“You’ll go in a pair,” Mothball said. “Or you’ll sit ’ere and hug this tree all day.” She stared down at Sato, daring him to argue. He said nothing in reply.
It was the first time Tick had seen Mothball use her size to intimidate someone. I have a feeling this lady is a lot tougher than she acts.
“Sweet biscuits!” Paul said as he grabbed hold of the next Windbike and dragged it a few feet away. “You’re serious? This thing really flies? In the air?”
“Where else would it fly, Einstein?” Sofia said. “Underground?”
“You got me there, Miss Italy,” Paul said, seeming to have grown accustomed to Sofia’s smart mouth. “How does it work?”
Mothball sat down on her bike, her body taking up the entire seat that was meant for two. “You push this ’ere button, which turns it on, like so.” She pressed a red button on the small dashboard under the handlebars. The Windbike came to life, humming like a big computer and not like a normal motorcycle at all. “Doesn’t use gasoline. Takes hydrogen right out of the moisture in the air, it does, burns it right nicely. Come on, get on, now!”
“Who’s going with who?” Tick asked.
“I’ll go with you or Paul,” Sofia said. “But not him.” She nodded toward Sato, who scowled back at her.
“I don’t want to go with you, either.”
“Alrighty then,” Paul said, clapping his hands. “Looks like it’s me and Sofia on this one, Tick and Sato on that one.” He pointed to the next bike in line.
Tick wanted to argue, but he didn’t really want Sato any angrier than he already was. He looked to Sofia for help, but she only shrugged, not bothering to hide the smirk on her face. “Uh, great, okay.”
Paul moved toward his bike and sat down right behind the handlebars, but Sofia would have none of it.
“I’m driving, tough guy,” she said, pushing him backward as she squirmed her way in front of him.
Paul held his hands up in surrender as he scooted to the rear of the big seat. “You win, Miss Italy, you win.” He looked over at Tick and mouthed the words, “Help me.”
Sato pulled the last Windbike upright and pushed the button to turn it on as he swung his leg over and sat down in the driver’s position. “Get on,” he said, not bothering to look at Tick.
Tick felt like he’d rather pound his head against the closest tree than get on the back of the humming machine. He hated how the mean kid from Japan was ruining everything.
Mothball must have noticed Tick’s hesitation. “Come, now. Time’s a wastin’, it is.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Tick sighed as he sat behind Sato. The bottom edge of the Windbike had a railing with sticky pads for his feet. “Is this another invention from the Fourth Reality? Wait, let me guess—Chu Industries?”
“Nailed that one, you did,” Mothball answered. “Chu rules a monopoly in the Fourth, he does—practically owns everything. Smuggled these bikes in a few months ago, we did, figuring they’d do right nicely for our little mission.”
“What do we do now?” Sofia asked.
“Watch me very closely,” Mothball said. She gripped the handlebars, then gently lifted, surprising everyone when the metal connecting her handgrips to the bike bent upward. As she did so, her Windbike rose several feet into the air with a slight surge in its humming sound; the top of her head almost bumped into a low-hanging branch.
“Cool!” Paul shouted.
Tick couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Your hands control everything,” Mothball said from above. “Push forward, go forward. The farther you push, the faster you go. Pull back and you slow down or stop, depending how hard ya do it. And ya go up or down by lifting and dropping the handgrips. Easy as breathin’, it is.”
Tick yelped and grabbed Sato’s shirt as their bike suddenly leaped into the air and backward, then lurched forward and came to a sudden stop. A second later it shot forward again and flew around the closest tree, coming to a halt right above Sofia and Paul.
“It works,” Sato said in a deadpan voice.
At the same time, all of them laughed. Even Sato broke into a smile for the first time since they’d met, looking back at Tick just as it turned back into a frown.
Tick had the strange feeling that maybe he was glad Sato had taken the pilot’s seat after all, since he seemed to already have the hang of it. I probably would’ve slammed us into the ground already, breaking all of our legs.
Sofia tried it next, shooting straight upward until Paul’s head slammed into the branch overhead.
“Ow, watch it!” he screamed. “I’m tall, remember!”
“Sorry,” Sofia said through a snicker. Tick could see her push down and forward on the handlebars as the Windbike came down and flew around the same tree he and Sato had just circled. She came to a stop by pulling back with her hands, hovering right next to Tick.
“Told you it was easy, I did,” Mothball said. She revved her humming motorcycle. “Follow me!”
Her Windbike shot forward into the forest before she’d finished her sentence.
“You’re sure of the meeting time and place?” Mistress Jane asked from her perch on the throne, glancing at her brightly yellow painted fingernails one by one.
“Absolutely,” Frazier replied, trying his best to remain calm and professional, even though he knew how unpredictable his boss could be. He’d been put in charge of counter-spying on Annika since he’d returned and he had discovered some very interesting letters in the back of her closet. His relief at being right about her had far outweighed any fear he felt about damage she may have done. His hide had been saved and that was all that mattered.
“Tomorrow morning,” he said, looking at the floor. “Dawn. Where the river meets the Forest of Plague. Annika will take the Barrier Wand from your throne room while you sleep, then deliver it to the Realitants.”
“Why doesn’t she just wink away with it herself? Why all the drama?” Jane said the last word with a low and sarcastic drawl.
Frazier swallowed despite his dry mouth. “She’s under orders to keep her cover, stay infiltrated. Keep spying on you.”
“Perhaps we should hide the Wand, end the plan this very minute.” Jane lifted her hand and a small plate with a cup of steaming hot tea floated up from a nearby table and rested on her palm. She took a long and slurping drink.