The Search For WondLa Read online

  The creature turned its narrow head and blinked, birdlike, as he regarded Eva with his indigo eyes. “Bluh. Shassa avanda say tateel,” he mumbled as he walked back down the steps into his Sanctuary.

  Eva sat, perplexed, on the rooftop and waited.

  In the distance, she could hear the air-whale call across the heavens.

  Nothing else happened.

  “I KNOW this isn’t on the stupid survival list!” She slid down the back side of the entryway and tiptoed back to the opening. Peering inside, she spied no sign of the creature in the darkness.

  She cleared her throat. “Hel-lo … in … there,” she said in a succinct manner. “My … name … is … Eh-va … Nine. Do … you … live … here?”

  A deep belch resonated up from the room below.

  “If you can just tell me where the people are that lived here, it would really—”

  “Saaga na SASHA!” yelled the creature, stomping up the stairs. He emerged from the shadows of the entryway, waving his arms wildly.

  Eva fell back onto the ground with a shriek. Belly up, she scrambled on her hands and feet like an insect, scurrying away from the angry creature.

  “Zaata! Zaata!” He shooed her away.

  “Don’t hurt me!” Eva cried. “I am just trying to get back home.” As she sat up, the Omnipod slipped out of her satchel. It caught the creature’s brooding eyes. In seconds he dashed on his backward-bending legs to Eva. He scooped up the Omnipod before she could grab it.

  Eva jumped up. “Give that back! It doesn’t belong to you!” She pointed at the device.

  “Bluh,” burped the creature, and pocketed the Omnipod.

  Eva scrunched her nose at the sour stench that reeked from its mouth. “Oh, you’re disgusting!” She fanned her face with her hands. “What are you drinking?”

  “Bluh, napana.” The creature turned and walked away from her, taking a last swig. He threw the empty bottle onto the ground before reentering his Sanctuary.

  “Wait! I need my Omnipod! That’s mine!” cried Eva. Without turning to acknowledge her pleas, the creature slipped back down the stairs into the gloom.

  “How am I supposed to make a fire?” she yelled. Fuming, Eva paced around the entryway. “I am not going down there!”

  He’ll kill me, she thought. He’ll eat me and take my jackvest.

  “Ugh! What am I going to do?” She moaned. “I can’t find my way back to my Sanctuary without the Omnipod.”

  I could wait until he’s sleeping, then steal it back.

  “No, that won’t work. Who knows when he sleeps? Who knows what he even is? It’s not like anyone is here to tell me!”

  From the forest the whip-crack of another weeping bird-catcher could be heard as it caught breakfast.

  Eva stopped, scanning the line of trees. Far off, she could still make out the faint wisp of smoke streaming up into the late morning haze. She looked back at the corroded old Sanctuary entrance. “Dumb Omnipod,” she muttered, and stormed off toward her home.

  “I wonder what Muthr will think when she finally calls me and that thing answers,” she mused. “She’ll say, ‘Hi, Eva, dear. Are you still alive?’ and she’ll get, ‘Blaaga, blaaga, blaaga!’ on the other end. It serves her right for not bringing me up here sooner.” Eva crossed her arms as she approached the edge of the forest. Here the moss grew in wide mats covering the forest floor and over the trunks of the nonmoving trees. Broken beams of sunlight greeted all sorts of unusual growths rising out of the ground.

  As she looked up at the dangling branches of a bird-catcher, Eva skirted the base of the vicious tree. Above, she could hear the call of the birds, but could not see them through the swaying jigsaw canopy. A neighboring tree snapped its thick tendrils up, capturing its prey. Startled, Eva stumbled into a large rounded pink shrub covered in thin dew-tipped stalks.

  “Eww, what is this?” She tried to pull her hand free from the plant’s sticky grip, but her arm became entrapped. Gluey globs adhered to her legs and feet. Eva kicked at the numerous stalks, but soon became a gummy mass on the shrub. She looked over her shoulder. Next to her were the remains of another hapless trapped creature. Its skin was now transparent, revealing the skeleton within. All of its other organs were gone.

  “Ovanda!” She yelled the words that the mysterious creature had said to her. “Ovanda tateel! Help me, please!”

