In her notes his mother had predicted the full power of the serum would kick in when Cruz turned 13 Apparently it had and just in time for him to do battle with Nebula too The gash Cruz had gotten on his leg when Prescott nearly drowned him in Hawaii the burn on his arm from Mr Rook’s laser blast and his broken toe and concussion from the fall into the cavern in Turkey had all mended within a day or two faster than ever Not that Cruz had given any of these injuries much thought when they’d occurred Now they were all he could think about Damaged cells need time to regenerate right Cruz figured he was as human as anyone else when it came to things that would cause a quick death which Nebula must have known too Is that why his mother had not survived the fire in her lab Her cells couldn’t repair her injuries fast enough Or as an adult had the serum affected her differently Cruz had millions of questions but how was he supposed to get any of them answered when the Synthesis wouldn’t let him see the rest of the logbook Emmett was the only one who knew Cruz had been inside the Archive though he had no idea what Cruz had learned there and he could never know No one could not even Dad or Aunt Marisol Ow yelped Lani Cruz had bumped her calf Sorry Lani was stopped on the trail her head tipped back Cruz followed her gaze his eyes roving up the tangle of thick branches that wove the canopy in layers too numerous to count Here and there the leaves parted allowing thin beams of sunlight to slip through Fruits and flowers punctuated the greenery like red yellow and white exclamation points Squinting Cruz searched the limbs Lani what are you There Among the leaves still glossy from an overnight rain Cruz spotted a patch of reddish gray A monkey Its back to them the animal was crouched on the fork of a twisted tree trunk about 20 feet up The bright orange-red fur on its head neck and shoulders turned a soft gray as it extended down its arms legs and tail The monkey’s thin tail was nearly as long as its body A gray hand with long fingers lazily 6
plucked unripened figs from a tree By now Professor Ishikawa had seen the animal too He was pointing up trying to quietly alert everyone everyone to what was above Crack Someone behind Cruz stepped on a twig Turning its shoulders the monkey glanced down and the explorers began to chuckle The monkey had the biggest nose Cruz had ever seen Long and droopy the appendage appendage hung past its mouth like a giant orange pendulum That’s a proboscis monkey whispered their teacher hushing them That nose might seem funny to you but I can assure you that lady monkeys find it quite attractive That got even more giggles 7
Proboscis monkeys are excellent swimmers added Professor Luben His fingers and toes are partially webbed They help him out swim crocodiles one of his main predators Once the monkey had finished eating he reached for a shaggy vine Pushing himself off the V-shaped trunk he swung his bulging potbelly toward another branch stretched a thin hairy arm out to catch it And missed This time Professor Ishikawa didn’t attempt to quiet their laughter They’re not always as graceful on land he said Cruz spotted another smaller monkey on the second tree It had a much shorter nose There’s a female whispered Professor Luben When momentum brought the vine back the female caught the male by his leg and pulled him onto her limb The pair began to climb and were soon lost in the dense foliage of the canopy As the group continued on Cruz glanced back looking for Aunt Marisol’s tan-and-pink safari hat He was close to the front while she’d brought up the rear There she was yep still near the back All their teachers had joined them for their hike through Borneo’s Kinabatangan River Basin Cruz suspected it meant they would be breaking up into teams for a mission His hunch soon proved correct Another half mile up the trail Monsieur Legrand who was leading them stopped next to a grassy bog We’ll take a short water and snack break here then hand out your assignments he announced Cruz rested his backpack against a cracked log which was being used as a freeway by a line of busy termites He pulled off one glove to pop open his water bottle lifted the aluminum canister to his lips and let the icy water flow down his raw throat The chill that hit his stomach stomach sent a welcome shiver through him Ahhhh Catching a whiff of lavender Cruz watched Sailor take the top off the bottle of Fanchon’s organic mosquito repellent You’re really layering that stuff on he said taking another swig You can’t be too careful Sailor lifted her chin closed her eyes and spritzed 8
What is that four layers now teased Cruz Five When he laughed she said Don’t come crying to me when you’re covered in welts You do know it has catnip in it don’t you said Emmett Sailor’s eyelids flew open It does It’s one of the active ingredients Great grunted Dugan You’ll repel the mosquitoes but attract the leopards Cruz laughed nearly spitting water all over Bryndis She dodged out of the way in the nick of time but was laughing too Professor Ishikawa was signaling for them to gather round You’re standing deep in the heart of one of the oldest rainforests on Earth he explained The jungles of Borneo are home to more than two hundred species of mammals and four hundred different kinds of birds that we know of It’s one of the few places in the world where elephants rhinos and orangutans all live together He scanned the semicircle of students But your task is not to seek the obvious Today your mission will be to look for the rarely seen even the unknown On our hike you’ve probably trekked past hundreds of creatures without realizing it spiders ants snails frogs and so on They may have been under the leaf litter tucked into a knothole or perhaps he nodded to a light-pink-and-white orchid next to him in plain sight Professor Ishikawa bent to lightly touch the flower and several petals shrank from his fingertips There was a collective gasp as the flower began to move Say hello to the orchid mantis said their teacher This insect camouflages itself as part of the blossom in order to catch a meal He’s pretty good at fooling bees flies and by your expressions explorers Come take a look Upon closer inspection Cruz was able to make out the bug’s long triangle-shaped head whisker-thin antennae and six petal-like legs But it wasn’t easy The soft blend of pale pink and white on its body so perfectly matched the flower that it was hard to tell where the orchid ended and the mantis began 9
