Armageddon's Children Part 22

"You should have told me, River," Hawk said softly. "You should have told someone."

She shook her head, her lips compressing into a tight line. "No adults, you said. Only kids could be members of our family. Ever."

The words felt like a condemnation. He had said it because he blamed adults for so much, said it because he didn't want the Ghosts ever to be dependent on adults again, said it to keep them from even thinking that adults had a place in their life. It was easy to say it when they were all orphans and street kids and there wasn't any real family left and no one wanted anything to do with them anyway.

"I found him two days ago, lying in his bed here in the shed. He'd been well for three years, but the sickness has returned, same as before. I still didn't know what to do." She looked at him, her eyes solemn and depthless. "What if he dies?"

"We won't let him die," Hawk said at once, even knowing it was a promise he could not keep.

"In a way, he already has," she whispered. Tears ran down her cheeks, and she wiped them away quickly.

"I said no adults in the Ghosts, but I didn't say we wouldn't ever help an adult if one needed it. I didn't say that." He tried to think of what to tell her. "River, remember when I went down to the docks maybe a week ago? I went down to speak to your grandfather about the dead Lizard, to see if maybe he knew something. You know what he did? He asked me to take him with us when we left the city. Like he knew we were going." He hesitated. "I told him I would."

She stared. "You did? You said that? Did you mean it?"

Did he? He couldn't remember for sure. He thought about the way the Weatherman had asked him, almost as if it was an afterthought, a throwaway. He lifted one eyebrow at River. "Sure, I meant it. I was thinking, though. Maybe, somewhere deep inside, he still knows who you are. Otherwise, why would he have asked to go with us?"

She seemed doubtful, but didn't disagree. "Can we give him some medicine?"

He nodded. "But we have to ask Owl what to do for him. Maybe one of her books will tell us what sort of sickness this is and how to treat it. She knows a lot. Let's go ask her."

But River shook her head. "You go, Hawk. I don't want to leave him all alone."

Hawk considered arguing the matter, then decided against it. Instead, he reached into his pocket and handed her one of the precious viper-p.r.i.c.ks. He left his prod leaning against the shed wall as he moved to the doorway.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised. He gave her grandfather a final glance as he went out. The old man looked like a bundle of sticks lying beneath the thin blanket. "It will be all right," he said.

But in his heart he felt that maybe it wouldn't.

WHEN HE GOT back to the underground, he told Owl what he had discovered about River and the Weatherman. Owl did not recognize the form of plague that the old man had contracted, but she began searching her medical books immediately to see if she could find a sickness that matched what he was describing. He watched her from across the room, absorbed in her work. They had medicines for some plagues, he thought. Or they could get others from Tessa, just as they had done for Persia.

Thinking of Persia, he was reminded that Panther had not yet returned.

Leaving Owl to her reading and Cheney to his nap, he went back up the stairs and outside into the streets to wait. Soon Panther reappeared with Chalk and Fixit, his dark face radiating anger that Hawk could detect from fifty feet away.

"What happened?" he asked as the other came up to.

"Didn't nothin' happen, Bird-Man. We got there like we was supposed to, stood around waiting for those p.u.s.s.ycats to appear, and no one showed. We waited more than an hour 'cause I knew you'd say we didn't wait long enough otherwise.

Whole thing was a frickin' waste of time."

Hawk blinked. Tiger wouldn't have missed this meeting unless he physically couldn't come. Even then, he would have sent one of the others. Persia was too important to him. He would do anything to protect her.

Something was wrong.

"Wait here while I get Cheney," he said. "We're going back out."

Chapter TWENTY-ONE.

AS HE WENT back down into the underground, he made a quick series of decisions. He was going to find out what had happened to Tiger, but he had to be careful about how he went about it. Finding Tiger probably meant finding where the Cats laired, and all of the tribes were very territorial. If the Ghosts went uninvited into Cat country, even for what they deemed a good cause, they could expect an unfriendly reception. Still, the larger problem was in finding where Cat country was. He knew it was in an abandoned condo building somewhere north of midtown, but he didn't know the exact location. He would need help from Cheney.

By the same token, he had to make certain that Owl and Squirrel, who would remain behind, were sufficiently protected against anything that might threaten them in his absence. Since Cheney would be with him, he guessed he would have to give the job to Bear.

He was almost to the steel door when he realized that someone was following him. He wheeled back to find Panther right behind him.

"Wait up, Bird-Man," the other boy told him, the expression on his dark face reflecting irritation and impatience. "Talk to me. What you plannin' to do?

Go lookin' for the p.u.s.s.ycats?"

"I told you to wait upstairs."

Panther snorted. "You not the boss of me, Bird-Man. So tell me. This your plan? Huntin' for the Cats?"

Hawk glared. "Cheney can find them."

"How he gonna to that? Don't he need their scent? You got that? You got a piece of clothing or something?"

Hawk just stared. He didn't, of course.

"Tole you before. This ain't none of our business."

Hawk took a deep breath. "Not everything we do in this world is about us, Panther. Sometimes we have do things for other reasons. Sometimes we've got to forget about ourselves and help others. If not, what's the point?"