  The forest remained silent. Panic overtook Eva and she began thrashing about, trying to wriggle free. “Tateel! Ovanda! Help!” Eva yelled and struggled until her throat was raw and she was completely immobilized. She soon became exhausted—barely able to lift her head to see who—or what—was making the footsteps that approached.

  Eva recognized the lanky legs of the creature from the old Sanctuary. He now wore a wide-brimmed hat that shadowed his face. A hefty, cumbersome rucksack was strapped to his narrow shoulders. Numerous items hung from it, jingling with each step. The creature stopped and leaned on a carved walking stick. He snorted at the girl.

  “Ovanda tateel! Please help me!” implored Eva in a hoarse voice. “You can keep my Omnipod. Just get me out of here.” She could feel a burning sensation on the tops of her hands where the glistening tips of the plant held her tight.

  The creature reached into a pocket on his rucksack and unsheathed a small sickle-shaped knife. He leaned down and severed the base stalks of the sticky plant clinging to Eva. She fell to the forest floor and rolled about trying to break free.

  “Dat, dat, dat.” He uncorked another bottle of his foul beverage and poured it on Eva’s hands. The drink immediately dissolved the glue-tipped stalks and stopped the burning. He drenched the girl with more liquid from the bottle as she clawed her way free.

  “Thanks,” she panted. “Thank you.”

  He swallowed the remaining contents of the bottle and stood up, dusting himself off. “Beeta sa feezi,” the creature said with a chuckle. Suddenly he dropped the empty bottle and froze, his gaze fixed behind Eva Nine.

  “Daff effu Cærulean?” whispered a low guttural voice. A large silhouette crept from the undergrowth and covered Eva in shadow. As she stifled a gasp, she recognized the familiar burly shape of last night’s dark intruder towering over her. Its humming weapon was pointed at the other creature’s narrow blue head. With a low woom sound a short blast of vibration blew the lanky creature backward, where he landed on the ground, unmoving.

  CHAPTER 9: SLICE

  Eva opened her eyes. She felt like her head was going to explode. Even her lungs were having a hard time keeping enough air in them. Her right foot was worse. She couldn’t feel it, or much of her right leg for that matter. She knew that when—or if—she got out of this, she was going to be sore for a long time. Her mind fuzzy, she tried to recall how she’d gotten into this predicament… .

  With weapon in hand, the intruder had forced Eva back to its camp deep in the forest. She had hardly been able to take in the menagerie of creatures trapped there, when the brute had indicated that she should remove her satchel and jackvest. It had then thrown them onto a mountainous heap of loot.

  After flopping the lanky blue creature off its shoulder and onto the ground, the intruder had tied a noose around Eva’s right foot and yanked her up into a tree, so that she was hanging upside down. As she’d swayed from a high bough, Eva’s fingertips had dangled a meter off the forest floor. The swinging had slowed, and then she’d watched the intruder string up the other creature. Then, dizzy, she’d blacked out… .

  Now conscious, she took in details of the camp from her flipped perspective.

  The large campsite was set in a tree-lined glade, its perimeter ringed with tall poles, each with a variety of unlit lanterns. The long afternoon shadows pointed to the center of camp, where the pilfered loot was heaped. Parked next to the stolen goods was some sort of wavy-winged glider—large enough to carry the intruder.

  A cacophony started as Eva scanned the area. The sounds came from the collection of animals and mobile plants that were trapped in
all manner of ways around the camp. Large clear containers, very similar to the bins in her Sanctuary that had stored nutriment capsules, held a diverse assortment of bizarre insects. A pair of grounded birds flapped their finlike wings, trying to flee; like Eva, they were snared with a noose tight around their feet.

  He is a huntsman, thought Eva. These animals are his game. I am his game.

  On the far side of the huntsman’s camp was his largest captive—an enormous six-legged behemoth with a rust-colored armored shell. Its shape reminded Eva of the holograms she had seen of sow bugs, albeit a mammoth-size sow bug. The behemoth was calling out in melancholy bellows that echoed throughout the forest. It too seemed to be fixed in place.

  Eva was transfixed by the sheer size of the armored animal, and she soon realized that there were two—the smaller of which was hidden alongside the larger one. The huntsman appeared, stepping between the pair, his weapon now replaced with a long pointed lance.

