Kingdom of Cages(194)

Teal forced herself to walk across the room to stand beside Farin and look out. The sunny dawn had turned black and gray with the swarms of tiny bodies. They crowded the boardwalk, the windowsill. They slammed against the window, and she knew by the shivering of her skin that they crawled all over the roof.

“Dionte found out,” said Tam. “This is a quarantine. We’ll stay here until the family comes for us.” The utter relief in his voice raised clusters of goose bumps across Teal’s arms. “It is right. I was wrong to stand against them. They are my family. They know what’s best. Pandora must be protected.”

Oh, no. Teal pressed her knuckles against her mouth. They’re getting to him. She stared out at the dark, whirling storm, trying to think of some way to get out, someplace they could run to. But no thoughts came to her. There was just the drone of the swarm and the terrifying calm in Tam’s face.

Nan Elle knelt carefully in front of the hothouser. “Tam, you can call the Alpha Complex. You can stop this.”

“No,” he said, his face and voice serene. “This is right. Pandora must be protected.”

“They can’t,” blurted out Teal. “We can’t!” She faced the strip of window, black with insects somehow finding purchase even on the slick glass. “We can’t let them win like this,” she whispered. “They’ll take Chena. They’ll take the Eden Project. We can’t let them.”

“We may have to,” said Farin quietly. “For now. Teal, I’ve heard of these things. We don’t know how big the swarm is. People can go crazy trying to walk through them without protective clothing.”

Fear and rage surged through Teal. She wanted to shout, to hit something, to strangle the peaceful hothouser sitting in the middle of the floor, but all she could do was stand there with her hands dangling uselessly at her sides. “It can’t be this easy for them.”

Farin shook his head. “They’ve had a long time to get ready for this.”

“Now what?” demanded Nan Elle, lifting her chin.

A new note sounded over the droning and thudding of the locust swarm—a harsh metallic shriek, and another, and another after that.

“Gulls?” said Farin.

Surprise wiped the expression from Nan Elle’s face for a moment. Then, slowly, a smile full of mischief and wonder spread across her face. Using her stick to push herself to her feet, she shouldered between Farin and Teal to peer intently out the window.

“There! There!” She stabbed her finger against the glass. “Do you see?”

Teal stared over Nan Elle’s head. For a moment all she saw was the endless cloud of insects. Then she saw a flash of white. A black-backed gull settled onto the boardwalk, snapping up locusts as fast as it could crane its neck and swallowing them down. Another gull landed beside the first, bending and stabbing at the insects. A third joined them, and a fourth. A brown and white kestrel landed on Farin’s windowsill and began pecking insects off the glass, swallowing them greedily.

“Ha!” Nan Elle barked out a laugh and thumped her stick against the floor. “I told you! I told you it would happen!”

“Told what to who?” said Teal, unable to take her eyes from the birds. More landed every second. Gulls, kestrels, fishers, grouse, fat brown turkeys, strutting guinea hens, and prairie chickens, all come to the feast. Soon it seemed there were as many birds as there were insects.

Elle swung around to face Tam. “Come and look, Tam. Pandora has decided to protect herself.”

Tam lifted his head and stared at her, wide-eyed, like he didn’t understand.

“Look!” She thumped her stick one more time.

Slowly, shaking from the effort, Tam stood and teetered over to the window. He pressed both palms against the glass and stared at the spectacle outside, the triumphant birds and swirling insects.

“Pandora herself has said she doesn’t want the family to catch us,” said Elle, watching Tam as intensely as Tam watched the birds. “Call the duty house, tell them to shut down the fences.”

“No,” breathed Tam. “I cannot. My family—”

“How can your family be right when Pandora says they’re wrong?” demanded Elle. “This is Pandora telling you what to do! Call the duty house, shut them down. You can do this, Tam.”

Tam’s jaw worked back and forth, alternating between whispering to himself and chewing his own lip.

“Come on, Tam,” breathed Elle. “I know you’re still in there somewhere. Pandora’s giving you a chance.”

“I must go back to my family.”

Elle gripped his arm. “You can do this. I know you can.”