"The point, man, is that we get to stay alive! You don't think that's what we supposed to be doin' with ourselves?"

"I think that's the point. I just don't think that's the only point."

"Huh! Well, it is for me!"

They were nose-to-nose now, and seconds away from a fight. It had never happened before, although Hawk had suspected for a long time that Panther wanted it. If they fought and Panther won, he would have proved something to himself, although Hawk didn't know exactly what.

He straightened. "Okay, you think what you want. You got the right. But it doesn't matter what you think. I got the pleneten for Persia, and I'm going to find her and give it to her. She's just a little girl and she needs help. You don't want to help her, then don't. Stay here and watch Owl and Squirrel, and I'll take Bear."

"Hey, no one said nuthin' about not goin' with you," Panther said quickly, serious now, no messing around.

"Well, it sounded like it to me." Hawk refused to back off. "You said the Cats weren't any of our concern. You said you didn't care about anything but staying alive. So, fine. You do what you have to do, and I'll do the same."

"I just don't like takin' chances when it ain't necessary. Dangerous enough out there without that." Panther sighed. "Look, you don't need Cheney, but you do need me. I know where they is."

Hawk frowned. "You know where the Cats live? You know how to find them?

How do you know that?"

"Tracked 'em. How you think? Look, you might honor that territorial code c.r.a.p, but it don't mean nuthin' to me. I never did like the way they talked to us, so I waited for my chance one day a few months back and I tracked 'em. Found their little hidey-hole. It ain't far from where we went for the purification tablets a few days back."

Hawk felt a chill run down his spine at mention of the warehouse with its dark corners and sense of evil. "They'll have seen you. They'll have moved on."

Panther grinned broadly and shook his head. "Uh-uh. No one sees me if I don't want it. They still where they was. I can show you."

Hawk hesitated. That would save them all a lot of time. It also meant he could leave Cheney with Owl and Squirrel and take Bear, which he wanted to do.

Bear was the biggest and strongest, and he wanted him along. They would be all right without Cheney if they had Bear. Of course, he would take Candle, too, as an added precaution.

He took a deep breath. "Look, you did good." He brought up his fist and Panther rapped it with his own. "We're family, agree or disagree. Nothing changes that."

"I ain't forgot." Panther scowled. "But it don't change how I see things, either."

Hawk dropped the matter, rapped on the door, and was admitted by Bear. He sent him with Panther to collect additional weapons for the outing and went over to where Owl sat watching.

"Tiger didn't show. I think something is wrong. I'm taking the others to see if we can find out what it is."

She nodded slowly, her calm eyes studying him. "Be careful, Hawk. If something has happened to Tiger, it could happen to you, too. Take Cheney."

He shook his head. "No, Cheney stays here with you and Squirrel. I'll take Candle. She'll know if there's danger. We'll be fine." He hesitated, and then added, almost as an afterthought, "I'll leave Sparrow, too. Just so you have another pair of hands."

Without waiting for her response, he called out to Sparrow to stay with Owl, then summoned Panther, Bear, and Candle and went out the door, waiting only long enough to hear the locks click into place before climbing the stairs to the streets.

Once outside, he gathered his little company about him. "Okay, this is what we are going to do," he said. He looked from face to face. "We're going to find out why Tiger didn't come to today's meeting to get the pleneten for Persia. Maybe there's a good reason, but maybe something has happened to him.

Panther knows where the Cats make their home, and that's where we're going."

Eyes shifted quickly to Panther with the release of this bit of information, but no one said anything. Panther frowned slightly, but kept his eyes on Hawk and his mouth shut.

"So, Panther, you take the point, be in the lead," Hawk advised, noting the glimmer of excitement that sparked to life in the other's eyes. "Bear and I walk the wings. Fixit and Chalk form the rear guard. Candle stays in the middle.

We keep to the center of the streets and we don't break formation unless I say so. We don't take any chances. We stick together."

He paused. "Remember. We're Ghosts, and we walk the ruins of our parents' world. Eyes open."

They set out for midtown, walking down the middle of First Avenue, prods held at the ready, eyes shifting from building to building, peering through the mix of shadows and light. The sun was still out, the day still bright and cheerful, the air still sharp with cold. The road was scattered with the same junk with which it had been scattered for as long as Hawk could remember. He scanned the familiar refuse-the hollowed-out vehicles, the broken pieces of pipe and railing, the splintered boards, and the bones and old clothing and trash.

To one side, up against a building, lay a solitary pink tennis shoe, its silver laces ragged, its bright fabric soiled by what might have been blood but was probably oil. Still bright and new looking, it stood out. He hadn't seen it before and wondered where it had come from.

It was midafternoon by then and later still by the time they pa.s.sed through the city and reached the north end. They were still a dozen blocks below the s.p.a.ce Needle, but the slender obelisk towered over them, visible through the framework of the abandoned buildings, stark and spectral and oddly sad. Panther took them close by the warehouse that contained the hidden stash of purification tablets, but turned them up into the maze of apartment buildings that filled the blocks above First Avenue before they reached it. The sun had pa.s.sed well into the west and cast shadows of the buildings down the streets in broad dark stains. It was later than Hawk would have preferred, but there was nothing he could do about it other than to turn back, and he had no intention of doing that.

