Chapter Thirty
For the next two days, Torus worked on the flyers whenever he could find the time. The small room behind the meeting room became the regular hangout for the group, and there was nearly always someone else there. They worked on making cloaks, or improving their weapons, or talking about the half-formed plan for the next raid. There was a kind of nervous excitement as the idea of the raid became more and more real.
“I don’t know,” said Nevi one afternoon, “it feels funny to be planning something like this. I don’t think anyone knows what we’re doing, but I can’t help feeling like everyone’s watching us.”
“I know what you mean,” Flinka replied. “Today I told my mom I was going to hang out with you guys, and she said, ‘Be careful.’ ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ I said, and she said, ‘Just be careful.’ And I can’t tell if she means, like, ‘Be careful you don’t get your feet dirty,’ or ‘Be careful you don’t make the pigeons mad when you attack them and make them drive us all out into the street.’ Does that make sense?”
“Sssssort of…” said Nevi as she concentrated on the seam of a cloak she was stitching.
“I know exactly what you mean,” said Arkon from under the cloak Nevi was working on. “I mean, my dad doesn’t really seem to care what I’m doing, but he always looks at me funny when I come in late and stuff.”
“Hold still,” said Nevi. “I have to get this right. If it’s too long you’ll keep falling over when you land your flyer.”
“I’ll fall over anyway,” said Arkon cheerfully. “I can’t figure out how to fly and hang onto my toothbrush at the same time.”
“You don’t need to carry a weapon if you don’t want,” said Torus from where he sat working on the final flyer.
“Well, you and Chello are,” said Arkon. “In those sling things on your backs. I tried it with mine, but I just get tangled up.”
“The main thing is the flying,” said Nevi. “The idea is to scare them by flying down on them. The weapons are just secondary.” She bit off the thread she had been stitching with. “I’m not carrying anything either. Flinka’s going to carry mine for me and I’ll get it when I land. I’ll bet she’d carry yours, too. Wouldn’t you?” she said, turning to Flinka.
“Sure,” Flinka shrugged. “I’ll carry as many weapons as you want, as long as I don’t have to use any of them.”
“That’s fine,” said Torus, tightening a knot on the harness of the flyer. “You can just hide out under your cloak and be ready when they land.”
“I like my cloak,” Flinka replied, holding out to examine it. “It’s weird how it really does make me feel safer up in the attic. Sometimes when we’re up there cleaning a bird will start flying around, but it doesn’t even bother me now.”
“That’s great!” said Nevi. “My mom and I are trying to get them made for the whole cleaning crew, but she says some of them don’t want it.”
“Yeah,” said Flinka casually sweeping the skirt of her cloak back and forth. “Some of them say it’s undignified to dress up like a rag. But I like it. And when the birds are flying around it’s like they can’t even see me sometimes.”
“It’s because you’re the wrong shape,” said Arkon, squirming restlessly while Nevi finished trimming his cloak. “Mr. Nile says their eyes are different than ours. If you’re not a shape they recognize then they don’t know what you are.”
“Well, whatever it is I like it,” said Flinka definitely.
“Like what?” said Juke, coming in from the meeting room.
“Nothing,” said Flinka brightly waving him over.
Chello came in after Juke, carrying a flyer, followed by Pryus and the twins.
“I like this one best,” said Chello holding up the flyer. “I’ve tried them all and this one is the fastest.”
“This one’s done now,” said Torus, turning it upright. “You can try it if you want, but I’m not sure about the harness. I ran out of shoelaces.”
Chello examined the new flyer and shook his head, frowning.
“No, this isn’t strong enough for the turns I make.” He held up the flyer he had brought in. “See, I bent the frame on this one by turning hard. Can you fix it?”
Torus scowled at him and took the flyer.
“If you don’t stop breaking them before I’m even done making them we’ll never get anywhere!”
“But they’ve got to be tested, right?” Chello said, grinning.
