The Octopus Effect (13 page)

“No,” a gruff voice not belonging to Simon or Alysha answered.

The kids turned around and saw two men and a woman glaring at them. One man was tall and lean, with dark brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He also had a bloody cut, roughly the size of a pebble, above one eye.

“And I
know
I'm not imagining you three intruders in our domain,” the other, shorter man said in a harsh voice.

“I am getting so tired of being right,” Owen grumbled.

Simon and his friends stared silently at the three adults facing them. They looked like they were in their early- to mid-twenties. They also looked very upset.

“Well?” the angry man demanded. He was thin and pale with a shaved-bald head.

“Please, it's not what you think,” Simon said, raising his hands in a calming gesture. “We're supposed to be here.”

The woman swept her dyed black hair from where it covered her large blue eyes. “Outsiders? Supposed to be here? Don't think so. And what's with attacking Cassaro?”

“It-was-an-accident-we-swear!” Owen said.

“Yeah, and we're not Outsiders,” Alysha added. “We're in the Order of Physics.”

The thin, bald man glared. “We heard there was trouble with your Order months ago.” He concentrated, and the air around him shimmered. Within seconds, his whole body was covered by dark gray armor that made him several feet taller and much more massive. There were lighter, different-textured areas at his elbows, knees, shoulders, hips, and neck—all places that needed to be flexible. The armor over his face was almost featureless, like a huge gray helmet, but with black, bulbous eyes.

“Ewww,” Alysha said with a shudder. “What's he supposed to be, a giant bug-man? I
hate
bugs!”

“Oh, Simon,” Owen grumbled, “what did you get us into now?” He spoke his own formula and concentrated on the rocky trail. Six fist-size stones streaked up into the air, swooping and swirling in a steady, fluid formation between Owen and the three Biology members. He was ready to launch them at the adults if they got hostile.

“Hold on!” Simon shouted. “We're
not
here to fight! Gilio asked us to come!”

Cassaro shook his head. “Not buying it, fella. If you were here for a nice visit, what would shorty over there be doing with those rocks?”

Simon shook his head, but before he could say anything, the armored man nodded to the black-haired woman. “Targa, zap him!” he said, his voice booming out.

The woman scrunched her face up and gestured at Simon. He staggered, suddenly sluggish, and dropped to his knees. It was all he could do not to pass out.

“Whuuuut . . .” Simon slurred. “Whut . . . did . . . yuuu . . . do?”

Targa punched a fist into the air. “Totally messed you up, that's what! Try to fight us with your adrenaline levels all the way down. That's how
I
roll!”

“Leave him alone!” Owen yelled. He sent the rocks hurtling toward Targa, but the armored man leaped in front of her. The stones bounced harmlessly off his gray shell.

Cassaro laughed. “It'll take more than rocks to get through Kender's exoskeleton. Here, have some of these!” The tall man puffed out his cheeks and spat out a cloud of tiny, almost invisible, dots.

Owen launched more rocks at the center of the cloud, knocking away most of the gnat-size dots to land on the ground around him. A few got onto his clothes, though.

“Were those more bugs?” Alysha asked, scanning the ground in horror.

The dots, actually called spores, were a lot nastier than bugs. Or dots, for that matter. While I'm no expert on them, I know they're how fungi reproduce. Fungi, as in multiple of fungus, as in . . .

The spores in the grass started growing at an accelerated rate, each one becoming a different-colored mushroom. “Okay, that's gross.” Alysha said. “But better than bugs.”

The few that had landed on Owen started to grow, too. They weren't developing as quickly as the ones on the grass, probably because Owen's clothing was less nutritious than soil, but they were still growing at an unnatural speed.

“Ahhh!” Owen screamed. “Get them off me!” The mushrooms kept expanding; the ones on the ground were already several feet high while the fungi on him—one on one sleeve, one on a pants leg, and one on the stomach area of his T-shirt—were already the size of small cats.

“First, the giant roach,” Alysha said. She took a handful of coins from her pocket, filled them with electrical charge, and whipped them at Kender and his friends.

Targa and Cassaro dodged the attack but were flung to the ground when the coins blew up. Kender, confident in his shell's protection, didn't move. The coins exploded against his armor, gouging holes out of it and knocking him onto his back.

Alysha rushed to Owen's side. “Okay, this might hurt,” she said.

Owen closed his eyes and braced himself as Alysha reached for the mushroom on Owen's sleeve. She discharged more stored-up electricity with a bluish spark and a loud
zzzap
; the mushroom turned black, shriveled, and fell to the ground.

“I think my arm's gone numb,” Owen moaned.

“Stop whining and stand still,” Alysha said; she didn't want to risk Owen moving and getting a shock. In seconds she'd burned the other mushrooms off. Owen smacked at his clothes to knock the charred remnants away.

Targa, Cassaro, and Kender rose to their feet. “That's a nice trick,” Targa said. “But try pulling it after
I'm
through with you!” She pointed her finger at Alysha.

For long moments, Simon had been barely aware of what was happening . . . his vision was blurred and everything sounded as if he were underwater. But when Targa was knocked to the ground, Simon felt a bit more self-control creep back to him.

