“Adri!”
I had to keep myself from squeezing him in a huge hug, but to him I was still a stranger: one who had tried to break into his memories, no less. It wouldn’t help if I grabbed him and fell into them again.
How did you get out of there?” Luna stared at him, amazed.
“I have a few skills,” Adri waved modestly, with a tired grin. “But no ostriches were harmed in my escape.”
In fact, we could hear the ostriches begin to calm down. Clearly, they had all of their eggs, safe and sound.
I heaved a sigh of relief. It was over. 86
“Watch out!” Luna yelled.
There was a soft hiss. I felt a net land on me like an unbreakable spider’s web. Before I could move, it gave a small jolt. Something flashed through me. In an instant, I was frozen in place.
“Stay calm,” I heard Luna say.
“Calm!” Esme exclaimed.
I bit back a hysterical giggle. Even though I couldn’t turn my head to see them, it was a relief that we could still talk. This must be the same kind of net that had frozen the little girl, Alice, back in Yara’s office on Dragon Mouth Island.
And look at how well that had ended.
“Guys, I’ve seen this before …” my voice wobbled.
“Shh,” Adri barked. “Listen!”
I could hear loud, machine-like breathing. Suddenly, in front of me, someone or something in a bright white hazmat suit appeared. I couldn’t see a face behind the tinted glass, but I could tell from the breathing that there were several of them around.
Without a word, the white suit gripped my arms and lifted me up, net and all, plonking me down on what I could only guess was the bed of a truck.
“Where are you taking us?” Luna demanded. 87
There was no answer except for the loud suction-like inhale and exhale of the suits; like astronauts in space. Frozen in place and lying on my back on the metal truck bed, all I could see was the pale blue afternoon sky above me, filled with watchful clouds.
For what seemed like hours, the truck rattled over what felt like rocky roads and dirt trails. Every so often, we would ask each other, “You alright?” but soon even that stopped.
I wondered what waited for us at the end of this ride.
Da always said that the greatest battle was in the mind. I tried to think of things that made me feel strong: the smell of his fresh-coffee-like hugs, my little brother’s dimpled face, the fact that Adri and I had survived our crazy adventures; that I had even made it this far.
I’d read somewhere that people who survived difficult things, had done so by focusing on someone or something in their heads, however small, that gave them joy. They pictured themselves safe again and through it all, kept that picture in their minds.
I thought of my family and how much they loved me … of my Mum’s light-filled smile. 88
“I’m going to see them again,” I mouthed over and over, willing it to be true.
Finally, I heard a rattling noise like huge metal gates opening.
The truck screeched to a stop.
Suddenly, the net was dragged off. I could feel my limbs again. Thick rubber gloves grabbed me from the truck bed and dragged me to my feet. I collapsed to the ground like jelly. I guess my legs had to get used to standing again.
I turned my head and breathed a sigh of relief. Adri, Luna, and Esme were next to me, trying to stand. But they weren’t the only ones around.
We were surrounded by people in all-white hazmat suits, boots, and gloves. Without a word, they clapped a metal collar around each of our necks – of the same golden material as the wristbands we wore. It felt cool and smooth, but far from comfortable, like the one I’d seen Yara wear. Luna raised her hands weakly to pull it off. For the first time, one of the suits spoke in a voice distorted by the mask on their face.
“Don’t try any funny business. These collars give quite the jolt if you try to use your powers, escape, or ignore orders.” 89
“Who are you?” Adri croaked. “Where are we?”
“We ask the questions,” the suit snapped. “Now get moving.”
As they marched us forward, I glanced around. We were under a giant translucent dome, the size of about two or three football fields. I wondered what it looked like from the outside. How did something like this go unnoticed? It was probably camouflaged like the Council’s old research lab back in Samaan Bay.
Meanwhile, this facility was filled with white bubble tents that looked like space creatures. We were being herded toward one of them. I stumbled forward.
On our left was a large area with stables and a racetrack. On the track was the strangest race I had ever seen. Instead of horses, it was full of ostriches being raced at crazy speeds, ridden by suits who were holding on to their wings and necks for dear life. I heard Esme inhale sharply. My head spun. I knew that ostriches were fast, but these birds were almost a blur.
“Look!” Luna exclaimed.
There was more. In the center of the racetrack was a round sandy ring, surrounded by a wire fence. In it, two ostriches were kicking, spinning, and slashing at 90each other with their beaks and claws, egged on by two suits with rods.
“What on earth …?” Adri muttered, echoing my thoughts exactly.
What was this – an Ostrich Fight Club? I shook my head. This place was nothing like the Ostrich Farms in Curaçao and Aruba, where you could meet and learn more about these amazing creatures. So, this was what the Council wanted those ostrich eggs for!