“Fine,” Torus grumbled, wrenching the harness frame back into shape. “But if you break it again before the raid I’ll just let you crash!”
“So how about the raid?” asked Pryus. “When do we go?”
“Let’s go now!” said Chello. “We’ve got all the flyers now, right?”
Torus shook his head and Arkon did the same.
“No, we need to get ready and wait for the right time,” he said. “Like we said before. We’ll take the flyers up in the middle of the night and stash them in the tree, and stash our weapons in the tunnel to the dumpster. Then, when we decide the time is right we can run right out there without having to prepare anything.” He stopped and looked at Chello. “Doesn’t that make more sense than just rushing off half ready?”
“Yeah,” Chello admitted, looking at the ground, “except for the part about it’s not right now!”
“We can start moving stuff now, though, right?” said Pryus. “If we’ve got everything we need, and everyone is here, why don’t we start stashing it now?”
“It’s too early to take stuff up into the tree,” said Torus. “It’s still light out.”
“What about just into the tunnel?” said Chello, regaining his enthusiasm. “We’ll put everything in the tunnel, all the flyers and the weapons and whatever, and then we’ll come back later to put stuff in the tree.”
Torus considered a moment. “Yes, I guess that’s okay,” he said. “Besides, it’ll be easier to sneak stuff through the building now before the forage starts.”
“Good plan!” said Pryus. “I didn’t really want to forage tonight anyway.”
They began moving their equipment out of the meeting room and the small room behind it that had served as their workshop. It was a short distance along the main tunnel to the park tunnel, but to avoid seeing anyone they took a circuitous route through little used side passages. The tunnels were narrow and twisting, and they struggled to get the flyers through, even though they were collapsed.
“This is stupid!” Chello exclaimed after getting his flyer jammed in a tight corner for the sixth time. “Why are we going this way? There’s no one around! If we’d taken the main tunnel we’d be there by now.”
“Too risky,” grunted Torus, struggling with his own flyer. “It’s got to be a secret, at least the first time.”
Chello grumbled and sat down to rest.
“Why are these tunnels even here?” he asked. “No one lives here, do they?”
“Rats used to live here,” Arkon said, coming up behind Chello in the tunnel. “Before our clan came, I think. Mr. Nile said something about it once.”
“That’s creepy,” said Chello, getting up to continue moving his flyer.
“The building’s been here a really long time,” said Arkon. “Hundreds of moons, maybe a thousand.”
“That’s not even possible,” said Chello, yanking the flyer through a tight spot.
“Hey, be careful!” Torus called from ahead. “Don’t you break that again!”
They came to a wide spot where three or four of the old tunnels came together and the group gathered in the open space.
“Which way from here?” asked Pryus. He looked at Chello and Torus. Torus shrugged and Chello pointed at Nevi, who rolled her eyes. She was about to speak when she suddenly snapped her mouth shut and turned her head aside, holding one finger up in caution.
“What is it?” asked Chello.
“Shh!” hissed Nevi, waving he
r hand at him. She was silent for a moment, straining hear ears toward down the empty tunnels.
“Do you hear that?”
Torus held his breath and stretched out his ears. At first there was nothing, but soon he could make out the sound of voices calling from far away down the tunnels.
“So what?” said Chello. “It’s probably rats just getting ready for the forage.”
“No, it’s too early for that,” said Torus.
“And they’re upset,” said Nevi. “Something’s going on. We need to get this stuff stashed right away and get back to the clan before we’re missed.”
“What could be going on?” said Pryus, but no one answered. The rats collected their equipment and started off again, this time more briskly, and without talking.
Chello and Torus wound up at the back of the line, this time, and Pryus joined them, carrying a couple of weapons wrapped in a green cloak.
“What could be going on?” he repeated. “It’s nothing, right?”