  The huntsman’s wide, hulking shape was covered in bristly coarse hairs patterned in varying shades of gray—almost as if dappled light from the treetops were shadowing him. His cobby tapered head held two deep-set, piercing yellow eyes. His cold stare brought to mind the holograms Eva had seen of owls, or even certain types of dinosaurs. Strapped over one of his many broad appendages was an unusual haversack with electrical wires running to the back handle of the lance.

  He traced his talons down the side of the larger behemoth, stopping to face both animals. Eva could hear the familiar humming sound as the huntsman’s lance charged. The pair of armored animals shifted about nervously.

  “Tuda neem,” said the huntsman, placing the tip of the lance between the smaller one’s bulbous eyes. He pressed the trigger. The animal let out a gagging cough and slumped to the ground.

  The large survivor let out a long, mournful wail.

  Eva clamped her dirty hands over her mouth, stifling a cry of shock. Her lashes gummed up as she continued watching.

  With powerful arms the huntsman grabbed the slain animal by the legs and rolled it onto its back. After hopping on top of it, he removed the beast’s head with one stroke of his humming lance. Viscous clear liquid drained from the body and stained the soil blue as it soaked into the ground.

  Eva focused her vision on the burly huntsman as he began to slice the slain animal into large pieces with surgical precision. She wanted to close her eyes, but somehow she could not stop watching, mesmerized at how the humming sonic lance carved the flesh so effortlessly. It reminded her of Muthr cutting up spinach the night prior.

  The huntsman flayed off the thick armored skin, peeling it away as though it were a wet blanket. Then he began carving the meat within. The thick, fatty flesh was tinged pink and was jiggly, like gelatin. He reached down, deep inside the chest cavity, and pulled out one of the creature’s organs with his talons. He dropped the organ, what looked like a large dark cluster of grapes, into his toothy maw and gulped it down with relish. Eva closed her eyes as her stomach lurched.

  The surviving armored behemoth pulled hard against its bind, which Eva could see was around one of its massive feet, and wailed again.

  “Kap und gabbo… . Ta, broog iffa yu nabba,” the huntsman mused in a soft tone.

  “Oeeah. Te banga nee peezil,” whispered a gruff voice next to Eva. The blue lanky creature had awakened and was pointing to the slaughtered animal.

  “You’re not dead!” Eva squealed, happy to see the creature alive. She pointed at the huntsman. “This monster is holding us both prisoner. We’ve got to figure a way out of here.” With renewed vigor Eva tried lifting herself up to grab the snare around her foot. Unable to reach it, she flopped back so that she was upside down again.

  “Dot, dat.” The creature waved his thick finger at Eva in a negative manner. Kicking with his free leg, he began to swing. Soon he swung faster and faster in growing arcs. Eva realized what he was doing and started doing the same. The creaking of the boughs above was smothered by the din of the other noisy captives. In moments the two crashed into each other. Eva clutched the worn jacket of the lanky creature tightly. She tried to ignore the sour stench coming from his mouth.

  The huntsman stopped cutting for a moment, cocked his head, and listened.

  Eva held her breath.

  The huntsman returned to his grisly task, his back still turned to Eva and her companion.

  “Peesa van shuuzu,” said the lanky creature as he moved his hand in an upward motion toward the snare.

  Eva tried to focus on what he was saying, despite the fact that her head was pounding. “I don’t know what you mean,” she whispered.

  “Peesa,” he said, repeating the gesture.

  She pointed. “Up? You want to go up?”

  “Ta! Ta!” He nodded. “Peesa.”

  “I tried that already, but I can’t lift myself. I’m too—”

  With great effort the creature grabbed Eva by the waist and lifted her ever so slightly. As he did so, she could feel the tension of the snare loosen around her ankle.

  “Pra! Dooma boffa!” the huntsman said as he slapped the face of the surviving armored animal. It shuffled backward, grunting in a miserable tone.

  Eva and her fellow prisoner froze. She could feel that the snare had moved and was now wrapped around her sneakboot toe and no longer around her ankle.

  “Peesa. Do it again,” she whispered, and pointed up. Once again the blue creature lifted her up. This time Eva wriggled her foot inside her boot, causing her foot to slip out of the boot. She flipped down and fell to the ground with a soft thud.

