Simon Thorn and the Viper's Pit

“You said anything,” he pointed out, and she grinned again.

  “All right, then. What’ll it be?”

  Simon explained the situation to her, and by the time Malcolm finally joined them, they had hashed out a plan. It was a stupid plan full of plenty of holes, but Simon had to trust that it would all work out.

  The drive through Phoenix was quiet, but once they arrived at the airport and reached their gate, Malcolm said to Simon, “Want to help me grab snacks for everyone?”

  Simon glanced at his friends, who were all seated together with their suitcases. While Jam and Ariana had their eyes closed, still exhausted from the day before, Winter gave him an encouraging nod. Simon reluctantly stood. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to spend time with his uncle; he just had a sinking feeling Malcolm would ask questions, and Simon wasn’t sure he would have answers.

  “Nervous?” said Malcolm as he led him to a kiosk across from the gate.

  “About what?” said Simon. The reptiles’ piece of the Predator rested inside one of his socks in his backpack, and every time he thought about it, he felt a little nauseated.

  “This is your first flight, isn’t it?” said Malcolm, and Simon exhaled.

  “Oh—yeah. It’s okay, though. I mean, I’m a bird, right? I shouldn’t be scared of flying.”

  Malcolm ruffled his hair with his good arm. “That’s the spirit.” Though he grabbed several snack packages seemingly at random, he took his time choosing the drinks. “Are you ever going to tell me what you were really doing in the desert?”

  The question came so casually that at first Simon thought he hadn’t heard his uncle right. He picked out a bag of trail mix and said calmly, “I told you, Winter wanted to see her family.”

  “And yet she’s getting on a plane back to New York with us,” said Malcolm, inspecting the label on a bottle of juice. “You’re not in trouble, Simon. Well, you are—you’re grounded for the rest of your life—but it’s not going to get any worse if you tell me the truth, I promise. I only want to help you.”

  Simon opened and shut his mouth, and at last he mumbled, “I was trying to rescue my mom.”

  “Isabel?” Malcolm looked at Simon sharply. “She’s in Paradise Valley?”

  “Orion still has her,” he said miserably. “I tried to get her out of there, but she didn’t want to come. She said—she said stopping Orion from putting the pieces of the Predator together is more important than being my mom.”

  Malcolm was quiet for a long moment, and at last he picked out a few drinks. “Nothing is more important to her than being your mom, Simon.”

  “But she said—”

  “I don’t care what she said. If you needed her, she would be there in a heartbeat if she could.”

  “I do need her,” he said, his throat tightening and his voice dangerously close to breaking. “She’s my family.”

  “She’s not your only family. You know that, right?” Malcolm stooped down so they were as close to eye to eye as they could get. “Things haven’t been easy, and it’s been an adjustment for all of us, but you are and always will be my family, too, Simon. And I know Nolan can be—difficult at times, but he loves you, too. Things will get better. It might take a while, but you’ll start to feel more at home a little every day until one morning, you’ll wake up, and all of this will be normal.”

  Simon wasn’t sure he ever wanted a life without Darryl and his mother to be normal, but he didn’t have much of a choice. He’d done everything he could. Now, somehow, he had to learn to accept it.

  “And Simon,” said his uncle, pausing before heading toward the checkout line. “Isabel may not be here, but she has never stopped being your mom. It’s just that right now, for her, being your mother means staying with Orion so she can protect you and your brother. Everything she’s doing, everything she’s risking—that’s exactly what a parent does. If she could do all that and still be here with you, she would be. I guarantee it.”

  A lump formed in Simon’s throat, and he didn’t trust himself to reply. Once Malcolm had paid, they gathered up the snacks and drinks and headed back to the gate. Winter gave him a searching look, but he purposely sat several seats down from her as they waited to board. Malcolm was right, and the aching, bitter weight he’d been carrying around for the past twenty-four hours started to diminish.

  The plane was smaller than Simon had expected, and he squeezed in beside Malcolm, who was about two sizes too big for his seat. His uncle mercifully didn’t ask any difficult questions on their flight, and Simon managed to nap. By the time they landed in Chicago, it was early afternoon, and both Jam and Ariana seemed to have recovered.

