Wild Thing Read online

  She looked up, tracing the disturbed earth and fallen rocks that led up from where they both now rested, to the trail above, and the point where she'd tried Pouncing Faith.

  There was a big hole in the rock up there, like something had exploded out from it.

  'Oh, wow!' She looked back at Faith. 'That was you?'

  Faith dipped her head fractionally, agreeing.

  'That is so cool!'

  But Faith yipped again, and even tilted her head to one side, like she was saying 'And, dumb-head, that means…?'

  But what did it mean?

  She'd never seen Faith shoot her laser before. A shiver ran through her as she remembered the missing part of her shirt. Would Keepie've been able to heal her up if she hadn't dodged? Or if Faith hadn't un-targeted her at the last moment? Whichever.

  'Come on, let's climb back up and have a closer look.'

  Faith still seemed worried about something, but scrabbled up the hill behind her. At a few places, Sara had to tug on her to help her up. But she just had to go and see the blast.

  The hill wasn't that steep, though having her shirt flap against her side felt a little strange. Lucky it'd been a hot day and she'd worn something loose for Faith to target, rather than something tight-fitting.

  While she climbed, she checked herself out. She had an oval-shaped burn on her side, which had really started to hurt. From pressing against the barrel of the laser pod. It sure must've heated up quickly! She also had lots of little cuts, and she winced as she found and scraped out some splinters. Of stone. Tugging the back of her shirt around, she saw it was punctured in a whole lot of places by a lot of tiny tears.

  When they got back up to the trail, she figured out why.

  She'd expected the rock to be melted from the laser, but instead it looked like the stone had simply shattered, exploding outwards. There were a whole bunch of shards scattered around.

  'Wow, that is one great laser blaster!'

  But Faith yipped again, shone her red dot into the crater in the rocky hillside, and even popped her laser pod out and then back in, and finally resorted to looking at her like she was stupid.

  It was only then that she noticed the flashing blue light on Faith's collar. It looked kind of insistent somehow.

  'Is that… a signal from Mr Shanahan?'

  Faith yipped. Yes.

  'Because you fired your laser. Because it means you found an enemy in the grounds. So Mr Shanahan will want to know what you shot at.'

  She thought some more. 'And he knows where you are. So he's probably on his way right now. And if he thinks you fired at me, I'll get in big trouble for trying to Pounce you. And they might stop us from playing together. Oh, no!'

  She plunged down to hug Faith again, just to reassure her. 'Gosh, you are so clever! But don't worry, I won't let them find out!'

  At the pain from her burns, and the stinging pains in her side and back, she also realized she couldn't ask Keepie to heal her, either. He was pretty smart. And he didn't like them playing together. He said Faith was too dangerous.

  Which was just stupid. Even when she'd almost Pounced her, Faith had aimed aside! But she didn't like the idea of trying to explain that to her uncle.

  Faith suddenly pricked up her ears, and Sara heard a faint sound, so with one last hug, she got ready to climb back up over the rocks and away.

  Quickly.

  Faith looked up at her.

  'I know,' she whispered, 'you've gotta stay here for Mr Shanahan, haven't you?'

  After one last shared look, she darted up the rocks and out of sight.

  It took weeks for the burn to heal up fully. The other scrapes and punctures got better much faster. It would've been much nicer to be healed by Keepie, but it served her right for hunting her friend. Faith was, after all, a proper guard dog, who kept everyone safe.

  It had been super hard keeping her face all innocent when Mr Shanahan sat her down to warn her not to roam the grounds for a few days while he checked out “an intrusion.” He said it looked like Faith had been tracking a wild animal. It was possible a coyote or even a mountain lion had somehow got inside the grounds.

  He spent a week searching the grounds with his drones, and Faith too, of course, before things had gone back to normal. She felt a bit guilty about causing them so much more work. But it was probably good for him to have some extra practice exercises to make sure everything was working properly.

