The Caterpillar King (7 page)

For once, the woman was right. The answer
had been staring right into my eyes. Ned had been following
Madeline. He’d known she would be out that night. He’d known
because he’d set her up. It probably went something like this: He
told her where to meet. He told her he’d give her the secret diary
back. Who knows if he meant it. But that’s where they were on their
way to. Ned knew, and I needed him to tell me. Ned was wrapped up
in my basement. He wasn’t going to be able to talk much. Not in
this state, anyway.

I stood up to leave.

“Thank you for your time, Miss,” I said.

“Please, call me Kerri,” she said.

I turned to leave.

“Do you like it?” she said. She put the wig
back on and straightened it with the help of a mirror. “The hair, I
mean.”

“It suits you,” I said.

I left her there. She was still looking at
the mirror, toying with her hairpiece. She didn’t seem satisfied at
all.

9.

Tika was excellent at giving orders.
Usually, this isn’t the most endearing personality trait. But when
you need to be led out of an underground cave, it’s nice to have
someone else take charge.

I followed Tika into a dark corner. Instead
of running into a wall, we just kept going. After a few seconds of
walking, I stopped and looked over my shoulder. The light from the
room had already disappeared.

“Let us continue,” said Tika.

“How’d you know I stopped?” I asked.

“I cannot see, but I can feel. Your
footsteps are like earthquakes.”

“Are you calling me fat?” I said.

“No,” she said. “I am calling you Iron
Foot.”

“I don’t see how that’s better,” I said.

We moved forward at a quick, steady rate. It
didn’t even seem like we were going uphill at all. But before long,
I saw a pale ring of light up ahead. The light got bigger and
bigger. As it came into focus, I saw a picture of nature, flattened
out and framed by the cave walls. I stepped out of the cave and
looked around. I realized that of all places, I was in a park.

“This is amazing!” I said. After all this
time underground, seeing trees and people and trash cans was just
great. Then I had a thought. “Wait a minute…” I looked down at
Tika. “You knew how to get above-ground all along, didn’t you? But
you had me stay in the ditch instead for three whole weeks.”

Tika pretended like she hadn’t heard me.
“What is
this
?” she said.

“Nice try,” I said. “But how about you
answer my question?”

“No,” she said. “Look here again. Look
closely, with both your eyes.”

As usual, I followed her orders, even using
both my eyes. And I have to admit, she had a pretty good reason for
changing the subject. Right by our feet, there was a thin white
line. It ran along the entire walking path, way out into the
distance. I couldn’t even see the end of it.

Then I noticed Tika crawling ahead.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I am discovering where this strange thing
is leading,” she said.

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea. People
could, you know,
see
you. Or step on you, for that
matter.”

“You have too great anxiety,” she said. “I
am protected out here.”

I caught up to Tika, and saw that the line
kept going over hills and into a thicket of trees.

“But…but do you think this will lead to my
mother?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “But I did not see
your mother by the cave. So I will keep walking.”

It didn’t sound like a bad plan, if you
ignored the prophecy. It had said the fool will “follow the light
until he is caught.” When I brought up my concern to Tika, she just
brushed me off.

“The prophecy says “light.” This is a
line.”

“But it’s a
glowing
line,” I
said.

“You have been underground for too long,”
she said, and kept walking.

To be honest, I was too tired to argue with
her. And a little fresh air was just what I needed to clear my
head. We followed the line to a tee. Every few seconds, I’d glance
around to see if I my mother was there. But she never was. How
would I have even recognized her, after all?

However, there
did
happen to be a
quite a few attractive women. Most of them wore exercise clothes
that were very form-fitting. What can I say? It was a nice day for
a walk.

“You are having fun?” asked Tika. I got the
feeling I better be careful with my answer.

“I’m enjoying the outdoors,” I said.

Tika frowned. “Too much enjoyment, I think,”
she said.

Eventually, the white line took us to a
clearing at the edge of the park. I’d figured the line would end at
any moment, but now it seemed like it might go on for quite a
while. Maybe it was the girls at the park, or maybe it was the fact
that we were alone now, but Tika had a certain topic on her
mind.

