Teddycats Page 5

Luke stepped on Bill’s heel. “Sorry,” he said, his voice wet in Bill’s ear.

  They were making bad time. Bill’s newfound patience, as refreshing as a cold lap of water earlier in the evening, was running thin. Also, he suddenly realized he had no idea where he was going.

  “Where are we even going?” Luke said.

  “I told you, it’s a secret,” Bill said, buying time.

  Back in the den, with the moon interrogating him through the window and the weight of Cloud Kingdom on his shoulders, it had all seemed very clear. But now, down in the jungle, the wilderness was as untamed and unforgiving as ever. He weathered a tremble of uncertainty.

  Just then, a dash of heat lightning silently lit up the sky and, for a brief moment, their surroundings. Luke’s jaw was working hard on a root. Something sweet, indeed.

  The flash of light jolted Bill with a dose of gumption. He decided to start the search where his troubles began, just below the Crook.

  THE CLEARING STILL bore marks of the struggle. He could see where the cage had rested: The grass was dented, with shallow scratching in the dirt. It hurt Bill to imagine Elena with her little claw bared, digging helplessly into the ground just before she was carried away.

  Maybe Teddycats would be better off without their claws, thought Bill. As far as Bill knew, his species knew how to use them in every way—hunting, gathering, shelter, surgical procedures—except for the one they were allowed under only the most dire of circumstances: self-preservation. Maybe it was better to be unremarkable, squeak below the radar. Not that those circumstances helped the Olingos, who were continually forced to uproot and resettle at the whims of any invasive species that happened through their warren.

  “Returning to the scene of the crime,” said Luke. “Isn’t that . . . dangerous?”

  “It’s the only lead we’ve got,” said Bill. He circled the clearing until he found a trail marked by trampled underbrush. “This way,” he said.

  BILL’S UNDERSTANDING OF the jungle was limited to only a few landmarks—Cloud Kingdom access points, the fort, Luke’s place—and the wide swaths of thick, unknowable wilderness between them. As they burrowed deeper, he found himself growing increasingly disoriented, almost upside-down. The moon was slowly dropping. Soon morning would be upon them. Bill was fairly sure he could still turn tail and follow their own steps back to the clearing, but if they were forced to zig or zag or head for the trees and swing to safety (with Luke on his back, of course), they could potentially find themselves dropped down in the middle of nowhere.

  Bill restored his resolve by remembering the way Maia’s face had fallen when he told her the news about Elena. He shuddered. That tactic would work—maybe too well—for many years to come.

  “I don’t even know this Jack guy,” said Luke. “Who’s he again?”

  “He’s a scout,” said Bill. “Remember I was telling you about Diego?”

  “The old guy with one eye?”

  “Right,” said Bill. “Jack is his scouting partner.”

  “And he got taken by a human, just like that?”

  “I’m not sure how it went down, exactly,” said Bill. “But let me ask you a question: How long do you see yourself lasting against Joe? Smoke everywhere, shiny blade.”

  “Ha,” said Luke. “That question’s not fair, ’cuz, see, I’m not a big, tough Teddycat scout with a deadly claw just itchin’ to pop out of my paw at the first sign of trouble.”

  Bill wheeled around. Now he and Luke were snout-to-snout in the misty moonlight.

  “Do me a favor,” said Bill. “Don’t badmouth the Cloud Kingdom scouts around me.”

  “Hey, come on. You have to see things from an Olingo’s perspective,” said Luke. “Teddycat scouts have never helped me out any.”

  “Not everything is about you,” said Bill.

  “That’s rich, coming from a Teddycat.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You sit around up there in your hidden Cloud fortress, passing judgment on all the animals struggling down here in the real jungle.”

  “That’s not true,” Bill said quietly.

  “You think you’ve got problems, Bill? You want to talk about the food chain? We’re at the mercy of more kinds of predators than you could imagine. Meanwhile, you guys have removed yourselves from the entire ecosystem. Good for you, but that makes you soft.”

  “Let me get this straight,” said Bill. “You’re callin’ me soft?”