  As she lay on the forest floor, Eva could feel pins and needles as blood rushed back into her legs. She watched the huntsman sing to himself as he set his lance down and began sorting the slabs of meat. As the pain in her head subsided, she crawled below the lanky creature and tried to lift him.

  “Dat, dat, dat.” He pointed up toward his bare foot. Just below his thick, calloused toes a dark purple bruise ran around his ankle where the vine noose held him fast. “Te,” he said, pointing to the pile of loot in the center of camp. Eva looked at the busy huntsman just beyond it, then back to the lanky creature. He was nodding, still pointing at the heap.

  “What?” she whispered. “What do you want me to get?”

  He responded by pantomiming one hand cutting his arm.

  “Hit? Chop? What?”

  He repeated the gesture once more.

  “I don’t know what you mean. You want me to cut your arm? Wait … cut! A knife?” Eva said. Her eyes got big. “Your knife! In your backpack!” She repeated his pantomime.

  The creature nodded, grinning.

  “Got it,” she whispered. Ducking down, Eva soon found that her shoeless foot was numb and sore from having been snared. On hands and knees she scuttled over to the heaping pile of loot and sidled up next to the creature’s large rucksack. With nimble fingers she opened up the pocket where the sickle-shaped knife was. In the pouch next to it was the unmistakable outline of her Omnipod.

  Eva pulled it out and smiled.

  Carefully she grabbed her satchel and jackvest from the mound of loot, her eyes screwed to the hairy thickset back of the huntsman all the while. As she turned to go, she spied a small item half-buried in the odd collection of spoils. She plucked out a small bright yellow component and read its label. “T6D9 Centurion Power Cell” was stamped in blocky letters on its dented side. Eva tucked the item into her satchel and rechecked the huntsman’s whereabouts. He was still occupied with his meat carving, so Eva scooted back to help her lanky companion, undetected.

  Little one.

  A gentle voice wafted into Eva’s thoughts, like old recordings she’d heard of songs. She looked around. Is there someone else here? The air-whale? Eva wondered as she scanned the area. The engrossed huntsman was now dressing his meat, while the collection of desperate birds bit at their binds. Her companion swayed, upside down and silent as he awaited Eva’s return.

  She scampered back and handed t
he knife to him. As he took it, the creature pointed to the woods behind him and whispered, “Tasha, zaata.”

  “No.” Eva kept a wary eye on the busy huntsman. She shuddered at the thought of him chasing her through the woods again. How can I escape him in the daylight? He’s not going to chase after pellets again. An idea tickled the back of her brain. She held up the Omnipod. “I’ll help you. But you’ve got to help me, okay?”

  “Bluh, sizzu feezi,” replied the creature, rolling his eyes.

  Finished with his butchering, the huntsman grabbed several large steaks and turned around, heading toward his glider. As he glanced up, he discovered that only one of his prisoners was left, hanging next to a lone sneakboot.

  “Feezi meed!” he roared, throwing the meat down and grabbing his lance. “Ya battee meer de hagrim Ruzender. Wha seesha?”

  High atop the tree with the snares, Eva could hear the huntsman shouting as he neared. She breathed into the Omnipod, “This is Eva Nine. Initiate Gym Buddy. Warm up to begin in fifteen seconds.”

  “Initiating in fifteen seconds,” the device replied. “Fifteen … fourteen … thirteen … twelve …”

  Eva hurled the Omnipod as far as she could out into the forest. The metal device went much farther than the little pellets had the night before. It landed out in the distance, spooking a gaggle of noisy birds. The huntsman dashed past the lanky prisoner, surveying the woods. Eva held her breath, counting silently.

  Five … four … three … two …

  “Who’s ready to warm up with some jumping jacks?” piped a far-off voice.

  The huntsman tore off after the decoy, ripping through the undergrowth. Eva climbed down the tree just as her companion stood up, balanced on one foot, knife in hand. The two of them hop-dashed toward the loot pile, where she helped him grab his things.

  Little one.

  Eva spun around, her heart fluttering. She shivered as a wave of hairs on her neck stood up. Is there someone hiding here in the afternoon shadows? The armored behemoth made a low groan, and Eva turned to look at him.