We Shall Be Monsters Read online

  “You want me to make him disappear?” He glared at Billie. “Is that it?”

  Tears dripped onto Anika’s shirt. “No.”

  “You can’t keep risking your life like this. Boulsour take her home. Take both of them.”

  Anika stared as Boulsour turned and held out his hand.

  Anika knocked it away.

  “I saved him” she screamed. “All you did for him was fail.”

  Margery gasped.

  Anika glared over at Coralynn, who stood idly by, saying nothing. Billie stood silent but stared at Anika with fear in her eyes. The guards stared at their feet or into the trailer. Boulsour hadn’t moved, his arm still stretched out.

  Her father turned toward his guard. “What are you waiting for? We need to cage George before he wakes up!”

  One of the guards barked orders, sending soldiers in several directions.

  Dravovitch leaned toward Anika. “Who helped you do this?”

  Anika wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “It was just the two of us.”

  He actually laughed. “Your mother taught you too well. Boulsour! Take them home and keep them there until school tomorrow. I need time to think.”

  Anika glared at Boulsour as he clumped closer. Anika surged to her feet and tried to push him away. “Leave me alone.”

  She cried out as Boulsour grabbed her jacket behind her neck and pulled her toward Billie. She tried to dodge him, but he snatched her jacket too. He pulled them toward his car.

  Coralynn smirked from the sidelines.

  Dravovitch grabbed a guard and pointed at Wallace. “Get this guy out of here.”

  Boulsour pulled them around the car and let go. He opened the door and gestured with his arm for them to climb in.

  Anika huffed. “You’re gonna let him treat us like that?”

  His eyes widened slightly.

  Anika knew she was sunk. Boulsour would take them home, and he wouldn’t let them leave. She’d never make the meeting with Darwin and the Swampazazi boys.

  Another broken promise.

  Sasha was going to be pissed.

  Anika took a deep breath and climbed inside.

  With Boulsour looming behind her, Anika pulled the ornate and heavy wooden front door open herself.

  Billie strolled into Anika’s little mansion wide-eyed and grinning like a monkey. “Dude, this place is so creepy.”

  Anika pushed past her and flicked on the lights. “You get used to it.”

  “Not a chance.” Billie ran to the grand staircase and bounced up a few steps. “You really undersold it. This place is amazing.”

  Anika smiled for the first time since her father had grabbed her. For a moment, right before, he’d been genuinely impressed with her. She was sure of it. An ally for a split second, and now a prisoner again. She wanted to scream.

  Billie laughed as she hustled up the silent steps and slid down the banister. She ran into the sitting room and ran a finger across the mantle over the fireplace, pulled on the light fixtures willing a secret passage to open, and gazed at the portraits on the walls. “This is ballsy. No. This is funktastic.”

  Anika wiped her smile away as Boulsour plodded inside the house. His lips curled downwards a tiny bit as he closed the front door, but his eyes never left Anika and they didn’t waver the slightest.

  “As far as prisons go.” Anika tossed her coat on the floor. Boulsour didn’t pick it up. He didn’t leave his post barring her exit. He’d probably follow her around the house or at least block the nearest exit. She wasn’t going anywhere.

  “No,” Billie said. “You didn’t do this place justice. It’s horrifying. I can’t believe you sleep here all alone.”

  “It has its charms.” Anika pulled out her new phone. Linh had assured her that no one was tracking it or listening in on her calls. Anika didn’t ask her how she was so sure given the brain power in this town, but Anika knew that she could trust her. The five texts would have to wait. She had to think of a way to get out.

  “Want a cookie?” Anika locked arms with Billie and led her to the pantry.

  “Hey, do you think your dad will make his famous breakfast spread in the morning?”

  “Not after tonight.” Anika handed her a box of cookies. “He’ll fixate on Blake’s dad.”

  Billie tore into the Thin Mints. “So, what are we going to do? Sing songs and drink cocoa? Ooh, can I do your hair again?”

  “No. Definitely not.”

  “Oh, I gotta see your room.” Billie ran back to the foyer and up the stairs. Anika followed, stuffing two Samoas into her mouth.

