Wood Sprites(99)
“Why?” Louise cried. “This is the worse time possible for him to go!”
“Taggart,” Jillian muttered darkly.
“Huh?” Zahara was lost in the conversation.
“Taggart is a famous war correspondent. He left CNN to team up with Nigel to do nature documentaries. NBC must be counting on war breaking out and want someone there that can cover it for them.”
“Why would a war break out?” Zahara asked.
The bell for homeroom saved Louise from having to answer.
* * *
With the addition of Iggy and three of his biggest pirate classmates, they were trooped downstairs to the auditorium for an entire day of flying. They were going to choreograph the fight scene on the Jolly Roger. The main focus of the battle was Hook and Peter’s duel, but the three Darling children would flit about on the edges, having their own moments as they took on and conquered a pirate. Louise had written big sweeping fight music for the battle but it needed logical pauses in the score for Jillian and the others to deliver their lines.
Louise took her place at the control board and opened up a browser to the Internet. As Zahara claimed, NBC stated that Nigel would be sent to Elfhome next Shutdown to film Chased by Monsters. Horrible, horrible title for such a noble, gentle and intelligent man. What was he thinking? She checked Nigel’s website. He had the same information that he featured a week ago. It was possible that the sudden change had flooded him with things that needed to be done since he had only twenty-some days to prepare for filming on another planet and get to the Pittsburgh border. The NBC press release said nothing about Windwolf or Taggart or EIA or visa problems. Zahara’s statement about the network pulling strings sounded right but where would she get that idea, since she clearly wasn’t thinking about political ramifications?
Louise checked Jello Shots. The website was in furious debate. The source of Zahara’s comment was obvious as the fans weighed in on how NBC rammed Nigel through the EIA’s visa bottleneck. What would their beloved Lemon-Lime do about Windwolf’s death? Would Lemon-Lime ignore it and continue on with Prince Yardstick or herald in Sparrow as the new Viceroy of the Westernlands?
The question made Louise want to rage. She would never acknowledge Sparrow’s character, Jerked, as Viceroy, even with the real person claimed the title. Prince Yardstick would survive the attack in their videos.
A new thread popped up: Did Lemon-Lime put Nigel in the last video knowing that Taggart would be needed on Elfhome?
Louise stared at the heading in dismay and anger. They made the video before they had overheard Sparrow plotting. And certainly, they never expected to be able to influence anyone to the point of getting Nigel a visa to Elfhome. If they’d known all that was coming and the extent of their fame…
They did know what was going on. They knew Sparrow and others were kidnapping scientists to build a secret gate between worlds. They knew that the scientists were balking when they discovered that their work would plunge Elfhome into war. They knew that Sparrow and Ambassador Feng had been behind the plot to kill Windwolf. They knew that there were moles in the EIA, using that agency to keep out anyone who might investigate their activities.
They knew. And as Lemon-Lime, they could do something about it.
Louise took a deep cleansing breath. Right. Lemon-Lime was going on the war path. It was a good thing that she needed to write fight music already.
* * *
“You did what?” Jillian cried as they detoured to the grocery store after school. It was odd walking through the store knowing that they could afford to buy anything they want.
“I had a dream last night that Windwolf survived the attack. Peter Pan and Tinker Bell—the fairy, not our sister—saved him while riding hoverbikes, so I turned it into a video. I called it The Queen’s Salvage.”
“What-what-what?”
“I think Orville was supposed to be Peter Pan in my dream because Tinker Bell looked like Alexander.” She picked up a bag of cheddar-flavored goldfish crackers. Their mother usually insisted on healthy snacks like carrots and grapes.
“This is all kinds of wrong. First off, we don’t know if Windwolf survived.”
“No one will know until next Shutdown, but everyone is acting like he was killed. If we don’t remind people that he might be alive, the UN is going to steamroll through several votes, including the quarantine zone expansion, which they were putting on hold. Oh! Chocolate-covered strawberries.”
“Okay.” Jillian looked at her as if she’d grown a second head.
Louise shook the strawberries at Jillian. “The person most vocal about pushing through the votes? Ambassador Feng. They’re using this attack to leverage what they want. And we’ve got to stop them.”