Bug Girl Page 3

  Nearby, somebody shrieked, and it sounded oddly familiar. Amanda turned in time to see one of her Entomological Society fellows, Sh’Shelle Domalie, dive under a parked truck, narrowly avoiding the tentacles of a giant furred cephalopod. Amanda hustled over.

  “Are you okay?” She squatted down, yelling to be heard in the chaotic din.

  Sh’Shelle was a mess. Her hair sprang out in all directions and her cheek was scratched. “I was just doing some advance reading and my cat started howling to get out,” Sh’Shelle cried, brown eyes brimming. “But when I went to let Fudgie into the yard, that whatever-it-was chased me back into the house! I still don’t know where Fudgie is!”

  “Stay under the truck until this is over,” Amanda said authoritatively. “Fudgie will be fine.” She stood up and adjusted her party clothes, but when she turned again, she nearly choked!

  She was face-to-face with a hideous emerald beast sporting rows of sharp, slime-dripping teeth. The monster had a lobster’s body and snapping claws beneath the head of an alligator. It stood upright and glared down at her menacingly with yellow eyes.

  Amanda didn’t have time to think. She ran. She ran faster than she had run in her life, and farther, too, hoping that she was drawing the thing away from Sh’Shelle.

  “Follow me, Greenie,” she mumbled, bearing down and running faster still.

  Amazingly, Amanda never ran out of breath. As a matter of fact, in the midst of her escape, Amanda actually felt as if she were getting stronger—drawing strength from some hidden wellspring deep inside her. Her arms and legs felt sure and steady; they seemed to be gaining power and urging her on. Gone were the nausea and side stitches she usually experienced during forced runs in gym. Instead she felt, well, exhilarated, like a peak athlete. It was a feeling she hadn’t anticipated experiencing in her life. Ever.

  On top of that, her breathing was not in the least bit strained. In fact, oxygen seemed to be pouring into her effortlessly. Her head tingled. She felt so … so plain different that she closed her eyes for a second. Then came the strangest sensations of all. With her eyes closed, Amanda could still “see.” Not like a movie playing in her head. No. Different than that. But it was like seeing.

  She could feel the heat of the things around her forming shapes. And she recognized moisture, too. And sounds. She could actually “see” sounds through vibration; it was as if she had—

  “Sensilla!” she said aloud, still streaking down the road at top speed.

  Amanda had dreamed of what it would be like to have the same sensing hairs that insects had. She’d imagined it to be awesome but never quite this intense. She became aware, without turning or slowing, that she had totally outpaced the clawbster. He was no longer behind her. And the amazing thing was, the information was coming to her from her very own forehead!

  Amanda slowed to a stop on Belcher Street, near the edge of town. Reaching up, she gently touched one of two long, thin protrusions at her hairline. The extensions were about five inches long, flexible, and incredibly sensitive. They felt electric.

  Briefly, Amanda wondered if she had skewered her forehead when she’d taken that tumble into Emily’s buffet. Had there been fondue? No. The protrusions weren’t some sort of fancy cutlery; they were a part of her. She’d apparently grown them.

  “Wow … wow. Wow! I have antennae,” she said in a whisper. “Antennae!” she shouted at the empty street. It was, for Amanda, a dream and a nightmare. She walked closer to the plate-glass window of the local salon, Curl Up and Dye, and peered at her reflection. Antennae were just a part of it. The skin on Amanda’s arms and legs had changed, too. It looked normal, maybe a little glossier, but when she ran a hand over her forearm, it felt hard and smooth like a clear shell. Like armor. The new skin also covered her back and shoulders. She knocked on her chest with a fist and was rewarded with a rapping sound.

  * * *

  ANTENNAE

  • Antennae are long, thin sensory organs found in pairs on the heads of insects, crustaceans, and some other arthropods.

  • Antennae can be used for smelling, hearing, tasting, and touching.

  SENSILLA

  • Sensilla are small, hairlike sensory organs that detect temperature, humidity, chemicals, light, and motion.

  • Sensilla can be found in many areas on an insect’s body but are often clustered on or near the antennae.

