فصل 23

Chapter 23: Swamp Eel and Fish Noodles

Even though we had hurried back to the airport, we still ended up sitting around for several hours before the pilots returned. Waiting wasn’t awful since the private jet terminal was pretty nice. Not that I was any kind of expert on airports. Before I’d gotten involved with the voice, I’d never even flown on a plane, but Zeus and Tessa said this place was a lot better than regular airport terminals. It reminded me of an expensive mall. Tessa and McKenna even got massages.

Since no one had ended up eating much at the taco stand, we ate dinner at an expensive steak house—everyone except for Nichelle, who ate alone at an Italian restaurant at the opposite end of the terminal. After we ate we walked back out to the gate to wait. Ostin read his book while Jack found some cards and he, Taylor, Tessa, Ian, and I played Texas Hold’em. It was a pretty bizarre game since Ian could see through the cards and with Tessa so close Taylor could read our minds without touching us, so she always knew if someone had a good hand or was bluffing.

Nichelle sat away from the rest of us. I didn’t really blame her. Everyone was treating her like she had a virus. Most of them wouldn’t even look at her. I know they all had their reasons for hating her—so did I—but still something inside of me pitied her. She had been with the Elgen longer than any of us, and their world was all she knew. If Hatch had raised me I probably would have turned out like her as well.

I eventually gave up playing cards (since, no surprise, I was losing) and walked over to Nichelle. She was sitting on the ground with her back to the wall sketching something in a notebook she had bought at one of the terminal stores.

“Hey,” I said.

She glanced up at me, then went back to drawing. “Hey.” “Mind if I sit here?”

She shook her head without looking up.

I sat down on the linoleum floor next to her. “What are you drawing?” “Nothing.” She took a few more strokes with her pencil, then held the notebook up so I could see. Her drawing was bizarre—a skeleton with lightning bolts coming out of its eyes and rosebushes growing inside its rib cage. Truthfully, she wasn’t bad. She would probably make a good tattoo artist. “What do you think?” she asked.

“Cool,” I said.

“Thanks,” she said, going back to drawing.

“So what have you been up to since we left you?” I asked.

“Surviving.”

“Us too,” I said. “Hatch was holding my mother in Peru.” “Yeah. I knew that.” We were both silent a moment. Then she said, “Did you save her?” “Yes. But we had to take down an entire Starxource plant to do it.” She looked up. “You destroyed the Peruvian Starxource plant?” I nodded. “Yes.”

She looked happy to hear this. “That was Hatch’s favorite. I bet he’s crazy with rage.” “I doubt I’ll be on his Christmas list this year.” “If Hatch did Christmas.” She suddenly seemed a little calmer. “That electric bubble thing you do is new.” “Lightning balls,” I said. “That’s what Ostin calls them. I just figured out how to make them.” “You’ve gotten more electric since I last saw you.” “I know,” I said. “I keep getting more electric.” “You’re the only one of us that does that. What does it mean?” “I have no idea.”

“So now that I’m here, who is it that you’re paying me to help rescue?” “The Elgen kidnapped a little Chinese girl named Jade Dragon.” “Is she electric?”

“No. Just very smart. She figured out how to fix the MEI.” “That’s big,” Nichelle said. “Where are they keeping her?” “I can’t tell you yet.”

“But Hatch and his stuck-up Glows are going to be there?” “Yes.”

“Who told you all this?”

“I can’t tell you that either.”

“So many secrets,” she said, shaking her head. She went back to drawing.

As soon as the pilots returned we boarded the plane and took off. Our first flight was to Tokyo and took about eleven hours. Even though we landed just to refuel, we were on the ground for nearly four hours.

Taylor slept almost the whole way. In fact, almost everyone slept the whole way, except for me and Ostin. He was still memorizing The Art of War.

I was too anxious to sleep. The same thoughts kept running through my mind. What if we fail to save Jade Dragon? What would an electric world be like? What if the Elgen capture us again? What have we gotten ourselves into? Several times I reached into my pocket and brought out Gervaso’s medal. For valor and bravery. I felt like a hypocrite even holding the medal. I didn’t feel brave at all.

Our flight from Japan to Taiwan took about three and a half hours. As we prepared to land, I realized that my internal clock was all messed up—it felt like night but the sun was just rising.

“This isn’t Kaohsiung,” Ostin said.

“How do you know?”

“We came in from the east over the ocean. Kaohsiung’s on the west side of the island. And Kaohsiung is a big city with millions of people. This airport is too small.” “Then where are we?”

Ostin scratched his neck. “That’s what I want to know.” Taylor woke. “Where are we?”

“Not Idaho,” I said.

“Didn’t think so,” she said sleepily, closing her eyes again.

After the plane had landed and come to a complete stop, one of the pilots emerged from the cockpit. “Welcome to Taiwan,” he said. “This is where we say good-bye. You can pick up your bags at the bottom of the stairway. One of our associates will be meeting you on the tarmac. Good luck, Electroclan.” He opened the door and we all got up and walked to the front of the plane.