As one of the ostriches went past us with its handler, I noticed something strange about its legs. Both limbs were encased in some kind of black and silver device. I had no idea what the devices did, but as the ostriches and their handlers filed past us, I could see the effect of the Council’s “training” on the birds. Almost every one of them had damaged wings, scratches down the length of its neck, missing feathers, swollen eyes, or a chipped beak.
Esme gasped. Luna looked furious. They could see it too. Being put to fight against each other was not what these birds were meant to do.
I felt the rage that boiled up inside of me fizzle to helplessness. How could we stop the Council from hurting ostriches? We couldn’t even save ourselves. 91
It seemed like Adri had already figured that out. He kept looking straight ahead, as if refusing to see what was going on around him.
Maybe it was better that way – to turn a blind eye – but I couldn’t forget what I had seen. Now, it meant I had to do something.
What exactly? I had no idea.
“Keep it moving!” the suit nearest to me ordered in a muffled, machine-like voice, waving one of the rods the ostrich-trainers carried. It made a loud zapping noise.
“Come on Zo,” Esme urged.
I picked up the pace, trotting toward the bubble tent up ahead. I didn’t want to feel what those zappers could do.
The tents were strangely interesting: like piles of soap bubbles in the kitchen sink but made of a plastic-like material that held together in a more solid way. The suits pushed us forward, until we came to the entrance of one of the tents.
“Remember kids,” the suit next to me droned, “Do as you’re told, or the collars will do the talking!”
They shoved us toward the thin doorway of the tent but didn’t come in with us. I stumbled inside 92with Luna, Esme, and Adri. My already unsteady knees trembled. What would we find in here?
“Bogle!” Luna and Esme shouted with stunned faces.
Then they raced forward, screaming with joy.
Adri and I stared at the reunion happening in front of us. Esme squealed. She and Luna were squeezing a slim boy with thick, blue-framed eye-glasses, and dreadlocks neatly pulled back into one. He was almost as tall as Adri, dressed in a khaki jumpsuit that looked like some kind of uniform.
Luna kept clapping him on the back and saying, “You’re here.”
Then she looked around, “Where are the others?”
Bogle’s face dropped. “They’re here … but busy, you know. Gimme a minute and I’ll …”
“And this is …?” Adri broke through Luna and Esme’s questions.
“Bogle … Bogle Freeman,” the boy stretched out his hand, which Adri ignored.
Bogle raised his eyebrows and leaned back slightly. “Unno no shake ‘ands where you from?”
I rushed forward apologetically: “Hi, I’m Zo.” I shook his hand hard, until he pulled it back gingerly, raising one eyebrow at Esme and Luna. 93
“So, these your new friends dem?” he asked wryly.
“We met Zo and Adri on the test,” Esme jumped in.
She and Luna filled Bogle in on everything we’d been through so far. I could see now that he wore the same golden collar and wristband that we did. Clearly, he was being kept here too.
It turned out that Bogle, Luna, and Esme were friends from the training school on Dragon Mouth Island.
“Bogle’s a genius with science, math, engineering,” Luna boasted, grinning more than I’d ever seen her do.
“Yeah!” Esme chimed in over Adri’s unimpressed, “So, how’d he end up in here?”
Bogle had even modified his glasses, she explained, to show the inner workings of structures and machines.
“Helps with robotics,” he said matter-of-factly, shrugging his shoulders.
“You’re from Jamaica right?” I asked, recognising his accent. “My dad is too!”
“For life, yeah,” he nodded. “Quickstep. Me no sen you no come.”
“What?” Adri bristled.
This time Bogle ignored him, explaining to me, 94“That’s where I come from in Cockpit Country, Aberdeen.”
“Cockpit Country! Like Usain Bolt,” I said admiringly.
“He’s from up Trelawny way, but yeah,” Bogle smiled fiercely. “And don’t forget Queen Nanny of the Maroons!”
“So, Mr. Freeman, you have a plan to get us out of here?” Adri asked. I could see the sliver of hope on everyone’s face.
Bogle nodded cautiously, “A likkle sinting … But first things first,” his smile faded.
“Lemme bring you up to speed.”
Suddenly, a scary thought hit me.
I cut Bogle off and pointed quickly to my ear, warning everyone with my eyes to be quiet. What if the Council was listening? Planning our escape could get us into even more trouble.
“Don’t worry,” Bogle shook his head, tapping his glasses. “I’ve checked everywhere for bugs. Nothing so far.”
He pointed to the collar around his neck, “With these things on, they don’t care what we say. As far as they’re concerned, there’s nowhere for us to go.” 95
My stomach sank. They had a point.
