Chapter 7. Hazel
Jacob sprawled across his bed and started his homework in a frenzy, eager to get it done. He still couldn’t believe the amount he’d been given now that he was in high school.
He was nearly finished when Matt flung his door open and strode inside.
“Ready to go yet?” Matt tossed a bag at Jacob. “Here, eat.”
Jacob sat up and opened the bag—string cheese, Pop-Tarts, a can of apple juice, a couple of Lunchables, and a yogurt smoothie. He pulled out the yogurt, drinking it in a few swallows.
“I have to finish reading a chapter, and then write a page review on it.”
Matt groaned. “That’s going to take you years! Can’t you do it when we get back?”
Jacob gave Matt a withering glance. “No, I can’t. The Makalos will ask if we finished our homework, and send us back if we haven’t.”
Matt looked panicked. “Would they?”
“Yes. They’re anxious that I don’t slack off. The same goes for you.”
“Oh, well, I better go finish my essay, then.”
Jacob nodded and turned back to his homework.
Finally, they were both finished and ready to go.
Jacob stepped to his bedroom door. “Okay, let’s see if this works the way it did at Aldo’s.” He held the Key up to the door. The hole for a lock appeared.
“That’s so cool!” Matt said.
“Yeah.” Jacob put the Key inside. It fit perfectly—as usual—and he Keyed them to the Makalo village.
Kenji, Gallus, Akeno, and Sweet Pea were waiting in the tree. Gallus, not surprisingly, didn’t look at the brothers. Sweet Pea punched Jacob’s shoulder—Jacob was having a hard time thinking of Sweet Pea by his real name rather than Butch. Akeno limped to the door, a smile on his face—he looked excited to be a part of this too. Ebony wasn’t around, and Kenji reported they were to send a Minya when she was needed.
“Did you finish your chores and homework?” Kenji asked.
Jacob looked at Matt pointedly, a smile of triumph crossing his face. “We sure did!”
“Good.” Kenji rubbed his hands together, eagerness crossing his face. “Time to get to work!”
Jacob Keyed the group to the Fat Lady’s cabin, a blast of heat and the smell of rancid juice hitting his face when he stepped inside.
The Fat Lady sat on her dusty, dirty couch, playing with some sort of concoction on the short table in front of her. Aldo sat in the corner of the room, digging through what looked to be a garbage pile.
She turned to Kenji. “Who’d ya like to take the extra Malono Potion?”
“How about Gallus?”
Gallus shook his head. “No, you need someone who’ll be able to help any time he’s here.” He nodded toward Jacob.
Kenji looked at all who were present. “Give it to Matt—he’d probably be able to help Jacob the most.”
Sweet Pea’s mouth popped open. “And what about me?”
“You’re not his brother. They’ll work better together.”
“But I’m stronger than him!”
Matt snorted. “Whatever. Dude, I’m like a foot taller than you. And check out these bad boys.” He flexed his biceps.
“Yes, they’re very impressive. We’ll let you stay in your little dream world.” Sweet Pea snickered.
Matt punched Sweet Pea on the shoulder, and Sweet Pea playfully shoved him back.
Jacob laughed at them, then chuckled at the reaction of everyone else—the adults were absolutely shocked at what was happening, and a determined expression crossed Kenji’s face, like as if he was going to have to break up a fight. Akeno looked scared. Aldo jumped to his feet, a huge grin on his face, and put up his fists like a 1930s boxer. He hopped around Sweet Pea and Matt, blabbering nonsensical words, fists moving like he was about to enter the ring.
Sweet Pea laughed at the tension the adults had created. “Come on, guys, it’s how the Earth people interact. Haven’t you read any modern books?”
Akeno shook his head. “None of them spoke of physical abuse.”
Matt and Sweet Pea both laughed this time. “It’s not abuse!” Matt said. “It’s how guys mess around!”
The adults relaxed, and a smile crossed Akeno’s face.
The Fat Lady, Gallus, and Kenji started talking to each other about the different ingredients she still had to get for her potion, and where they’d find them.
Matt turned to Jacob, keeping his eyes on the large woman. “So, what’s this potion gonna taste like? Please tell me not like that sick smell in the air.”
“It’ll be worse,” Akeno said, then laughed at the horror on Matt’s face. “It does go down quickly, though.”
“Can she at least put sugar in it or something?”
“Or maybe a sweet pea,” Sweet Pea said, then chortled. “Get it?”