  She explained that to Faith. Faith just grinned. She was getting heaps more time hunting and patrolling with Mr Shanahan, and that was good for them both.

  Though not quite as good for her, since she wasn't allowed out to continue her own hunting while the “wild thing” was loose.

  Hardest of all was letting not the faintest hint, not the tiniest thought even cross her mind, whenever Mr Shanahan discussed the hunt with her uncle at dinner times. The first time they'd started talking about it in front of her, she'd wanted to just sneak quietly away. But then she'd decided it'd be better to beg to be allowed to join the hunt.

  'I've already got my own bow and arrows, too, so I could help!' Plus, it would've been nice to go with them.

  It had been kind of strange, arguing to be allowed to hunt herself while pretending at the same time she didn't know what was going on. It almost made her confused!

  After several ages, though, things eventually quietened back down and everyone decided that the animal must've got out the same way it had got in. Or died. Maybe it'd just been a rabbit, or something, they decided, and Faith had let her “in-stinks” run away with her. Mr Shanahan increased the sensitivity on the sensors on the walls, and that was that.

  She hadn't even known there were sensors on the walls. So really, she'd learned quite a lot from trying to Pounce Faith. Like the fact that Faith had a radio “inplant.” Plus, sharing the secret had made her and Faith even closer.

  But when Faith had her other work to do and Sara had to Hunt on her own, at least it meant she didn't have to stay quite so alert for danger and thinking up special missions all the time, and could just play.

  Out in the woods a few weeks later, she was imagining talking to Her again. If it was just imagining.

  I should give you a name if you're going to be my little sister. I think-

  «Lily. I should name her Lily.»

  Lily? No, I think “Mirella,” ’coz-

  «No! Lily! And soon I'll be your big sister. That's how fast I'm growing!» She giggled, inside, though she wasn't sure why she did. Or if it was really even her that giggled.

  «Godsson will go ballistic if you tell him you talk to an invisible sister whose name is Lily, trust me.»

  But why would I want Godsson to go bull-istick?

  «Because he'll get very scared and do lots of exciting magic.»

  But I don't want to scare Godsson.

  «It'll be good for him: teach him a lesson. Why are you always such a little baby? Look, let me show you. All you have to do is give me a ride. Just imagine I'm on your shoulders, steering you. It'll be easy-»

  She felt Her, Lily, kind of slide behind her, then a sudden surge of hate – except it wasn't pointed at her, but at something behind her.

  She spun around even as a wave of kind of cold, “want-you-dead” sort of seriousness washed over her. She had a bare moment to see a bunch of straight line movements of ferns and leaves right in front of her, then Robo was on top of her.

  Things got very confusing very quickly. She shoved forward against her, an awful heat pressing down like Lily thought Sara was hurting her. Lily pushed down so hard Sara went all swimmy in her head, swaying on her feet. But it was Robo pressing into Lily, squashing them together. She gritted her teeth, scrinching her eyes up real hard and grabbing Lily. Instantly, Lily went crazy: twisting and whipping at her, and Robo went all, well, a sort of Ending-with-a-capital-E kind of determined. But then Lily slipped free, and Robo was all super-fast stompy-dodging around her, chasing after Her. The two disappeared much faster than she co
uld follow, on foot.

  Of course, she was partic'ly careful not to tell her uncle anything about the Big Fight. Was careful not even to think about it in front of him.

  To be honest, it was all just a bit scarier than she liked.

  Chapter 14

  It was mid-summer when unusual things started happening at the Institute. First, Uncle started getting cross easily. That wasn't actually the unusual part; the unusual part had been that when she'd asked if she'd been bad he'd actually looked surprised, and sorry, and patted her on the head! That had been nice.

  He'd explained that there was a special thing happening soon, that happened every year at this time, and he was a little bit worried about it.

  He actually asked her to forgive him!

  He'd also explained that on the Special Day she'd have to stay in her room and not come out: “No matter what!”