  * * *

  Amanda looked around for someone, anyone, to confirm that she was actually seeing what she thought she was seeing, but there wasn’t a soul in sight. Cars had been abandoned in the streets. Doors stood open. The green monsters had frightened away everyone.

  Almost everyone. The sound of breaking glass made Amanda whirl around. A greasy-looking kid with blond hair was climbing through the window of Game On, a small video-game store, with the devious plan to rob it while the owners were fleeing for their lives.

  Why do people have to be like that? Amanda wondered. What a scumbag! Without thinking, she zipped over to the store and stared in through the broken window. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, hands planted on her hips.

  The kid didn’t even look up. He was busy shoving stuff into his backpack. “I said, ‘WHAT do you think you’re DOING?’” Amanda shouted. This time the kid looked, and when he did, Amanda knew she hadn’t been imagining the changes she had seen in the glass at Curl Up. This kid saw them, too.

  The boy froze and stuttered, “Sh-sh-shouldn’t you b-be g-green … and g-g-glowing?”

  “Shouldn’t you be in jail?” Amanda retorted. This punk disgusted her. The town was in trouble and he was stealing stupid video games! Distaste built up inside her until she felt like she might just explode. And then … she sort of … did. Her pores opened in unison and unleashed her disgust. The full-body burp produced a large musky cloud that fumigated the store and caused the thief to collapse unconscious onto the low-pile carpet.

  Amanda cringed. She’d long admired brown marmorated stink bugs and their ingenious defense weapons, but even she had to admit this was a little … gross.

  Antennae? Body armor? Biochemical … weaponry?

  “What is going ON?” she screamed into the empty streets.

  7

  Amanda kept yelling as she searched for explanations as to what was happening to her body, and to her town, but the only reply she got was the echo of her own voice. She was alone on the street—everyone else in Oyster Cove had taken cover somewhere. And even the monsters that had frightened the population away seemed to be departing. The hybrid creeps were launching themselves into the air, heading toward a central meeting place.

  Okay, then. Amanda adjusted her course. Wherever these booger bullies were going, she was going.

  The sky was bright with the monsters’ glow. As more of the creatures changed direction and fell in line, they formed blazing green arches that rose up into the sky before curving back down to earth in the distance.

  The sheer numbers gave Amanda the willies but did not slow her down. She ran full speed toward the horde, her antennae alerting her that the situation ahead was a matter of life and death. She pushed herself to the maximum. Her feet became a blur.

  Finally, in the warehouse district, Amanda skidded to a halt. The monstrosities were touching down in a large empty lot next to the town’s grimy power plant. As each one descended, it joined a giant circle of its brethren speeding around something or someone trapped in the center of the ring. Amanda was able to spot two figures caught in the middle of the vortex—two figures who were vastly outnumbered and clearly in trouble!

  Amanda moved in slowly, but the swirling beasts paid her no mind. When she was close enough to have a clear view inside the circle, her mouth fell open in disbelief. There at the very center of the spiraling frenzy stood …

  No. It didn’t seem possible.

  Amanda squinted. Her enhanced insecto-vision was helping her process the action, but she could not quite believe what she was seeing.

  The costu
mes. The symbols. Those boots! The pair in the center of the monsters’ vortex were none other than Megawoman and Dragonfly!

  Amanda nearly cheered out loud. Of course Megawoman and Dragonfly were here! In the face of danger, Oyster Cove’s own superheroes had returned to save the day. And it appeared they were about to face off against the whole pack of degenerates! Amanda bit her lips together and hoped her slightly rebellious and quickly changing body would not betray her excitement by shooting rainbow mist out of her belly button or something equally startling. She had never dared hope to see her beloved heroes in the flesh—and yet here they were, looking exactly like the action figures she used to build tree-stump houses and create wild adventures for!

  Suddenly this nightmare of a day was turning into a dream. And Amanda allowed herself a moment to ponder all that this could mean—the exciting reappearance of Megawoman and Dragonfly in this, Oyster Cove’s hour of need, was sure to bring a return of the respect the women deserved. Willikers, it could even mean a whole new line of products—perhaps even a new and improved Dragonfly Super Bus, the action-figure vehicle of Amanda’s dreams!