  “I can’t believe you’re doing this,” said Winter as they all climbed into a taxi, and Jam leaned forward to give the driver directions. “They don’t deserve it.”

  “They don’t deserve living on the streets, either,” said Simon.

  As the cab maneuvered through the heavy traffic, the four of them filled Malcolm in on everything that had happened in Chicago, or at least as much as they could with the driver listening. Malcolm’s frown deepened the more they went on, and once they’d finished, he said, “Do me a favor and don’t tell your parents.”

  “Are you kidding? My mom is going to practically burst with pride,” said Ariana.

  “The general will probably kill me, but he’ll also be glad I took some initiative,” said Jam sheepishly.

  Malcolm didn’t look convinced, and as they pulled up to the dingy theater, he said, “Maybe I should go in.”

  “You’ll scare them off,” said Simon, hopping onto the broken sidewalk. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

  “I’m coming with you,” said Winter, jumping out after him. Together they found the covered opening in the brick wall, and Simon led the way through the darkness.

  He half expected the raccoons not to be there. It was midday, after all, and there were probably all kinds of pockets to pick and Dumpsters to raid on the streets. But when he pushed open the squeaky door, he spotted Bonnie perched on the edge of the stage, her body tensed like she was ready to flee.

  “Relax—we’re not here for anything,” said Simon.

  Bonnie exhaled sharply. “I thought you were the cops.” Climbing to her feet, she strode over. “What do you want?”

  “I brought you something,” he said, pulling an envelope from his pocket. Bonnie took it curiously, while Winter wandered across the stage.

  “Don’t touch anything,” said Bonnie over her shoulder as she pulled out the contents of the envelope. Her forehead knitted. “Train tickets? What am I supposed to do with these?”

  “They’re to a town in Colorado, near New Mexico,” said Simon. “It’s a safe haven for mammals who don’t belong anywhere else.”

  Bonnie stuffed the tickets back inside and thrust the envelope toward Simon. “We’re not leaving.”

  Simon refused to take them. “There’s a woman there—Zia Stone. She knows people who would be willing to take you all in. Together. No one’s going to separate you. You’ll have all the food you want, beds to sleep in, people to help you—it can’t be easy watching and worrying about your brothers all the time, right?”

  Bonnie scowled, though she slowly pulled the tickets out of the envelope again. “They say they won’t separate us now, and maybe they won’t at first, but once it becomes too much for them—”

  “So run away and come back here if that happens,” said Simon. “But it won’t. Zia gets it, and she swore you three would stay together. My uncle, Malcolm—he’s the Alpha of the mammal kingdom, and he asked for regular updates. If anything goes wrong or isn’t okay, he can take care of it for you. I promise.”

  Bonnie stared at the tickets, and a piece of short bleached hair fell into her eyes. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Doing what?” said Simon.

  “Helping us. We stole from you. We took your friend’s shoes.”

  “Yeah, but you also saved me from the flock. You helped us when we need
ed it, and you stole because you needed the money. Or the shoes. I don’t know. You’re out here on your own, and you don’t have to be. I just want to help.”

  Bonnie bit her lower lip, and at last she tucked the envelope into her back pocket. “I’ll think about it.”

  Simon knew that was as close to a yes as he was going to get. “Great. Zia will meet every train for the next week, so you have time.”

  Suddenly a pot clattered to the floor, and Winter straightened beside a pile of things stacked in the corner of the stage. “I’m taking this back,” she declared, holding up her purse—the one Orion had given her. “You can keep the credit card. Use it as much as you want. In fact, max it out.”

  “Already did.” Bonnie smirked, and to Simon, she added, “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Say hi to Billy and Butch for me.”

  “Will do,” she said, and Simon and Winter trudged back through the dark corridor and into the alleyway, where the taxi waited for them.

  Before Simon opened the door, he turned to Winter. “When we get to the airport, I need to talk to you.”

