Michael Vey 9 by Richard Paul Evans

Author:Richard Paul Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2023-09-19T00:00:00+00:00

25 Two Found, Two Missing

I didn’t know what time it was, though I’m sure it was well after midnight. Under the ceiling of branches and leaves, the jungle was nearly pitch-black, except where the moon’s light occasionally pierced the canopy. Almost as thick as the jungle darkness were the sounds. A nocturnal symphony of Amazonian life had emerged with the nightfall, tree crickets and howler monkeys and the bad-tempered grunt of caimans. Occasionally a single voice would break through the cacophony with a shrill mating call or the tortured last scream of death.

We didn’t dare use flashlights (or even McKenna) in the dark. Even though we were shielded by the thick jungle and rugged terrain, we were less than a half mile from the entrance where the displaced Chasqui were congregated. Still, there was light from our glow and the constant flash and buzz of insects burning off my skin.

“I wish my skin did that,” Cristiano said, scratching his neck.

I was so focused on our situation that I hadn’t even noticed all the bugs I’d electrocuted. “Sometimes there are advantages to being a human bug zapper,” I said. I turned to Ostin, which I usually did when something puzzled me.

“Where would they have gone?”

“I don’t know,” Ostin said. I hated it when he said that.

“Maybe a Chasqui patrol came by, and they had to hide,” Cristiano ventured.

“Zeus would have just fried them.”

“What if an animal got them?” McKenna said. “Like a jaguar. Or a caiman?”

“Zeus is the most dangerous animal in the jungle,” I said. “We’re too far from water for a caiman, and I don’t see any animal tracks.”

“No,” Ian said. “Neither do I.”

“What are the Chasqui doing now?” I asked Ian.

“They’re mostly still out in front of the cave. A few have moved over to the side entrance, but there’s too much smoke.”

“Are any coming from the plant yet?”

He looked out. “Yes. Dozens.”

Our plan to draw more Chasqui to the cave was working, but now we faced a new dilemma. Did we hunt down Zeus and Nichelle, or stick to the plan and go after Jack? If we chose to go after Zeus and Nichelle, where would we even begin? On top of it all, I was past exhausted. What Johnson had warned me about not getting enough sleep, I was finding painfully true.

“So what do we do?” Ian asked.

“I don’t know. To go after Jack, we’ll need Zeus. And I have no idea where we would even start looking for them.”

“We’d have to split up,” Ian said.

“Not again,” I said. “From now on we stick together.” I breathed out slowly. “I need to think.” I walked away from the others to sit alone near the edge of the forest. A few minutes later Taylor sat down next to me.

“I need to tell you something,” she said.

I looked over at her. I could tell from her face that I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

“I had a dream last night.”

“A dream or a nightmare?”

She hesitated. “A nightmare, I guess.

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