  She was super-extra interested, but she'd been careful to just nod, and shrug like she didn't really care. 'Well, it's too hot, anyway. I'll just stay inside and read books. Maybe Faith could come inside, for once? I could keep her inside my room for the day.'

  Her uncle had shuddered – just as she'd expected: he was always so worried by Faith's weapons. And that was even though he didn't know about her mini-rockets! But the real reason she'd asked was to find out if the Special Day was also a Danger Day, that needed Faith's help.

  So that was how she worked out it was. So when he'd said “No” she made sure she just humphed and looked annoyed but bored, and didn't ask her uncle anything more. She made especially sure to not look like she'd already started planning her escape.

  The next person she talked to in her investigation was Mr Shanahan, and straight away she could tell he was involved, too. He looked almost as worried as Uncle, and seemed unsure about even letting her into his house, let alone his security office. She'd had to sigh, and wave her hand at her forehead to make out like she was so hot and couldn't she just come into the cool for a little bit? She'd asked if there was a secret security emergency he was involved in. He'd instantly said “No, no, everything's normal,” and finally let her in.

  But she couldn't find out anything more from him, and he'd even hesitated when she'd asked if she could take Faith on Patrol. He'd thought and thought before finally relaxing and agreeing. So that made her extra-double-sure that Faith would be involved in the Super Special Danger Day.

  The next person she investigated was Godsson, and he was worse than Uncle or Mr Shanahan! He'd looked real worried. Maybe even a bit scared. Which was a bit frightening in itself, since Godsson never looked scared. When she'd stopped by, at first she'd thought he was going to put up his super magic shield. He'd shook his head, and muttered something to himself, before he'd done his greeting-gesture so they could talk.

  He had dark circles under his eyes, and his long brown hair was unusually scraggly and greasy-looking. She thought maybe he hadn't washed in a while, either.

  He looked sad, and strong, and brave, though, and promised he'd do his best for her. For everyone. That sure sounded serious.

  But after talking to her for a while, he said he felt tired, and needed to sleep. “To prepare himself.” It all sounded real onimous.

  So that was how she found out it involved Godsson, too, which meant that the Danger must be a Magic Danger. Which made it a Super Special Magic Danger Day! She wondered if the invisible monster was involved, and almost asked Godsson. But at the last moment, she decided not to.

  Instead, she decided to help.

  She did more investigations, though. Just like Miss X, as if she was in her very own eXtro episode!

  She found out it was going to happen on the 21st, at the summer soul's-tess. It'd been tricky finding out what that meant, but her net unit eventually told her it was spelled “solstice,” and it just meant the middle of summer. But more important than that, she learned from Miss Nerida that the Eff-Bee-Eye would be involved, and that they'd bring lots of their people, with guns and everything, plus extra magicians – special ones called “battle mages” – as well as some kind of shaman team. And that she had to be extra good, and extra quiet, and stay in her room. For her own safety.

  Well, she was certainly going to be extra good.

  She'd certainly been good by not bursting with excitement when Nerida said they'd have battle mages coming. She'd just blinked, real fast, while she concentrated on keeping her expression still, and not exploding. She'd tried to think of something clever to say to make it sound like she didn't care, but her thoughts had just started running round like a bunch of crazy squirrels, and all she'd managed to say in the end was “Oh.”

  Nerida had looked at her strangely.

  Battle mages. She bet they'd be able to fly, and go invisible; and they'd be super strong and super fast, and shoot lightning from their eyes…. Then she wondered why they needed battle mages?

  She talked it over with Faith.

  'At first I thought, monsters, then I thought maybe aliens?'

  She looked at Faith, but Faith just grinned back, not giving anything away.

  'Well, I know it's not invisible things ’coz you're not so good with them.'

  But from the corner of her eye, she saw that Faith just ignored her gentle dig. Which wasn't too big of a surprise – Faith was a trained security dog, and knew how to keep a secret.

