The Wikkeling (10 page)

Bestiary (n)
bes'che-er'e
A compendium of animals, commonly including those fictitious and those extinct.

She looked up
compendium
(“a concise collection of detailed information”), and then opened the
Bestiary
. The pages were thick, rough, and discolored into a variety of yellows, unlike the smooth plastic pages she was familiar with.

The book's text was written in a loopy, long cursive. Henrietta marveled at how much time must have gone into the making of it. Early in the year, Ms. Span had shown the class the cursive alphabet, though they hadn't ever practiced it. This book was written more beautifully than the precise, typed examples their class had seen. It flowed like a river. Henrietta touched it with her fingers and followed the lines of the word
Bestiary
on the title page. Below was another line, which she had to look at for some time before she could unravel its meaning. “Researched and Written by Aristotle Alcott, Henrift, and Many Friends.”

She wondered if this Henrift might be Henrift Andi, Humanitarian and Forward Thinker. The movie at school never mentioned him being an author.

Henrietta turned a few more of the brittle pages. Some of the paper crumbled under her fingers. She reached the table of contents and scanned it until she found a section labeled “House Animals,” and the subsection “Housecats—Wild.”

It seemed unbelievable that this book should have such an entry. She'd never read or heard about wild housecats anywhere before today. Why didn't her teachers ever mention them? She wondered, for the first time, who decided what would be taught at school. Henrietta noted the page number of the chapter on House Animals, and flipped to it.

Endemic to Attics and Root Cellars. Because of its habitual reclusiveness and a lack of Research (due partly to difficulty of retaining Specimens and partly to poor persistence in captivity), few facts about the animal are known with Certainty.

The Wild Housecat's diet remains unobserved; despite its probable unreliability, it seems appropriate to report the opinion of Tradition, as a popular Children's Rhyme suggests a subsistence on “Cobwebs and Rat Tails, Dust and Rust.”

This Animal is considered beneficial to Humankind, as it is held not only to control Rat populations, but also to keep houses free of Spider Webs and Insects. For this reason, many Homes contain so-called “Cat Halls,” thought to encourage Ingress and Egress.

Wild Housecats are thought to possess considerable intelligence, and Tradition holds that, in some respects, they may be the equal of Humans. Such Holdings, also, have sadly not been subjected to verification through the Scientific Method.

—A.A.

After reading the entry, Henrietta went back over it with the dictionary, looking up the unfamiliar words. She turned to the cat.

“They don't know what you eat,” she said. “Maybe cobwebs.”

She went to a bookcase, plucked a web from the corner of a shelf, and smeared it onto the sofa cushion near the cat. The cat flicked out one paw and patted the web. Then it yawned widely, and Henrietta saw its long, white teeth. It curled up on the couch, and evinced no further interest in its proposed dinner.

“I'd better go back before my parents miss me,” said Henrietta. “I hope you keep getting better.”

H
enrietta always looked forward to Saturdays, her only day off from school, but every time one arrived, it soon became yesterday. Now, early on Sunday morning, idly watching plumes of exhaust erupt from tailpipes onto the blacktop, the next weekend seemed impossibly distant. Today was a little different from an average Sunday, though. For once something had
really happened
the day before, and furthermore she had friends to tell about it.

Gary approached from up the block. He was a large boy, and a clumsy walker whose feet frequently tangled with one another or their surroundings. Today, he arrived just as the bus opened its door. Cars honked, annoyed at the holdup even though it happened at precisely the same time every day.

“
GET IN SHAPE WITH
LURMY'S
NEGATIVE-CALORIE
ENCHILADA
!”

“
TINCAN TELECOMM'S SKIPPING-STONE PHONE IS
PERFECT FOR ATHLETES!
”

The children boarded and buckled in. As the bus rolled forward and the sounding horns diminished, Henrietta twisted toward Gary in her network of straps. “I have something to tell you.”

“What?” said Gary. He looked interested, but his thick eyebrows loomed tiredly. It seemed to require great effort from him to prop them up in the mornings.

“Um . . . well, you should
see
it.”

Gary grinned sleepily. “You have to tell me you have to show me something?”

“It's at my house. But I can't show you till Wednesday.” Henrietta sighed. “I got grounded for finding out something.”

“What was it?” said Gary.

“My grandma's dying,” said Henrietta. “But my parents wanted it a secret.”

“I'm sorry.” Gary looked thoughtful. “When my dad died, my mom didn't want me to know either. She told me he was on a cruise.”

“That's terrible,” said Henrietta. She could scarcely imagine such a brazen lie.

“Yeah,” said Gary. “They were divorced, so I didn't see him much anyway.” He paused. It seemed obvious from his expression that it had been a terrible secret to discover. “Are you sad about your grandma?”

“Kind of,” she said. “I want to be. But I don't see her very much.”

“My dad used to send me a card every year for my birthday,” said Gary. “That's how I knew he wasn't really on a cruise—because no card came.”

Henrietta's grandmother also sent Henrietta a card each year on her birthday, and this struck her suddenly as very sad—not that the cards would stop coming, but that they'd been her grandmother's most consistent presence.