  Billie screamed giddily before returning to the top of the stairs. “Your room is terribly distressing. I love it.”

  “Can we move on now?”

  “Wait.” Billie ran down the hall and returned with the sword from the library and slid down the banister again, waving the blade over her head.

  Anika caught her when she reached the bottom. “We’re running out of time.”

  Billie sparred with an invisible opponent. “I only found one sword, or we could fence. Do you know where the other one went?”

  “I think Sasha took it and ran Victor through with it.” Anika pulled an umbrella from the rack by the door, glared at Boulsour for good measure, took an awkward fighting stance, and poked the tip toward Billie. She deflected, sending a slice of fabric floating into the air.

  They paused as it fluttered to the ground.

  Billie attacked. Anika retreated across the foyer barely deflecting the sword with her umbrella. Bits of fabric tore off with each swing.

  Billie lowered the sword. “At least she put it to good use.”

  Anika ducked around the hallway and sprinted toward the ballroom and almost crashed into a stack of plastic bins. Pressed up against the wall, the six pink bins were stacked three high, unlabeled and ominous.

  Billie sauntered up beside her. “What’s all this?”

  “I think it’s my stuff.” Anika put her hands behind her neck. “I didn’t think I’d ever see it again.”

  They each grabbed a bin and opened it. Anika’s held her clothes and stuffed animals. She picked up a teddy bear wearing a bow tie and glasses and hugged it.

  Billie’s held Anika’s old Jr. Chemistry sets. “Cool, maybe we can use this stuff to get the alligator.”

  Anika sat on the floor and leaned against the bins. “Yeah, except I can’t seem to do anything right.”

  Billie pulled out a box of chemicals and sat beside her. “That’s your dad talking. Your plan was brilliant, and it worked.”

  “And where did it get us? I’m not convinced that Blake’s mom is going to give up anything.” Anika squeezed the teddy bear. Nothing in her collection of old chemistry sets she’d acquired from garage sales over the last ten years was going to save her. She was dealing with science fiction incarnate.

  “Your dad was pissed, sure.” Billie examined the labels as she searched through the chemicals. “But he was impressed, too. He was so close to patting you on the back and taking you out for a beer.”

  “So?”

  Billie grinned. “So, you do it again. We catch the alligator and then we pull the best disappearing act he’s ever seen.”

  Anika finally smiled, leaning on Billie’s shoulder. “Sounds like a plan.”

  Billie pulled out a small plastic vial with some shiny metal at the bottom. “Hey, is this the gallium?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Because awesome. Didn’t you win a science fair with this stuff, melting metal and stuff?”

  “It doesn’t actually melt aluminum,” Anika said. “The gallium creates an amalgam, penetrating the crystal lattice of the aluminum and disrupting its structure. Makes it brittle.”

  “Whatever. The gallium totally melts in your hand. Can I show this off at school?”

  Anika nudged Billie with her shoulder. “Go for it.”

  “Thanks.” Billie tucked the vial of gallium into her pocket. She leaned in and whispered. “So h
ow are we going to get out of here?”

  Anika scooted to the hallway. Boulsour hadn’t moved an inch since they entered the house. “We’re not.”

  “What?”

  “He’s not going to let us.” Anika tossed the teddy bear back in the bin. “Even if we could sneak out of the house without him noticing, we’d never make it to the fence. Apparently, he’s a lapdog after all.”

  “How do you know what he’s thinking?” Billie got up and went to the foyer, Anika followed. “I’ve tried to see what you see, but I got nothing. He’s a blank slate.”

  Anika rubbed her eyes. “I have to think.”

  “We’re going to miss the meeting.” Billie grabbed a chair from the sitting room.

  “I know.”

  “Sasha won’t be happy.” Billie placed the chair in front of Boulsour.

  Anika sat on the steps.

  Billie stood on the chair and put her face in Boulsour’s face, staring into his eyes. “He smells like Christmas.”

  Anika put her elbows on the step behind her. “That’s what I thought, too.”

  “Boulsour,” Billie said. “You have to let us get to our meeting. It’s important.”

  Anika rested her head on the next step. “He’s not going to listen.”