“Tell me your love story,” she said.

“Umm…I don’t have one,” I said. “I’m not
sure I’ve ever been in love, and I wouldn’t remember it even if I
had been.”

“Nothing? You’re sure?”

I nodded.

“Will you make one up, then?”

“You go first,” I said.

Tika took a deep breath. She hadn’t told me
much about her personal life before, and I admit, I was a little
curious.

“I only had one boyfriend in my entire life.
He was very handsome and also had a good figure. We were dating for
so many years, and we wanted to marry. But first, we had to see the
prophet. If he predicted our marriage would be a success, then we
would do. But if he predicted the marriage would end in disaster,
then we could not.”

“The prophet?” I said. “You said he just had
his one story.”

She shook her head no. “It is something he
does for every marriage. For us, he predicted disaster. So I had to
break up with the guy. It was a heartbreaking moment. The guy kept
trying to see me, calling me, saying, “What you did was not right.”
He acted like it was my fault. I cried and cried, but what could I
do? Finally, he moved away, and I did not see him again. A sad
story, don’t you think?”

We came to the edge of the clearing and
entered a loose forest, the white line still at our feet. I wasn’t
sure what to think. I didn’t know much about love, but it seemed
like something you should hold on to when you get the chance.

“Didn’t you ever doubt the prophet?” I
asked.

“I have faith,” she said. “Even when he is
always giving me bad news.”

Now, her behavior around the prophet started
to make sense. No wonder she had been avoiding him. “So
that’s
why you don’t like him,” I said.

She shook her head again. “It is not a
matter of like or dislike. It is a matter of truth. Do you like
that the dirt is brown? The leaves are green?” She paused. “Does
this have a familiar feeling to you?” she asked.

“I don’t know…I don’t think we’ve had a
conversation like this before…”

“No,” she said. “I am talking about this
area. The nature that surrounds us.”

I didn’t think so, and I told her.

“OK,” she said, frowning a little. She
started up again without a word.

But as we moved forward, Tika seemed to turn
even whiter, if that was possible. Then she stopped talking at all.
While I kept checking on her, I noticed that the white line was
dying out. Eventually, we came to a fork in the road, and the line
disappeared.

“Which way?’ I asked.

“I know this place,” she said. But she
didn’t sound too happy about it.

“Of course you do,” said another voice. The
sound came from a patch of grass in front of us. A huge gray
caterpillar crawled out of the grass. He looked like he had been
carved out of stone.

“Hello there, Tika,” he said.

Tika took a few steps back. “I do not
understand…” she said.

The big gray caterpillar looked up at me.
“You must be the one Tika left me for.” He looked me over. “Very
tall,” he said. “Yes, very tall.”

“What’s so bad about that?” I said. “And are
you saying
you
were Tika’s…”

I glanced at Tika. She seemed to be holding
her head in shame.

“It doesn’t matter now,” he said. “I have
been put here to prevent you from moving forward. If you want to
get past me, you’ll have to defeat me.”

“You mean I’m supposed to kill you?”

He laughed. “Of course not. I challenge you
to a test of strength.”

“OK…sure,” I said. That didn’t seem like
much of a challenge. Tika looked more worried, though.

“It will not be so simple,” she said.

The gray caterpillar crawled over to a rock
that was about his size.

“Watch,” he said. He wrapped his body around
the edge of the rock. Slowly, the rock started to rise. But he was
definitely struggling. I thought about going over to lend a hand.
In the end, though, he was able to force the rock up. It rested
neatly on his back.

“Yes!” he screamed. Then he shook the rock
off. “Now it’s your turn.”

“All right,” I said. I walked towards him
and got ready to pick up the rock.

“Not so fast,” said the gray caterpillar. “I
lifted a rock that was heavier than me. It is only fair that you
also lift a rock that is heavier than you. That one should work.”
He motioned to a giant boulder sitting next to the tree. It was
much larger than me, and there was no way I’d be able to lift
it.

