Cloak (YA Fantasy) (31 page)

Will looked around nervously. He stood and opened his parka, pulling down the neck of his t-shirt to show his throat was bare.

“There. You see. Nothing,” stated Dr. Noctua.

“That only proves he’s hidden it,” spat Liska. “Turn out your pockets.”

Will felt a chill of nerves. His eyes dashed to Dr. Noctua, who nodded. This was it. Will had been caught red-handed. Slowly he reached into his pocket and closed his latex-covered fingers around…nothing. The pocket was empty. He felt every corner, but nothing was there.

“Well?” the fiery fox woman snarled.

With surprise and relief, Will confidently turned his pockets inside out, producing nothing but the pack of gum and lint.

Liska looked more infuriated with each empty pocket. She bore her pointed teeth. “This boy is hiding something, and I will find out what it is.”

Dr. Noctua cleared his throat. “It appears that your information was mistaken.” He turned to Cylus, whose waxy yellow face was beginning to flush a violent maroon. “Do be more careful in the future, Cylus. The swamp chamber is full of all kinds of accidents waiting to happen. The next time you are injured we may need to alert your uncle.”

Cylus’ face drained of color, and he sat back in his chair quietly. Whoever his uncle was, it was obvious that Cylus was not eager to see him.

“Now, Deputy Liska, if there is no other evidence, I suggest we conclude.”

She could do nothing but shake with anger.

“Good. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I hear there is still quite a lot of decorating to be done in the maternity ward.” Dr. Noctua turned to the three teens. “I think it best you get back to it.”

The doctor limped out of the office, then paused and swiveled his head 180 degrees to face the fuming foxchant. “Oh, and Deputy Liska, I suggest you allow the decorating committee into the Gathering Hall if you don’t want this little false accusation to accidentally leak to the papers. Good day.”

Just before the door closed, Will caught a glimpse of the rage in Liska’s orange eyes. He had no clue how the fang had disappeared from his pocket, but as Liska’s angry snarls bled through the door, Will was glad it was gone.

25

Maggot Duty

T
he first thing Will noticed when he entered the larvae nursery was the smell of rotten eggs and rancid maple syrup. The second was the thick, greenish mucus that coated every inch of the long, low-ceilinged chamber. Hundreds of white maggots the size of watermelons wriggled through the slime, some crying like babies and others cooing as they blew out green bubbles. Will coughed and held back a gag as the odor stuck in his throat.

“What’s that smell?” he gasped.

Mars kicked a blob of slime off her bare foot. “That depends. It could be the gassy larvae or it could be their delightful crib liner here.”

Berko followed behind carrying a big box of luminescent decorations. He wrinkled his nose. “Why are we doing this, Mars? We didn’t have to decorate in here last year.”

“Because we need to talk and this is the only place where Stinky’s babysitters won’t follow us.” Mars sidestepped a curious larva that had scooted between her feet. “Rizz is grossed out by larvae and Manning’s allergic to the slime. Besides, don’t whine. We could be in jail.”

Mars moved to a wall and pushed a string of lights through the oozing goo. “Although right now, jail doesn’t seem all that bad.” She pulled her hand out of the mucus and shook it, causing slime to splatter onto Will’s cheek.

“Ew. It smells like rotten eggs.” Will wiped his cheek.

Mars picked up more decorations and headed back to the goop. “So are you two gonna help or just stand there and watch?”

Will and Berko each grabbed some lights. After rolling his sleeves, Will pressed the glowing lights through the warm mucus until his hand hit stone. He stepped back to admire his work. The lights looked like an uneven line of fireflies trapped in Jell-O—not very festive.

Something touched his leg. One of the larvae was nudging his ankles like some slimy, legless cat. Will felt the warm ooze making its way into his shoes. Mars was right—jail couldn’t have been worse than this. The larvae at his feet made a gurgling sound followed by a mass of bubbles that popped loudly through the surface of the slime. A moment later, Will knew where the rancid maple syrup smell came from.

After an hour wading through mucus, the larvae nursery walls glowed with pale lights and dim lanterns suspended from the ceiling. The maggots all migrated to the lights. None were crying anymore.

“We should have you three come in more often,” said Nurse Gifford, a bristly hedgehog in hip-waders. She fed the larvae their evening meal of formula and rotten meat. “I’ve never seen baby waspchants this quiet. Their mother will be so proud.”

“They all have the same mother?” asked Will.

“Of course. Mrs. Drone. Can’t you see the resemblance?” The nurse slopped toward the exit. “And I’m serious about having you all volunteer. The Linquists are expecting a litter of two-hundred and seven next week; we could use some candy stripers.”

Everybody was appalled by the idea except Berko, who seemed to enjoy playing with the little grubs. He’d stopped hanging lanterns and was letting a few maggots climb up the back of his wings, then slide into the sludge.

“Uh, we’ll think about it. Thanks,” said Mars as she pulled a fistful of green goop from her purple hair. She waited for the nurse to leave, then she slugged over and peered down the tunnel that led to the hatchery.

“Coast is clear,” she whispered as she returned to Will and Berko, pushing a maggot out of the way with her foot. “Okay, Houdini, how’d you pull off the disappearing fang trick in front of everybody? I saw you put it in your pocket. You were so caught. Then poof! ‘Oh, sorry, scary Agent Liska, all I have is gum and fuzz.’—It was genius! So come on Stinky, fess up. How’d you do it?”

“I don’t know,” whispered Will. “It just vanished.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m serious.”

“Fine, don’t tell us. But see if we share any secrets with you.”