“All right, Matt, here you are.” The Fat Lady brought a vial over, holding it out to him in one large, puffy hand.
Matt took it from her, eying it like he expected it to come alive and crawl up his arm. Jacob couldn’t help but snicker—even though he was glad he hadn’t ever had to take it himself.
“Oh, come on,” the Fat Lady said. “Don’t tell me Jacob’s brother—his older brother—is a wimp.”
“I’m not a wimp!” Matt lifted the vial to his lips, then in one quick motion, poured it in his mouth and swallowed. Everyone watched for his reaction, and they weren’t disappointed. He gagged, his face turning bright red, and bent over, hands around his throat, coughing. He fell to the floor, still gagging, tears streaming down his face.
The Fat Lady laughed so loudly, the cabin windows shook. “Give me a break! It’s not that bad.” She pointed to Akeno. “He didn’t freak out like this.”
Matt pulled himself to his knees, gasping. “That was awful—worst thing I’ve—disgusting.” He slumped against the couch, panting from the exertion of trying to talk.
After Matt recovered, the group discussed who would do what. They’d form a bucket brigade, with Jacob, Matt, and Akeno searching for people who wore shabby clothing and pulling them out to Sweet Pea, who would take them to Gallus, who, in turn, would take them to Kenji. The Fat Lady, at the end of the brigade, would dump water over the heads of the people and try to get them to talk.
Jacob was surprised all it would take was some water—especially since the Fat Lady had so many potions at her disposal. “Why can’t we just take the water to them?”
“They need to be out of the scented air first, you know,” Sweet Pea said. “Otherwise we’ll just have to keep pouring water over their faces. Over and over again. And nothing would happen.”
Kenji smiled. “Plus, you don’t want to carry buckets of water all over the place, do you? You’re already having to pull people. That’s hard enough.”
Jacob agreed—that didn’t sound like a lot of fun.
Early flitted around the air, acting as lookout for Lirone and any Lorkon—it again amused Jacob how excited she was to help.
The skies were darkening as Jacob, Akeno, and Sweet Pea took the long walk to where the scented air began. An involuntary shudder passed through Jacob when he looked up at the clouds. Last time he’d been in this part of Eklaron, he’d nearly been killed several times by the cloud dweller named Lirone.
Lirone used particles in the air to pepper explosions around helpless people below him. The Fat Lady had reassured them these weren’t “Lirone” clouds, but Jacob was nervous just the same. What would they do if Lirone showed up? Or worse, what would they do if a Lorkon appeared?
At least the group was within half an hour’s walk of the Fat Lady’s cabin. Jacob had run it before, so felt reassured, knowing he’d be able to get away. He watched Akeno from the corner of his eye—the Makalo’s limp was still defined and looked painful. Jacob would probably have to pick him up if they needed to run.
Twenty or so minutes later, the group reached where the scented air began. Sweet Pea stopped, and Matt, Akeno, and Jacob contin
ued.
Matt jumped. “It smells like fresh footballs!” he said.
Jacob laughed. “And not like Sammy? Boy, what would she say if she found out you value football over her?”
Matt flushed. “Oh, she already knows. I mean . . . uh . . . she has to. I, uh. It’s all I talk about.”
Jacob snorted. “Whatever,” he said, smiling. “I still don’t smell anything here.”
They continued forward, approaching the man Jacob and Akeno had seen over a week before—still staring vacantly off into the distance, a smile on his lips.
“That’s all sorts of wrong,” Matt said. “You said they didn’t respond when you touched them?”
“Well, the one guy did sort of answer, but he didn’t seem to care that I’d poked him.”
“Hmmm . . . I’m going to take a look around.” Matt wandered off and Jacob turned to Akeno, about to say something when a weird feeling—like they were being watched—came over him.
“Can you feel that?” He didn’t wait for Akeno’s response, but turned to the forest. “Something’s in the trees.”
Fear crossed Akeno’s face and he started shaking. “What? What is it? A Lorkon? Please, oh, please no!”
“I hope not . . .” Jacob crouched and ran to a large tree near the edge of the scented air. He stared intently at the forest twenty feet away.
“See anything?”
“No—wait—there.” He pointed.
“I see it!”
Dismay hit Jacob. “A Dust. Great.”
There was a flash of blue eyes and a bright blue cloak, then the creature disappeared from view.
Akeno grabbed Jacob’s arm, a huge smile spreading across his face as he stared into the forest. “Whoa!”
“Now it’s going to alert the Lorkon,” Jacob said. “We’d better get out of here.”
