Cloak (YA Fantasy) (21 page)

“Wake up, Stinky.” Mars shook him harder. “Man, you are a heavy sleeper. Wake up!” She pushed him off the bed.

He hit the floor with a thump. It was pitch black. “What happened? What time is it?”

“It’s time to go, come on.” Mars yanked on his wrist, pulling him off the floor.

He managed to grab the luminary glasses from his nightstand. “Mars? It’s…” Will pushed the glasses on and looked at his watch. “It’s two a.m. Where are we going?”

“I promised you a tour, don’t you remember?” She sat Will in a chair and shoved shoes on his feet. He was glad he’d worn track pants and a t-shirt to bed. Mars helped him slip his arms through the sleeves of his parka.

“I already took a tour,” he mumbled and tried to lie down in the chair.

“No sleeping. I know how that tour turned out. I swear, Rizz is the worst tour guide ever. First he took you through all that boring history junk, then you get attacked by Builders. The only cool thing was the Builders.” Mars dragged Will away from the front door and toward the balcony.

“I thought we were leaving?” He tried to clear his head. Nurse Starr’s pheromone treatment was still in effect.

“We’re not walking, Stinky, way too boring.”

“Wait. You’re going to fly and carry me? I don’t think so.” Will planted his feet.

“Don’t be stupid. You’re way too heavy for me. I brought help.” She pulled open the balcony doors. “Yo, Berko.”

Light flooded the room. Will took off the night glasses and squinted as a giant bat enchant tromped into view, filling the balcony doorway. Bristly black and red fur covered his biceps, and huge reddish eyes dominated his pointed face. He had a heavy jaw with a jutting under bite. Black fleshy wings flopped under his arms and connected to his massive body. The behemoth bat wore a black tank top and baggy jeans that covered his disproportionately short legs. Huge bare feet with long toes were tipped with claw-like nails.

“G-day,” he grunted in a gruff Australian accent.

“Hi.” Will backed away. “Berko, is it?”

“Yeah,” Mars jumped in. “Berko means ‘crazy’ in the Outback. But don’t worry, he’s not really nuts. It’s just a nickname. Right, Berko?”

The giant grunted.

“See. He’s cool.” Mars yanked Will onto the balcony and shut the doors. She was dressed in black jeans full of holes and a black jacket covered in metal spikes. Her purple hair was tucked into a black cap with a silver skull pinned to the brim. “Now let’s go before we get caught. Your babysitters are busy. And what is up with the security anyway? You rob a bank or something?”

“Uh, I,” he stammered.

“Never mind. Look, Rizz is guarding the front door and that Flores dork is talking to Manning. They all think you’re out cold, so let’s move.” She pushed Will to the railing. “Ready?”

Will peered over the precipice and his knees turned to gelatin. “Actually, I’m not sure this is my sort of thing.”

Mars stared at him blank-faced. “Whatever. Now come on.” She slipped a pair of funky goggle-like shades over her eyes and did a back flip off the balcony.

Will was about to argue, when the wind was crushed out of him and he was hoisted into the air. Berko had grabbed him with his huge, fingerlike feet and pulled him over the edge. If there had been any breath left in his lungs, Will would have screamed like a little girl. He hurtled toward the floor headfirst. His eyes watered, his stomach in his sneakers.

Mars was tucked into a dive, her wings folded back and her arms flat to her sides. She turned her face to Will. “Not a bad way to travel, huh? Hold on tight.” She flung her wings open and stopped in midair.

Ten feet from the ground Berko pulled up and followed Mars in a graceful loop. Beating their wings, the bats shot through an open set of double doors and streaked down the hallway at an insane speed. Orderlies and nurses dove for cover. An elderly emu enchant with an I.V. stand froze as the bats tilted their wings and dodged him by inches.

At a V in the corridor, Mars zipped to the left while Berko and Will cut to the right. The passage narrowed. Berko’s wing tips nearly touched the walls on each side. They flew like daredevils, zipping over the tops of enchants pressed flat to the floor. Buttressed columns blurred past them on the left. Will caught glimpses of Mars on the other side of a long stone courtyard, weaving around her pillars like pylons.

Berko barrel-rolled, sending the world spinning.

They were on a collision course with Mars. Will threw his arms in front of his face. Just before impact, Berko whipped into a sharp turn.