“I’m telling the truth, Mars. I have no clue how it happened.”

She eyed him. “Honest?”

“Honest. I swear. I thought you or Berko took it.”

“It wasn’t me.” Berko was cradling one of the maggots in his arms.

“Wasn’t me either,” said Mars. “But who could have taken it without you knowing?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Rizz?”

Mars shook her head. “I doubt it. If Rizz had known about the fang, he wouldn’t have let us walk into a trap like that.”

“Dr. Noctua?” said Will.

“Maybe. But I don’t know how. He never even went near you.”

They were quiet for a minute. Will replayed the interrogation in his mind. “Wait a second. What did Liska mean that there was an eyewitness who saw me with the fang? I think Liska has a spy.”

Mars folded her arms and frowned. “You might be right. Remember how she got that message right after the stampede?”

“But who?” asked Will.

“Who’s been close to you?”

“Well, besides you guys, just Dr. Noctua, Nurse Starr, and the four agents.” Will shrugged.

“Hmm,” Mars rubbed her chin. “Well, we know it’s not Kaya, she’s been down and out. Rizz hates Liska’s guts. The Doc? No way. Georgia? I’m not a big fan of the Nurse of Nag, but I doubt if Georgia Starr would help Liska. That leaves Manning and Flores.”

The friends stared at each other for second. “Flores,” they all said in unison.

“That jerk!” snapped Mars. “He’s been spying for Liska the whole time. The traitor! He tried to get us arrested.”

“Wait a second,” said Will, his eyes wide. “Flores said he got knocked out right before the wolf attacked me and
his
window is right next to mine.”

“And?”

“And, what if he was just pretending to be knocked out and he let the wolfchant onto the ledge?”

“And he knew your schedule when you got caught in the stampede, right?” Mars questioned.

“Yeah, but we were running late. I was supposed to be in the cafeteria right when he and the jackal enchants attacked.” Will’s head was spinning. “He must have helped the wolf in New York, too.”

“He’s also a reptilian,” blurted Berko.

“Yeah, just like Cylus. They’ve probably been working together all along.” Mars was on a roll. “And it wouldn’t surprise me if he had something to do with the Builders attacking too, the cold-blooded creep.”

Will didn’t say anything about the Builders, but everything else seemed to fit. “So now we’re going to tell Rizz and Dr. Noctua, right?”

“First we need proof,” Mars stated.

“How do we get that?” asked Will.

“Sanctuary Day Eve is two days away, right? So the mountain will be full of enchants. I know Noctua got us all tickets for Cirque Du Amazon in the Gathering Hall at noon—it’s supposed to be a surprise. You just keep Flores away from his room. Me and Berko will find the evidence and meet you at the show.”

“How will you get in?”

“Let’s just say, I’ve never met a lock I couldn’t pick. We just need to make a few plans. Oh man!” As she was speaking a large glop of mucus dropped from the ceiling onto her wing. She flapped once, flicking it against the wall. “And let’s hurry. I’ve had enough snot for one day.”

26

Sanctuary Day Eve

A
s predicted, Dr. Noctua surprised Will with tickets to Cirque Du Amazon as a reward for preparing for his naturalization test. Flores and Manning were escorting him to the Gathering Hall at noon, when the mountain was supposed to be the busiest. Mars and Berko were in position outside Agent Flores’ room.

Manning insisted that they leave an hour and a half early. It seemed silly until they stepped into the halls. St Grimm's was wall-to-wall insanity. Thousands of enchants dressed in gold and white paraphernalia packed every corridor.

Will and the agents pressed through a maze of snack carts peddling bizarre enchant delicacies. A snaggle-toothed pit bull enchant sold hot-marinated bones on a stick. A dumpy llamachant offered chocolate-covered milkweed. An old aardvark boasted his prize-winning honey-toasted roaches while a group of cockroach enchants waved signs and picketed his booth. A gooey leach-woman handed out plasma parfaits in containers designed to look like IV bags. The combination of odors almost made Will forfeit his breakfast.

Pushing through the crowd, he held his breath, glad his smell enhancer was tucked in his pocket and not on his nose.

There was a bottleneck at the entrance to the Pediatrics ward—hundreds of enchant kids and their moms surrounded an enormous elephant enchant in a clown suit. When the ten-foot Bozo stood on his trunk and began juggling three volunteers with his enormous feet, the corridor became impassible to anyone unable to walk on the walls or wing their way over traffic.

The agents decided to try a different route. They squeezed through a group of prickly porcupine children and side-stepped a family of quail enchants darting from column to column in single file. After several more detours, they pressed through a tour group of gold-dyed duckchants and into the inner circle. It was shoulder to shoulder enchants, especially around the habitat chambers, where wild festivities were in full swing.

The Serengeti chamber rang with African music and was packed with dancing lion enchants in beautiful robes.

In the bog cavern, actors recreated a medieval fair with jesters and jousting. A frog enchant was dressed as a prince.

A herd of moose enchant tourists in Hawaiian shirts clogged up the Dizzy Zone, laughing and twirling to keep from freezing and frying.

Agent Manning had been right to leave so early. With the blocked hallways, they entered the Gathering Hall with only minutes to spare. Once inside, they were ushered to Dr. Noctua’s private box in a giant column close to the stage, five stories up. The view was incredible.

“Welcome.” Dr. Noctua wore a gold tie and 200 button on his lapel. There were three extra seats in the box. “I invited Dr. Dervis to the show, but I doubt he’ll come. He’s been hiding in his R&D lab for two days without answering his phone or his door. I believe he’s not fond of the Sanctuary Day crowds.”