  “That’s right,” said Luke. “Just because you have those claws and can climb faster than me doesn’t mean you’re stronger.”

  “Actually, that’s exactly what it means,” said Bill.

  “All I’m saying is, I’m sorry about your friends, but in the grand scheme of the jungle, that’s nothing.”

  Bill was fuming. He’d lost complete sight of why they were even down here together in the first place. The jungle was dark and foreign.

  “I can’t believe you,” he said. “You are the whole reason I’m in this mess! Because of you, I can’t hold my head up back home. Because of you, my friends are in danger. Because of you, the future of Cloud Kingdom is in jeopardy, and all because you were badgering me about a visit. Well, you got what you wanted. Happy now?”

  “I don’t know about badgering,” said Luke. “That’s a strong word.”

  “It is a strong word,” said Bill, “but it’s the right one.”

  “I was curious about Cloud Kingdom. You’ve always known that.”

  “Very curious,” said Bill. “And you know what they say, Luke, curiosity kills the . . .”

  9

  LUKE TOOK A step, and suddenly something fastened around his leg and yanked him ten feet in the air. He dangled and thrashed in the darkness, whimpering and howling.

  A trap.

  Bill stood beneath him, dumbfounded. He didn’t dare move.

  “Bill, help!” cried Luke.

  “Hold on!” said Bill, willing himself to action. After all, Luke had saved him from a human. Even if Bill begrudged him that decision, it had still demonstrated friendship and bravery, both of which he owed in return. He slowly scrutinized the ground in front of him to try to pinpoint the trunk of the tree hosting the trap. He found it and began to inch his way over.

  Just as he was beginning to form a plan, Bill heard a rustle. He froze, looking all around. Then, a little ways off, he saw a shadowy shape stomping out of the darkness and into a ribbon of moonlight.

  Joe.

  As the shape drew closer, Bill had no doubt it was a human. It clutched a big branch in one paw and a shiny thing in the other, and then, with a clicking sound, the branch began to flicker and glow. All was still and brilliantly illuminated.

  The human reached down and yanked a cord, and the net holding Luke lowered to the ground. Bill watched, paralyzed, as the human grabbed Luke by the scruff of his neck and swiftly deposited him into a cage in his other paw. Luke thrashed and screeched, bouncing against the steel grate.

  The human’s voice was an ugly growl.

  Bill’s fur went straight and prickly. It sounded the way he had always imagined Joe would. The human’s light landed on Bill, and their eyes met.

  The human cackled and made a lunge for Bill, but the cage, wiggly with Luke, banged hard against its leg, and the human yelped and staggered. Bill leapt into the underbrush, burrowed to the nearest stand of trees, and scurried up into the canopy. The human’s angry glowing branch followed him, just a step behind. Bill could hear the human’s heavy breathing as it waved the branch up and down, back and forth, jittery and determined.

  Bill looked down. The human stood at the bottom of the tree, methodically scanning the lower branches. Bill sucked in his belly, made himself as small as possible, tucked his tail and his bindle under his rump, and squeezed his eyes shut. His claws were out, but hidden from the ligh
t.

  The human bellowed in frustration.

  Bill had been expecting a dangerous confrontation tonight—a daring jailbreak to free Elena from the hapless Joe. But this was not at all what he’d had in mind.

  The human’s voice grew a touch softer, so Bill chanced a look. He peeked between his forearm and tail. The human’s stilted warble, gray complexion, and yellow eyes matched the terrifying descriptions of Joe that young Teddycats used to share on nights when they’d camp out together in someone’s leafy den. So did the huge boots and sagging jacket, the skin streaked with dirt and sweat, the bandana high on the skull, the hint of gold in a crooked, sadistic smile. The cage rattled as Luke shook with terror, his eyes searching for Bill. The flaming branch fell to the ground, and the human dropped a black sheet over Luke’s cage.