  “About what?” she said, but he shook his head and climbed in beside Jam. She had the good sense not to bring it up in front of the others, but Simon could tell she was dying to ask.

  As soon as they reached the gate for their flight to New York, Simon announced, “I need to go to the bathroom.”

  “Me, too,” said Winter.

  Simon gave Jam a look, and several seconds passed before his eyes widened with realization. “Oh! I have to go, too.”

  “I could always pee,” said Ariana, and together the four of them hurried away before Malcolm asked any questions.

  Simon found the nearest family bathroom and, ushering his friends inside, he closed and locked the door. “I have to tell you all something.”

  “Is this about—” began Jam, and Simon nodded.

  “Winter doesn’t know yet.”

  “I don’t know what?” she said, frowning.

  Simon set his backpack on the tiled floor and unzipped the pocket, and Felix poked his head out curiously. “What’s going on?”

  “Both of you, watch,” he said. Taking a deep breath, Simon began to shift. At first he took his usual form of a golden eagle, and Winter rolled her eyes.

  “In case you didn’t know, I can do that, too,” she said. But then his body began to change again, this time into a snake. And then a mouse. And then a turtle, and a squirrel, and a fly, and finally he shifted back into a human.

  “Can you do that?” he said with a nervous grin. Winter stared at him, her eyes the size of saucers.

  “You—you’re—”

  “Yeah.” He hesitated. “Jam and Ariana found out yesterday, but I wanted you to know, too. You’re my friends, and I trust you.”

  Felix let out a long-suffering sigh. “Terrific. Another reason for someone to try to kill you,” he muttered before disappearing into the backpack once more. Simon zipped the pocket back up, glad he hadn’t made more of a fuss. He wasn’t sure he could take another lecture from Felix right now.

  “I guess this isn’t something you want announced in the middle of the dining hall?” said Ariana, and Simon shook his head.

  “No one else knows. Not even Malcolm and Nolan. If anyone else finds out—”

  “No one will,” said Jam fiercely, pushing his glasses up his nose.

  Ariana nodded in agreement, but Winter continued to stare, stunned. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me! How many times do I have to prove I’m on your side?”

  “I know you are,” he said. “I just—didn’t know how. I’m sorry. You know now, though. You all do. And—” He faltered. “I have the reptiles’ piece, too.”

  “Good. One down, four to go,” said Ariana. “If we’re going to look for the rest, we have to come up with a better plan.”

  “First, we need to figure out where to go next,” said Jam, and Simon remembered what his mother had said in Beak Peak.

  The underwater kingdom moved theirs after I copied it in September, two years ago.

  She hadn’t only told him how to find the reptiles’ piece. She’d told him how to find the underwater kingdom’s piece, too.

  As they left the bathroom, Jam and Ariana argued about which kingdom to focus on now, while Simon fell into step beside Winter. “I’ll try my best to make sure Garrett doesn’t bully you anymore.”

  “As long as your best doesn’t include turning into a bear and eating him.” After a pause, she added, “Actually, I wouldn’t mind that.”

  Simon smiled. “Thanks for coming back. I mean it.”

  “Thanks for telling me about the—thing,” she said, gesturing toward him. “Does that mean you’re technically a snake, too?”

  “I can be,” he said. “I think I belong to all the kingdoms and none of them at the same time. It’s a little weird.”

  “It’s a little cool, too. And dangerous.” She stopped before they reached Malcolm, who had his nose in a newspaper. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, Simon. Before I met you, I didn’t feel like I belonged anywhere, but now—” She turned red. “If you tell anyone I said that, I’ll eat your rat.”

  “Mouse!” squeaked Felix from his backpack. Simon grinned.

  “Your secret’s safe with me,” he said, and a voice over the loudspeaker announced their flight was about to begin boarding. “Time to go home.”

  “Time for you to face the music,” said Winter. “I bet Nolan’s furious you left him behind.”

  Simon made a face. “Probably.” Despite everything he’d been through, somehow enduring whatever Nolan had in store for him seemed like the scariest part of all. But no matter how upset his brother was, he owed Nolan an apology and an explanation. Simon could only hope he understood.

