They fol owed the path down the side of the mountain.
Half-way down a low rumble under her paws told Claire a trap had been set off. She felt the terrestrial shock rush upward, above them.
"Run!"
They dashed left and down, angling away from the slope. Above them enormous rocks shot out, spinning, and chased them down the slope. The boulders slammed into the side of the mountain with loud thuds.
"Faster!"
They gal oped ahead off her.
A boulder landed inches from her tail.
Zinaida-Fox stumbled and fell . A rock tumbled from above, threatening to crush her. There was no way to avoid it. Claire lunged, shielding the Fox with her shoulder and snarled. The jungle shook. The blast of sound slammed into the boulder, knocking it aside, but not far enough. It slammed into her. The impact resonated through her powerful frame. Claire turned, scooped Zinaida into her mouth, and ran.
Five seconds later the animals col apsed on the grass on the side of the mountain, while the rocks continued to rol behind them. Claire careful y set Zinaida-Fox onto the ground.
"Thank you," the older woman whispered.
Kosta-Ape rol ed on his back and laughed in labored heavy gasps. "Let's do that again!"
"Why are we so tired?" Charles-Bul breathed. "Al this, it doesn't exist. We didn't real y run..."
"You've forced your brain to make connections at maximum speed," Claire said. "The mind can't do this indefinitely. It becomes fatigued just as your bodies do.
Come, we have to keep moving."
They continued through the jungle. Carnivorous plants snapped at their feet. Nooses disguised as vines reached for their necks. Leaves hid pits with spikes. Saim had fal en into a fissure fil ed with angry bees and Claire had to jump in after him and fry the insects with a focused mental blast.
Finally, scratched, bruised, and tired, they emerged from the jungle to the edge of another cliff, this time much lower. They lay down, hiding in the twilight behind the twisted network of roots clenching the mountain.
Directly in front of them the ground dropped down. Far, far below silvery waters of an ocean lay placid, tinted light pink and the yel ow to the left, where a golden globe of the sun set, cushioned in soft clouds. Above the clouds, the cosmos spread, vast and glorious, with bright stars melting into the glow of nebulas and distant galaxies.
To the right, past the gulf of the ocean, another cliff rose, naked rock wal topped by a lush jungle. Twin rivers spil ed from the cliff, wrapped in feathery mist. Between them the massive tree waited. The purple lanterns glowed, beckoning her.
Claire squinted. A narrow rock spire, like a finger of basalt about a hundred yards wide at the top, thrust from the water between them and the other cliff. A little to the left of their hiding place, a wide stone bridge led to the spire.
On the other side of the spire, a thick rope woven of lianas, sturdy, woody vines, stretched to the other cliff. Thick enough for her to cross, if she used her claws and paid attention.
Kosta-Ape climbed the tree to her left and leaned to her ear. "There are mutants on the smal mountain," he said.
She saw them too: lean, muscled beasts with the body of a fast hound and the jaws of a crocodile. One, two, three... seven. On Uley, the warning cal to a psycher would occur if three or more were kil ed. Sometimes it only took two.
They could've used Nonna.
Well, no use regretting what she couldn't fix. She would have to take the chance.
"We should go now," Charles-Bul said. "Remember, we're here to save the children. We do this so they can have a life."
The beasts murmured.
"Thank you," she told them. "Stay safe. Don't fal into the water."
Charles bowed his head to her.
Claire bowed back.
One by one they disappeared into the jungle. She lay by the roots of the tree and waited.
A shril screech announced Mittali. The bird ran onto the bridge, feathers fluffed out, and shook her butt at the dog beasts. The hounds snarled, showing sharp fangs.
Yellow frothy spit bubbled up on their lips. They looked rabid.
The bird shook her feathers. "Come on! Come on!"
A single dog peeled off from the pack and charged after her. Mittali lingered on the bridge for a long moment and dashed away. The creature gave chase.
She watched the three others grab their AI beasts one by one. Kosta was last. He scooted midway up the bridge and bounced up and down, hooting. The three remaining creatures snarled in unison.
Kosta jumped, flipping in mid-air.
Showoff.
A dog padded forward.
Kosta jumped again, oblivious.
The AI hound stalked closer. Closer.
The wicked jaws opened.
Kosta jerked back and the dog's teeth snapped together. Kosta's hand snaked out, quick, and slapped the furry muzzle. He hooted and took off, the enraged AI dog at his heels.
Young fool. Claire smiled into her whiskers and slunk into the jungle.
A narrow path led to the bridge. Claire stepped onto it and padded forward on silent paws. A moment and she emerged onto the bridge. The grey stone seemed ancient, cracked and weathered. It was only a mind trick, indicating old frayed code. She pictured the stone fracturing under her weight and wished she hadn't.
