Operation Tenley

  “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.

  37

  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 gard
en?”

  “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.

  Pennie blinked at him. “Feel good? What do you mean feel good?”

  Laraby wiggled out from under Gavron’s arm. “Gavron, are you saying family was there to catch them when they fell?”

  “You know it, bro.” Gavron high-fived him.

  “Wait, what?” Pennie asked.

  “We caught ’em.” Gavron smiled his gray teeth at her.

  “Both of them?” She could almost hug Gavron. Almost. “You caught both of them?”

  “Well … it was a joint effort, right, boys?”

  The sipLips popped up again, drooling and waving.

  Pennie looked at Laraby. “Is this true?”

  “They would have no reason to lie about this, especially because if they did, the consequences would be an all-time high.” Laraby glared at his brother.

  Gavron threw his arms up. “Hold onto your head mobiles, Fairly Ones. It’s all true.”

  Pennie spun around. “So where are they?”

  “I dunno” Gavron shrugged. “Hey, boys, where did you put those slimy clients?”

  The sipLips started miming their rescue, flapping their arms and snatching at the air. They continued flapping with one arm while they held something large in the other, until it looked like that something was slipping out of their hold. And then the something did slip out of their hold—you could tell by how they smashed their palms onto their foreheads, looking worried and searching the ground below.

  “They dropped ‘em,” Gavron translated.

  Pennie gasped.

  “Dropped them, where?” Laraby asked.

  Gavron wiped some drool off his chin. “Couldn’t tell ya.”

  “Where, Gavron?”

  Annoyed, Gavron turned back to his boys. The sipLips mimicked falling through something and landing hard on the ground. “Here,” Gavron interpreted. “They fell somewhere in here, too.”

  Pennie stormed over and grabbed Gavron’s robes. “Are they alive?”

  “Idk, Fairly One. Our job was to catch them if they fell, pull them out if they drowned, lift them up if they sank. Your overall rescue operation protocol.”

  Pennie released him. “How did you know they were even in danger?”

  “He told us.” Gavron pointed to Laraby.

  “You could say it was an educated guess; we are talking about you and your client. Now, if what Gavron is saying is true—”

  “Which it is,” Gavron huffed.

  “It means Tenley and Holden might have survived.”

  Pennie turned away. “Tenley! Holden!”

  “Quiet!” Laraby warned. “The last thing we want is for you-know-who to find us before we find them.”

  “And who would we be talking about exactly?” Gavron inquired.

  “Mother Nature,” Pennie answered.

  Gavron exploded, suddenly trying to catch his breath. “Are you telling me we fell into her gardens? But that’s underground. I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”

  “Knock it off.” Laraby punched him in the shoulder. “You were breathing just fine a
second ago. Obviously her gardens have their own atmosphere.”

  “Doesn’t look like it’s working too well.” Gavron frowned and glanced around.

  “That’s because Mother Nature’s gardens are but a microcosm of her bigger planet,” Laraby explained.

  “I knew that. Everyone knows that.” Gavron cleared his throat and kicked at the ground.

  “I don’t,” Pennie admitted.

  Trying his best to be patient, although it was in the Manual, Laraby said, “The state of the Earth is directly reflected here in the state of these gardens. In other words, as the Earth becomes more polluted, so do these gardens. It’s no wonder she wants to destroy humans.”

  “Right?” Gavron agreed.

  A high-pitched yell echoed through the forest.

  “Over there,” Laraby pointed.

  The faster they walked, the thicker and blacker the forest became and the harder it was to navigate. A few times, Laraby tripped over his robes, catching himself just before hitting the ground.

  Gavron spotted them first. “There,” he said, pointing up.

  Seventy meters high, in between a set of trees, two figures were dangling in midair.

  Pennie started to run toward them but Gavron grabbed her. “Don’t.”

  “He’s right,” Laraby said.

  “How are they staying there, in the air like that?”

  “Webs. She hangs uninvited guests in them,” Gavron whispered.

  “How do you know that, Gavron?” Pennie asked.

  “Let’s just say not all of Mama N’s Weathers are loyal to her. And me and my boys, we might hang out with few of those Renegade-types.”

  “Your boys.” Laraby grabbed Gavron’s shoulder. “That’s it. We’ll send your boys in to get them.”

  Gavron pursed his lips. “It’ll cost you.”

  “What do I have left to give you?”

  “Too true.” Gavron smirked, lifting his battered robes to expose Laraby’s impressive tool belt wrapped around his under-bloomers.

  “You gave him your tools?” Pennie frowned at Laraby.