  10

  THE HUMAN STOMPED back into the darkness with a caged and braying Luke. As soon as Bill was sure he was gone, he blasted into full-blown panic mode. His mind raced as the world around him took on a threatening quality. Every branch and vine, every whistle and honk, every star in the sky and particle of mist announced fresh dangers.

  Luke was right: Bill was soft. He was unprepared for daily battle with the most basic and even innocent elements of life in the jungle. He hadn’t respected the ever-present dangers. He hadn’t even noticed most of them. It was a ruthless place, always on the verge of violence, and now Luke’s fate was the same as Elena’s and Jack’s. The jungle had spoken: Nobody was safe.

  Bill could barely face the idea of bringing more bad news back to Cloud Kingdom. Maybe the Teddycats were better off without him. He should have let Joe take him, too. He should go right now and surrender to Joe. Better yet, he should let the Olingos surrender him to Joe, have them negotiate a swap for Luke. Once Joe got Bill, he could focus on freeing Elena and Jack. Never mind himself. He didn’t deserve to return to Cloud Kingdom, let alone as a hero. Besides, if Felix was right, the humans weren’t going to stop coming after the Teddycats and their claws. Bill remembered the human’s creepy call and shuddered. No wonder the Elders preferred to hide up in the clouds. Who wanted to face a monster like that?

  The human’s sour smell was stuck in Bill’s snout. He rubbed at it furiously. But wait—that stink was useful intelligence. Bill let his snout tingle with the lingering traces of his hunter.

  With a sinking gut, he realized what a fool he had been to think he could do this—save Elena, declare Cloud Kingdom safe for all of the Teddycats—alone. It didn’t even matter if his heart was in the right place. Going off alone was just another way to shirk his responsibility, a decision as narrow-minded as the Elders’ rule forbidding anyone to leave Cloud Kingdom. If Cloud Kingdom was to be saved, they would have to do it together: all the Teddycats joining up, with one plan and one goal. Bill—with the best intentions—had chosen to sneak out at night, but the truly brave thing would have been to stay until morning and rally the Kingdom.

  Bill knew he was going to need help—lots of it—but who was going to help him now? Luke was gone, lost to Joe. Maia was out of the question—he had already put her through too much, and besides, she had lost all trust in him. His parents would just punish him all over again for even giving voice to this idea. He needed guidance. He needed to seek out a bridge he hadn’t burned yet, a heart he hadn’t broken.

  Suddenly, Bill slapped his head.

  Of course! Who knew more about the jungle than Felix?

  THE OLD CAT was up, puttering about the convalescence den. Bill wondered if he ever slept. Maybe the pain was too bad; maybe he missed his home too much. Maybe he was haunted by some terrible error in judgment. Was there any way to get through life at least somewhat unscathed? Was it possible to grow old and still have friends willing to talk with you and be seen with you?

  Or maybe, Bill thought, Felix was just an early riser.

  It was almost dawn, and the clouds were flushed pink with ascendant sun. But the beauty did little to soothe Bill. It only reminded him of all he had already risked and all that might still be lost. Instead of returning, triumphant, with Elena and Jack, he was back with a heavier burden than ever.

  Bill poked his head in further. Felix did not seem overly surprised to see him. “Good morning, Bill. How’s the lockdown treating you?”

  “Yeah . . .” said Bill. “About that.”

  “You don’t strike me as an isolationist,” Felix said. “Starting to chafe?”

  “I’ve already violated the lockdown,” Bill admitted. “I didn’t even last a night.”

  “Hmm,” said Felix. “Did you have a productive trip?”

  “It was a total disaster.”

  “What happened?” Felix asked, his features creased with concern.

  “I roped in a buddy to help me, and now he’s been abducted,” said Bill, rushing to get the words out. “Same as Elena, same as Jack.”

  “I see,” Felix said. “Your friend the Olingo?”

  “That’s right, you’ve met him.”

  “I’m sorry to hear it.”

  “I shouldn’t have dragged him into it,” said Bill. “I just didn’t know where else to turn.”

  “So where do you turn now?” Felix asked.

