2. Nightcandle Farm

Elize clung onto Beatrix’ skirt and hung from it with her full body weight. “Don’t close! Don’t close! Please?”

Her mouth became a line, as her long red nails tapped the clipboard. “You lied to me. You’ve been tested on twenty criteria and passed not a single one of them! I have no choice.”

She turned around. Elize cried and didn’t let go.

Kuku shuffled backward, out of the area.

What had she done? The farm would close! But she wouldn’t even live to see it, if Harry took his revenge. Maybe she’d be locked up in isolation. Or beaten. Or … slaughtered.

She ran across the gravel path at full speed, away from everyone. All the cows followed. She wasn’t sure if they wanted to escape too or wanted to stop her from doing so.

Beatrix shook Elize off of her and opened the front door of her van.

“Child. Let go of me. You lied as well.”

“Papa forced me,” she whispered. When she realized her mistake, she cast her eyes down. “I mean, erm, he wants me to be positive and friendly—”

“You keep lying.”

Beatrix climbed into the driver’s chair. Harry stood next to her now.

“I think I deserve a second chance!” yelled Harry. He talked to Beatrix; his eyes followed Kuku’s attempt to flee.

“You deserve nothing,” mumbled Beatrix. She started the van. “But for Elize’s sake I will give you a second chance. Within two weeks, I want the farm to satisfy all criteria! Then you can keep it. Otherwise we take control.”

She turned around and raced off of the premises. Kuku saw her pass by from the other side of the fence. Mere meters away from the highway … and still she would never get there.

The meadows were surrounded on all sides by thick mesh. Too strong to break, too tall to jump over.

She felt her life extinguish like a candle in the night. Harry stormed at her, white from fury. His shiny boots landed in puddles of dirt and ruined his clothes, but he didn’t care.

Their watchdog, Hess, had finally awoken. He could talk to everyone and was the only one allowed to roam freely. He was also old and looked wary.

Even in that state, the gigantic dog always gave Kuku a heart attack. And made her run even faster.

“You can’t leave,” he said calmly. “I’ve tried.”

Well, thanks for nothing. Kuku ran past the fence anyway, as if she hoped to get lucky and find a hole in the mesh. Hess had gigantic claws too—couldn’t he make a gap?

“The fence is electri—”

Kuku bumped her head against the outer mesh. Her body shocked and buzzed, as her world went dark and soon after blades of grass entered her nostrils. She’d never felt this sick, until she felt nothing at all.

Kuku awoke in a tiny, dark room. A prison? A cage? She barely had room to moohve. She wasn’t tied up, or wounded, or … dead. Why—

“Where is that devilish cow!?” Harry shrieked. He sounded far away and outside.

Kuku found small circular holes and looked through them. Night had fallen. Harry and Elize ran around looking for her.

So … they hadn’t found her yet. What had Hess done?

Of course. She lay inside his dog house.

It wasn’t as small as she thought. Hess simply blocked the entire entrance and cast the rest of the room in shadow.

“Thank you,” whispered Kuku.

“I wouldn’t make too much noise, if I were you.”

Harry walked past. “Hess! You’re supposed to have a great sense of small, right? Help us find that cow!”

Hess didn’t respond. He lay on his belly, eyes closed, pretending to sleep.

“They’re devilish creatures, all of them,” Harry mumbled. “Elize! You search near the food storages again, I’ll investigate the barns.”

Midnight had passed. Elize walked around in her pajamas, on slippers, and yawned perpetually. “I just think Kuku is well-hidden, dad.”

Harry threw a pitchfork in the dirt, not far from her slippers. “These creatures are too stupid to hide themselves well. Search, child!”

Elize could not stop yawning. “What … what do I do when I find her?”

“Catch her.”

“And then?”

“I’ll make an example out of her in front of the other animals. To make them cooperate in two weeks time.”

“So … so we’re going to renovate the farm? And make Beatrix very happy in two weeks?”

“We have no money for that.”

Harry visited the barn. Elize waved at Hess, patted his head, and talked to him. Did those humans really not realize that waving and talking didn’t mean anything to animals?

At least Elize was kind. When Kuku had just been born, the girl had visited often to cuddle her. She’d even tried hiding Kuku in her bedroom once. A cow seemed a nice pet, until they grew a bit too big.

When the coast was clear, Hess suddenly stood.

“Come with me.”

Kuku followed him. He ignored the barn and went straight for the farmer’s home. He ignored that too and went to a tiny building near the backyard.

Kuku grew nervous. Her head spun like a clock to watch for any danger around her. What if Harry returned? Would Hess defend her? What was his deal?

She stepped inside the building and was bathed in light.

Five animals circled an old light bulb. They stood in a room overstuffed with furniture, all of it covered with soft layers of grass or straw. A horse, a sheep, a cow, a chicken, and a pig. Every type of animal had sent someone. From the outside, this looked like a regular shed. From the inside, it looked like a room that belonged to Harry’s home. Until the animals stole it and destroyed most of it.

“What is this place?” Kuku mumbled.

“An invisible shed.”

“Mooh!? But I can see it?”

“Invisible to humans. Especially to someone like Harry, who has lost all connection with nature.”

Kuku didn’t understand how that worked. How can something just disappear when human eyes study it? She was glad it did, though, because it explained how this place was never found.

“We must get you out of this farm,” he said.

“I won’t go alone. My parents should come too.”

“We must get everyone out of this farm,” said the horse. “This is no place to live.”

Hess translated for everyone. Talk was difficult between species, but these had met many times before and were quite quick about it.

What was this? An animal council that convened every night? Why hadn’t she heard of it before?

“Madness!” said the pig. “If one cow can’t escape, how do we get a hundred animals away from here? And where would we live? In the forest, owned by wolves? In the city, with humans?”

“What is it with you and wolves?” the cow asked.

“The wolves were bad in the Second Conflict! They destroyed half of all the pigs on Somnia.”

“The pigs were bad in the Second Conflict!” said the horse. He turned to the chicken. “And the chickens were … were … well, really annoying, honestly, with their cackling and—”

“Our eggs were the only food for most soldiers around the world. And the cows? They literally did nothing during the Second Conflict! They just ate grass and—”

“Ssst!”

Hess pushed his large claw to the horse’s mouth and the chicken’s beak. “I hear something.”

Elize’s voice sounded clearly in the silent night. “As if she would hide near the food storages! Cows are stupid, but not that stupid. Then she might just as well hide inside our ho—”

She fell silent.

Kuku spied through the door, which was open a crack. Elize leaned on her back door, mere meters away from the shed. She yawned and looked over her shoulder, at Harry in the distance.

“If you hear me, Kuku,” she said towards the house, “go away. Hide. If you know what that means. I don’t want to find you.”

Elize opened the door, then froze. A rustle emerged from the darkness. She rapidly looked to the side; her mouth fell open.

Could she see the shed? She looked in their direction, but did nothing, as if the cold night air had truly frozen her.

A thick netting flew through the open door. Hess pushed everyone aside, but was caught himself.