فصل 23

Chapter 23

I’d gotten answers, but somehow they’d left me with even more questions than I’d had before. All of the new information swirled around in my head, and I tried to think through each fact, rationalize it, and categorize it just like I had in my dinosaur research.

Fact one: my mom and dad had been part of a secret society. Okay, I could imagine that. I thought back to my memories of my dad, seeing them in a new light. My dad had never spoken against the Noah, but he’d never praised the Noah like everyone else in the compound had.

Fact two: my mom had been murdered. This one was harder to wrap my head around, and I pushed the whole matter aside to think about later.

Fact three: Ivan was my grandfather. That last bit was the hardest piece of information to believe. Was I happy about it? I decided I was. It was nice to have a relative who cared about me. It made me feel like a kid, something I hadn’t really felt like in a long time. He definitely wasn’t the warm and fuzzy grandfather type, but that was okay too. His prickly demeanor seemed to hide a kind heart, at least when it came to my mother. Maybe, given time, he’d feel that way about me too.

Our meal finished, Ivan pulled a lantern off its bracket on the wall and gave us each a hard look. “Do you want a tour?” he asked reluctantly. Shawn cocked an eyebrow at me, and I shrugged. I had too much on my mind to care about touring the abandoned guts of an old skyscraper. Todd, on the other hand, bounded to his feet like his chair had been set on fire, a look of eager anticipation on his face. Ivan chuckled as he slung his leather bag back over his shoulder and motioned with his stump arm for us to follow him.

As Ivan lit the wall-mounted lanterns, the warm golden light flooded into the dark corners of the enormous room, and I gasped in wonder. Pile after pile of gigantic dinosaur hides lay on every available surface. They were stacked three feet high and stretched on large metal frames to dry. Barrels of claws and teeth stood in neat rows against the back wall next to orderly stacks of bones taller than me. A few dinosaur heads were even stuffed and hung on the wall. Their shiny glass eyes winked at me as I stood in the middle of the space and spun around slowly.

“This is ten times the inventory you used to have,” Todd said in awe as he flipped the corner of a huge scaly pelt over to inspect the underside.

“Did you kill all of these?” I asked. Ivan grunted as he watched Todd hold up claws to the light and inspect teeth with a small magnifying lens he’d picked up off Ivan’s worktable.

“Some I killed,” Ivan clarified as he took a seat at the large wooden worktable and spread out the gory claws and teeth that he had collected earlier, “others died naturally, and I just showed up to pull off the pelt before the scavengers arrived. A few made the mistake of trying to kill me and didn’t live to regret it.” Ivan unscrewed a fat glass jar and poured clear liquid into a large dented metal bowl. He dropped the teeth and claws in one by one, and the contents fizzed. When the fizzing stopped, he removed the teeth and claws using thin metal tongs and laid them out in a neat row on his table. All traces of blood and flesh were gone, leaving them gleaming and clean. He then poured the contents of the bowl back into the jar, setting the liquid aside. The process was fascinating, to say the least.

“But what do you do with it all?” I asked, my head spinning.

“Sell it. Trade it. Eat it.”

We all turned to watch Todd crow happily as he discovered an entire dinosaur skull hidden under a tarp.

“That boy is his father reincarnated,” Ivan said. “I’ve never seen anyone get“That boy is his father reincarnated,” Ivan said. “I’ve never seen anyone get so excited over old bones. He’ll make a good trader if he can live long enough to grow up. Most traders don’t.” I was surprised to hear a warm affection in his voice as he talked about Todd. From the way he’d treated him earlier, I’d thought Ivan didn’t like him. I’d been wrong.

“You don’t look retired!” Todd exclaimed with a grin as he bounded up to us. He gestured to the two large claws he was holding in each hand. “You have enough stock here to keep the outlying villages supplied for years.” “Hobby.” Ivan shrugged.

“I wish I knew how to kill this efficiently,” Shawn said. “I’d wipe the dinosaurs off the planet. One monster at a time.”