  “Then what else are we going to do tonight?” Billie hopped off the chair. “Show me your dad’s secret room? Oh, I know.”

  Billie ran back toward the ballroom. Anika got up, glared at Boulsour, and followed Billie.

  Billie stood at the basement door, her hand inching toward the knob. “We should explore the basement.”

  She turned the locked door knob, twisting it in vain.

  “Easy, tiger.” Anika leaned against the wall. “Let’s tackle one problem at a time.”

  Billie nodded. “Maybe we could FaceTime the meeting.”

  “Sasha couldn’t be there. She’d scramble the electronics.”

  “Right. Freakshow gotta represent.”

  “Don’t call her that.”

  “Whatever, Frankenstein.”

  Anika stormed down the hallway and whipped around. “Why are you trying to make me angry?”

  Billie pushed Anika’s shoulder. “Because you think faster when you’re angry.”

  “What?”

  Billie smiled. “It’s a thing.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “Fine. How are we going to be at a meeting we can’t go to?”

  Anika grabbed Billie’s cheeks. “We have the meeting right here.”

  “I love it.” Billie grinned. “What about Lurch?”

  “My father didn’t say anything about not inviting people over.” Anika pulled out her phone. “And don’t call him that.”

  “Won’t he tell your dad?”

  Boulsour was still in the exact same position in front of the door. “No, I don’t think so. I mean he could have told him quite a bit already. I think it’s worth the risk.”

  Billie cupped her chin with one hand, the other firmly planned on her hip. “You take a lot of risks.”

  Options were something of a rare commodity in this town, a dwindling resource she’d taken for granted. Anika sighed. “I think we have to. Don’t we?”

  “Yeah,” Billie said. “Dial it up.”

  Anika dialed, eyeing her chemistry sets. Maybe something in there could help, but at least she’d have props for the meeting. “Hawking didn’t answer.”

  “Dude’s probably hanging out with Sasha,” Billie said. “He’s got it bad. Can’t say I blame him.”

  Anika dialed Misty. “Come on. Pick up.”

  “Anika!” Misty said. “Where are you?”

  “Change of plans. We’re having the meeting at my house.”

  “What?”

  Anika pinched the bridge of her nose. “I got grounded.”

  Misty laughed. “I bet. Alright, we’ll be over soon.”

  Billie rubbed her hands together. “Now we get to explore the basement while we wait. Whatever’s down there sounds amazing.”

  “It could be dangerous.”

  “When has that ever stopped you from doing anything?”

  Anika pulled Billie away from the basement door. Each night of a thunderstorm, Anika heard thumping coming from the basement. She had tried to find a pattern, but it seemed to respond to each thunderclap. Anika would slap the ground and the thumping would match her patterns.

  “I don’t think it’s human. I mean I don’t think it could be. It just repeats patterns.”

  “Maybe it’s a robot.”

  Billie reached for the door knob.

  “Wait.” A shiver crawled up Anika’s spine. “I don’t think we should go down there tonight.”

  “Are you afraid?”

  Anika’s palms felt sweaty. Her heart raced. “Yes.”

  “This scares you. You faced two boys trying to kill you without breaking a sweat, snuck into a secret lab, and talked down a killer crocodile. And this scares you.”

  “Alligator.”

  “Well, crap.” Billie backed away a step. “Now I’m freaking out. Okay, new plan. I’ll do your hair.”

  “No.” The door was locked, but Anika doubted that would stop Billie for long. She took Billie’s hand and pulled her toward the stairs. “We need to get prepared. I want to have visual aids.”

  Billie smiled. “Nerd.”

  Boulsour stood by the door, his thick arms folded, and his face frozen the slightest bit sour, as the Swampazazi boys tramped into the house. They held the leather-clad fashion sense close to the chest, but they had little else in common but a Cajun accent and a flare for tattoos. Darwin came last, wearing a grimy red satchel over his shoulder. He handed Billie a bucket of crawdads.

  “Thanks.” Billie motioned for them to find a place to sit. Anika and Billie had pulled in every chair in the whole house. Anika waited at the top of the stairs until everyone sat.