When Will opened his eyes, Mars was floating in front of him.

“Having fun yet?” she giggled. They were racing down a curving hallway and picking up speed. “Now comes the fun part, Stinky.”

Will’s blood ran cold.

Mars shot ahead, folded back her wings, and dove into a short-cut hole in the floor. Berko plunged into the darkness after her. Will was jerked up and down, spun and flipped. Squeezing his arms to his sides and sucking in his stomach, he hoped he wouldn’t hit the rocks blurring in front of him. The tunnel turned and climbed. It was brighter ahead.

Mars flapped hard and bolted.

Berko followed her lead.

Will held his breath. Wind stung his eyes and face, the centrifugal force trying to tear him from Berko’s grip. Everything blurred.

In a blink, they were free, floating in space, soaring through an enormous cavern that made the atrium outside Will’s room look like a closet. The vast space was shaped like a bowl and ringed with terraces and platforms. Dim light filtered through the glass dome that capped the cavern. Bat, bird, insect, even a few flying squirrel enchants rode the warm air currents that blew up from vents in the chamber’s floor.

“Welcome to the Aviary.” Mars looped around, drifting beside Will and Berko.

“It’s amazing.” Will stretched out his arms and let the wind wash over him. Flying was a lot less terrifying now that there was nothing to run into.

They glided above a group of enchants. Two tiny children with dragonfly wings played catch mid-air. A magnificent condor woman circled. Swarms of frenetic bat-boys and girls chased each other. From a large porch, a shrill whistle sounded and smaller flying enchants lined up and landed single file.

“Recess is over.” Mars was doing a mid-air backstroke.

“Recess? That’s a school?”

“Yep. Mrs. Keller’s nocturnal third grade class. Mean old hawk.”

Berko grunted in agreement.

“She gave me and Berko detention for a whole month one time, just because we stuck our desks to the ceiling. See, we’re batchants, we wanted to have class upside down. It almost worked until Berko’s desk dropped on Keller’s foot.”

“Where do you guys go to school now?” asked Will.

Mars and Berko exchanged looks. “We graduated high school last year, when we were twelve, like most enchants. Didn’t you?”

Will blushed. “Yeah, I mean, it was a little different back in New York, so I’m pretty much done. How old were you when you started school?”

Mars raised an eyebrow. “Well, Berko got held back a year because he’s always been small for his age, but I started school when I was one, just like everybody else. Then second grade when we were two, then three in third, and yada yada yada. Geez, Stinky. What kind of weird place were you living in?”

“No place,” Will stuttered. “I was just making sure it was the same here. Um, what’s over there?”

He pointed to a platform lined with six shivering little enchants with bird wings that couldn’t have been more than three-years-old. An adult bird enchant was pacing behind them, saying something. Then, without warning, he shoved the kids off the platform, sending them flailing toward the ground. One by one each child spread their wings, caught the air and made their way back to the platform.

“That? That’s just a flying lesson, Stinky. Man, you
were
sheltered in New York, weren’t you?”

The three spent half an hour flying laps around the Aviary—diving and spiraling in crazy aerobatics. Will was finally getting used to the upside down loop-the-loops when Mars appeared below him, a panicked look in her eyes.

“Berko, it’s time to go,” she said through her teeth. “Trouble at three o’clock.”

She pointed to a majestic bird enchant in an old pilot’s jacket and helmet, flying a graceful circle a hundred yards away. Will tried to get a better view of him, but Mars blocked his line of sight.

“Come on, Berko, before he sees Stinky.” Mars dove forward.

The big bat grunted again, and soon they were plummeting in a death spiral, nearly clipping a group of elderly red-feathered bird enchants flying in formation.

“Hooligans,” one of the fluttering birdchants shouted.

Mars cut hard and plunged into a tunnel. Berko and Will tailed her.

At the end of another harrowing dash through a maze of hallways, Mars led them into a sweltering habitat chamber. They glided above steamy, moss-covered treetops to a little outcropping of rock carved into the roof of the cavern.

Berko released Will and plopped down next to him, his short legs hanging over the slippery ledge. Mars alighted on Will’s other side and pressed a finger to her lips.

“Be really quiet. We don’t want too much attention. Yet.”

“Why? Where are we?” Will whispered. It was hard to see anything through the mist that pooled around the knotted trees and ferns. Slime hung from the walls, and the floor of the cavern was mostly water.

