Operation Tenley (20 page)

The old woman squinted back and forth at both of them. “Fair One or sipLip?” she asked in a raspy voice, pointing a crooked finger.

“Ah—” Holden hesitated.

“Wait. Did you say Fair One?” Tenley asked.

“Which one are you?” the old woman demanded.

“I’m a kid?” Holden answered.

“And you?” She pointed to Tenley.

“A more popular kid?”

The old woman considered them. “Humans. How did you get into my gardens?”

“Yeah, about that,” Holden said. “We don’t know. We were on the Log Ride in another part of the park, and she was about to fall over the edge,” he nodded to Tenley, “the next thing we knew we landed in here instead. Somewhere down there, to be specific.” He pointed through the trees.

The old woman narrowed her eyes. “What do you seek?”

“A lemonade?” Holden smiled. “I’m dying.”

“How convenient,” the old woman said.

Tenley frowned. “I don’t want some stupid lemonade. I got my hair ripped out and my Uggs muddy. I just want to get back to our bus and wait for this whole thing to be over. I have a big night tonight.” She checked on her sash and noticed the new gash in it. “No!” she cried.

The old woman shouted up to the sky. “Weathers!”

Two things happened next. First, a miniature tornado appeared out of nowhere and spun over to the old woman’s shoulder where it hovered. Then a small black cloud blew in and stopped over the other shoulder, where it, too, hovered.

“How did you do that?” Tenley asked.

“Prepare to engage,” the old woman ordered, plucking a wilted blade of grass from her crown and bringing it to her lips. Instead of blowing a whistle, the noise that fell out of her mouth was more like a tire going flat. “Honestly,” the old woman groaned, throwing the grass down and feeling around in her crown for another blade. She plucked out a perkier one and the whistle that followed was loud enough to blow back the leaves of every tree inside the very strange forest.

Holden and Tenley slapped their hands over their ears and eyeballed each other until the old woman dropped her hands. Everything was quiet for a moment before the loud buzzing began.

“Not
again
,” Tenley groaned.

But this time they could
see
the sound.

Bees.

Thousands of them began circling Holden and Tenley.

“I’m allergic!” Tenley dropped into Holden and buried her face in his shoulder. “Get them away!”

The old woman watched the swarm pick up, growing dense enough to form a solid black line around them.

She clapped her hands and ordered, “Commence!” The miniature tornado and small black cloud zoomed away. The bees stopped circling. After a beat, they started dive-bombing them. Holden covered Tenley’s body as best he could and waited for the pain …

That didn’t come.

The swarming sound changed into staccato spurts of angry buzzing.

Holden lifted his head. The bees were still diving straight for them but just as they were about to make contact, they bounced away. “Tenley!” Holden shook her. “They can’t get to us. Look.”

Tenley peeked an eye out.

“It’s like there’s a bubble around us or something.”

The old woman had noticed this, too. She clapped again. A second army of swirling bees merged with the first. This time when the bees attacked, they could see the bubble around them wobble. “What is happening?” Tenley cried.

Black dots were piling up on the ground beneath them. The old woman watched expressionless until eventually the last of the swarm dropped away.

The forest fell silent.

“This is like a little
too
real,” Holden whispered. “Even for VR.”

The old woman pulled a twig out of her crown this time. “Arachnids!” she yelled, waving it.

Nothing happened. Tenley loosened her grip on Holden until small movements below caught her eye. “What are those?” Tenley whimpered. Black dots were crawling out from under the dirt.

“Those look like—”

The dots scurried over the pile of bees and clambered up the tree trunks.

“Spiders!” Holden yelled.

Tenley dived back under his arm. He tried to scoot both of them closer to the center of the web, but his arm slipped through, followed by his shoulders and head.

Tenley got to her knees and yanked him up.

They huddled together as the spiders raced up the trunks. When the first of the spiders were directly across from them on either side, Holden shook Tenley. “They can’t get to us, either.”

Tenley opened one eye. The spiders were crawling up and over themselves on the tree trunks. “If those things come any closer, I swear I’ll jump.”

Holden looked back at the old woman. “She’s just standing there, watching,” he whispered. “Um. Excuse me, ma’am? We didn’t get any instructions, so we don’t really know how this is supposed to end?”