I tried to focus on what Bogle was saying …This centre was the site for some truly weird experiments. The Council had put bionic leg enhancements on ostriches to increase their speed and strength, for their use in transport, defense, and attacks, on top-secret African and Middle Eastern assignments. Some of the tents we’d seen were labs where they kept ostrich eggs in gel-like sacs as a way of keeping the adult birds in check. Security was tight, with electric fences surrounding the compound … not to mention the golden, zapping collar on his neck and ours.
Bogle shook his head in disgust, “I designed those leg enhancements. They could help people with injuries, paralysis, even amputees, but look at what these people decide to do with it. They been using my tech for the worse,” his voice cracked slightly, looking at Luna and Esme. “Ever since they brought us here.”
“Us? Bogle. Where is everyone?” Esme asked softly.
Luna held still, as if bracing herself for what he had to say.
I realised that they meant the other gifted children: their friends from the training school.
Bogle turned away. “I’m sorry Lu.” 96
He took us in silence toward the back of the wide room dotted with curved, glass furniture and surrounded by white domed walls that seemed to expand and contract as if they were breathing.
“They help pump air through the tent,” Bogle answered my curious look. “And solar energy keeps this whole place going.”
The white walls had a hexagonal pattern, like being inside of a beehive. Transparent panels in the ceiling filled the room with light.
“These panels shift from transparent to translucent, or opaque,” Bogle explained, “depending on how much light we want to let in and how much we want to store as solar energy.”
“Who came up with this?” I stared around me, trying to take it all in.
“I would bet on Bogle,” Esme said proudly, but Luna pressed forward with a focused look on her face.
“Me and some of the other kids on the Innovation Crew,” Bogle shrugged humbly, though I could tell he was pleased we’d noticed.
I thought about how excited Jake and Mum would be to see the clean-energy design. The thought of their excitement made me smile, at least for a second. 97
Then I saw Luna’s worry. As great as the tech was, we were still prisoners. Imagine what these kids could create if they were free.
Bogle raised his hand in front of a smooth white wall ahead of us. His wristband beeped and a door slid open. We stepped inside slowly.
This room was darker, lit from below by LED lights. There was a row of chairs against the opposite wall and in them, about eight or nine children. They were all seated with golden collars around their necks and blank expressions in their eyes, like powered-down robots. They didn’t look at us, move or speak …
“What’s wrong with them,” I whispered.
“The same thing that’s going to be wrong with us if we don’t follow orders,” Adri said coldly.
“Kendi, Shui, Martí!” Luna and Esme rushed over to three children in the chairs closest to us … their friends from Dragon Mouth Island.
“Stop!” Bogle warned. “Waking them up will set off an alarm. The collars put them in sleep mode until their next assignment. It’s a way to control the number of kids active on the site at one time.”
Esme stared at the children helplessly, clenching and unclenching her fists. Seen through her eyes, their 98blank expressions took on a sad and longing look.
“How do we get them out?” Luna demanded.
Bogle shook his head gently, “Look ‘ere. I’ve been trying to find a way to shut off the collars, fences, everything, by blowing the main convertor. I have a way in, but once I overload the system, I still need someone to help get these guys up to speed and off the compound.”
He turned to us firmly: “You in?”
“What about the ostriches?” I asked.
Adri snorted.
Luna exploded, “Our friends are zombies and you’re worried about ostriches?”
Esme closed her eyes and breathed as if she were trying to hold it together.
Bogle looked thoughtful, “In the morning, a stampede might be good cover.”
I turned to Esme, “Then that’s what we’re going to do. Right?”
Luna scoffed, “We? You have mice in your pocket?” Esme’s eyes were still closed.
Adri growled, “Forget the ostriches! This is nonsense. I’m not risking my parents’ lives for your crazy plan! We should just focus on passing the next test.” 99
“Like this?” I pointed to the line of seated kids, motionless except for their soft breathing. “Adri, please. You stay with Luna tomorrow and help free the kids. Esme and I will go free the ostriches … Right?” I begged.
Esme opened her eyes slowly and shook her head; black and white chess earrings swinging in the light.
“Yes, we will.”
“What?” Luna exploded.
“Might be just the distraction we need,” Bogle agreed.
“Foolishness,” Luna muttered, but I could see her waver.
“Whatever,” Adri shrugged, slamming past me to the door. “Count me out.”
I forced myself not to grab his hand. If only I could bring back his memories and show him what we’d already been through with the Council. Then he’d understand why we needed to get out of here and find another way to free his parents.
“What’s the signal Bogle?” I sighed. “How will we know when you’ve shut the converter down?”
He gave a mischievous grin.
“Trust me,” he assured us. “You’ll know.”