Even though it was early morning, the air outside was already hot and more humid than anything I’d ever felt before. It was like walking fully dressed into a steam room.

“I’m not used to drinking my air,” I said to Taylor.

“My hair is definitely going frizzy in this,” she said.

“I’m going to melt,” Ostin said. “I swear it.” Nichelle was the last one off the plane. She hadn’t said a word to anyone the entire flight, which worried me. At the bottom of the jet’s stairway she looked around and shook her head. “I should have asked for more money.” As we retrieved the last of our bags, a young Chinese man, probably in his early twenties, walked up to us. He was about my size, thin, and dressed simply in denim jeans and a light-blue sports shirt. He had short, spiky hair and a birthmark across his right cheek. He looked us over as if he was counting, then said with a light accent, “Welcome to Taitung. My Chinese name is Chen Jya Lung, but call me Ben.” “Why are we in Taitung?” Ostin asked. “I thought we were going to Kaohsiung.” “We are going to Kaohsiung,” Ben said. “But it is far from here.” “That’s my point,” Ostin said. “Why are we so far?” “For safety. The Elgen have spies everywhere. They will be watching the airports carefully. Taitung is small, so they will not be watching it. We are one hundred sixty kilometers from Kaohsiung. It will take us maybe three hours to reach our hotel. Do you all have your bags?” I looked around. “We’ve got them.”

“Good. We will go now. Follow me.” He led us to a small service door a short distance from where we had landed. A Chinese man in a police uniform opened the door for us. Ben handed him a red envelope.

“Don’t we have to go through customs?” Ostin asked.

“There are ways to not do things,” Ben said. “Especially when you do not know who you can trust.” He opened the door and we entered the main terminal. As we walked through the crowded corridor, it felt like everyone was looking at us. We were the only non-Asians in the airport and, with the exception of McKenna, we stood out. I wondered if McKenna felt that way in America.

“I only have American money,” I said to Ben.

“You will need to exchange it,” he said. “I will do it. We do not want anyone to see your identification.” I handed him all the money Joel had given me except a thousand dollars.

“You have a lot of money,” he said.

“It’s not mine,” I said.

He took the bills up to a currency exchange booth and returned a few minutes later with a stack of bills. I gave everyone the equivalent of a couple hundred dollars and kept the rest for our expenses.

“Can we get something to eat?” Ostin asked.

“Yes,” Ben said. “We will get food; then we will drive to Kaohsiung. I know you are tired of travel, but it is a beautiful drive.” We followed Ben out to the airport parking lot and to a long white van covered with Chinese characters.

“Can you read what it says?” I asked Ostin.

“Something like Taiwan Excitement Travel Company.” “I’m sure it will be,” Taylor said.

After we were all inside the vehicle Ben said, “I know a place in Taitung with good fish noodles.” “Lovely,” Tessa said. “Nothing I like better for breakfast than a hot bowl of fish noodles.” “I am happy you like fish noodles,” Ben said.

“I don’t think he understands sarcasm,” Zeus said.

“So it seems,” Tessa replied.

I don’t know what she was complaining about—after all the bugs and slimy creatures she’d been eating in the Amazon, fish noodles sounded normal.

We drove into the Taitung city center and Ben parked the van in front of an open restaurant. We all sat down at two round tables on the uneven concrete sidewalk in front of the restaurant. Christmas music was blaring from a CD player inside the restaurant, which seemed weird to us, but I figured was no different from any other American music to them. I lifted a menu. Not surprisingly, everything was in Chinese.

“At least the Chinese restaurants at home have pictures of the food,” Taylor said.

“You’re not at home,” Ostin said.

“Really,” Taylor replied, looking over her menu. “I thought this was Boise.” “This is my favorite restaurant in Taitung,” Ben said. “I will make your life easy and order for you.” He shouted something across the room to a woman standing behind a large serving table. A moment later she came out with a tray filled with glasses and bottles of amber liquid. “This is pingwo sidra,” Ben said. “Apple soda. You like soda?” “We like soda,” Ostin said.

Tessa was the first to try it. “That’s not bad. Kind of cidery.” “Cidery?” Ostin said. “Is that a word?”

Tessa ignored him.

The woman then brought out small plastic bowls of thin broth with chopped scallions. The soup was simple and salty but good. While we finished our soup they brought out chopsticks, soy sauce, and a shallow porcelain dish of red hot sauce, followed by bamboo baskets stacked on top of each other. They were filled with white steaming dumplings.

“What are these?” Taylor asked.

“There’s meat inside,” Ian said.

“I just thought of something,” Taylor said, smiling. “If someone ever gives me a box of chocolates I’m bringing them to you.” “I don’t like chocolate,” Ian said.