Akeno looked at Jacob. “That wasn’t a Dust! It was a Wurby!”
Jacob tilted his head. “Are you sure?”
“Positive! How awesome! I just saw a Wurby!” Akeno turned back to the forest, probably trying to catch another glimpse of the Wurby.
“I don’t know, Akeno. I mean, you could be wrong.”
“You saw the blue robes, right? And the blue eyes? Only Wurbies have eyes like that.”
Jacob turned to Akeno. “But couldn’t a Dust be dressed like a Wurby and have blue eyes?”
Akeno shook his head. “If a Wurby turns evil, his eyes go dark. If a Dust turns good, his eyes become blue. That’s just how their species works. And there’s no way a Dust would wear blue. It’s like you wearing something with the Nazi Swastika on it.” Akeno turned back to the forest. “I can’t believe we just saw a Wurby! How lucky!”
“I don’t understand why this is so exciting.”
“Gallus told my parents that all the Wurbies had been hunted down and killed. A Wurby hasn’t been seen here since around the time Dmitri—well, since the Makalos hid in Taga.” He turned back to Jacob. “This means they’re not all gone like we’d thought. Which also means they’d be able to help us.”
“We need all the help we can get.” Jacob sighed. “We’ve got work to do for now. We should still keep our eyes open for Dusts and the Lorkon, just in case.”
He ran his hand through his hair, then turned toward the people in the scented air. A grin spread across his face when he saw what Matt had done. What he was still doing. Jacob couldn’t help but laugh even as he yelled, “Knock it off, Matt!”
Matt had gone around and rearranged the positions of many of the people.
The man closest to Jacob now looked like he was about to dive into a pool. A woman near him had her nose plugged and one arm stretched straight above her, fingers forming the “peace” sign. Another man stood like he was holding a rifle, his shoulders scrunched up, head slightly tilted as if looking down a barrel, which would’ve been pointing at a person not far away, if the gun existed. That person’s hands were in the air, surrendering. The only thing that hadn’t changed was their odd smiles—but that just added to the hilarity of the situation.
Jacob jogged toward Matt, laughing. “I’m serious! Stop!”
“Just one more? Please?” Matt jumped to a man, pulled his hands out, and made it look like he was dancing the Macarena.
Jacob laughed again, finally catching up to Matt, and dragged him away. “They’re alive—what if you’re hurting them? And what if they remember? You need to have more respect for people!”
Matt wiped laughter tears from his face. “Oh, come on. There’s no way they’ll remember this.”
Jacob shook his head, then turned to gaze at the people, allowing another smile to cross his features. “Well, it is funny.”
“I know! It’s awesome!” Matt wiped his hands on his pants. “But some of them are pretty sweaty.”
“That’s because it’s summer here.”
“Oh, really?” Matt said with sarcasm. “I didn’t notice.”
“Okay, okay,” Akeno said. “Let’s get started.”
They decided it would be easiest if they stuck together, going through the people. Whenever they found someone wearing ragged clothes, Akeno would stay in that spot, like a bookmark to show where they left off, while Matt and Jacob pulled the person to Sweet Pea.
The first person they found, a man with long, scraggly, dirty hair, looked like this was the first happiness he’d experienced in a long while. Jacob almost regretted having to wake him up.
After trying to get the man to walk, the brothers finally each grabbed one arm and dragged him backward through the people. The man’s arms and legs started jerking as the scented air thinned. When they reached Sweet Pea, the straggler steadied himself. The vacant smile remained on his face, and he didn’t respond when they spoke to him. But Sweet Pea was able to lead him along the path toward the Fat Lady’s house. Jacob and Matt returned to Akeno, continuing the process.
After nearly an hour, they’d only managed to get three people out. The first man proved to be the easiest—he’d been fairly small, and his clothing wasn’t heavy.
Matt almost dropped one woman in disgust when she drooled on his arm.
“How are we supposed to get everyone?” he asked while they took a break.
Jacob wiped sweat off his face. “Don’t know. Doesn’t seem possible.”
Just then Early zoomed to Jacob’s side with a message. “Kenji says ‘Hi!’” she said, doing a flip and waving at Matt, who grunted in response.
“That’s all?” Jacob asked. He found it hard to believe Kenji would send a Minya just to say hi.
“Um . . . no. I didn’t hear the rest of his message.” She disappeared, then reappeared a moment later. “He’s also afraid Lirone might be coming ‘cause the storm is getting darker. You have time to get one more person, and then you need to return to the Fat Lady’s cabin.”