What do I do?
he thought to himself.
How can I possibly fight this?
Squinting, he saw Targa taking aim at Alysha. That did it for him—he shoved his fear and exhaustion aside and let his anger surge forward. Anger, and the need to save his friends.

With great effort, Simon concentrated on the adults. Even with his mind sludging along at the speed of molasses, he was able to trigger his oldest, best power. The Biology members were suddenly hit by staggering weight as the gravitational pull on them was tripled. They collapsed to the ground with yelps and groans.

Simon felt better instantly, the exhaustion torn away like a blanket yanked off.

“You're okay!” Alysha said.

Simon nodded and got to his feet. “Getting there. How are you guys?”

Before they could respond, Kender slowly rose from the ground.

“How?” Simon gasped, taking a step back.

“That's the beauty of an exoskeleton,” Kender said. “Augmented strength.”

“You're going to need it, Beetle-face,” Alysha said. “It's three against one now.” She held up her fists, knuckles out, and let a jagged burst of electricity arc back and forth between them. Owen nodded, forming more stones into large, tightly balled clusters and raising them up in front of him.

A loud chirping cut through the air, and to everyone's surprise, a brown-and-white sparrow swooped between Kender and the kids.

The bird landed on the grass, flickered, trembled, and distorted until it morphed into a skinny, brown-haired man.

“Flangelo!” the kids shouted in unison.

“Stop fighting!” he cried out in his musical, almost sing songy way. “Kender, they're not enemies. And kids, stop beating people up! It's no way to greet strangers.”

“They started it!” Owen shouted. “We were just protecting ourselves.”

Kender stomped forward, each triple-weighted step making a three-inch-deep footprint in the ground. “They attacked Cassaro and were rude.”

“And I'm sure you were an absolute angel to them,” Flangelo said. “Trust me, Gilio invited them here for a reason, and he won't appreciate you hurting them.”

Alysha snorted. “Hurting us? Look who's winning.”

“Okay, I'm going to let those two up,” Simon said. “But if any of you attack again,” he said to the Biology members, “I'll make you weigh six times normal. More for you,” he said to Kender. He gestured, restoring the gravity to normal.

Targa barely moved. “Trust me,” she groaned, “I'm just going to lie here and ache for a while.” She nodded weakly at Flangelo. “And who are you supposed to be?”

“He's in Animal Diversity with me,” Kender said. He turned to Flangelo. “You'd better be right about these kids. You know how hard it is for me to molt and grow another shell.”

“Yes,” Flangelo said with a weary glance skyward, “we're all
so
concerned. Get it through your chitin skull, Kender. They're friends—back off.”

Kender spoke a few words, and his human form stepped backward out of the massive exoskeleton. Then he spoke a few more words and poked the empty shell with a finger. It started to dissolve; within seconds, it was gone.

Cassaro struggled to rise to a sitting position. “Friends or not, they're sure tough. What was that you got us with?”

Simon shrugged self-consciously. “Gravity.”

“Okay, okay, there'll be plenty of time to chitchat at the inter-Order picnic,” Flangelo said, tugging on Simon's arm to drag him away. “Important business, now.” Flangelo also grabbed Owen's arm and shouted, “Come on, spark plug, let's go.”

“Wait!” Targa shouted. “Flatulo, or whatever your name is . . . what's the deal?”

“Love to stay,” Flangelo chirped, “but these three have an appointment to keep and we're oh-so-late.” He pulled the kids out of sight. “What's the matter with you?” he scolded them. “Do you know how long I've been looking for you? Can't you read messages in the sand, or is WAIT HERE too complicated?”

“Yeah, it's nice to see you again, too,” Owen said.

“Why are you yelling at us?” Alysha shouted. “If you were supposed to meet us, then
you
screwed up!”

Flangelo shook his head. “What, I'm not allowed to go to the bathroom?”

“We almost got killed because you couldn't hold it?” Owen asked.

Simon, Alysha, and Owen broke into laughter as they hurried along.

Flangelo led them back the way they came.

“Where are we going?” Alysha demanded as she was pulled along.

“To Gilio's,” Flangelo warbled. “But I have to take you back to that entrance, because that's the fastest way I know to get to him. When he finds out what happened . . .” He shook his head.

Alysha pulled out of Flangelo's grasp. “Fine, but enough with the dragging!”

“Yeah,” Owen said. “It's bad enough I had giant mushrooms on me!”

Flangelo dropped Owen's arm as if it were covered in dead fish or, more accurately, burned mushroom. “You could have told me.” He stared at his hand. “Fungus . . . I'll be washing this hand for a week.”

“Okay, Flangelo,” Simon said, “you've got some explaining to do.”

“Like how did we even get here?” Alysha asked.

“Yeah,” Owen said. “One minute we're at the Jersey shore or something and the next there's a huge wave and sploosh!”

“Oh, that's Gilio's fancy entrance system. He's very cautious about who he lets into his home, you see.” Flangelo let out a whistle-laugh. “He's got all sorts of ways to keep Outsiders from coming around here or noticing anything unusual.”

Alysha shrugged. “Sure. That's what they said about Dunkerhook Woods, but look how that went with Simon.”