  The oldest-looking alligator hunter had gray hair and a beard to his belly and wore a skull and bones bandana. The bald one would have been the tallest in the room, if not for Boulsour’s towering physique. Barely older than Anika, the skinny kid glanced around the house like a thief in a bank vault. The woman had a beer gut and a set of muscles rivaling the rest. She had huge fish hooks through her earlobes.

  Hawking, Sasha, Misty, Linh, and Yoko entered last and took positions around the room. A large paper with a hand-drawn map of the playground covered the coffee table in the middle of room. Billie had scribbled a river and the brush line with crayons. Hawking dropped a toy alligator and a few dark green plastic army men onto the map.

  Anika stood at the edge of the circle and waited until she had everyone’s attention. “Thanks for coming,” she said. “We have one shot at this, so we have to make it count. Our target is smart, which means it will be harder than usual to outwit him.”

  The lady coughed.

  Anika hesitated. “Yes?”

  “Excuse me if I don’t think that a dozen traps set by high schoolers not getting sprung means anything. This ain’t guerrilla warfare. No offense.”

  Anika wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but winning over this crowd hadn’t been a part of the plan. She’d thought of them like soldiers, but they were just regular people trying to make sense of a whole lot of crazy talk.

  Billie stood. “Please, Agatha. Imagine you’re in a monster movie. Not a silly slasher, jump-scare festival. Think of one trying to be science-based like Deep Blue Sea or Lake Placid. We’re talking atomic age mutant monster, smart as a whip, and more dangerous, well, than you.”

  “Fine.” Agatha grin-scoffed. “We’re in a monster movie.”

  Ah, if she only knew.

  Anika put her foot on the table and leaned on her knee. “This is a genetically engineered beast, created in a laboratory. We have to capture it before it can hurt anyone else.”

  Darwin reached in his red satchel so much like the one Blake used to store his father’s chemicals and pulled out three sticks of dynamite. He s
lammed them on the table. “I we ca ake im ali, we bla im to ell.”

  Sasha’s eyes lit up. Actually, literally, as a tiny bit of electricity sparkled in her irises. “Now we’re talking.”

  Anika focused on the dynamite. Killing the alligator was always a likelihood but seeing means of its destruction made it real. “As a last resort.”

  “You just said it was a monster,” the skinny kid said. “Why not kill it?”

  Her friends all turned toward her. On her?

  “Bah,” Linh laughed. “We don’t kill ‘em around here. We date ‘em.”

  Anika felt the heat in her cheeks as everyone got in a good chuckle. When did Linh get a sense of humor? Billie hid her face behind strategic hands. Yoko held out her hand for a high-five that never came.

  “We need solid, undetectable traps,” Anika said. “We need to prepare for at least a dozen alligators in case he brings friends. We have to set up without it spying on us. This has to go down tomorrow night.”

  Everyone talked at once. The boys complained about plausibility and her friends complained of safety.

  Darwin slammed his fist onto the table. “Wa nee somfin to ua as bat.”

  Billie opened her mouth to translate, but Anika spoke first. “I got it.”

  Everyone stared at her, and an unexpected lump formed in her throat. Vocalizing her plan wasn’t supposed to be this difficult. She swallowed. “We’re going to use me as bait.”

  Sasha rolled her eyes. Boulsour lifted his large hand to his head. The others stared, until Yoko stood up. “Anika, that is stupid.”

  Linh nodded in agreement. That stung a little. Usually she was the first to go along with Anika’s stupid plans.

  Hawking was up, headed for the door, but Billie grabbed his arm, pulling him back into the room. Misty put her face in her hands.

  Darwin mumbled under his breath. Agatha placed a hand on his arm and turned toward Anika. “Child. You may think us backwards, but we’re not going to put you in harm’s way for this.”

  Anika wasn’t prepared for the backlash. This was nothing! Her other plans were far more dangerous, and no one had objected one bit.

  “I’m the one it wants!” She shouted louder than she intended. Anika’s hands were shaking. “I’m afraid every time I step outside, every time I walk past a tree or a bush. Every time I wake up, I expect the alligator to smile down at me. It found me before and it’s going to do it again. This isn’t about whether it is going to attack me, it’s about when!”