  But then, as Amanda neared the heroes, her smile began to wilt. Something was wrong. What were Dragonfly and Megawoman waiting for? They were standing together … back to back with looks of grim determination on their faces, like they always did in the show before they started whomping villains, but they weren’t moving. Like, at all. Nor were the monsters advancing.…

  Squinting at them from her spot outside the ring, Amanda noticed something terrible: The überwomen were bound up in some sort of shiny string.

  “No!” Amanda heard herself scream. The monsters turned, but she hardly noticed. The heroes turned, and she locked eyes with Dragonfly. A jolt of she-didn’t-even-know-what shot through her body.

  It was said that with her amazing vision and sightenhancing drago-mask, Dragonfly could see in every direction at once. Criminals claimed she could “see through them.” Amanda instantly understood why. The superhero’s gaze was penetrating. It felt like … like … she could speak with her eyes.… It felt like she knew her.

  With that glance, Amanda knew she had to do something! She set her jaw and was prepared to break into the monster circle, when a terrible, shattering sound split the air. Dust lifted up in billowing clouds. The heroes were obscured. Amanda heard two cries and then, as the air cleared, her dream was once again a nightmare.

  The bound Dragonfly and Megawoman hovered above a large hole in the earth, held aloft by otherworldly armatures that had emerged from the ground. One was wrapped around Megawoman, holding her legs together at the knees and covering her mouth. The weird winding arms were burly, too. Only something with truly amazing strength could squeeze superstrong Dragonfly tightly enough to gag and immobilize her!

  “No!” Amanda looked directly at Dragonfly, pleading with her to bust a move. “Do something!”

  Dragonfly looked back, and her multifaceted eyes opened wide in a gaze of sad recognition … and defeat.

  And then Megawoman and Dragonfly were dragged down into the dirt.

  Rubble spilled into the strange sinkhole after the captives—and in the time it took for Amanda to gasp, they were gone. Swallowed up. Leaving Amanda gawking.

  The pit had disappeared completely. Within seconds, it was covered over with dirt, as if it had never been. Above it, the monsters swirled aimlessly.

  “You lowlife bogsuckers!!” Amanda screamed as loudly as she could at the closest green ghoul—an oversize naked mole rat and moray eel combo. Then, without a moment of concern for her personal safety, she hurled herself at the huge beast. She ran full tilt—ready for impact—right through the terrifying monster!

  “What the—!?” Amanda slid to a stop on the other side of the nasty thing. She looked back. It was still there! She’d passed through it.… The green beasts were holograms!

  The moment Amanda figured out that they posed no threat, the apparitions began to retreat, swirling rapidly into the sky. Within minutes, they had vanished.

  But the hole had been there.

  And the monsters.

  And the heroes.

  All that was left was Amanda and her dismay.

  Her whole body screamed. The battle was lost. Amanda blinked back tears. She did not want to be brave anymore. She wanted her mom. Now.

  Running as fast as she could—which was really amazingly fast with her souped-up insectile features—toward home, Amanda felt like an ant separated from its colony: desperate and alone. A solitary ant was vulnerable without the protection of its community. Severed from its colony, the tiny insect would soldier endlessly on until it found its nest … or died trying.

  8

  The Prices’ house was on the inland edge of Oyster Cove in Stubby Oaks, a neighborhood of houses that used to be shacks for seasonal visitors who could not afford to stay on the beach. The home was small and cozy, quiet and quaint, with scroll-cut trim and a front door with a little window in it. As she ran into the yard, Amanda imagined her mom sitting at the kitchen table as she did every day, waiting to hear all about the insect her daughter had rescued on her way home or the amazing fact she’d read in her library book about larvae. She could practically hear her mother’s reassuring voice and could not wait for her to say that everything was going to be fine.

  Only her mom wasn’t there.

  The house was quiet.

  “Mom!” Amanda called. “Mom!” No Mom.

