Kah-Bam! The explosion seemed loud enough to shake the compound. Without so much as a beep, the collar and wristband fell off my neck and arm. I stared wide-eyed at Esme. We were free.
I pushed open the fence that led to the ostrich pens. The electronic locks were off too.
“Bogle was right,” I muttered.
Whatever he’d blown had shut down all power to the facility. Now we didn’t have much time before the suits came looking for the source of the problem. I could only hope that back at the tents, Adri and Esme were doing their part to get the other kids up and to the exits.
Speaking of exits, we’d better get going. 117
“The eggs!” Esme shouted over her shoulder, running toward the nursery.
I guess that left me with the adults.
The ostriches inside the paddock began to hiss, trill, cough, stamp and flutter their long brown, black and white-tipped feathers, as if they could sense that something was up. The place had the sharp, grassy smell of sand, hay, and bird droppings.
As the ostriches stamped their narrow legs, I noticed that none of them were wearing the bionic limb enhancements. As Bogle had said, the tech was taken off at night for safety and adjustments.
That wasn’t much comfort. The birds were still twice my height, with kicks that could send me flying. I hesitated, but the others were counting on us to make a distraction. I couldn’t let them down. With a deep breath, I ran through the paddock cracking open doors, shouting “Hi! Hi! Hi!” like a deranged usher.
In a second there was chaos. Birds rushed out of their pens and away from the training area. I ran after them, trying to drive them toward the tall metal fence that surrounded the compound. I slid to a stop in front of the giant gates we’d come through the day 118before. This was it. If the power to this area was still on, I’d be fried by the electric shock like plantain slices in hot oil.
I took a deep breath and pushed.
The gates swung open. I wasn’t fried.
The ostriches began to rush past me; their powerful legs kicking up dust as they sprinted off into the cacti-filled distance.
“Zo!”
I froze. It wasn’t the sound of Esme shouting my name that bothered me – it was the loud revving engine that nearly drowned her out. I spun around, expecting to see suits speeding toward us. Instead, Esme raced wildly toward me in a red ATV. I jumped out of the way. The ATV screeched to a stop just in time.
“Get in!” Esme demanded.
I raised my face off the ground.
“You can drive?” I coughed, spitting out dirt.
“Nope,” she grinned, chucking her chin toward the ostrich eggs filling the back seat, encased in some kind of gel-like substance. “But you want to carry these all by yourself?”
I pictured us being chased by suits on ostriches, 119ATVs, and who knew what else, across the rocky trails to the mountains.
Esme was right. On foot, we didn’t stand a chance.
Speaking of the white suits, I could hear explosions and shouts coming from the heart of the compound. Clearly Bogle was doing his best to keep them occupied. I could only hope that Adri and Luna had freed the other kids. Why were they taking so long?
“Come on!” Esme urged.
I muttered a prayer and climbed in through the open sides of the ATV. The ostriches were busy escaping through the gates, disappearing into the distant scrub. We’d better follow their lead and get the eggs to safety, but first …
“Are there any more of these?” I asked Esme over the engine’s growl, as ostriches rushed past us to freedom.
“Yeah!” she grinned, swinging the steering wheel back in the direction of the nursery and nearly flipping the ATV on its side.
“Great.” I muttered, holding on for dear life.
We could get a second ATV for the others to pack into, then head for the mountains as planned. That is, if Miss Driver’s Ed here, didn’t kill me first.
“Watch out!” I screeched. 120
Esme swerved wildly through the fleeing herd of ostriches.
“Stop!” a nasal voice ordered over a megaphone.
I flinched. White hazmat suits.
“Go!” I shouted.
Without looking back, Esme stamped on the gas, taking the ATV into high gear so fast it felt like flying.
“If you ever want to see your friends again …” the megaphone boomed.
Esme pressed the brakes so hard, I had to grab my side of the vehicle to keep from pitching out into the sand.
“No,” she muttered, slamming the steering wheel with both hands.
My mouth felt like it was full of dirt.
We spun around to see Bogle, Luna and the other kids corralled together, surrounded by white suits. None of the kids were wearing their collars or wristbands, so at least that part of the plan had worked. Shui Li, Martí and Kendi looked dazed, like they’d just woken up from sleep, but Luna and Bogle were steaming mad.
“Don’t touch me,” Bogle warned the nearest suit despite the zapper in their hand. 121
From the look on Luna’s face, if her gift were fire, this place would already be burned to the ground.
Wait. Someone was missing.
“Where’s Adri?” I asked the suit who was dragging Esme and I by our t-shirts out of the ATV.
He gave an exasperated sigh, “One more word and I’ll zap the lot of you. And don’t worry. We’ll get those research birds back.” He hesitated …“Soon.”
I bit my lip, tasting the grainy sand that covered my face. We’d gotten most of the animals loose. I hoped at least some of them had escaped for good. Esme looked at me then at the pile of ostrich eggs stashed in the ATV. If only we could get them out.
As if the suit on the left could read my thoughts, she snarled: “Try it. For all the trouble you lot have caused, I hope your next test is a real limb-twister!”