  Great White Lie

  Nolan didn’t understand. Not at all.

  The moment their plane touched down in New York City, a knot of dread formed in Simon’s chest, and it only grew tighter the closer they got to the Central Park Zoo. The pack was waiting for them inside the Arsenal to escort them to the secret level below, and as Simon crossed the bridge that led to the underground academy, he spotted several sharks circling the water, all on high alert.

  “With Celeste on the run, we’re not taking any chances,” said Malcolm, and Simon’s hopes sank. There was no way his uncle would let him go flying now. But, he supposed, he’d had no chance of Malcolm ever letting him do anything fun again since the moment he had run away to Arizona. Simon would have to find another way to stretch his wings.

  Malcolm saw him to his room, and before Simon could even pull off his backpack, Nolan stormed in from the bathroom they shared.

  “Where have you been?” he demanded. “Malcolm said you made it to Penn Station, but then I don’t hear anything from you for days.”

  “I’m sorry,” said Simon, setting his bag down on his bed and opening the zipper so Felix could climb free. “I really am. But I found out Mom was in Arizona—”

  “Mom? You know where Mom is, and you didn’t tell me?”

  Nolan’s face fell, and Simon felt a stab of guilt so deep in his gut that he blurted out the whole story. Minus the part about the pieces. And being the Beast King’s heir, too. Simon described everything that had happened in Chicago and Colorado and Paradise Valley, but when the time came to recount what had happened as he escaped from Beak Peak, he paused.

  “Then what?” said Nolan. He’d taken to pacing angrily across the carpet. “Did Mom get away? Is she here? Or did you let Orion take her again?”

  “It wasn’t—it wasn’t like that,” said Simon. He sat down on the edge of his bed, unable to admit to Nolan that their mother had chosen to stay with Orion rather than come home to them. It hurt Simon badly enough as it was, and he was used to her leaving. She’d left his whole life, again and again, until he’d come to expect it.

  But this was the first time she hadn’t been there for Nolan. No matter how miserable Simon was,
he couldn’t take that hope from his brother, too.

  “I tried,” he said at last. “But—they caught her, and she wouldn’t let me help.”

  His brother’s face twisted into a sneer. “I would have never let them take her again. If I had been there, she’d be free right now.”

  Simon clutched his hands together so tightly he could feel his fingers throb. “Yeah, probably,” he mumbled. “I’m sorry I lost her.”

  “You should be,” said Nolan. “You should have told me you were going. I would have come with you.”

  “But—”

  “You’re not the only one in this family who can go out and fight, Simon. I’m not helpless, but you and Malcolm act like the second I step foot outside the Den, someone’s going to kidnap me, and you’re never going to see me again.”

  “What if that does happen?” said Simon. “What if Celeste finds you, or Orion?”

  There was a dangerous glint in Nolan’s eyes. “Then I’ll tear them to pieces before they get the chance to hurt me. Or you, or Malcolm, or Mom.”

  “You can’t, though,” argued Simon. “You can’t ever kill anyone. If the truth about what you are ever comes out, the only hope you’ll have is to prove you’re nothing like the Beast King. Otherwise the entire Animalgam world is going to try to take you down, and I can’t lose you, all right?”

  That brought Nolan up short, and he studied Simon, his expression softening. “Then what makes you think I can lose you?”

  The pair of them stared at each other. For the past two months, Simon had thought Nolan wanted nothing to do with him. But maybe Simon was wrong.

  “She’s my mom, too,” mumbled Nolan at last. “I want to help. I know you’d rather have her than me and Malcolm, but—”

  “That’s not true,” said Simon, his voice cracking. “You’re part of my family, too. It wouldn’t be complete without you and Malcolm.”

  “Then stop pretending I don’t exist. You and your friends act like you’re too good for me—”

  “What?” Simon shook his head. “You’re the one acting like you’re too good for us. Have you seen what Garrett’s been doing to Winter?”