“I, uh, I never thought of it that way,” Jesse said. “But I guess that’s kind of correct.”
“So if those are supposed to be this dimension’s version of aphids,” Laura said, “then what are they doing right now?”
“They’ve got to eat if they’re going to produce anything for the ants to feed on,” Jesse said. “So I assume they’re coming in from wherever the ants take them to graze. Like sheep or cows being let out into the pasture and then being taken back into the barn at night.” He stared at the distant bugs intently, and Murky could tell that an idea was coming to him.
“If they’re going to be heading into the city, maybe we can use them as cover to go inside as well,” he said.
“How exactly would we do that?” Henderson asked.
“I’m not sure, but if we’re going to try it, I think we have to get over by them now.”
“He’s right,” Laura said. “If we’re going to try to hide among them to get past that ant guard, we have to get among them before they’re in easy sight of the entrance, and it looks like it will be pretty soon.”
“There’s a slope over there we can use,” Henderson said. “Come on.”
“Yeah, let’s go,” Murky said. She was about to gesture for Chicago to follow her when Laura stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.
“Murky, we can’t bring Chicago with us this time. In fact, maybe it would be a good idea if you didn’t come, either.”
“What?” Murky asked. “Why?”
“We can’t bring Chicago because he might scare the aphids,” Laura said. “Not to mention that, however we’re going to hide among them, Chicago’s going to stick out and get us caught.”
“That’s not true,” Murky said. “Chicago, you can pretend to be a bug, right?”
Chicago cocked his head at her. It didn’t seem likely that he would agree in any case.
“And if he’s going to stay behind, we probably need someone to keep an eye on him,” Jesse said. “If the ants see him running around out here, it might tip them off that something is going on.”
“You can do sentry duty,” Laura said. “Keep an eye out for when we come out with the others.”
“If we come out with the others,” Henderson said. “Or at all.”
Laura shook her head. “You’re not helping, Henderson.”
“Sentry duty,” Murky said contemplatively. “That sounds pretty important. Is it?”
“Sure,” Laura said. “Definitely.”
“And you’re not just trying to make me stay behind because of how dangerous it might be in there?”
“Of course not,” Laura said. Something about the look on her face made Murky think she wasn’t telling the truth, but she didn’t mind. If it meant she got to stay here with Chicago, then she was fine with all of it.
“Okay. I’ll do it.”
“Good,” Laura said. She hugged her little sister. “We’ll be back as quick as we can, and hopefully with everyone from Kettle Hollow behind us.”
The three of them snuck off down the nearest slope as quickly as they could. Murky turned to Chicago with a smile on her face.
“Sentry duty, Chicago!” she said. “This ought to be fun, right?”
Chicago’s only response was to yawn.
Chapter Eleven
“Be honest,” Henderson said to Laura as they quietly went down a path that they hoped would intercept the oncoming line of aphids while staying out of the view of the guards. “The reason you told Murky to stay behind is because you’re not entirely sure we’re going to make it in.”
“No, that’s not true,” Laura said, then, softly added, “It’s because I’m not sure we’re going to make it out.”
“At least I’m finally not the only pessimist here,” Henderson said.
They met up with the line of aphids right around a corner from the colossal city, a perfect place to plan to set up their stealthy entrance without being seen. The only problem though, was they didn’t have any idea what to do from here. There were no ants or anything like that herding the aphids back to the city; they seemed to be doing that on their own purely out of instinct. But there was no doubt that any ants guarding the front gate would see them if they just walked with or crouched among the line of giant bugs. They didn’t have a lot of time to come up with a plan, and Laura, who was tired and hungry and practically ready to collapse (and very much wishing she had grabbed a few of Murky’s marshmallows before Chicago had consumed them all), found her thinking was getting muddy. Jesse, however, seemed to have a second wind.
“I wonder,” he said aloud, then crouched down low to look at something underneath the bugs. “Yeah. Maybe that could work, if we can all hold on long enough.”
“What do you mean?” Henderson asked.
Jesse gestured for the two others to stoop down along with him. “Take a look.”
Laura got down on her hands and knees to look, but at first she wasn’t sure what Jesse saw that had him so excited. “All I see are giant bug legs and giant bug bellies.”
“Yeah, but look at their exoskeletons on the underside.”
Laura stared for a long time before she finally got it. “Those segments in the hard shell parts. We can use those as hand and footholds to hang from!”
“You want us to ride in underneath these things?” Henderson asked incredulously.
“One of these aphids by itself should be big enough to hold all three of us without us being easy to see from someone at normal eye height. Or abnormal ant height. Whatever.”
“I think maybe we can do it,” Laura said.
Henderson sighed and then shrugged. “What the hell. Why not. There could be worse ways to try