“I’m jumping!” Tenley screamed, trying to stand.

“Wait, why?”

But there was no need for an answer. Holden could see for himself. The spiders had changed direction and were now crawling across the web, headed straight for them.

“Please, ma’am! Can you stop these spiders?” Holden asked.

The old woman’s lips curled in response.

The army of spiders spread out across the net, surrounding them.

“Okay, this is bad.” Holden stood up next to Tenley.

The spiders were closing in on them.

Two meters away from their feet, the spiders stopped short and started climbing upward instead, outlining the same bubble.

“I said attack, arachnids! Attack!” The old woman waved her twig.

Holden and Tenley watched the spiders crawl up and over them on either side. Their underbellies and hairy legs glistened. When the spiders met in the middle, they scuttled over themselves and continued downward again. A black line of spiders formed around them in a circle. Those that lost their grip fell to the ground and scurried up the trunks again.

The old woman shook with anger. She threw a leg over the side of the petal and stepped out. Tenley cringed when she saw what she was wearing: a shiny purple jumpsuit.

“Totally awesome special effects.” Holden collected himself. “I think it’s time we get back to our bus, though.”

“You are
not
human.”

Holden shook his head, confused. “Okay? Um. That’s what it says on my birth certificate.”

“Neither Fair Ones nor
humans
can defend themselves against me. Or my Weathers. Or
any
of my armies.”

Tenley blinked at her. “How do
you
know about Fair Ones? Did you see the YouTube? Cuz I’m really sorry about that.”

“Enough.” The old woman wasn’t in the mood for answering questions. She reached into her crown and pulled out an arrow, then reached in again and produced a bow. She lined the arrow up and shot it directly at Holden. It bounced off. More spiders fell to the ground. Infuriated, the old woman pressed on, shooting arrow after arrow at the bubble until all but a few spiders remained.

“You’re
insane
!” Tenley yelled.

The old woman threw down the bow, exasperated. “Who brought you here?”

“Mr.
Mingby
!”

“Which kind is this?”

“Nerdy,” Tenley answered.

Holden shrugged. “He’s not that bad. He just doesn’t have a clue.”

“So this
Mr. Mingby
sent you here to find a clue? I tell
no one
of my plans. Tell him I said this: Mother Nature
always
wins.
That
is the clue.”

Holden and Tenley exchanged looks.

“Trees!” the old woman summoned.

The trees around them shook. Tenley and Holden grabbed onto each other, swaying violently in the web.

“One of you has disobeyed me!” Mother Nature clapped her hands.

Lightning hit a smaller tree that exploded in the distance.

“One of you has opened your portal to these spies. When I find you, you will be struck down!” Her voice echoed throughout the forest.

She pulled another item from her crown. This time it was a clear crystal pyramid. For a moment, it looked like she might throw it at Tenley. Instead, she tucked it inside the crook of the branch, moving it just so until it reflected a white-hot ray of light directly onto the edge of the web. She stepped back into her petal.

“Weathers!” she called out. “We go!” The miniature tornado and small black cloud reappeared over her shoulders.

“Wait,” Holden said, his voice constricting. “We’re going to miss our bus. You can’t leave us like this.”

Actually, she could. Holden and Tenley watched the miniature tornado swoop down and kamikaze the pink petal, knocking it out of its niche in the tree. Next, the cloud slipped under and floated it upward. The petal jerked and banged its way back up through the leaves again.

It only took a few more seconds for the first bit of web to start melting.

Mother Nature’s Gardens

Pennie pulled herself up from the ground and sat on a fallen tree trunk. “Laraby. Where are we? What happened?”

“I can’t be sure,” Laraby answered, brushing himself off and standing. He had a smear of dirt on his face and a few rips in his robes. “But I think we might be in one of her gardens.”

“
Her
? You mean,
her
her?” Pennie looked around. “We’re in Mother Nature’s
garden
?”

“I believe so.”

“What about Tenley and Holden? Do you think there’s any chance they could have survived that fall?”

There was a loud explosion in the distance.

“What was that?” Pennie asked.

