Lords of Trillium (24 page)

“Oleander!” shouted Carn. “Don't let go!”

She looked up, only to be met by a flood of flying beetles pouring out from the pipe. She grimaced at the site of them, squeezing her eyes shut, their meaty black bodies flying by her head. “June bugs!” she screamed.

“Everyone, take wing!” said Dresden. “Now! Go after them before they send the entire lab into an uproar!” The bats shot out into the lab, stretching their wings, glad to be free of the tight cage, and happily tracking down the June bugs like a pack of winged bloodhounds.

“Oleander, I'm coming!” Cotton blasted out of the cage and swooped around, diving toward her. He grabbed her by the shoulders, snapping at the steady stream of beetles, who quickly veered away from his shiny teeth. He plunged to the ground, setting Oleander down lightly.

Carn grabbed her and hugged her tightly. “Are you all right?”

“I think so.”

Frenzied laughter came from the other side of the lab. “Oh no,” said Cotton.

“What is it?” asked Juniper.

“The beetles have awoken the Crazy Ones.”

W
AILING SCREECHES OF LAUGHTER SPEWED
from the east section of the lab. Cages shook violently. Curses and nonsensical declarations bounced off the walls.

“The damage is done,” said Juniper, running a paw over his face. “The commotion has sent them into a tailspin. Everyone, start unlocking cages.” He cringed as another wail came from the east section. “And for Saints' sake, stay away from those troubled souls. They don't know the danger they're putting us in.”

The rats spread out and unlocked the cages as fast as they could, climbing up and across the bars, telling the newly released rats to wait on the floor and stay away from the Crazy Ones. The bats carried the rats to cages that were in awkward positions with no easy access, making sure no creature was left behind.

It seemed all of Juniper's Hunters were dead or among the Crazy Ones. They released scores of albinos, many city rats,
and nearly ten of Gwenfor's dock rats, easily recognizable by their toughened exteriors. The silver rings were missing from their ears, but the holes were still there.

Juniper had no plan. The rats gathered on the floor around him, the bats swarmed over his head, every face looking for some sort of direction. He had none to give. Billycan was missing and Victor was nowhere to be seen. Then there were the Crazy Ones—what was to happen to them? It seemed wrong to leave them to die, but releasing them would put too many at risk. He thought of Maddy, his children, the citizens of Nightshade, his Council, their sacred oath to protect all rats. He worried that for the first time he might have to break it. Covering his face for a moment, he prayed to the Saints, hoping they would guide him.

That's when he heard them . . . footsteps. Human footsteps. There was nowhere to hide, no way to get them all back into their cages, and getting them up the vent and out into the museum would take too long. Nine rats coming down was a far faster process than over a hundred rats climbing up. Suddenly inspiration struck.

“Someone's coming! Everyone, quickly now, we must scatter!” he shouted. “We must look as though we have lost our minds, as if our faculties are completely gone. Act wild—out of control. Make them think we're sick and dying. Dresden, your colony must crowd around their heads, flap your wings, graze their skin. Rats, we must frighten the humans as only rats can! Show your teeth, flare your claws—but above all, no violence! It will only cause them to take arms against us. We must make whoever's coming leave the lab. It's our only chance of getting out of here alive!”

Juniper's hackles rose as he heard the door opening. “Not yet! Wait for my signal!”

Walter entered the darkened lab with Dr. Sheppard. She groaned and shook her head. “They're at it again,” she said. “At this late hour you'd think even our little Crazy Ones would need rest. Don't you think it's time to put them to sleep, Dr. Harris?” She gave a pained smile. “I know you care for them, but it's the humane thing to do. Like you said in the Clean Room, if we don't look out for their welfare, no one will.”

“Charlotte, using my own words against me,” said Walter, chuckling. “Very clever. It's late. Why don't we discuss it in the morning?” His face shifted to a serious expression. “I must say, I'm exhausted. Sometimes I think I could sleep for days.”

“But Doctor, you've finally discovered what you've been searching for all these years. You're going to be famous! Your findings are going to change the course of history—
forever
.”

“I've no need for fame, Charlotte. And those findings come at a price.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied. A rat screeched from the other side of the lab. She rolled her eyes. “I better attend to our little friends. I have just the thing to calm them down.” She hit the light switches and row upon row of light panels flickered on. She looked around and gasped. “Doctor! The cages—they're empty!”

“Now!” shouted Juniper.

The bats got to them first. Dr. Sheppard had removed her protective headgear when she left the Clean Room. “Go for her hair!” shouted Telula to the colony. “Humans can't stand it—drives them mad, especially the females!”

The bats circled around Dr. Sheppard's head, grabbing locks of her dark hair, pulling and tugging on it, pretending to get tangled in it. She screamed, covering her face and jumping up and down as rats pulled and clawed at her shoes and pant legs. “Doctor, what's happening?” she cried. “They've all gone mad!”

