is only the beginning.”

Bump gave another potent scent command.
PREPARE THE WOLF AND BRING HIM TO ME.
A patrol of soldier Builders advanced on the wolf’s cage.

“When I get out of here, I will devour you, Bump! You double-crossing bug. I promise you will die. And I never fail on a promise!” howled the wolfchant.

“Never fail, never fail?” mocked Bump. “Isn’t that what you said when I hired you to bring me this little boy? And not once, not twice, but three times you have failed me, hunter. I’m afraid you’re out of chances, you insipid cur.”

Bump turned to Will. “He’s been a horrible disappointment to me. Sad, really. But not to worry, I’ve finally found a use for him.”

The Builders surrounded the wolfchant’s cage and smashed a globe on the floor, filling the cell with amber gas. When it cleared, the wolf was on all fours, growling and foaming like a rabid dog. Quickly, the Builders subdued him and dragged him out.

Dr. Bump held a small vial of acid green liquid up to Will’s face. “This is my greatest invention, Wilhelm. Very difficult to make—it’s the Gladius Encánto in it that can be especially tricky.”

Will’s eyes widened and he pulled away. “You’re going to turn me into an enchant?”

“Oh, don’t worry. It’s perfectly harmless to you. Now if you were a Builder, and I mixed this with adrenaline from your queen over there, then you might have to worry. You see with this, she’s my living amplifier. Because of this,” he held up the vial, “any command I give to her is passed on to the entire colony. My will is their will. And it has been so for many, many years.”

“You were behind the Builder uprising, controlling them, making them do those awful things?”

“Give the boy a cookie!” mocked Bump. “Unfortunately, the Builder queen regained control after the explosion just long enough to agree to those ghastly sanctions. I have had to keep my little Builders underground for eleven years preparing for today. For this.” Bump held up the vial and injected Will’s adrenaline into the green liquid, causing it to bubble and steam. Then he poured it into a mister and sprayed the snapping wolfchant in the face. The beast instantly became docile, sitting at attention with a glazed look in his eye.

“Now, observe.”

WILHELM, USE SCENT-SPEAK AND COMMAND THE WOLFCHANT TO DANCE.

Will was helpless. He had to obey Bump’s scent command.
DANCE, WOLFCHANT,
he demanded.

Instantly, the wolf enchant sprang to his feet and began to waltz stiffly with an unsuspecting Builder.

“Wonderful,” clapped Bump.
WILHELM, COMMAND HIM TO ROLL OVER.

There was no way to resist.
ROLL OVER,
he thought. The wolf enchant obeyed.

WILHELM, COMMAND THE WOLF TO SIT.

SIT.

The helpless wolfchant sat up with his paws in front of him, panting like a dog.

“Perfect! He makes a much better pet than assassin, don’t you think?” said Bump. “Wilhelm, do you realize how many Immunes I went through to find you? All of them, in fact.” He limped closer, squeezing Will’s chin in his stubby fingers. “You are rare. Only one other Immune had this ability, you know. Now he was a great Immune, far more powerful than you—so much more controlled. He would have been the perfect amplifier, had he survived.”

“Josef Grimm,” gasped Will, recovering from the scent command. “You were his assistant. The Builders didn’t kill him, you did.”

Bump twittered his fingers. “Something like that.”

“You’re a monster.”

“You have no idea.” There was dangerous edge to his voice. “But seriously, Wilhelm, I’m not as bad as you think. My motives are pure. I simply want peace.”

“Peace? You want to kill and enslave thousands and you call that peace?”

“Sometimes peace has a hefty price tag, but I don’t expect a boy to understand. Let’s just say that with you as my living amplifier, I will bring every enchant peace and equality. I just had to strip them of their pesky human independence and now I can replace their wills with mine—just like I’ve done with the Builders. No more fighting, no more pain—just quiet peace.”

“You’re insane.”

“Really?” His eyes were poisonous. “Was I insane when I invented the prosthetic wing or the enhancers that allow the deaf to hear or the limp to run? I created them to end the suffering, but did it work? No. The pettiness of enchants knows no bounds. No invention or prosthetic I produced could create equality. Enchants are like instinct-ridden little children that need to be disciplined.”

“But you didn’t invent all those things, Josef Grimm did.”

Bump leaned close, the stench of his breath washing over Will’s face. “But Wilhelm, I
am
Josef W. Grimm.”

“No, you’re not. He’s dead. You were his assistant.”

Bump squeezed Will’s cheeks hard. “Thaddeus Bump was my assistant. But after my accident, I couldn’t very well show my true form.”

“What do you mean?”

“Gladius Encánto is very tricky to use.”