Gary brightened a little bit. “Hey, you know what? I bet I
could
come over today if you want.”

“How?” said Henrietta.

“I just thought of a plan. First, we'll both have to get detention.”

“Why?”

“You'll have to see,” he said, smiling. His eyes looked more awake as he contemplated his mischief.

This particular Sunday was the first of the month, which meant Physical Safety Period, led by a chubby, pale, balding man named Mr. Safety, who taught his one subject throughout the district, moving from school to school. He never remembered the students' names, and Ms. Span was always present to make sure everyone behaved. It was in Mr. Safety's class that Henrietta had first seen
Watch Out for Pirates
, one of the most exciting movies ever.

Ms. Span's class walked together in a line down the hall to the Physical Safety room, a small gymnasium with a cushioned floor. As they entered, Mr. Safety blew a whistle that hung from a lanyard around his neck.

“LINES OF FIVE!” he barked. The class formed lines of five students each.

“WE'RE GOING TO DO A JUMPING JACK!” said Mr. Safety. “FEET TOGETHER, ARMS LOOSE. WHEN I WHISTLE, JUMP AND BRING YOUR FEET SHOULDER-WIDTH APART, ARMS OVERHEAD, EXCEPT FOR . . .” Here, he consulted a list on his phone of the names of students whose parents didn't want them to do a jumping jack. “CLARENCE, HIROKI, JOSÉ, AND GARY!”

He whistled. The remainder of the students jumped, put their feet shoulder-width apart, and held their arms overhead.

“COOL DOWN!” said Mr. Safety. “Walk in place.” He paced along the lines. “Sit!” he barked. The class sat. “WE'RE GOING TO DO A SIT-UP. LIE ON YOUR BACKS, EXCEPT. . . AMBER, GABRIELLE, AND GARY. EVERYONE ELSE, WHEN I SAY SO, SIT UP. BUT NOT TOO FAST OR YOU'LL GET HERNIAS. YOU DO NOT WANT HERNIAS.”

Henrietta sensed Gary in the row next to her, gesturing covertly. “What?” she whispered.

“Look!” Gary pointed to the end of the last row of students. There were five kids there, with Clarence Frederick at the very back. But there was someone else—behind Clarence. Someone who was clearly not a kid.

“Who is it?” Gary said.

Henrietta stared. She blinked and stared again. What she saw there was not a person, though it kind of looked like one. It was the size of an adult, but its face was not a normal adult face. Its skin was pale yellow and even, like pudding smoothed over a tiny nose and an even tinier chin—its small mouth dangled precariously just above. It was dressed in yellow pants and a yellow button-up shirt, and it lay on its back just like the students, its hands by its sides. Its fingers were bizarre, long translucent tapers, like candles. For a moment, it flickered out like a switched-off fluorescent light. When it reappeared, it had changed position: its pale yellow eyes were staring right at Henrietta and Gary.

“SIT UP!” said Mr. Safety. The class did its careful sit-up, and the creature participated obediently.

“STAND!” said Mr. Safety.

The class, and the creature, stood.

“ALL RIGHT EVERYONE. THIS TIME,
TEN
JUMPING JACKS, EXCEPT . . . GARY, JOSÉ, AND BELINDA. WHEN I WHISTLE, YOU COUNT. READY?”

“Ready, Mr. Safety!” said the class.

Weeeh!
went Mr. Safety's whistle, and everyone jumped, including the creature.

“ONE!” said the class. “TWO!”

The creature stopped at Two. It stepped away from its line, and strode purposefully toward Henrietta and Gary. Along the way, as it passed other students, it reached out with its long, waxy index finger and tapped them on their foreheads. No one seemed to notice, or see the creature at all.

“Wh-what is it?” Henrietta stuttered.

“It's coming over here!” said Gary, backing out of his line.

“THREE! FOUR!” said the class.

Then another voice sounded, above everything. It was Ms. Span, and her tone was sharp. “Gary and Henrietta!” she said. “Quit clowning!”

“FIVE! SIX!” said the class.

“Run!” said Henrietta as the creature closed on them.

“I'm . . . not supposed to run,” said Gary, his voice shaking.

“
Go!
” said Henrietta, and she shoved Gary in front of her. They fled.

“Stop!” Ms. Span yelled as they departed their line and zipped through the one adjacent, interrupting the jumping jacks of several students.

“SEVEN!” said the class.

“Oh my!” said Mr. Safety as Henrietta and Gary skidded from line to line, causing considerable confusion.

“EIGHT!” yelled some students. “SIX!” yelled others. The lines began to break up as Henrietta and Gary desperately pushed through, weaving toward the front of the room, toward Mr. Safety.

“Take care now!” said Mr. Safety nervously, holding up one hand as if to ward off their approach. He placed his whistle in his mouth, preparing to blow.

“It's gaining!” yelled Gary, glancing back. The creature wasn't running, exactly—it flickered after them, disappearing and reappearing in a series of approaching snapshots.