Finally, as they approached an intersection, but while they were still in the shelter of the buildings to either side, Panther brought them to a halt and pointed ahead.

"Around that corner to the right, second building in across the street, that's their kitty-cat home," he told Hawk. "Big old apartment building with lots of floors."

Hawk nodded. He broke down the formation and put them in a line, Panther and himself in the lead, Bear in the rear, the others in the center. They walked against the walls of the buildings on their right until they had reached the end of the last one before they would have to enter the intersection. Motioning for the others to stay where they were, Hawk peered carefully around the corner at the buildings across the street. The second one in was a huge old redbrick structure with its windows and entry boarded up. There was no sign of life.

"How do they get in and out?" he asked Panther.

The other boy threw up his hands in exasperation. "What do you want from me? I found them; I didn't go in for a visit." He shook his head in disgust. "I saw a couple of them looking out from the windows, up on the higher floors, keeping watch. They thought no one would see them, I suppose. Frickin' idiots."

Hawk studied the building for a long time, thinking about what he should do but unable to come up with anything particularly good. He looked back at the others. "Wait here."

He stepped out from behind his hiding place and walked to the edge of the street where he could be clearly seen. "Tiger!" he called out. "Come down and talk to me! I have the medicine for Persia!"

He was taking a big chance. Street kids were very protective of their hiding places, aware that secrecy was their best defense against the many things that could hurt them, not the least of which were other street kids. The tribes had protection in numbers, but the dangers were the same. None of the tribes ever revealed to the others exactly where they were living. Some of the other denizens of their neighborhoods-Lizards, Spiders, and such-knew of their presence, but left them alone, for the most part. It was only the Croaks that were predatory enough to come hunting you while you slept.

Hawk waited for a response, but none came. He tried again. "Tiger, I have the pleneten! You didn't show for our meeting, so I brought it! Come down and get it!"

Still nothing. He waited several minutes, searching for any sort of sign at all. Time was slipping away. The afternoon shadows were lengthening and the light was fading. He did not want to be up here so far away from home when it got dark.

He considered his options, then called the rest of the Ghosts out of hiding and brought them all into the center of the street. Splitting them into two groups, with Panther taking one and himself the other, they began working their way around the block, searching for an entrance. Fifteen minutes later, they were back, having failed to find one.

"Maybe through one of the other buildings?" Fixit suggested hopefully.

The buildings on either side were not as heavily boarded up as was the brick structure, and they gained entry easily into the one on the left. It yielded nothing; an alleyway separated the two buildings aboveground, and a blank wall closed off any possible access through the bas.e.m.e.nt.

They moved to the one on the right. This one looked more promising: it shared a wall with the building they were trying to get into. It might have been a hotel at one time, its entrance more imposing than those of the buildings surrounding, its ground floor a broad stretch of mostly broken-out windows.

There was an eerie feel to the building, the fading light glinting off jagged pieces of broken gla.s.s and the darkness gathered inside so thick they could not see past it. They walked up to the entry, glancing at one another for rea.s.surance, and stopped at the revolving doors when they refused to give. Panther moved to one of the side doors, reached through the broken window to release the catch, and slipped inside. The others followed.

They stood in the lobby, an imposing hall with a high ceiling and old furniture set about its broad open s.p.a.ce in carefully arranged cl.u.s.ters. The stuffing was coming out of most of it, the leather and fabric cracked and split.

They could hear the scurrying sound of rodents, and tiny dark forms shot into view in sudden bursts and were gone.

"Playmates for the p.u.s.s.ycats," whispered Panther with a grin, but n.o.body smiled back.

The silence was deep and pervasive and troubling. Hawk glanced around uneasily, searching for the entrance that would admit them to the adjoining building, but found nothing. They spread out across the room, peering down corridors and up stairways. Because the buildings were connected, the entrance, if it existed, could be anywhere.

Fixit tugged on Hawk's sleeve. "Cats are climbers," he said softly, glancing over at the broad stairway leading up.

Hawk had counted the floors from outside, and there were at least seventeen or eighteen-several more than in the adjoining building. He didn't like the thought of climbing that high with no idea of what he was getting into.

He didn't like leaving the relative safety of the open streets. He considered his options, and then gathered the others about him.

"Panther and I are going up. The rest of you wait here. Watch our backs.

Don't let us get trapped up there. We'll be quick."

He was just turning away when Candle suddenly doubled over, clutching at her head and sagging to her knees. She moaned softly, her eyes squeezing shut, her breathing turning quick and harsh. Hawk knew at once what was happening and knelt in front of her, gripping her slender shoulders.

"What do you see?" he whispered. He could feel the others pressing close about them.

"Blood everywhere," she whispered.

"That's enough for me," Panther said at once. "I don't like how this place feels either. Let's get out of here." He made as if to leave, but Hawk and the others stayed where they were. Panther wheeled back. "Are you paying attention, man? Are you listening to her? Are you listening to your own self?"