The twin dogs raised their ears.
Fal ing into the water wasn't an option. She would survive the fal , but it would take her a while to climb back up. Every moment she delayed her team ran the risk of being bitten. Time was short.
Two hounds. The question was, could they swim?
The AI creatures charged together, furry bodies flexing with coiled muscle.
She waited.
The dogs leaped together, ruby eyes burning with bloodlust.
Claire jumped. She sailed above them, landed, and whipped her tail. It slammed into the hound on the right like a battering ram. The furry body flew into the air with a startled yelp and plummeted down into the water of the ocean below. If she was lucky, it wouldn't die.
The last dog attacked. She sent it over the side with a swipe of her paw and sprinted across the rocky spire. The liana bridge waited. Claire put one foot on it, sinking the claws into the woody vine.
So narrow.
Phantom wind pressed at her, pushing at her, trying to knock her off into the water below. Claire crouched, digging her claws into the knotted lianas. She needed to redistribute her mass to reduce angular acceleration. Her body flowed, obeying her mental command. Two sets of whiskers, wide like four stiff ribbons sprouted from her shoulders, stabilizing her the way a pole stabilized the tightrope walker. She could've sprouted wings, but they would do her no good. Bionet didn't support flying. Even the birds did little more than leap and glide.
Claire ran along the liana bridge, one paw after another, claws over claws. The vines trembled under her weight. The other end of the bridge was affixed to a point slightly higher than the spire. She was crawling across and up. Coming back would be hel .
Just keep moving.
Keep moving.
The cliff was almost there. She stretched her left front paw and touched it. Solid ground. One leap... and she'd plummet down into the ocean.
Claire forced herself to slow down, careful y sliding her weight onto the damp soil of the cliff. One paw, two paws, three... and she landed. The enormous tree rose before her. She sat, studying the lanterns, her ribbons-whiskers snaking out to lick one.
"Search: Alacasto Middle Academy."
The lanterns spun, sliding along the branches, as if riding an invisible carousel. A brightly shaped lantern stopped before her, the lavender flame inside glowing brightly. Claire's whiskers touched it, forging a link.
"Laboratory traces analysis: Romulus Rekanta,
"Laboratory traces analysis: Romulus Rekanta, 99.9959% match; Edu Nagi, 99.97890% match; Lada Miller, 98.87682% match; Karim Jahar, 96.48991% match."
She reshaped the data. New set of figures flowed into the lantern: Edu Nagi, 29.97890% match; Lada Miller, 28.87682% match; Karim Jahar, 16.48991% match."
Wiping the molecular analysis to zero would have set off the red flags, but all people swam in the same genetic pool. Anything below 70% would be marked as inconclusive.
The lantern looked exactly the same. She'd altered the data with a psycher's precision.
Claire spun the lanterns, pul ing up searches at random, confusing the access protocol until the children's lantern was safely mixed with the others. Her job was done.
Claire spun and dashed back to the vine bridge. Once again the lianas shuddered under her weight, only this time she was crawling head down. She wished there was another way back.
She was ten meters from the rock spire when she heard the bushes rustle near the base of the stone bridge.
Claire conquered the last few meters and moved onto the solid ground of the spire.
A beast shot out of the jungle and landed midway on the stone bridge. Huge paws hit the ancient stones, each as big as her head and tipped with thick triangular claws, razor sharp and glowing like backlit amber. A bronze beast rose, towering over her by at least a meter. Thick muscle slabbed his monstrous forelegs and colossal chest. His hind quarters dipped lower than his shoulders, his back legs bent slightly and bulging with steel-hard muscle. His fur was bronze, painted with faint rosettes of russet, same as the mane that trailed his spine and slid over his shoulder and down each leg almost to the paws.
The beast opened his giant mouth, snarling, showing her bril iant white fangs. His torso resembled an enormous dog, but his head was almost feline. The jaws looked powerful enough to bite through her bones like they were soft candy.
A psycher. A Grade A psycher.
Damn it all.
The beast roared, whipping his triple tail. The blast of sound hit her and Claire snarled back. Her roar rol ed, promising pain and blood.
The beast dipped his head to stare at her. She looked into his eyes and saw the familiar intel ect glaring back.
Venturo.
No. No, this couldn't be.
The beast leaped.
Claire ducked left, her instincts taking over. A clawed paw came down a hair from her shoulder and she struck with her talons , slicing the bronze fur. The triple tail whipped around, catching her flank. Pain stung her, fol owed by sharp spike of heat. Poison. Nice.