  Felix was easy to talk to. Bill felt like he could speak more freely with him, abandon all the filters he tried to run his thoughts through when talking with other Teddycats. Of course, those filters never really helped. Bill was forever jamming his paw in his mouth and then trying to kick up enough dust to cover his own tracks. But talking with Felix made him feel that he had greater access to his own thoughts, the way he used to feel with Maia before things got so complicated.

  “Honestly?” Bill said. “I feel like I have only two options.”

  “Let’s hear ’em,” said Felix.

  Bill cleared his throat. The smell of the human still burned in his snout. “Okay,” he said. “Here goes. One: self-banishment.”

  “Ouch,” Felix said. “And how does that sound to you?”

  “It depends,” Bill said. “Sometimes terrifying, sometimes great, like I could just retire to my fort or head out someplace completely new and different.”

  “But that’s life as a Teddycat,” Felix said. “You’ll always attract attention. You’re new and rare and extraordinary.”

  Bill followed the fantasy for a moment. “But what if I headed someplace quiet, and posed as a meerkat or something, and kept my claw hidden?”

  Felix laughed. “Well, if that’s your dream, I won’t try to persuade you otherwise. But you do know that by doing that, you’d be following a long and frankly self-sabotaging Teddycat tradition, right?”

  “And what’s that?”

  “Mistaking flight and hiding as anything other than a temporary solution. But never mind that for now. What’s option number two?”

  “Well, I actually don’t even know,” said Bill, overwhelmed all over again. “Another rescue mission, I guess.”

  “Go on,” said Felix, one brow raised encouragingly.

  “But a rescue mission would mean overturning the lockdown and challenging the Elders, and right now I don’t have a whole lot of Cloud Kingdom support. I’m guessing most Teddycats would vote for option one.”

  “Meaning banishment.”

  “If things keep getting worse like this and I stick around, there’s a good chance I could wake up in a stone-filled sack, sliding off the waterfall.”

  Felix considered this for a moment. “I don’t think they’ll wish you away, Bill, let alone help you pack your bags. You’re an important and valuable member of Cloud Kingdom.”

  Bill scoffed.

  “What? It’s true,” Felix said. “You have friends and persuasive ideas and charisma, not to mention respected parents. And try as they might to deny or ignore it, the Elders need you. Successful societies need rabble-rousers and troublemakers, my friend. Otherwise there�
��d be no progress or evolution. If old farts like me and the Elders ran the jungle, the whole place would shut down an hour before sunset so we could soak our joints and complain about the weather. Not to mention, I don’t think you’d last five minutes posing as a plain old meerkat, Bill. No matter where you go.”

  “You’re probably right,” said Bill, feeling a bit dizzy.

  “Always happy to hash it out with you, Bill,” said Felix. He stretched and smiled as sunlight—the full brunt of which was still relatively new to him as a jungle-floor dweller—spilled through the cracks of his den. “But I’m not here to steer you either way. You’re free to do whatever you think is right. In my experience, disasters like these sometimes make a creature feel like the world is shrinking, when actually it’s finally opening up. What I’m saying is, you definitely have more than two options.”

  “Really?” Bill said. “Phew.”

  “That said, I will give you a little bit of advice, because that’s what old guys like me do.”

  “I could use all of the advice I can get.”

  “The Elders have a meeting this morning. They’re scared, and they’re ready to run. But that’s their problem. If I were you? I’d look back to the history between the Teddycats and the Olingos. Think about how their split has echoed through the jungle, through the years. The jungle doesn’t have seasons, Bill. Therefore, life cycles can take years, even generations, to come back around. So, what can Teddycats learn from the life and death of Horizon Cove that might prevent the death of Cloud Kingdom?”

  Bill sighed. His head was spinning. “I’ll think about that. Really, I will, Felix. But first, I need to talk to Maia.”

  “Good luck,” Felix said.

  11

  BILL FOUND MAIA sunning herself atop her den, a front leg draped across her eyes. This was one of the places she went to be alone, and Bill approached cautiously. She didn’t acknowledge his presence until he climbed up the side and scooted over close to her, and even then it was silent, cold.