  That night, she heard a helicopter land. She crept from her room in her pajamas. From the top of the stairs she could hear her uncle and Professor Sanders talking together in low voices, below, and in bare feet she tiptoed down each flight until she could see them. They were standing in the big area just inside, that the front doors opened onto. They were just talking and waiting.

  There was the sound of crunching gravel, then a bunch of soldiers in black stalked in. They didn't say anything, just spread out, looking around. She ducked back to make sure they couldn't see her, but in the glimpse she'd caught, she saw they had guns and scopes and all sorts of gadgets.

  She heard the doors swing open again, and when she next peeked around, a cross-looking man with a dark suit and medals and short, oily-looking hair was spitting out something about “Benson,” and money, and trouble, and facilities.

  She'd peeped out a little bit further to see if she could see what Uncle or the Director thought, when one of the men with the gadgets spun round and shouted “freeze!”

  She jumped back, and then they were all pounding up the stairs, and Keepie was shouting, and the Director was trying to calm everyone down, and the angry man started shouting about spies and stuff.

  But she'd already made her eyes big and round, and looked scared – which was actually pretty easy, ’coz she kinda was. She pushed her lower lip out and made like she might cry. Just like Lily had told her to do, if she wanted to make men feel sorry for her.

  But she also raised her hands up, ’coz she knew that was what you did when people pointed guns at you.

  It all seemed to work, though, since even while all the shouting and running was still going on, the first soldier up the stairs didn't look like he'd planned to shoot her.

  He'd actually looked kind of embarrassed.

  He had an armband that said “FBI,” she noticed. Ohh: Eff-Bee-Eye!

  The angry man got extra angry, though, going red in the face and talking about “slip shot operations” and lots of other stuff she didn't understand. But Director Sanders just calmed him down while Keepie led her off to her room.

  She thought he must be super angry with her, and got ready for something awful to happen. She held his hand real tight, hoping that that might somehow keep him. She couldn't bring herself to try all the stupid big-eyes and trembly-lip stuff, though, she was too upset….

  But amazingly, when they reached her door, he lifted her chin to make her look at him, and smiled, and then winked! Then he'd patted her on the head, opened her door, and tapped her on the bottom to scoot her inside.

  'Consider yourself reprimanded, Sara,' he said, still smiling, as she
turned around. 'But I should return and help calm down Mr Smith.'

  And gently shut the door.

  She wasn't going to be sent away!

  She turned and slumped against the door, and her bones went all loose and she just slid down to the floor. For some reason, then, she started crying for real.

  She discussed it with Faith the next day. The soldier part – not the getting into trouble part, or the crying.

  'Which army do you think “FBI” is? They must be goodies, since we're goodies here, an’ they talked to Uncle and the Professor.'

  Faith didn't answer, just looked doubtful, so Sara explained more. 'FBI wasn't their names, ’cause they had littler name badges on their shirts. Plus, they wouldn't all have the same name. And Miss Nerida had said “The” FBI.'

  Anyway, from everything she'd learned from her secret investigations, she told Faith, she was pretty sure they'd lock her in her room, ’cause probably they thought she'd want to know what was going on, and help.

  But she didn't tell even Faith about her secret plan.

  The day before Super Special Magic Danger Day she made sure to act all bored, and even pretended to be tired, complaining about the heat – until Keepie got worried and asked if she was “coming down with something” and checked her out magically. She realized then that she shouldn't pretend quite so hard. But none of them knew she'd already noticed how Mr Shanahan made all his security camera “sweeps” of the outside of the building take exactly one minute.

  Which was a very important part of her plan.

  Uncle had been surprised at her request for a watch – “so she could time herself running” – but thought it was a good idea. A shopping drone had delivered it the next day.

  As soon as she'd got it, she made sure to visit Mr Shanahan. At first she'd thought he wasn't going to let her in at all this time. Which would have been a disaster! But in the end he did, for a little while, and she carefully noted when the security camera on the western wall started its sweep.