“You changed the rules,” I said. “You
cheated.”

He shrugged. “If you want to pass, you must
prove your strength.”

I turned to Tika, but she didn’t seem to
have any ideas. How could I be beaten by a caterpillar? His brain
was the size of a tack. It occurred to me that
that
was my
real advantage over him. Maybe I couldn’t outmuscle him, but I
could definitely outsmart him.

“You underestimate me,” I told him. “That
little rock is nothing. It’s not even worth my time. Instead, I
will show you a true feat of strength. I will lift the heaviest
rock there is—the planet Earth.”

The caterpillar didn’t believe me at all.
“I’d like to see that,” he said.

“Just watch.” I focused all my energy. After
a few deep breaths, I bent down. My hands touched the ground. Then
I kicked my legs up, throwing myself into a handstand.

“So you see,” I said. “I am the strongest.”
A second later, I flipped back down.

“Impossible…” said the caterpillar. He tried
to do a handstand of his own, but it was no use. His body just
wasn’t made for it.

“I am a man of my word, so I will let you
pass,” he said. “But first, please lift me up. I haven’t been
airborne in too long.”

He crawled over to me, and I went ahead and
picked him up. He looked into my eyes.

“You are not the first,” he said. “And you
won’t be the last. There was a young girl. We returned her to the
arms of her “mother”— mother earth. We buried her underground. Our
saviors have suffered and starved and died. You have no idea what
you’re getting into.”

Then the caterpillar motioned for me to
bring him even closer. He whispered, so only I could hear.

“I know that glassy look in your eyes. You
don’t remember a thing, do you?”

I shook my head.

“Exactly. I’ll tell you only one more thing.
Have you noticed our Tika eating at any time? No? Then how do you
think we survive?” He paused. “We live off
memories
. I’d be
willing to bet Tika hasn’t told you how you lost yours, has she?
Draw your own conclusions.”

With that, my head was spinning. I needed
some time to think it over. The caterpillar motioned to be put
down, so I started to lower him. And then he did something I never
would’ve expected: he bit me.

I saw strips of light and my hand burned. In
my mind, there was no doubt about it: the caterpillar was highly
poisonous, and I was going to die. I didn’t even feel myself fall
over. The strange thing was, I expected the world to go black. But
then I realized it was turning black
and
white. I was back
in my only memory. If I had to watch my Mom knit for all eternity,
I have to say that’d be an awful punishment.

But this time, a few details were different.
The blanket she was knitting had gotten bigger. It trailed down
over both sides of her legs like a skirt. There was something else,
too, but I couldn’t quite place it. Naturally, I tried to look at
her face, but that still wasn’t possible. My eyes fell to her
necklace, the one that looked like an upside-down peace sign. Very
faintly, the left half of the line started glowing.

The white glow reminded me of the line we’d
been following at our feet. Then I thought maybe the necklace
didn’t look so much like a peace sign after all. In fact, it looked
a lot
more like a fork in the road. It was simple. We had to
go left. I woke up saying, “We have to go left,” repeatedly. Tika
looked at me like I was broken.

“I know,” she said. “The line is here
again.” She pointed at the ground, and sure enough, the white line
was back by our feet. It split off at the fork to the left, just
like I’d seen.

“Where’s your friend?” I said. I was a
little bit anxious because I really did not want to get bitten
again. Tika nudged a small piece of wood next to her.

“This is all that is left of him,” she
said.

I picked it up. It was about the size of a
quarter, and in the shape of a pizza slice. It looked like
something we could’ve played sticks and rocks with.

“I’m going to keep it,” I said. It seemed
like it would make a good souvenir.

“Fine,” said Tika.

She followed the path to the left, and I
trailed behind her. I thought about all the things the gray
caterpillar had said. Tika lived off memories, and I was missing
mine. It wasn’t too hard to connect the dots. I kept following
Tika, but now I stayed a safe distance away. I realized I couldn’t
trust her at all.