Matt scrambled to his feet when he saw the expressions on Jacob and Akeno’s faces. “Who’s Lirone? Sounds bad.”
Jacob only nodded. There wasn’t time to explain.
They hurried to find the next person—a teenager, maybe seventeen years old—and pulled him toward Sweet Pea, urgency in their steps this time. Jacob had no desire to deal with Lirone again. Luckily, the teenager wasn’t difficult to haul off—he was shorter than Jacob by a couple of inches, and couldn’t have weighed more than 110 pounds. It was a wonder the kid was even alive, he was so skinny.
The brothers and Akeno reached Sweet Pea, who followed them to Gallus and then Kenji, who was with the Fat Lady. Kenji dumped a bucket of water over the teen’s face. He didn’t sputter or try to wipe it off, but moaned, the smile disappearing.
“How long does it take?” Jacob asked.
“Oh, about five minutes,” Kenji said. “But that’s only until the light comes back into their eyes. The first man you brought to us still hasn’t spoken, and it’s been over an hour.”
The teenager looked around, confused, and moaned again, slipping to the ground where Kenji let him stay.
> “The Fat Lady thinks the length of time they spent in the scented air will affect how long it takes them to come out of the trance.”
“Makes sense,” Jacob said. “Now what?”
“We take them to Taga Village.”
Jacob followed Gallus and Kenji inside as they pulled the teenager up the two steps to the Fat Lady’s cabin. He Keyed to the tree in the village, leaving the door open, then turned to help drag the people through the door. It took them a couple of minutes—the woman was the most alert, but she didn’t want to be touched, and swatted at anyone who got close. Luckily the Fat Lady was there. Either the woman felt better about having another woman help her, or she was so scared by the Fat Lady that she was frightened into submission.
Ebony had cleared the shelves, tables, and chairs out of the way in the tree and laid blankets on the floor. Kenji had decided it would be too difficult to carry everyone upstairs to the third floor where the beds were located.
“Only four?” she asked.
“Yeah, and those four were dang hard to get!” Matt said.
Gallus laid the teenager on one of the blankets, then straightened, wiping his brow. “Next time, why don’t we completely skip taking the people into the Fat Lady’s place and just leave her door open, linking to the village?”
“Yes, let’s try that,” Kenji said. “Anything to skip a step or two would be good. If we keep our eyes open for the Lorkon and their . . . their employees, it shouldn’t be a problem. We don’t want anyone gaining access to Taga Village.”
Ebony handed out glasses of water once everything was arranged, and the group sat at the table, discussing the events of the day. Jacob mentioned that he and Akeno had seen a Wurby.
Kenji frowned. “That’s not possible—Wurbies are extinct.”
Gallus shook his head. “A few have been spotted recently. I’m not sure why, but I think it has something to do with . . .” He glanced at Jacob. “The Lorkon aren’t the only ones who know about him, you know.”
Jacob perked up. “What do you mean? Who else knows about me?”
Sweet Pea shook his head. “Who doesn’t know about you? Practically everyone on this planet has heard of you since they were born.”
“That’s what Akeno told me the other day. Why, though?”
Sweet Pea looked to the adults in the room, and Jacob did the same.
Kenji folded his arms. “Things will all make sense soon enough, Jacob. It’s not our story to tell, and the person who knows it isn’t here right now.” He leaned forward. “How is your journal reading going?”
“Fine. I just got it from my teacher.”
Sweet Pea put his cup down and stretched. “All right, how about we start your training?”
“Now?” Jacob asked. “We just got back. And I’m exhausted!” Not to mention the conversation was really interesting right then.
“Oh, come on. Don’t be a wimp.” Sweet Pea got up and jumped back and forth in front of Jacob, playfully trying to punch him.
Jacob whacked the Makalo’s hands away. “Stop that.”
Sweet Pea turned to Kenji. “Where should we practice?”
“How about in the meadow? There’s plen—”
“No!” Jacob said, then blushed when everyone looked at him. “Can we please go somewhere more . . . private?” This was going to be hard enough without every single Makalo turning his lessons into a spectator sport.
“Well, I suppose you could probably use the fourth floor of this tree—there’s nothing up there but the telescope. Just move it aside.”
“We’ll do it,” Jacob said, not waiting to see what Sweet Pea would say.
Sweet Pea laughed, shaking his head. “Whatever, Human Boy. We’ll teach you not to be ashamed of your abilities.”