“I don’t know,” said Chello, “but I trust Scout Girl’s instincts.” He stopped briefly to untangle his flyer yet again. “Most of the time…”
They reached the park tunnel without any trouble, although they occasionally heard more agitated voices in the distance. Torus began to feel anxious about being away from home, and wished they were finished so he could rush back and find out what was going on.
“This is more like it!” said Chello as they headed down the tunnel at a brisk pace. “You guys on the tunnel team did a great job on this!”
“Thanks,” said Arkon and Torus together.
“Look!” said Chello, slinging his knitting needle onto his back alongside the flyer. “When the tunnel is wide and straight like this, I can practically run!” He demonstrated by bolting ahead and nearly knocking Vinda over.
“Watch out!” she said when she recovered her balance. “You’re crazy!”
“Sorry!” he called from far ahead. “Hey, what’s this?”
“What’s what?” Nevi called back.
“What?” he shouted.
“What’s what!” she repeated, loudly.
“What’s this?”
Nevi snorted and refused to answer, instead continuing with the others up to where Chello stood grinning next to a twisted pile of wire and cardboard. It was the wreck of the sledge they had used on their last attempted raid, still wedged in place between the walls of the tunnel where Torus had left it.
“It’s a wrecked sledge,” said Torus.
“I know,” said Chello, still grinning at Nevi. “I ran into it, almost.”
“Well, it’s no good to us now,” said Torus, grouchily. “It’s all bent out of shape.”
“No good for pulling stuff, maybe,” said Chello, “but what if we hid our weapons and stuff under it? We could push it to the side in that wide spot up there and with our stuff behind it it would just look like a pile of junk.”
Torus considered for a moment.
“I guess that’ll work,” he said finally. “We’re about mid-way to the park here, I think.”
He grabbed one end of the sledge and Chello took hold of the other and together they wrestled it out of the narrow spot of the tunnel into which it was jammed. They righted it as best they could and started pushing it down the tunnel toward the spot Chello had seen. Suddenly Chello stopped and let go of the sledge.
“Ew!” he exclaimed, looking at the ground in alarm. “What’s all this on the floor? Eeeeeeww!”
“Pigeon piles,” said Flinka calmly, coming up behind them. “Welcome to my world.”
“This is so gross!” said Chello, shifting from foot to foot anxiously. “Why is it here?”
“They chased us down the tunnel last time, remember?” said Torus. “That’s why I jammed the sledge in here.”
“Disgusting!” said Chello, becoming angry. “It’s getting on my cloak and all over my feet!” He resumed pushing the sledge, picking his way over the floor carefully. “Cheese, it’s everywhere!”
“Yeah,” said Arkon, more interested than disturbed. “There’s way more that there would be just from that night. They must have been coming back down here for some reason.”
“Why would they do that?” asked Nevi. “Don’t they hate being underground?”
“I’ll tell you why,” said Chello, scraping his foot angrily on the ground. “They were trying to get into the building that way, just like they moved into the attic.”
“What for?” asked Akron. “It doesn’t make sense they would want to crawl through this tunnel when they can just fly into the windows of the attic.”
“It makes perfect sense if they’re trying to attack us, though, doesn’t it!” Chello pushed the sledge into the side of the tunnel and shrugged off his flyer. “Come on, let’s get this stuff stashed here and get back to the Clan so we can figure out what’s going on.”
“But…” Juke mumbled, searching for words.
“If they’re trying to get in here,” Flinka interjected, “shouldn’t we leave the sledge where it was?”
“Yeah,” said Juke, nodding.
“No,” said Chello decisively. “We need the tunnel to be open so we can rush through it when we need to.”
Flinka looked anxious. “But what if – ”
“Shh!” Nevi cut her off and waved the group to silence. “Someone’s calling,” she whispered.
From far off down the tunnel behind them Torus heard a voice calling his name.
“It’s Moki,” he said. “It’s alright.” He went to the back of the group and called into the distance. “Down here!”
Moments later, Moki came scrambling up, disheveled and out of breath.
“You have to come back,” he gasped. “Dad said you have to come to the gathering.”
