Welcome to the Jungle (6 page)

A WIND KICKED UP, BLOWING DUST AND A FEW LOOSE SEEDS THROUGH THE WARM AIR. EVIE
covered her face to shield her eyes, but the carrying carrots didn't mind the breeze. They continued to proceed, single file, into the
Roost
, dragging large canvas sacks beside them.

It was hard to believe that she and Rick had arrived in Texas a few hours ago. So much had happened. Professor Doran had taken them into his office, a quiet wooden study in which potted plants occupied every available surface. He had listened carefully to their story, which they started from the very beginning, with Dad's Winterpole troubles and the need to create a place where their family could be free. When they finished the tale, getting to the part where the meteor of pink robo-animals crashed into the eighth continent and knocked it onto its collision course with Australia, Professor Doran leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a long time. “I see. That is quite a predicament you have found yourselves in.”

“Yes, that's why you must help us!” Rick insisted. “Our father said you're the only one who can.”

“Your father? Hmm . . . I wonder.” The professor's expression grew distant.

“What's wrong?” Evie asked, confused by the strange shift in his tone of voice.

“Nothing,” Professor Doran said. “The Amazonian Super Root is what you need. Come with me; we'll have to check in storage.”

He led the children across the compound to what looked like a storm cellar sticking out of the ground. The cellar concealed a deep subterranean cavern, where boxes were stacked floor to ceiling as far as the eye could see. Evie danced as they piled into a little motorcar. She was so excited Professor Doran was helping them.

The professor drove through the maze of stacks and parked abruptly in front of a wooden crate that was painted bright green. “All right, here we are,” he said as he pried open the lid of the green box so the others could look inside. At the bottom of the box was a bit of hay used for packing cushion, and in the center, a smaller green box.

Evie reached for it. “Is that—”

“The Amazonian Super Root,” Sprout affirmed. Professor Doran opened the small box and took out a black bulb the size of a head of garlic. “It's a plant with mighty fine cellular properties. It grows faster than weeds, and the Prof's fertilizers can accelerate that growth. The root's stronger than a bull and thicker than an elephant's butt!”

Evie snorted at that, receiving a nudge from Rick in return. But if Sprout thought it was funny, then Evie was going to laugh. Each of his jokes was more hilarious than the last.

“This should be enough to solve your runaway continent problems,” Professor Doran explained. “But why should we stop there?” He tossed the bulb back into the box and snapped the lid shut. “You have a whole continent to build—a blank slate where you can create anything your imagination can dream up. You shouldn't settle for an empty canvas. You need forests and jungles, fields of wildflowers, every biome on earth, and perhaps more! Your mother would appreciate such a beautiful landscape. I'm sure you will too. So please, let me give you the seeds you need to create this world.”

Evie could not agree to this plan fast enough. It made her vast continent of jungle adventure appear even more clearly in her mind. Rick, meanwhile, expressed concern about vegetation densities and anticipated population numbers. Ultimately, however, he agreed that passing up this opportunity would be ill-advised—though he urged them all to compile the seeds and saplings as quickly as possible, as there would be no continent left to plant flora on if it crashed into Australia.

“You have quite a lot of work ahead of you, Evelyn,” Professor Doran observed as Sprout and Rick worked with the carrying carrots to swiftly gather the supplies.

Evie shrugged. “Having work is fine, as long as you make it fun.”

Professor Doran shook his head in amazement. “You're so much like your mother. That sounds like something she would say.”

Evie glowered. “I'm nothing like my mother.”

“Huh, huh, huh,” Professor Doran chuckled. “That's
exactly
what Melinda would say.”

When the seeds were all cleaned up, Rick and Sprout ran over to where Evie and Professor Doran were watching.

Sprout nearly jumped out of his cowboy boots. “Prof! Prof! Rick and I just came up with a mighty fine plan.”

“Oh?”

“He's a genius, this one.” Sprout threw an arm around Rick's neck. Rick grinned, looking happy to be praised. Evie scowled. Sprout was a rough-and-tumble kid, just like her. Why would he think a super nerd like Rick was cool?

“So what's the ‘mighty fine plan'?” the professor asked.

“I'm all riled up thinking about what this here super root can do,” Sprout explained. “Anchor a whole continent? Hoo-wee! I gotta see it for my own self, Prof. I wanna go with these here good folks and see the eighth continent!”

Evie had to admit, this was the best idea she had heard in a while. They could use the help rooting the eighth continent, and truthfully, she wanted to spend more time with the wild cowboy. She didn't think she'd ever met someone as nice or as cool as Sprout Sanchez.

Professor Doran was, however, slightly less excited about this idea. “That is out of the question, Sanchez. I need you here with me, tending to the crops and the labs. We still have a great deal of work to do—work that will enable us to aid more good folks like the Lanes here.”

“Aw, well shoot, Prof. Way to call off the hootenanny.” Sprout snapped his fingers in an “aww rats” kind of way and walked off, leaving Rick, Evie, and Professor Doran behind.

The carrying carrots loaded the last crates and sacks on the
Roost
. Professor Doran walked Rick and Evie to their hovership's entry ramp, where he said his goodbye. “Please pass my regards on to Melinda, and your father too. I hope my seeds add beauty to your new world.”

“So do we.” Evie tried to smile, even though she was sad Sprout would not be joining them.

“And be careful with this.” Professor Doran placed the small chest containing the super root in Evie's outstretched hands. “Take good care of it. The Amazonian Super Root is exceptionally rare.”

“I will. I promise.” Evie untied her hoodie from around her waist and put it back on, then slipped the super root into her pocket.

“Hey wait a minute!” Rick complained. “I'm older. I should be the one to hold the root.”