“Came from over there, I think.” Laraby pointed.

Pennie stood. “How can we be in her gardens? Nobody gets into her gardens. Her Weathers protect the borders. It’s an impenetrable seal.”

Laraby kicked at something on the ground. “Not if that impenetrable seal cracks open during a tornado attack at a theme park.”

Laraby picked up a bottle and peered into it. A miniature tornado was howling inside. “I’d be willing to bet a tool or two that this was what happened up there.” He held the bottle out and pointed at the label:
Tornado
.

“So that was Mother Nature attacking the Fair Force?”

“Maybe. Or it could have been just another one of her random attacks and we all got caught in it. She has hundreds of thousands of natural disasters bottled up, ready to launch.”

“She keeps them lying around in her garden?” Pennie searched the ground around her feet.

“Nobody knows where she keeps them. Not even the Original Eights. If they knew where to find them, they would have been destroyed by now.”

Laraby slipped the bottle into his robes and started walking again, navigating tree trunks and branches.

“These natural disasters get stronger the longer they’re bottled up. I’m not even sure the Fair Force could have escaped that tornado without Lady Fairship.”

Pennie hurried after him. “Lady Fairship? But
all
of the Fair Force had jetpacks.”

“It was her crystal eight that saved their vortex from being blown apart. I saw it around her neck before she took off.”

Pennie stopped dead in her tracks. The crystal eight. She slid her hand under Tenley’s T-shirt. And felt nothing.

“Oh no.”

Laraby turned around. “What is it?”

Pennie hurried back to where they had landed and kicked through a pile of leaves. “I had one, too. It was Tinktoria’s. She dropped it in Command Center.”

Laraby looked doubtful. “If Tinktoria had one, it means she’s an Original Eight and an O-Eight never lets their crystal out of their possession.
Ever
.”

“They do if they
drop
it. I told you, Laraby, it happened during the attack.”

Laraby considered this. “I think we would have heard about it. A crystal eight gone missing? That’s
huge
, worthy of a City Hall announcement.”

“All I know is Tink had
two
crystal eights around her neck. I saw them. She took one off to open the travel box. I bet that’s the one I found.” Pennie looked through more dark brush. “What else do they do besides unlock travel boxes and let things walk through walls?”

Laraby lowered his voice. “They hold undiluted, extremely potent USE. A crystal eight has been known to turn back time.”

Pennie rolled a stone over onto its side. “That’s against the law, even for Fair Force.”

Something rustled behind a tree.

“Who’s there?” Laraby stopped.

“Howdy-do!” Gavron waved. “Surprised to see me again so soon, Fairly One? Bet you were surprised to see the old bro here too, huh?”

Pennie turned to Laraby. “
This
is how you got to Earth.
Gavron
?”

Laraby nodded reluctantly.

“I mean, was that
awesome
or what? Clogging all the FF’s propellers?
Not
part of the plan, b-t-dub.” Gavron winked at Pennie. “I only gave my collection of stroons to my bro here as an added layer of protection for the Intel he was bringing you. Those things get scrambled crossing atmospheres unless you have some metal around them to bounce off the incoming signals. Discovered that little tidbitty myself on another top secret mission to the big E. Sorry.” He held up his dirty palm. “Don’t ask. Classified. Can’t talk about it.”

“It was a smart plan. Gavron’s right,” Laraby agreed. “We left Fair City right after your
conversation
with Holden about holograms.”

“I think he’s got a small crush on you,” Gavron whispered to Pennie.

Laraby shot him a look before turning back to Pennie. “I had the Intel and the hologram ad ready but I forgot about the scrambling.”

Gavron put his arm around Laraby’s shoulders and winked at Pennie. “Just between you and me and him and—” He glanced around the decrepit garden and shrugged. “We weren’t sure we were even going to make it. Were we, boys? It was a rough trip.”

Cheers erupted from the tall gray grass behind them. The sipLips stood and waved before teetering over and disappearing again.

“Tenley and Holden,” Pennie said quietly. “They didn’t, I mean, they probably—they didn’t look good.”

“They didn’t
feel
good either. Slimy things.” Gavron shuddered, wiping his hands on his robes.