Creatures

Chapter Fifteen

We slipped past Waldheim and trotted out of the room. Passing through the study, we saw books, globes, and even a suit of armor, but none of us had time to look around. We rushed down the wide stairs with thumping steps. I kept my distance from Danny, just in case he considered giving me a push.

Danny and Thomas quickly left us behind and raced down the steps.

“Out of the way, losers,” said Danny as he rushed down. Thomas’ laughter floated back up to our ears.

I slapped myself on the back of my head.

“What?” asked Beth.

“They are already thinking of it as a race. We are heading to the Hussades and all I could think of was my own safety. That will never win the race.”

“Why do they call it Hussades anyway?” asked Beth.

“It’s an old-country thing. You are supposed to shout ‘huzzah, huzzah,’ to cheer for people. Over time, that kind of warped into the name, we call each race a Hussade. When we team-up and have a lot of races, we call it Hussades.”

She nodded and we joined the mass of kids heading down a wide hallway that led past the kitchens to the dining hall. We got into line behind all the other kids. Danny and Thomas ran forward and found some friends who let them cut into the line. The rest of us grumbled, but no one did anything.

“Why do you all let them get away with stuff like that?” asked Beth.

“Do you want me to start a fight?” I asked.

“No, silly. You could just tell on them. Like back there in the study, with that man or dean or thing, Mr. Waldheim. You could have just told him what was really going on. And another thing, was he about to eat our heads off or what?”

“Probably not,” I laughed. “He makes a good dean because he’s scary, but I’ve never heard any real proof that he’s eaten any of us.”

“Okay, so what about speaking up?”

“We would have gotten into trouble too.”

“Sure, but it would have been worth it, they were out to kill us or something.”

“Well,” I said slowly, not sure how to begin. “We aren’t quite like the kids from other schools.”

“I certainly know that by now!”

“No. I mean, not just because we change our shapes. We have some different ideas about honor and solving our own problems.”

“You mean the adults wouldn’t have helped us?”

“They wouldn’t have been happy to help. They teach us to be self-reliant. There is an unwritten rule here against tattling.”

“Okay,” said Beth slowly. “But why exactly?”

“Beth, you might think we are just cool and interesting, but most normal people are scared of us. We’re different, and if the rest of the world ever finds out about us, they might come to hunt for us.”

Beth nodded. “I see,” she said soberly. “So I’m actually a danger to you all.”

I looked at her in surprise. She was a fast thinker.

“I know your secrets, and if I told people about them…”

“Fortunately, you’re just a kid,” I told her with a smile. “No one believes a kid who tells crazy stories.”

She grinned back. “Good thing.”

Jake joined us. He didn’t have to cut in line because we were the last ones. He came up at a trot, huffing. He was a bit overweight and usually huffed a lot after even a short run.

“Where have you guys been?” he asked, grabbing us both by the shoulders. “I’ve been looking everywhere. You almost made me miss my lunch.”

We told him all about the Forever Room and our crawling escape on the roof and being caught by Danny and Thomas, and finally meeting up with Mr. Waldheim. His eyes just kept getting bigger as we went. By the time we’d finished talking, we had trays in our hands and had almost made it to the food.

“You mean he almost changed completely?” exclaimed Jake. “Wow, you must have really ticked him off. You’ve a knack for upsetting people, Connor. I’ve always said it.”

I had to admit he was right.

Lunch was better than the standard fare. I wondered if Vater’s coming had made them break out the good stuff. Instead of soy-burgers and previously-frozen veggies, we had roast chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy. The gravy was real too, not that cheap stuff that tastes like salted library paste. There were beans and peas, and even a salad on the side with really good dressing.

“I’m sooo hungry,” said Jake, digging into his heaping plate.

“I’m looking forward to the Hussades,” said Beth.

Jake looked at her with chicken in his mouth. “Why?”

“Connor told me about them, they sound like an exciting sport.”

Jake snorted. “Not interesting for us. Did he mention the part about being picked last? You won’t do any better, you are new and you can’t even turn into anything.”

“You can Jake. You are better off than us,” said Beth.

Jake puffed up a bit with pride. I believe it might have been the first time any girl had ever admired his transformation abilities. “Yes, I can change, sure. But I’m not very good at it. I can’t do special forms. I can’t make just one part of me change like some guys can.”

“Why not? Have you tried?”

“He never practices,” I said. “I tell him he should, but he doesn’t like to. He’s traumatized or something.”

“Shaddup,” muttered Jake. He put his head down and worked on his plate.

“Jake,” said Beth gently. “I bet you could do a lot of cool things. I mean with partial changes.”

“Like what?”

“Well, maybe you make a tongue that snaps out and nails someone’s dessert,” she said. She nodded suggestively toward the next table. Danny and Thomas had gotten to the dessert cart early and had ice cream cones in their hands.

Jake looked at them and smiled.

“That would be cool,” I said.

“And in Hussades, I bet you could gain powerful jumping legs.”

“That’s frogs,” I said. “Toads don’t really jump much.”

Beth gave me a look. This time I knew she was suggesting I shut my mouth.

“I can jump pretty far,” mused Jake. “I once got onto the roof with one hop and my father yelled at me for cracking the shingles.”

“Right,” said Beth, “Exactly.”

I could see that Jake’s mind was working now. I looked at Beth appreciatively. She had gone so quickly from someone who didn’t even believe in us to someone who was coaching Jake. She was one of a kind, that’s for sure.

Suddenly, Jake opened his mouth very wide. Inside, I could see a tongue, a huge tongue that must have gone all the way down his throat, which looked to be about a mile deep. His whole neck looked wider now. I knew he’d puffed it up to hold that huge tongue.

Beth and I looked at each other in shock. Before we could say anything. Jake snapped out that huge tongue of his. It traveled about as fast as a baseball pitch across the room. Thomas was enjoying his ice cream cone. It was a vanilla cone that had been dipped in chocolate.

We watched in amazement as the tongue reached out what had to be fifteen feet. Jake was no expert with it, however. Instead of snatching up the cone, the tip of it merely slapped the cone.

The cone flew out of Thomas’ hand and splattered on the floor. For a second the lunchroom fell silent as everyone figured out what had happened.

Then the place exploded in a wild storm of laughter.