“Not so fast,” Ivan cautioned. “It’s too late for that. The dinosaurs have embedded themselves in our world, and we must adapt and evolve accordingly or risk going extinct ourselves.”

“Really?” Shawn asked, disbelief etched in every line of his face.

“But wouldn’t things just go back to the way they were before if all the dinosaurs were killed?” I asked, feeling just as confused as Shawn.

Ivan shook his head gravely. “Too much has changed since they arrived. The creatures of the past have disappeared to make way for the dinosaurs’ hierarchy of prey and predators.”

“But if they all died, we’d be able to live topside again.” Shawn said.

“Evolution doesn’t work in reverse, compound boy,” Ivan said sharply. He looked around, as though searching for inspiration. He stood up from his worktable and pointed to one of its legs. Only then did I notice that while three of the legs were made of solid wood, the remaining leg seemed to be supported by a thick dinosaur bone.

“That table leg started to rot some years back,” Ivan said. “I used that bone to prop it up, and over time the original leg has become weaker and weaker. Now, young Shawn, picture that bone to be the dinosaur population, and the table is the rest of the world we live in, the animals, the plants, the people.” Ivan gave the dinosaur bone a swift kick, and as it fell, the entire table collapsed in on itself, the piles of dinosaur teeth and claws that had been perched on it skittering across the floor. “Get it now?” he asked Shawn frowned down at the table. Ivan didn’t realize it, but he couldn’t have used a better metaphor to describe the problem if he’d tried. Shawn understood how things were put together, how points and counterpoints needed to balance, and I could see his brain churning as he thought over what Ivan had said.

Without another word, Ivan stood and blew out the nearest lantern. Our tour was officially over.

The next morning I woke up with a stiff neck, sore muscles, and Todd drooling on my shoulder. Gross. The bright morning sun was streaming in, and the mounted head of a T. rex leered at me from across the room. All three of us had bunked down on Ivan’s floor the night before. It hadn’t exactly been comfortable. Shawn’s blanket was crumpled in a forgotten lump, and he was nowhere in sight. I glanced over at the metal panel still bolted in the floor, and let out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t left, so he had to be around here somewhere. Easing out of my blankets, I padded quietly over to the wall of windows. The forest below us seemed to go on forever, and in the distance I could just make out Lake Michigan.

“It’s hard to believe it’s crawling with scaled beasties from up here, isn’t it,” said a gruff voice behind me. I jumped and turned to find Ivan already dressed in his rough brown tunic, two bows and a gun slung over one shoulder.

“Good morning,” I mumbled, brushing my tangle of curls back from my face. I glanced nervously at his gun. It was huge and black; a long rifle style rather than a pistol like the marines carried. I wondered where in the world he’d gotten it.

Seeing my gaze, Ivan glanced down. “I prefer the bow,” he explained. “But I believe in always having a plan B.”

“Where did you get it?” I asked, awed and a little frightened at the sight of the lethal-looking weapon.

“I found it years ago. It was a corroded and rusted mess, but I managed to rebuild it with the help of a man in the Maples.”

I glanced up. “The Maples?”

“A village about fifty miles south of the Oaks,” Ivan explained. “There is a collector there who specializes in old-world weapons parts and ammunition.”

I nodded, feeling a tug of guilt as I thought about the only collector I’d ever met, Roderick. Because of me, he was dead.

“Your friend Shawn has been busy this morning,” Ivan said, interrupting my train of thought.

“Where is he?”

Ivan jerked his head to the left, and I looked over to see Shawn on his hands and knees, reconstructing the table that Ivan had knocked over the night before. He’d used bits of the dinosaur bone and teeth to cleverly support the weathered wood. I smiled as he checked to see if the table was level with a small round bone.

“He’s always been good at fixing things,” I said, feeling proud. Shawn brushed off his hands and looked up to see us watching him. He smiled sheepishly.