“I've got it,” Evie said, hugging the small chest protectively.

“You're always losing things!”

“Am not!”

“Children,” Professor Doran cut in. “Surely your time is more valuable than this argument. Get going.”

A few minutes later, Professor Doran's botanical lab was behind them, and the
Roost
was over the Pacific Ocean on its way back to the eighth continent, its every compartment filled with Professor Doran's many gifts.

But then a strange noise interrupted their journey.

Thok! Thok!

“Did you hear that?” Rick asked, sounding concerned.

“It's probably the crates of seeds sliding around the storage hold.”

“That makes sense,” he said. “But you know what, just to be safe . . .” And with that, he initiated autopilot.

Evie tapped the communicator on the command console. “So, umm, you're going to think it's weird that I'm saying this, but I feel like it's time we call Mom.”

Rick wiggled a finger in his ear like he thought it was clogged. “Call Mom?! Who are you? What have you done with Evie? Mom will lose her lid when she finds out we didn't go back to school.”

“I'm serious, Rick! It's not like she's going to tell us to give the super root back to Professor Doran. And besides, that stain on the ocean is freaking me out. I'm just hoping that maybe Mom has it cleaned up by now, and we can all go root the continent together.”

“Good point.”

They initiated the call with Mom, but it was Catherine, not her, whose face appeared on the screen. Her eyes were red and puffy and her cheeks were streaked with tears. Evie's stomach curled in on itself.

“Oh, kids! Oh, I'm so sorry!”

Evie's voice trembled. “What is it, Catherine? What's wrong?”

Mom's assistant wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “Your mother arrived just a short while ago. But as soon as she got here, Winterpole showed up, and they arrested her!”

“What?” Rick screamed. “No!”

“One of Cleanaspot's rival corporations, called Ink-A-Spot, has accused us of planting the stain on the ocean, in order to profit from cleaning it up.”

“That's outrageous!” Evie said. “What a diabolical blot—er, I mean plot!”

“Winterpole said your mother was being held for creating the stain.”

“But that's impossible! She was with us when the stain appeared.”

“I know, kids. I'm sorry. We're doing everything we can to get her free. I'm still trying to get in touch with your father, but I haven't been able to reach him. Tell your teachers you can't go home. Whatever you do,
don't
leave your school's campus. It's not safe to be out there on your own. Do you hear me? Stay at school.”

“Um . . .” Evie felt a heavy weight on her chest. She missed the simple days when her father was under house arrest and only Winterpole was trying to ruin their lives.

Catherine switched off the communicator and Rick turned to his sister. “We have to get back to the eighth continent right away. We need to find Dad, and hopefully he can give us some simple explanation for why he hasn't picked up anyone's calls. And then he can help us anchor the continent and come up with a way to set Mom free.”

“Okay.” Evie could not hide the worry in her voice. “Let's do it.”

There was another loud thump from behind them.
THOK!
The kids turned.

The sound was coming from inside a crate that had been left on the bridge. “Do you remember what's inside that thing?” Evie asked.

Rick gulped. “I don't even remember leaving the box here.”

Evie eyed it suspiciously. By this point, whatever was in the crate had started banging against the wooden sides of the box. Evie took a few steps toward the crate, then noticed that her brother hadn't moved. “Rick, come on!” she whisper-screamed. Evie's heart raced as she popped the lid off the box. “It's a bunch of seeds. And a—”

“And a what?” Rick asked, finally approaching the crate.

“And a . . . cowboy hat?”

Suddenly, the cowboy hat moved. Only it wasn't just a hat. It was a boy. A very familiar one . . .

“Howdy again!” he yelled as he burst from the crate and seeds tumbled off his stocky shoulders.

“Sprout! You came!” Evie cheered.

Rick brushed a few loose seeds off of Sprout's shoulders. “It's so good to see you, but won't Professor Doran be mad you left?”

Evie shoved her brother. “Ugh! Why are you bringing Sprout down? He's here. That's all that matters.”

“Aw, Rick, don't worry none about that,” said Sprout. “If the Prof wants me to go back, he'll leave a message on my phone.”

He clicked his phone on to prove his point. “You have—seventeen—unread messages from—Professor Doran—marked—urgent,” said the soothing voice of the phone. Sprout grinned sheepishly and stuck the device back in his back pocket.

“So this is y'all's hovership? Hoo-wee!” Sprout sauntered over to the command console and plopped down in a chair. “These controls are mighty fine. Look at how fast we're going!”

“That's nothing!” Evie grabbed the
Roost
's controls and increased the throttle. “Check this out!”

The kids felt a pull as the
Roost
accelerated, pushing them back against their seats. Sprout bounced in his chair. “Yee-haw! This is more fun than a radish round-up.”

“Evie! That's too fast!” Rick moaned.

“See?” Evie smiled at Sprout. “Rick's always complaining that we're going too fast.”

“Am not!” Rick grumbled. He sat in the chair next to their new friend. “Hey, Sprout, we've got some time before we reach the eighth continent. Wanna try this new RPG I got for my Game Zinger?”

Sprout brightened at the sight of the pocket game player. “I've wanted to play this game for a heckuva long time. It's awful nice of you to let me borrow it.”

“My pleasure, Sprout. What are friends for?”

“Hey! Don't leave me out if you're going to play,” Evie admonished them. She felt like Rick was using the word
friend
just to taunt her. She had finally met a kid her age who was super cool, and Rick, as usual, was getting in the way. She bristled and cranked up the throttle a little more, pushing the
Roost
and her thoughts forward.

They made good time crossing the ocean, but a few hours later as they neared the eighth continent's last known position, an alert came up on the bridge's monitors.