Walter was in no position to answer her. Rats jumped from rows of cages. Landing on his back, they pulled on his ears and yanked his white, fluffy hair. At least twenty rats had crawled atop his workstation, knocking whatever they could to the ground. Monitors crashed to the floor in a smoking heap. Vials and beakers shattered into tiny pieces. Pens flew at him like spears, bouncing off his lab coat. “No! Don't do that!” he shouted as rats ripped apart his papers and hurled them into the air, sending them raining down in a tornado of white.

“What did you give them?” he demanded.

“Nothing, Doctor, I swear!” said Dr. Sheppard, desperately trying to protect her eyes as wings unfurled in her face.

Walter's eyes widened as a group of dock rats grabbed their throats, pretending to choke. They threw their bodies to the ground, coughing and gagging, writhing as if in pain. Bats plunged from the ceiling, landing on the floor and tables in awkward heaps, screeching with feigned agony. “Bless the Saints!” Walter yelled. “They're all dying!”

“That's it!” shouted Juniper over the clamor. “Keep at it! It's working!”

“Victor!” yelled Vincent. He pushed through the stumbling rats and leaped over squirming bats, racing toward the door the scientists had come through.

Baffled, Billycan and Victor stood and watched, completely dumbfounded by the unfolding mayhem.

Vincent grabbed Victor by the shoulders, shaking him. “You're alive!” He hugged him firmly and then shook him again. “Don't ever pull something like that again, do you understand me? You had us all worried sick!”

“I'm sorry,” said Victor, flinching as another beaker crashed to the floor. “The dead bodies in the morgue, I just couldn't bear it. Things like that aren't supposed to happen in Nightshade.”

“It's all right,” said Vincent, barely dodging a metal testtube rack as it came barreling toward him.

“What happened to your leg?” asked Victor, eyeing the deep wound.

“I'll tell you later,” said Vincent, blocking an oncoming test tube with his elbow. “This isn't exactly the best time to explain.”

“This is the worst display of bad theater I've ever encountered,” said Billycan, stepping over a convulsing rat. “Whose bright idea was this?”

“Mine,” said Juniper. “We had no choice.” He nodded at Walter. “Besides, the humans are buying it.”

“Humans are more foolish than I thought,” said Billycan.

Flailing his arms and tripping over fallen equipment, Walter tried to keep the bats at bay as they swatted him in the head with their wings and pulled at his ears with their claws. The rats crawled up his trouser legs and hung from the bottom of his lab coat.

Dr. Sheppard was sobbing, covering her head with her lab coat, shivering under a desk. “Why are they sick, Doctor?” She blew her nose in her sleeve. “All our research—it's ruined!”

“Everyone, it's time to die!” shouted Juniper. “Make it big!” The rats hollered and moaned, clutching their throats and bellies as they dropped where the stood, kicking their feet, their eyelids fluttering, their tongues lolling. The bats flew in crooked circles, hurling themselves into the air, dropping to the floor, their bodies jerking and flopping as if they had no control.

“Where did you go?” asked Juniper as he and Billycan fell to the floor with the others.

“Victor can tell you later,” Billycan replied. “Listen to me, brother, closely. Get these rats out of here, up the vent and out the sewer, just the way we came in. The bats are in far better health than the rats right now. They can carry anyone who can't climb up the vent. Understand?”

“Even with the bats, that will take too long. The scientists will be able to stop us.”

“I will buy you time,” said Billycan.

“What are you planning?”

“I don't know. . . .”

“Everyone, now!” Juniper called out. “It's time to meet your makers!”

One by one, the rats and bats stopped moving and fell silent. All exhausted from their feverish performance, it was not hard for them to lie motionless. Other than a random shout from the Crazy Ones, the lab fell perfectly still . . . almost peaceful.

“Charlotte?” said Walter, finally opening his eyes. He spotted her under the desk, shaking hysterically. “It's over now. Look, they're all . . . dead.” He stepped lightly, avoiding the
animals, and held out a hand to her, pulling her to her feet. “Are you all right?”

“I—I think so.” She sniffled, wiping her eyes. She put a hand to her heart, her eyes taking in all her months of research, now dead and lifeless on the tiles. “What happened to them, Dr. Harris? What killed them?”

“I have no idea,” he said limply.

Dr. Sheppard looked at the rows of open cages. “Doctor, what if those activists—what if they did this? I know the lab's been kept a secret, but what if someone leaked our location? That would explain all the animals free in the lab.” She crouched down, staring at a pile of motionless rats. “They certainly didn't unlock the cages themselves.” She suddenly gasped. “What if the activists poisoned them?”

“But that makes no sense. Why would animal rights activists kill the very thing they're fighting to protect?”

“Then the government!” she said. “They've always been after Prince.” Her face hardened. “Maybe they're scared of what our discoveries might bring to the world, or infuriated that they didn't get to it first.”