Kingdom Keepers VI(77)

A crouching Amanda stood cautiously and peeked inside. She held up a single finger as she sank back down, her back to the wall alongside Charlene who then signaled them to the distant storage hut. Her DHI passed through the wall and inside. She unlocked the door and quietly handed out four zip line harnesses and four pair of gloves, taken by Mattie.

“Helmets?” Mattie whispered.

“Please,” Charlene answered.

While this was happening, Amanda went through the wall of the remaining hut. No Dillard.

Charlene panicked at the thought Dillard might have already been sacrificed.

They hurried to the bottom of the trail that climbed the mountain. Normally, park visitors ascended to the top by chairlift. The girls were in for a long, steep hike.

“What’s wrong?” Charlene asked Mattie.

“I could have helped back there. If I’d touched that guard…”

“Then he’d have known we’d broken in. Unless we’d clubbed him on the head or something—not me! thank you—he’d have called or radioed or whatever, and we’d maybe never see Dillard again. Have no fear; you may get your chance yet. But first we have to find this other place and see what’s up with that. If there’s nothing there, then we go back to that security guy and do whatever we’ve got to do.”

“These guys have done this a lot,” Amanda told Mattie. “They’ve got a plan.”

“It’s just…one touch, and the things I know. The things I can tell you.”

“As in, if a boy likes us?” Charlene asked, looking directly at Amanda while thinking of Finn.

Mattie looked at the two competing girls. “Let’s not forget I spent two years living with Mandy and Jess.”

The darkness of the trail quieted them. It was difficult to see, and using a flashlight was out of the question for fear of being spotted. The jungle was filled with unfamiliar sounds—hoots and howls, buzzing and flapping—that terrified all three girls; but no one was going to be the first to admit it.

Soon, Amanda and Charlene passed into DHI shadow, their images first sparkling, then vanishing all together. Their voices changed quality, but they could communicate with Mattie, reassuring her that they were right there with her. Over the hour-long climb, they took two breaks for Mattie’s sake. One of the benefits of being a DHI, Amanda explained, was that projections didn’t get muscle tired, need water, or get hungry. Sleep fatigue overtook them if their human selves got exceptionally tired—the result of slowed brain functions—but otherwise they were made for marathons.

Nearing the top, Mattie squealed as she walked through a thick spiderweb that stuck to her face and hair. She caught herself mid-cry and stopped, fighting off the sticky thread and feeling it like a net over her skin. She swatted at every itch, fearing there was some giant spider crawling on her.

“Wait here,” Charlene’s voice said. “I’m going to scout ahead.”

“That was loud, wasn’t it?” Mattie asked in a whisper.

“It wasn’t quiet,” Amanda said, “but there’s so much weird stuff out here, I doubt it would be noticed.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I hate spiders. I’m right there with you.”

“It was so much. Oh my gosh, it’s disgusting.” Mattie continued to pick at the sticky web glued to her.

“I don’t even want to think about what’s out here, animal-wise. Did you hear that thing grunting?”

“The snorting thing?”

“Exactly.”

“I about screamed,” Mattie said. “What was that?”

“I don’t know, but it sounded big, and wild, and way too close.”

“It can’t hurt you, right? None of it can hurt you.”

“No. But sometimes in shadow, you can still touch stuff. Do things. Even Philby hasn’t figured that one out yet. Everything changed when they did this upgrade last year. Technically, we’re still in beta. The Imagineers, the people who invented it all, are constantly chang- ing the software. We call it 2.0, but it’s more like 2.6 or something by now. They’re getting the bugs out.”

“I hope that includes spiders.”

The girls laughed together.

“I’ve never thanked you for coming,” Amanda said.

“No big.”

“It will be if you’re caught.”

“Not really. Everyone’s terrified of me. All the docs and those soldier types. They make me wear the same gloves I wore when you were there.”

“The ones that lock.”

“Yeah. And they cover my face. All my skin. They have too many secrets, right? They know any contact with me, and I’ll know it all. It freaks them out. That’s the thing we should have figured out back when you and Jess were there. How much they fear us. We had all sorts of power over them that we never used. It’s like you guys, the Keepers. By yourselves, maybe not so much—but together? Forget about it. I know that now. If the Fairlies could come together, if we could get past all the stupid jealousies about each other’s powers and work together, there’s no way those idiots could keep us locked up. We are way too powerful.”