“Good.” Ivan nodded. “Wake up, you lazy bum,” he roared in Todd’s direction, causing him to sit up with a start as he looked around in bleary-eyed confusion. “Breakfast is in five, and I don’t eat with people who smell like a stegosaurus’s bum. The washbasin is over there.” Ivan motioned with his good arm, and Todd stumbled in that direction, still half asleep. Shawn and I joined him, splashing our faces and rubbing our arms with the ice-cold water.

“The table looks good,” I said to Shawn as we walked back toward Ivan’s kitchen. He shrugged in response. Ivan sliced up some coarse brown bread and handed us each a slice. He plunked a jar of something bright red on the table and sat down, smearing the stuff liberally on his bread. Todd followed suit, but Ivan noticed Shawn’s hesitation.

“What’s the matter? Haven’t you ever had jelly before?” he asked.

“No,” Shawn said, “what is it?”

“What do you mean what is it? What kind of question is that? It’s a fruit preserve. This one’s raspberry,” Ivan said. “I can it myself.” I took the knife Ivan offered me and coated my own piece of bread and took a bite. I grinned, the flavor exploding in my mouth, sweet and just the slightest bit tart. I imagined it was what sunshine tasted like.

“That’s better,” Ivan said, and I could tell he was pleased. “Eat it all; you have a big day ahead of you.”

“We do?” Shawn asked.

“Are we going to Lake Michigan?” I asked.

“Are we going to go save my mom?” Todd asked.

“I will be accompanying you to the lake,” Ivan said. “A lot of the bigger beasts roam the area around the lake, and I don’t fancy my granddaughter stomping through the woods with you two as her protectors.” Hearing him say the word granddaughter had me pausing midbite. The term still felt so foreign, but despite its strangeness, it sent a warm happiness flooding through me. Then I registered what Ivan had actually said.

“Wait a minute.” I sat up straight, feeling that warm feeling fizzle a little. “They aren’t my protectors. I can take care of myself.” Ivan didn’t say anything, but I thought I saw a slight smile cross his face as he cut himself another slice of bread.

“You aren’t going to help me get my mom and the rest of the Oaks back?” Todd asked.

“I will,” Ivan said. “But not until after we have delivered Jack’s plug.” Todd sagged in disappointment. I thought over what he’d just said again. Protectors. He was acting like I was this helpless little girl getting taken care of by Shawn and Todd. If anything, the opposite was true—at least for Shawn.

“I have a backbone,” I snapped, glaring at Ivan. “And before you ask if I have guts, I have those too.”

“Very good,” Ivan said, nodding approvingly. “Compound life can make you soft and dependent. It’s good to see you’re neither of those things.” He seemed amused rather than offended, his blue eyes sparkling with humor. I had a feeling I’d just been tested. “Back to Jack’s plug,” he went on, his face serious again. “I’m worried. Your father, despite his numerous faults, loved you. He would never have put you in danger. I’m anxious to find out what is on that plug that was worth risking your life for.” “Do you think my dad might be at Lake Michigan?” I asked hopefully.

“No,” Ivan said, shaking his head. “My best guess is that your father’s dead.” His words fell like lead weights into my stomach, and I felt myself visibly sag in despair. When he saw my expression, he raised an eyebrow. “Don’t look so defeated, child. It is only a guess. If you want to keep your hope alive, don’t let me take it away from you.” “Do you know what’s in the middle of Lake Michigan?” Shawn asked.

“I can only assume one of the surviving members of the Colombe,” Ivan said. “But we won’t know until we get there, will we.”

“How soon do we leave?” I asked, anxious impatience shooting through my nerves again.

“This afternoon,” Ivan said. “I want to work on your shooting skills first.”

“I taught her the basics yesterday,” Todd said. “And she hit that Croc Killer dead in the eye.”

“She needs more than the basics,” Ivan said, “and I would like to work on your shooting skills as well.”

“Mine?” Todd said. “Why?”

“You were a decent shot yesterday, but you could be better. You only hit two of the four dinosaurs you were shooting at.”

“They were moving,” Todd objected. “It wasn’t exactly an easy shot.”