He turned to Mars. “I don’t see any—”

She held up her hand and pointed to the opposite wall. “Listen.”

After a second, Will heard it too. Something was swimming. Two humongous eyes appeared, skimming across the surface of the water, searching the ceiling.

“Don’t move,” whispered Mars. From her pocket, she produced a ball of string and a fried chicken wing. After tying the wing to the string, she lowered it off the edge and wiggled it, making the chicken wing dance thirty feet above the water.“Here, hold this.” Mars handed Will the string.

“What for?”

Before she could answer, there was an explosion of water. Will looked down in time to see a gaping set of teeth flying toward his feet. He yelled and retracted his legs just as the jaws snapped on the chicken wing. The string was wrenched out of Will’s hand, burning stripes in the latex across his palms.

The scaly creature fell back to the water, turning sideways in mid-air to reveal short, muscular limbs and a tail the length of his body that thrashed as he landed. The splash soaked the three of them with foul-tasting swamp water.

“I’ll give you an eight for the jump, but I have to deduct points on the entry,” yelled Mars, pulling a wad of swamp gunk out of her hair.

From below a chilling voiced gurgled. “One of these times you’ll get what’s coming to you, you little brat. I hear bat wings taste like chicken.”

Hissing laughter echoed through the chamber as a dozen hidden enchants slithered to the surface. Will pushed back and hid his face. They were the same reptilians that Manning had pummeled.

“Why don’t you come down for a swim and bring your little friends? You can help me with my physical therapy.”

More laughter.

Will watched the iguana enchant scale the wall, a bandage taped across his nose.

“Thanks anyway, Donk. But we need to keep moving. You’ve been great entertainment, though. Maybe next time I’ll bring you a ball you can balance on your nose,” teased Mars.

There was a roar and Donk launched out of the water again, snapping only yards below Mars’ feet.

“Whoa,” Mars stood up. “Getting a little frisky tonight, aren’t you, big feller?”

The only response was a watery growl.

The iguana enchant was halfway up the wall and a few snake enchants with bandaged heads appeared in the treetops. Will pulled his feet farther from the cliff.

Hisses and rattles filled the cavern. More reptiles moved out into the open.

“Always picking on Donk. I would have thought better of you, Mars. It’s really not very sporting.” Near the exit, Cylus appeared, flicking his tongue. His scrawny sidekick, Wart, bounced at his side.

“Cylus!” Mars bristled. “What is he still doing here?”

The hooded reptile sneered, revealing his glistening, black fangs.

“You know him?” whispered Will.

“Yeah, he and his gang are in here every time they need to be patched up after a fight. They think they own the place. But they were supposed to leave two days ago.”

“Who’s that you’re whispering to Mars? Wart!” Cylus snapped his fingers and Wart climbed the wall and sped across the ceiling until he could get a good look at Will.

Wart flicked his tongue. “It’s that smelly kid that was with the ram and the doe.”

“You,” Cylus hissed, all humor gone as he caught Will’s eye.

“You know him?” whispered Mars.

“We’ve met. He threatened to kill me.”

“Don’t worry, that’s all bluff. He’d never go lethal in here. Not even Cylus is that stupid.”

“You dare invade our turf?” Cylus stared up and lowered his hoodie, revealing a waxy, bald head.

“Your turf? Who died and made you head gecko, Cylus? Shouldn’t you be curled up under a rock or something?” called Mars.

Cylus glared at her. “I’m exactly where I should be, but you seem to have forgotten your place in the food chain, you little winged rat. I have an idea. You like visiting so much, why don’t you join us permanently?” His neck expanded into a menacing cobra’s hood. “Now!” he shouted. The cavern exploded in chaos.

Will’s ribs were in a vice and he was sailing through the air. The iguana enchant had reached the ledge and lashed out with blade-like claws, slicing the leg of Will’s sweatpants. They tried to skid along the ceiling, but Wart hissed and the skin around his collar blossomed into the frightening red-spiked face of a frilled lizard. He spat and struck, forcing Mars and Berko to dive into the trees.

They weaved through the vines, prepared for an attack.

In the lead, Mars swooped down and kicked a spiny lizard in the side of the head, sending him tumbling into the water. Berko plowed through a group of snake enchants balancing on a branch. Ahead, the exit was blocked.