Wood Sprites(201)

Crow Boy appeared beside her, making her jump.

“Nothing so far,” she whispered as she showed him the screen.

He nodded and ghosted silently inside. Jillian came down the walkway with a caravan of ostriches and luggage mules.

“I can’t get them to stop following me.” Jillian had obviously moved past fear of the birds and was now just annoyed. “And they keep—ow—pecking at my head.”

One of the birds had lowered its head to rap Jillian on her carrot-orange pixie-cut.

“Maybe they think you’re something to eat.” Louise propped open the door. “Get inside with the luggage mules and I’ll try to keep them—no, no—oh geez.”

Something inside had caught the ostriches’ attention and in they marched into the visitor center.

“Ugh!” Jillian flailed her arms in frustration.

“At least they’re not interested in you anymore.”

It was very odd to watch the pride of ostriches stalk through the gift shop, randomly eyeing items and then pecking at them.

“You know, I don’t think they’re actually ostriches,” Jillian muttered. “They don’t have wings. Don’t ostriches have wings?”

“What?” Louise stared hard at the birds. Jillian was right: they didn’t have wings.

“Maybe they’re emus,” Jillian said.

Louise was fairly sure that emus were a good deal smaller than ostriches but it might be a matter of scale. Maybe all flightless birds would seem giant to the twins. “Emu. Ostrich. Whatever.” She took out one of the repeaters and set it by the door. When one the birds stalked over to eye the signal booster, she tucked it under the edge of the counter.

“This leads down to the cave,” Crow Boy whispered from a doorway across the room.

Louise nodded, taking a deep breath. It felt like they were careening toward disaster. She couldn’t tell, though, if it was her magical knowing sense or just fear mixed with logic. They were three kids (seven if she counted the babies) going against heavily armed adults who wouldn’t hesitate to kill them.

Yet, if they were to be truly safe, they needed to get through the cave ahead of the elves.

Jillian had found a hardhat and strapped it onto her head. She held out one to Louise. They would only need one if they went deep into the caves, past the normal tour areas, but obviously Jillian wanted a costume to hide behind.

And maybe some head protection from the ostriches.

Louise left the door propped open so the birds could get back out.

The hallway sloped steeply downhill; the walls seemed chiseled out of the stone hillside. Crystal chandeliers dimly lit the rough corridor. The air felt cold and damp and smelled of moist earth. Names and dates had been etched into the rock over centuries. One stated “1891 H.N. Mose” and another proclaimed “1953 R.D.” It was “2013 A. G. Bell” and an arrow pointing inward that caught Louise’s eye and made her heart leap. That was the year that Alexander was born. Had Esme been here? Did the arrow pointing inward mean they were doing the right thing? She hurried forward down the ramp, sweeping her flashlight into the dark corners of the cave, searching for more clues.

The ramp became a series of steps down onto an elevated walkway with iron banisters to keep visitors from falling into the shadows below. The crystal chandeliers continued, a few feet apart, for as far as the eye could see, like a strand of Christmas lights. This was the Hall of the Mountain King with the massive Dining Room at the far end. After that point, the caverns became a sprawling maze, much of it undeveloped. So far there was no sign of the tengu children or their captors. Had the elves taken the children through already?

Jillian whispered loudly. “There’s magic here.”

“Really?”

“It’s not as strong here as at the mansion, but I can feel it.”

“Strong enough to do spells?”

Jillian shrugged. “I guess. Maybe.”

Louise placed a signal repeater on the edge of the walkway and then hurried on. Crow Boy had disappeared into the darkness ahead of her. She was afraid that despite his promise, he’d try to take on all the guards by himself.

“Girls, stay with Crow Boy,” Louise whispered.

“They are,” Nikola said. “The rock is making it difficult. The signal between Tesla and the mice keeps dropping. At least a hundred have gone rogue.”

“Running on their AI alone?” Louise asked to clarify.

“Yes,” Nikola said.

Louise double-checked her “friendly” transponder. “Get them back if you can. We don’t want them tasering the nestlings.”

“Roger!” Nikola saluted with his right paw. While she wasn’t paying attention, he’d put on a private airman’s cap. She had no idea where he’d gotten it. It made her feel completely out of control of the situation. Careening.