Ivan raised an eyebrow. “They will always be moving.” I covered my mouth to hide a smile as Todd frowned and stared down moodily at his plate. Ivan sure was good at putting people in their place. Todd had been so confident in his shooting skills from the moment we met him. Now he was being told that they needed some work. I had a feeling his ego was more than a little bruised.

“I wasn’t shooting with my bow,” Todd muttered. “I’m a better shot with mine, but it busted when it fell out of the tree.”

“I can fix that,” Ivan said, and he pushed himself away from the table and stomped across the length of the skyscraper to a back corner. Moments later he was back, a bow almost identical to the one Todd had lost held in his hand. “Stand up,” he said, and when Todd did, he held the bow up to him, squinting with one eye. “It’ll work,” he said. “It’s a tad large for you, but you’ll grow into it.” “This looks exactly like my dad’s,” Todd said, running an appreciative hand down its gleaming length.

“It should,” Ivan grunted. “I made it from the ribs of the same beastie.”

“I didn’t know you made my dad’s bow,” Todd said, and I his eyes for a moment before he looked down and ran a hand roughly across his face. “Thanks,” he said, his voice hoarse.

“You’re welcome,” Ivan said, clapping him on the shoulder. He turned to us. “Don’t just stand there staring; go grab your bows and packs. We won’t be coming back here.” We did, and I helped him to unhinge the heavy metal plate. He jumped down the ten-foot gap to land on the dilapidated escalator in a crouch, bow drawn. He scanned the room below, and then motioned for us to follow him. Moments later we were in the sunlight.

Ivan headed for the woods at a brisk trot. He never looked back, and he never said a word. After I shared a “here we go again” look with Shawn, we followed. Ivan was quick, zigzagging through the woods with a grace and stealth I wouldn’t have thought possible at his age. When he finally stopped thirty minutes later, it was in a small meadow surrounded by thick trees. Shawn and I were breathing hard and even Todd looked a little winded. Ivan didn’t look like he’d been running.

“First things first,” he said, “you never carry your arrows at the center of your back; too hard to reach.” He adjusted my quiver so the opening sat at my left shoulder. “I saw you drop your arrows yesterday,” Ivan admonished, and my face heated in embarrassment. How had he had time to study me while simultaneously killing a pack of rampaging dinosaurs?

“I was scared,” I said, and even to my own ears I sounded pathetic.

“Learn to function scared,” Ivan instructed. “I want you to shut your eyes and practice grabbing arrows.”

“That’s it?” I asked. “Just grabbing them?”

“Grab one, notch it, draw, and then do it again, until you could do it in your sleep,” Ivan said. “I’ll let you know when to stop.” So I did. Ivan spent the next three hours working with each of us in turn. First with the bows, and then when he saw that our arms were getting tired, he switched to knife throwing. I was surprisingly good at it, better even than Todd, a fact I could tell bugged him. I was wondering how I was going to hack an entire day of hiking after all of this training when Ivan finally held up a hand to signal we were done. I let my arm drop, sending a ripple of pain through my exhausted muscles. Despite the throbbing ache, I was excited. For the first time since coming topside, I felt like I might have a chance if I was attacked by a dinosaur.

“That’s enough for now,” Ivan said. “We need to get going. From the way you and Shawn were huffing and puffing, it may take us longer to get to the lake than I originally thought.” He froze then, his head cocked to the side, listening. I froze too, but all I could hear was the tittering of birds and the low buzz of insects. My skin prickled as goose bumps broke out on my skin.

“What is it?” Shawn whispered, but Ivan held up a hand to silence him. I strained my ears, and I heard it: footsteps. A moment later, the world erupted in noise and gunfire as the ground around our feet was peppered with bullets. They seemed to be coming from every direction as dirt shot up and hit our shins and legs. I shrieked, throwing my hands up to protect my face and head. Ivan and Todd dove behind a nearby outcropping of rocks, but I stood frozen in panic for a half second longer before I shoved my terror aside, grabbed a petrified Shawn, and followed. I hit the hard-packed dirt with a painful thump that knocked the wind out of me. I wheezed, trying to force air back into stubborn lungs as my brain fought to process what was happening. Guns could mean only one thing. Had we really been tracked again? Shawn pounded me on the back until I took a few gasping breaths. With air in my lungs again, I maneuvered myself carefully next to Shawn. The rock we crouched behind would have fit two of us comfortably; four was tight. Ivan had the big black gun I’d seen earlier in his hands.

