Cloak (YA Fantasy) (32 page)

Dr. Noctua peered over the balcony at the growing audience. “I do hope Margarit and Berko make it. Do you have any idea where they’ve run off to?”

Will shrugged, trying to look innocent.

“Well, if they don’t hurry, they’ll miss it. This is supposed to be the hottest ticket of the week.” Dr. Noctua motioned to the rainforest set that had been constructed in the center of the hall.

At the top of the dome, a huge globe the size of a house hung from the ceiling with “200” emblazoned in golden letters. Just like the thousands of smaller spheres dotting the hall, it was filled with a beautiful swirling cloud.

There was a buzz in the air—hundreds of thousands of laughing, smiling enchants waiting to be entertained. Will glanced at Flores. The agent had been fidgeting all morning and reaching for his mirror that he claimed had been stolen. Will hoped Mars and Berko would find plenty of proof that Flores was a mole.

As the lights dimmed, Will peeked into the booth next to Noctua’s and flinched. Cylus was glaring at him and flashing his silver fang. At his side, Councilman De la Vega sat with his scaly nose in the air. Cylus hissed and flicked his tongue at Will.

“Don’t embarrass me, nephew, or you’ll be sorry.” De la Vega grabbed the back of Cylus’ neck and forced his head forward. Cylus winced and stared straight ahead, his jaw clenched.

Will was stunned. “De la Vega is Cylus’ uncle?”

The doctor nodded. “Cylus’ mother is the councilman’s sister.”

The resemblance was obvious—the waxy yellow scales and the flat black eyes were identical. But as Will watched them, he almost felt sorry for Cylus. Victor De la Vega snarled and snapped, correcting Cylus’ posture, berating his intelligence, and criticizing him for having lost a fang.

The lights dimmed. Music began to build and two-hundred performers in bright, colorful costumes flew across the heads of the audience and met onstage in an explosion of fireworks. As the smoke cleared, the acrobats had formed a giant 200. The audience cheered. Performers jumped and flipped through the trees, twisting like a single entity. More brightly dressed acrobats appeared on the ceiling of the dome and climbed down the cables that held the massive globe.

With a sudden metallic crack, a cable snapped and the giant ball listed to one side. The performers on the stage stopped their routine and looked up. Another cable broke, causing the globe to swing the other way.

Performers panicked and dove into the front rows of the audience.

Screeching, the last cable broke. The huge sphere crashed to the stage and burst in a swirling cloud of amber gas that swept over the screaming audience like a vaporous tsunami.

A smaller globe shattered two balconies away. Will looked up.

Builders. Thousands of them dressed like the performers were crawling along the ceiling, releasing the gaseous globes.

Gas was everywhere. Howls and shrieks cascaded through the hall.

A globe dropped in Will’s box and blinded him with acidic-tasting gas. Coughing and spitting, he covered his face. The gas only lasted a moment, then began to dissipate. When it cleared, he tested the air. Besides the bad taste, he was just a little hazy.

“What was that?” he asked.

There was no response. Below, the crowd quieted, only a few random squawks and barks carried through the mist. Manning stood rigid, flicking her ears and sniffing the air.

“Agent Manning?” As Will stepped closer, she bounded into a corner and stared at him with wild eyes, shifting back and forth. “What’s wrong?”

Manning bolted to the other corner of the box.

“I think there’s something wrong with Agent Manning.” Will turned around, but Flores was gone, his clothes in a pile on the floor.

“Doctor? What’s happening?” Dr. Noctua had taken off his jacket and dropped his cane. Will reached to touch the owlchant’s shoulder.

Dr. Noctua spun his head around and snapped at Will’s fingers with his beak. His giant yellow eyes were cool and animal-like. He screeched, then dove off the rail, spreading his wings and flapping into the mist.

Will was stunned. Some of the crowd below were walking on all fours and grouping into herds for protection, while others formed packs and stalked them. “What’s wrong with everyone?” There were no answers, just the caws and shrieks of the wild.

An ominous hiss sent a chill across Will’s back. Cylus expanded his hood and slunk across the balconies. Will looked for help. Manning still cowered in the corner.

My training.
Will’s thought was instinctive.

He found his audio enhancer, put it in his ear and closed his eyes.

Cylus climbed over the rail, causing Agent Manning to dart back and forth. The cobrachant was focused on Will.