“You mean you were…”

“Transformed, deformed, mutilated, mutated—take your pick. But thank goodness for poor fat Thaddeus Bump, his ample exoskeleton has been quite useful.” The beetlechant lifted his hand and removed the mask from half of his face.

Under the broken shell of Dr. Bump was another face—one of a reddish insectchant with familiar human features. A grotesque version of Josef Grimm was crammed into the beetle’s body. As the foul odor of decay from behind the mask reached his enhancer, the blurry image he had smelled earlier flickered brighter in Will’s mind.

“Hideous, isn’t it?”

Will gagged, his eyes watering.

“Imagine, eleven years hiding in a dead enchant’s skin. Eleven years pretending to be that sniveling wretch, Bump. Having to grovel to that dawdling owl and being forced to run this playground for his uncontrollable charity cases like your horrible little bat friends.”

Will remembered Mars and Berko. “Where are they?”

“Dead. I ordered my Builders to bring you and the red-marked Builder to me and to kill anyone who interfered.”

Dead? Will’s chest felt like it was going to collapse. It was his fault. He had led Berko and Mars into the trap and now they were gone.

He wanted to scream, to wrap his hands around Grimm’s neck until the insect stopped smirking, but he couldn’t move.

Will flexed his fingers and realized that where Grimm had torn away the amber, his hand was free. It was his last chance. He slipped his hand into his parka and found the pack of gum distress beacon Rizz had given him. Will pressed the logo, hoping that by some miracle Rizz would keep his promise.

Beeps echoed across the lab. There, standing near one of the tunnels was Rizz.

“Rizz! Help me. Dr. Bump is behind everything. But he’s not Bump. He’s really Josef Grimm!”

“I know, kid. Just take it easy, everything’s gonna be fine.” Rizz walked forward and spoke to Dr. Grimm. “This wasn’t the deal, Josef. You were supposed to make sure the kid could be the amplifier then sedate him and hook him up to the machine—no stress, no pain. Why is he not sedated?”

“Rizz? What are you doing?” Will struggled against the amber. “Get me out of here! Save me.”

Rizz refused to make eye contact. “I’m sorry, kid, but I warned you. When it comes to enchants, never believe what you see.”

Will fought back tears. Rizz had taught him everything. Rizz had been his first real friend. The hard-faced ramchant standing in front of him wasn’t the Rizz he knew.

Will faced Grimm. “What did you do to him?”

Behind Dr. Bump’s shell, Josef Grimm’s lips twisted into a wicked grin. “Me? I did nothing. Your
hero
has been working for me since before you were born. Granted, he didn’t do the best job of protecting me when I was an Immune, but he’s been a model employee ever since. Isn’t that right, Agent Rizzuto?”

“Rizz? I thought you were my friend.” Will struggled to speak. “Why are you doing this?”

Rizz clenched his jaw and turned on Grimm. “Enough. The kid doesn’t need the details. We’re running out of time. The gas will lose effect soon. Just get it over with.”

“Patience, my friend.” Grimm’s grating voice filled with condescension. “The boy is curious. It would be cruel to keep him in the dark, wouldn’t it? And besides, my formula will only take a moment to disperse through the ventilation system as soon as we infuse it with the Immune’s adrenaline.”

Rizz balled his fists and glared at Grimm, then turned his back on Will, his shoulders sagging. “Don’t torture the kid. Please.”

Josef Grimm’s eyes slid from Rizz to Will. “Oh, you really do care about this one, don’t you?” He flashed sharp, black teeth. “Rizz the tough? The heart of stone? How many Immunes did I test under your watch? How many did I convince the Council to send to St. Grimm’s—to their death, while you looked away?”

“Too many,” muttered Rizz.

“Have you finally grown a conscience? Too bad for your cousin you didn’t have one eleven years ago.”

“Don’t.” Rizz ground his teeth.

Josef Grimm faced Will. “Do you want to know how he really lost that horn? It was Dean.”

Grimm pulled the amber binding away from Dean’s unconscious face. “Eleven years ago Dean discovered my plans for the Builder uprising and freed the Builders I’d been experimenting on. He had no idea that Rizz was my accomplice. Oh, you should have seen the look of betrayal in Dean’s face—it was a lot like yours, actually, Wilhelm.”

Grimm’s eye’s flickered with twisted glee. “Cousin versus cousin. The fight was something to see. If I hadn’t called in the Builders, I think Dean would have taken Agent Rizzuto’s life. Instead he just took his horn.”

Josef Grimm’s expression darkened and he went on. “I was about to order the Builders to kill Dean, but one of my escaped test subjects, that little red-marked Builder that Dean freed, attacked me and dropped the vial of Gladius Encánto.”

Grimm limped to the wall and tore the amber away from Stripe’s face. The Builder was bruised and bleeding with dents all over his exoskeleton.