“You’ve been followed,” Ivan growled. “I should have heard the buggers. Getting old. Hearing isn’t what it once was. We were sitting ducks waiting for them to take some target practice on us.” He glanced over at us, concern in his bright eyes. “None of you were hit, were you?” We shook our heads, staying low as bullets continued to ricochet off the rocks. My mind flashed back to when the marines had shown up at the Oaks. This was what the villagers had felt like, trapped in the trees, outgunned and outmatched. And just like the people of the Oaks, I didn’t see any way out. I swallowed hard. We would have heard a plane or a helicopter, which meant we’d been followed on foot. The thought had me scanning the thick woods behind us, worried that a marine in body armor was about to emerge any second.

“Bows up,” Ivan said, jerking his head at the trees as though he’d read my mind. “If you see movement of any kind, shoot first and ask questions later.” A cold trickle of sweat ran into my eyes, but I didn’t take my hand off my bow to wipe it away.

“You aren’t using your bow?” Shawn asked, his voice shrill. His shoulder was pressed against mine, and I could feel him trembling. Although it might have been me. It was hard to tell. Shawn leaned forward and got a look at Ivan’s gun for the first time, and his eyes went wide.

“I only use bows on innocent beasts,” Ivan said. “It puts us on even footing.” He popped his head above the rock for a second to look, quickly ducking back down as another flurry of bullets pinged off the hard stone. He glanced over at Shawn. “With humans, I use bullets.” “They have body armor,” Todd said, his face strained as he scanned the woods. “They were wearing it when they attacked the Oaks. Our arrows won’t penetrate it.”

“That’s nice,” Ivan said. “I have a .458 Winchester Magnum.”

“What’s the plan?” Shawn whispered.

“You need to get to the lake,” Ivan said, his words rushed and clipped. “I will do my best to deal with this lot, and I’ll catch up with you as soon as I can.”

“But, Ivan,” I protested, letting go of my bow to clutch at his arm. “You’ll never survive this alone. There has to be twenty of them. Come with us. We can outrun them.”

“Twenty,” snorted Ivan. “They should have sent fifty.”

“It’s too dangerous,” I objected, but Ivan just shook his head at me.

“Don’t worry, granddaughter. I didn’t find you just to lose you again. Get to the lake as quickly as you can.” He looked at Shawn and Todd. “You keep her safe, or I will skin both of you and use your sorry hides as a rug.” Ivan turned back to me. “Look out for those two knuckleheads. You have more brains in your pinkie finger than either of them combined. Wait for me to distract the marines and then run.” And before I could protest, Ivan pressed a whiskery kiss to my forehead and rolled out from behind the rock and into the woods, heading swiftly toward the sounds of men’s voices and gunfire.

“Sky, which way are we running? Which way is north?” Shawn asked, his voice high and panicked, and I ripped my gaze away from the spot where Ivan had disappeared to look at Shawn’s dirty sweat-streaked face.

“We can’t just leave Ivan to do this alone,” I cried.

“We have to,” Todd said. “And don’t worry, if anyone can survive this, it’s Ivan. That guy’s a living legend.”

I pulled out my compass and found north, but instead of tucking it back inside my shirt, I held it for a second. The warm metal pressed into my palm, and I wondered what would happen if I just ran out into the open and gave it to the marines. Would it save my friends from being killed? My dad had asked me to risk everything to deliver the plug to Lake Michigan, but was it really worth dying for? I wasn’t so sure anymore. Just then, a loud bellow came from behind us, followed by a man’s terrified scream and gunfire.

“Go,” Todd cried, and we scrambled to our feet, careful to stay low to the ground as we sprinted into the woods.