Cylus struck once. Will dodged and jumped onto the rail. Cyrus pursued him. Will’s back hit the wooden frame around the box.

Cylus struck.

Will vaulted to his left.

Fangs sank deep into the wood.

Hissing and pounding his fists, Cylus tried to free himself, but he was stuck fast.

In the commotion, Agent Manning bolted over the rail and leapt from balcony to balcony until she reached the main floor.

“Agent Manning!” Will tried to follow, but she was too quick.

By the time he made it to the floor of the Gathering Hall, he was completely alone. Through the haze of the gas, a few herds of enchants ran up the aisles on the other side of the hall, but most had taken cover or fled through the doors.

With his hearing enhancer in, Will made his way through the ocean of seats, listening hard for signs of danger. A mountain lion-woman, crouched between the rows, swiped at his legs. Will heard her just in time to avoid her claws.

Above him, a vulturechant circled.

The empty seats were silent as gravestones. Will pressed on.

A guttural cackle warned of a group of hyenachants hunting a few rows away. He hid behind a column until they left in pursuit of a zebra-woman.

The exit was close.

Will ducked too late and received a scratch on his cheek from a diving falconchant.

A mongoose enchant sliced Will’s calf and shredded his pant leg. He needed to get out of sight.

Crawling between the aisles, Will heard a hiss and stopped cold. Councilman De la Vega loomed in front of Will, his cobra hood unfurled. He slithered closer and stretched wide his jaws, extending his fangs. Yellow venom dribbled down the side of his lip.

The cobra enchant was poised to move in for the kill when a shadow passed over his head. There was a piercing shriek and De la Vega was gone, wrenched into the air by powerful talons. Dr. Noctua clicked his beak at Will, then carried the thrashing councilman out the doors.

His heart pounding in his ears, Will ran straight to the exit. He narrowly avoiding a waspchant with a two-foot stinger, and a crab enchant who snapped at his ankle from under a seat.

The inner circle was a disaster. The habitat chambers were strewn with clothes and debris. Decorations were shredded. Every gas-filled globe lay shattered on the floor. Will wriggled under an overturned t-shirt cart and tried to think. His new vault-like room was several floors away, but it would be the safest place to hide until he could figure out what was going on. Will had to try and make it back. It was far too dangerous to stay where he was.

A group of crazy-eyed walrus enchants almost trampled Will as he crouched among huge chunks of ice that had been ripped from the arctic chamber.

As he moved past the Serengeti chamber, a pack of lion enchants stalked him from the tall grass. He picked up his pace.

Outside Zwick’s Emporium, a flock of waddling penguinchants fed on an overturned fish-on-a-stick cart. Inside, chimpanzee enchants ransacked the store.

The lobby was bedlam. Predators and prey smashed furniture and gouged the doors in an attempt to escape. A female condor enchant the size of a taxi perched on the statue of the Grimm brothers.

Will attempted to sneak past, but was hit from behind and pinned to the stone floor. Something snarled in his ear.

Sharp pointed teeth and torch-like hair flashed into focus. Liska licked her lips.

Will scrambled away.

Liska lunged.

Chaos erupted.

Sergeant Gnar bellowed as he rammed Liska with his horn. At the same moment, the condorchant swooped down and struck Gnar. The collision sent the condor enchant spinning into a pack of bobcat enchants who mobbed the giant bird.

Gnar and Liska turned on each other, growling and biting until they crashed into the hostile mass of enchants near the front doors.

In the riot, Will ran toward the elevators.

It was no use. The hall to the atrium was blocked by a swarm of hornet enchants collecting food carts.

There was only one option—Will would have to take the long route back to his room.

In the corridor outside Pediatrics, protective mothers circled the unconscious elephant clown. Snarling enchants gathered their young and lashed out as Will slid along the wall. Teeth, horns and claws pressed in from every direction.

Will stumbled on a pile of sanctuary flags soaked with oil from an overturned fry cart. He grabbed a flag pole and lit it with an exposed burner. The flames kept the enchants back long enough to make it out of the corridor.

He backed down the hall where the food vendors had been. It was now empty. He eased across the stone floor. Humming stopped him. Dozens of enchants hovered above the stand that had sold plasma parfaits. The winged horde was draining the novelty IV bags. Mosquitoes!