“What gathering?” asked Torus. “We don’t have gatherings anymore.”
“Well, there’s one now,” said Moki, beginning to catch his breath. “A big one. Everyone’s supposed to come. Dad says you have to come because if there’s any trouble he doesn’t want it to be you causing it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” said Torus.
“You know Dad,” said Moki. “It could mean anything…”
“What’s the gathering for?” asked Nevi. “Did they tell you?”
“I don’t know,” said Moki, “but they’re acting like it’s really important. The Patrol is going around everywhere to make sure everyone goes.”
“The Patrol?” said Chello, turning to Juke. “Did you hear anything about that?” Juke shook his head.
“It just came up,” said Moki. “Something about that bird King coming and an announcement or something like that.”
“Oh great!” said Chello. “Probably announcing that Nogolo negotiated us the opportunity to deliver food up to the attic and feed the pigbirds by hand!”
“It can’t be that bad,” said Torus.
“Can’t it?” Chello whirled at him wildly. “Can’t it? Look at what they’ve done already! They won’t be satisfied until we’re gone.” He stood and gripped his weapon. “They’re trying to kill us!”
Chello’s outburst stunned the group into silence. Then Torus spoke falteringly.
“Well, let’s go back to the gathering and find out what’s going on. If it’s as bad as you say, then we’ll find the right time and do our – ”
“No!” Chello interrupted. “We’re not going back. This is the right time!” He looked around at the group. “Don’t you see? The pigbird king will be at the gathering, along with his advisors, trying to talk like a normal creature, so there won’t be that many pigeons at the dumpster. It must be almost dark by now,” he continued, growing excited. “Most of the birds’ll be going up into the attic, so this is the perfect time!”
“I don’t know,” said Torus, uncertainly.
“We’re really not ready,” said Nevi.
“I’m ready!?
?? said Chello. “And we’re all here, with all our weapons! And if we go right now, no one has a chance to ‘accidentally’ tell the birds we’re coming.”
“Chello, no one told them before,” Nevi said.
“Whatever,” said Chello. The point is we’re all here. He turned to Moki, excitedly.
“Even little Minimouse is here! Are you ready to fight some pigbirds, Minimouse?”
“You bet!” said Moki. “When do we start?”
“No,” said Torus, “you can’t go! If you get hurt Dad’ll kill me for getting you into this.”
“You can’t stop me,” said Moki, “I’m as big as you now and I’m a better fighter!”
“I don’t think we should,” said Flinka, anxiously.
“It’ll be fine,” said Chello. “Do you want to clean up pigeon piles for the rest of your life? Just do like we planned. Hide out in the shadows and hold the extra weapons until someone needs them.” He paused and looked around at the rest of the group. “We have to do this now,” he said. “If we don’t, then we might as well go give them all our food and move out of the building into the vacant lot.”
“I’m not going there,” said Arkon. “It’s full of cats!”
“Exactly!” said Chello. “We belong in this building and we have to take it back. Why not us? Why not now?”
“Okay,” said Torus, suddenly. “Let’s do it. If we mess up and get in trouble, at least we’ll all be exiled together, right?”
Flinka let out a low moan.
“I don’t want to be exiled,” she said.
“Don’t worry about that,” said Chello. “Nobody’s getting exiled tonight. Juke, do you have your stick?”
“I have my stick,” said Juke solidly.
“There, see?” said Chello to Flinka. “Juke’s got his stick! You’ll be fine!”
He pulled on his flyer, gripped his weapon and started down the tunnel toward the park.
“Get your gear,” he said as he headed off. “I’ll meet you at the end by the passage to the top.”
He disappeared into the darkness, leaving the others to sort out cloaks and weapons before they followed him, with Torus and Nevi bring up the rear.
“He’s either crazy or he’s a genius,” said Nevi.
Torus shifted the weight of his flyer and replied as they headed off. “I’m not sure there’s a difference.”
* * *