“Not for you to eat,” Taylor said. “So you could tell me what’s inside them. That way I won’t have to stick my fingernail in the bottom of each one.” She looked at me. “That makes my mom so mad.” “These are called syau lung bau,” Ben said. “That means ‘little dragon dumplings.’ They are very delicious.” I had trouble lifting one with my chopstick, so I finally just speared it. Something yellow and oily came out where I had pierced it.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“There is soup inside,” Ben said. “I do not think you have this in America.” “In America the dumplings are in the soup,” Taylor said. “Not the other way around.” “Try it,” Ben said. “You will like it.”

I lifted a dumpling and bit half of it, and the other half fell to the table. I picked up the other half with my fingers and quickly put it in my mouth. Ben was right. I did like it.

“You may put them in the soy sauce or hot sauce,” Ben said.

“What’s the meat inside of these?” Taylor asked.

“Poke.”

“Poke?”

“Pig meat,” Ben said.

“You mean pork,” Ostin said.

Ben looked distressed. “I am very sorry, my English is not always so good.” “Your English is very good,” I said. “And a million times better than our Chinese.” “I can’t use these things,” McKenna said, setting down her chopsticks. “Can I have a fork?” Ben’s brow furrowed. “But you are Chinese.”

“Only my genes,” McKenna said.

Ben looked at her pants. “Your jeans are from China?” McKenna shook her head. “Never mind.”

Next they brought out bowls of noodles with broccoli and snap peas and pieces of some kind of filleted fish. The skin of the fish was thick and decorative, almost like snakeskin. The noodles were set in a yellow-brown mucus-like broth.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Taylor said, looking at the bowl.

“What is this?” I asked Ben.

“Fish.”

“It looks like a snake,” Zeus said.

“Eat,” Ben said. “You will like it. It is famous in Taitung.” I ate a few bites. He was wrong this time. It was awful. “What kind of fish is this?” “It is shan yu. I do not know how to say it in English.” He took out his smartphone. “I will look it up on Wikipedia.” He typed in some words, then handed me the phone.

“Swamp eel,” I said.

“I’m going to throw up,” Taylor said.

“You should see how gross it looks in your stomach,” Ian said.

Taylor grimaced. “Now I’m definitely going to throw up.” “Generally speaking, I don’t eat things from swamps,” Tessa said.

“Me neither,” I said, pushing the bowl away from me. I drank some of the apple soda to get the taste out of my mouth.

Ben looked at us all curiously. “You do not like noodles?” “We like noodles,” I said. “It’s the eel.”

“And the yellow mucus puss stuff,” Tessa added.

“You do not like eel?” Ben asked.

“Only electric ones,” I said.

“Do they taste good?”

“I have no idea,” I said.

The woman brought out more bamboo baskets, which I was glad to see since I was still hungry and the dumplings were good. “What are these?” I asked.

“These are steamed buns with sweet meat.”

“Barbecue,” Ostin said.

They were as good as the dumplings, maybe better. Ostin clearly liked them because he ate like six of them, and Ben ordered more for the rest of us.

We finished eating, then boarded the van and headed off to Kaohsiung. We drove south along Taiwan’s eastern coastline for more than an hour to a small city called Daren, west for another hour to another small town called Shihzih, then back north along the western coast to Kaohsiung, which was the largest and most crowded city I had ever seen. The streets were filled with cars, bicycles, motorcycles, and scooters.

Ben had booked us in a five-star hotel called the Grand Hi-Lai. It was the tallest building in that part of the city and overlooked the Kaohsiung bay. He parked across from the hotel’s entrance, shut off the van, and turned back to speak to us. “This is where we will be staying. Please wait while I get your rooms.” He went into the hotel and about ten minutes later returned with our room keys. We split up into four rooms: Ostin and me; Jack, Zeus, and Ian; Tessa and McKenna; and Taylor and Nichelle.

“I think we must walk in two or three at a time to avoid suspicion,” Ben said. “It is best if you do not leave the hotel. There are many restaurants inside, but you should only be two or maybe four together. There is a nice mall with the hotel if you want to shop. Do you have any questions?” “Where are you staying?” I asked.

“I am stay here too. I am in room 7011.”

“Seven, zero, one, one,” I memorized. “What’s our schedule?” “The Elgen boat Volta is still at least a week away. Tomorrow we will drive to look at the Starxource plant. I think you will be jet-lag, so we will not start too early. Maybe around ten.” He looked around for confirmation.

“Ten’s good,” I said.

“Okay,” he said. “We meet in the hotel lobby at ten. I will take you to breakfast. Do you need anything?” “We’re good,” I said.

“Then we go.”

Ben handed us our plastic room keys, and Jack, Zeus, and Ian went in first, followed by Tessa and McKenna, then Taylor and Nichelle. When it was just Ostin and me, I said to Ben, “Thank you. We’ll see you in the morning.” “Shr dyan,” Ben said. “Ten o’clock. And welcome to Taiwan.”