Will raised the flagpole but the flame was nearly out. A pale mosquito enchant with a pointed face sniffed and turned Will’s direction. The swarm followed his lead, bobbing forward and surrounding him.

Will swung the smoldering torch, but it was no use. The lead mosquito parted his lips. Two 12-inch tubes stretched from his gums. Will backed away, swinging the pole with little effect.

High-pitched screeching stopped the attack midair.

A flash of purple hair dove at the lead mosquito. Mars caught his wing in her teeth and threw him against the floor. The rest of the mosquitochants scattered as Berko landed beside Will. With the pole raised above his head, Will tried to anticipate what Berko might do.

Berko stared at Will, then blinked. “What? You think I’m gonna eat you, mate?”

Will dropped the pole. “You’re…you?"

“Yeah, I’m me. But even if I weren’t, I’m part fruit bat, Will.” He shook his head in dismay. “And Mars said Immunes were good at tagging.”

“She told you I was an Immune?”

“Yeah, and I’m glad she did. That’s why I’ve been looking for you. Figured that gas might not change you. This place is a mess.”

“But why aren’t you wild?”

“Dunno. When them Builders broke the globes, we were in Rizz’s room. I was going through his fridge. Man, he really likes tofu. About the only fruit he had was a jar of tofu and pears in rosewater. I’m not a fan of rosewater, but I was hungry.”

“Wait, why were you in Rizz’s room?”

“Well, we’d already finished going through Flores’s room and couldn’t find anything. Mars was worried about Rizz. She hadn’t seen him since last night so she broke into his room. While I hit the fridge, Mars started snooping, you know how she is, and she found this.” Berko held up Flores’ pocket mirror.

“Only it’s no mirror, mate. It’s a phone disguised as a mirror, loaded with a bunch of sent messages and pictures of you doing some crazy stuff with enhancers. That’s when Mars told me about the Immune thing. Anyway, we were right—Flores was spying for Liska. Rizz must have found out, ‘cause we found this with the mirror.”

Berko handed Will the yellow envelope marked
Top Secret
that Dervis had given to Flores. It had already been opened. Dervis’s note was an analysis of some residue from the jackalchants that had started the stampede.

Dervis explained that it was a compound that had been engineered to temporarily strip away the human side of enchants. The note also warned Dr. Noctua that Dervis had found the same substance in the gas inside the glass decorations and that someone was planning to use the gas to attack enchants.

Will finished reading and stared at Berko. “Flores never delivered the note to Noctua.”

“Nope. Mars freaked when she read it. She thinks Rizz found this stuff and was gonna turn Flores in, but Flores got to him first.”

Rizz kidnapped?

“Mars!” Berko reached over and stopped her from chewing on the downed-mosquito enchant’s wing. She squeaked and flapped as Berko held her at bay.

“She’s been going after insectchants all over the mountain. Can you believe she tried to take on those hornets by herself?” Berko tucked Mars under his wing like a squeaking football. “I can’t let her out of my sight.”

Berko carried Mars as they made their way through the corridors and stairwells. Several enchants showed themselves, but backed off when they caught sight of Berko.

The hallway outside Will’s room was quiet. He reached for the key, but the door opened at his touch.

Suddenly, Mars went berserk.

“What’s wrong with her?” whispered Will.

“Dunno.” Berko tried to calm the flailing batchant.

Will closed his eyes and listened. “Uh-oh. It’s a trap.”

“Huh?”

“Run!”

They bolted just as a wave of larger black Builders poured through the door, running on the walls, ceiling, and floor. These Builders looked different, bigger—more like soldiers than worker ants. And there was something else. Stingers! These Builders had foot-long needles that emerged from their thoraxes as they charged. And they moved with unbelievable speed. Snapping mandibles and segmented legs were everywhere. Will felt them grab at his sleeves and feet.

Just ahead was a terrace overlooking the atrium. Berko pinned Mars’s wings to her sides and shoved her into Will’s arms.

“Hold her tight!” Then he picked up Will and Mars and threw them over the precipice.

Will screamed. Mars squealed. They plummeted through the atrium. Down, down. Ten stories from the floor, Berko gripped Will’s ribs and flapped hard.

“Too heavy,” strained Berko, trying to stop their fall.