  Amanda shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind. Good gravy, the thoughts racing inside her usually logical brain were frankly just too outrageous to be believed. She wanted to rattle them loose so she could prove they were just her overactive imagination getting the best of her.

  But there were two things keeping Amanda from thinking that she’d made up the absurd story. They were the two waving antennae on her forehead. Yes, those appendages currently wiring distress signals to her brain were very, very real. And they would not shut up about the fact that she needed to locate her mother. Like, now.

  Taking a deep breath, Amanda tried to think sensibly. She was pretty certain that no matter how relaxing the yoga-pi-latte exercises were, her mom and Emily’s would not have lingered at the gym during the whole crazy invasion episode. Like any caring parents, they would have raced home to check on their children—and their children’s guests. Of course, Amanda thought. They are at the Battfields’. Yes. They would have rushed back immediately! Carefully, Amanda dialed the number she still knew by heart.

  Emily picked up on the third ring. Her voice sounded oddly hopeful and a little stuffed up.

  “Hello?”

  “Emily, it’s Amanda. Is my mom there?” She wasn’t wasting any time.

  Emily let out a sigh. “Noooooooo.” She drew the single syllable out much longer than necessary to emphasize her distaste at having to speak to Amanda on the phone. Then sniffled.

  “Wait,” Amanda said, dismissing the girl’s tone. “Have you been crying?”

  There was a long silence on the other end of the line.

  “The party is over,” Emily finally huffed. Then she hung up.

  “Duh,” Amanda whispered.

  Insulted, exoskeletal, and alone, Amanda made another call.

  Within minutes, Vincent arrived out of breath on Amanda’s doorstep. The first words out of his mouth when she opened the door were, “May I try that on?” Vincent’s green eyes grew wider behind his plastic frames as he admired Amanda’s antennae and exoskeleton. “Do … do you think it comes in my size?”

  “It doesn’t come off,” Amanda explained, marveling at how quickly she was growing used to her body’s changes. Just thinking of removing her antennae or protective layer for someone else to put on sounded sort of ridiculous—like letting someone try on your face. Of course, she realized, it was a gigantic bummer that her changes appeared to be permanent. There was no way she could be seen at school like this! In fact, that was going to be a huge problem.…

  But
dealing with these “changes” was not what Amanda was freaking out about currently. Right at this moment, Amanda was freaking out about her mom—she had to find her ASAP—and she could feel a meltdown rising dangerously close to the surface. “We’ll talk about my accessories later,” she said, fixing Vincent with a look that made his questions fade into the background. “Right now, we have an emergency.”

  As quickly as she could, Amanda filled Vincent in on all that had gone on, including the reappearance of and near-immediate redisappearance of the town’s heroes, Megawoman and Dragonfly. She knew he loved them, and he listened closely, his eyes growing wider with each new revelation.

  “Jeepers! You had an actual sighting!” he screeched. “But if Dragonfly and Megawoman have been abducted, we have got to call the police!” Grabbing the phone, Vincent thrust it at Amanda and demanded that she dial 9-1-1!

  Right. Of course. When a person is snatched, you alert authorities, Amanda thought, soothed by the sensible suggestion. And I can tell them about my mom, too.

  The authorities would help. They would take over, locate her mom, rescue the heroes, and everything would be fine.

  Amanda felt her breathing normalize as she dialed the emergency number. It was busy. She tried again and again until she finally got what sounded like a very harried, not-too-interested voice on the line.

  “Hi, my name is Amanda Price, and I have some very important information. You have got to alert everyone that the green things that attacked the town are just holograms. They’re not real! Also, I just saw Megawoman and Dragonfly being kidnapped!” she blurted.

  “Sure, kid. A lot of people have been seeing a lot of things tonight. We’re getting crazy reports from all over town, and we’re working as fast as we can. But I’ll be sure to add this to the list,” the operator droned, and then let out a guffaw. “Wouldn’t it be great, though, if Dragonfly and Megawoman would show up and take care of this? That’s some dream. I’m gonna tell that one to the captain.”