I couldn’t even focus on her threats. Where was Adri? What had they done to him?
“March! Now.” The tallest ordered in a squeaky voice as they pointed their zappers toward us.
So, we did … although Bogle kept his same rhythmic gait, adjusting his glasses with long fingers and holding himself upright, as if daring the suits to touch him. 122
They forced us out of the compound’s gates, into the plain beyond. We stumbled around towering hands of cacti as tall as trees. In the distance, Mount Brandaris and her sister hills stared at us with pity. Even if we tried to make a run for it, they were too far away to save us.
Kadushi cactus stood up like a bouquet of thick clubs. Some of them formed a thick barrier on either side, earning their “hedge cactus” nickname. Da had taught me that kadushi was an Indigenous Wayúu word, found in the Papiamentú language spoken by people on these islands – a blend of their African, Indigenous, Spanish, Dutch, and other heritages.
I thought about the Indigenous peoples who had lived here long before Columbus came. I’d heard that they left cave and rock drawings all over the islands, including this one. I knew that no matter what my History books said, they hadn’t disappeared. They lived on through these images, languages, foods, place names and their descendants – on the land that they’d shared for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.
The white suits marched us past a stand of yatu cactus, straight and tall as organ pipes. They bloomed at night and had fruit that looked knobbly and 123thorny on the outside but was yummy white or fuschia on the inside, with tiny, edible black seeds.
Da had told me about this fruit when I felt behind the other girls at school – when everyone around me, especially on social media, seemed to be more popular, faster, smarter, richer, cooler, and better looking.
“Not every plant flowers at the same time,” he would say, “and every fruit has its season.”
I licked my dry lips and thought of the delicious jam that could be made from the yatu cactus’ fruit. What I wouldn’t give to have some of that right now … Or even kadushi soup.
While some people found it an acquired taste, Da said it was delicious, with the slimy, silky unctuousness of callaloo.
“Almost there!” one of the suits droned.
And with that, I was dragged back to reality. Or at least, the strange reality we were in.
Ahead of us was a golden door shaped like the fossilised remains of a dragon’s wide-open jaws. The suits herded us toward it.
All around the door was the tall cacti and bushy scrub of the park. But within it was a different view altogether. I caught a glimpse of brackish water. 124The air from the dragon’s mouth felt wet and smelled like mud and brine.
Where on earth were they sending us next?
“No!” I begged, trying not to move.
Adri was still nowhere in sight. I couldn’t leave him behind.
I struggled but the suit’s gloved hands held me tight. They clapped a golden wristband onto my hand. The same thing was happening to Luna and Esme. Golden collars clicked into place around the other kids’ necks.
I froze as a glitchy image of Cap’n Peg popped up above my arm.
Clearly, we were about to have our next test.
“Ay Girlie! Glad I caught you, kya kya kya!” she laughed.
“Caught you … Get it?” she coughed, raising her metallic leg. “What happen: stick break in your ears? Thankfully, the Council is in a merciful mood.”
She added in a loud whisper, “That stunt at the labs showed them you have backbone. Now is time for your next test.”
“Let us at it then,” Bogle said bravely.
“Oh no, my sweets … Just them,” she pointed at 125Luna, Esme and I.
We looked at her, stunned.
“No!” Luna shouted like a wounded bear while Esme fought in vain to get free.
Shui Li and Martí looked at each other hopelessly, while Kendi sank to the ground like a deflated ball.
We were going to be separated, again.
“Sorry,” Cap’n Peg shrugged, looking vaguely uncomfortable.
Then she chuckled rudely. “By the way … you never wondered who told us about your little plans?”
I heard the roar of an approaching speeder.
My spine crawled.
I turned around slowly to see Adri pull up in an ATV. The crowd of suits pumped his wristband-wearing hand; patting him on the shoulder as he walked through. His face was like iron, his mouth an expressionless line.
My heart sank until it hit the hard fact that I’d been trying to avoid.
“You!” Luna shouted at Adri; her voice high with rage.
Bogle shook his head sadly, “Is always disunity a bring we down.” 126
Adri kept staring defiantly at the Dragon Door, as though he couldn’t see or hear any of us, including me.
“I told you to be careful!” Cap’n Peg reminded me. “Now look what happen!”
The suits started shoving some of us toward the door. I stumbled forward, with no fight left.
“Esme!” Kendi cried, trying to get to her.
“Come on Kendi. Fuerza.” Martí shook herself free of the suits and grabbed his thin arms, calming him down.
“Don’t worry. Sun nah down, man nah cry,” Bogle tried to comfort us, looking as cool as a cucumber.
“Yeah,” Shui Li yelled shakily, his hair still in place. “Catch you on the flipside!”
“Así!” Martí shook both fists in defiance.
Before I could react, the suits shoved Esme, Luna and I through the Dragon Door to the other side.
Then, just before the jaws slammed shut, as Luna and Esme turned to wail goodbye, Adri stepped through the door behind us.