Chapter 1

It was not big. About as long as Sparky was tall, Sky wagered. If it weren't the only thing in the basement not caked in dust, he wouldn't have noticed it. He stood there for a while, on the bare concrete floor, holding his phone, letting the flashlight shine on its sleek metal surface, staring into the bumblebee-colored circle printed on it.

That kind of looks like the nuclear symbol? he thought.

"Guys?" he said, but his voice was too low for them to hear. He turned around and ran back up the stairs.

Qibli was standing idly near the entrance, a frame without a door. She turned her head in Sky's direction, pulled her glasses off their perch on her hat, shoved them on her face, and only then did she recognize Sky.

"Sparky and Crackers found an upper floor. They went up there. We didn't find anything here. Not even a stray."

They were looking for a cat who ran away from its owner. After recovering Sandstorm, Qibli's family cat, completely by chance a few weeks ago, the squad had gained a little fame around the place as pet detectives; a rare sight for a city where even next-door neighbors may not know each other. Said neighbor approached Qibli yesterday asking for help finding their own cat, a gray tabby with blue eyes. So here they were, in a dusty house void of human activity, abandoned during the construction stage, because Firecrackers had said these places are basically the breeding grounds of little animals. If only that were true. The house itself seemed to be a detriment to any sort of life.

"What did you find in the basement?" Qibli was asking him.

"Something cool. Very cool! You gotta get them down here."

Qibli sighed, stuck her glasses back on her hat, and started heading for the stairs, tiptoeing through the dust.

The second floor was a huge empty place because it lacked the walls that were supposed to be installed. Sunlight poured in through what was meant to be the balcony. Sparky was crouched on the ground with her nose jammed against it, apparently trying to catch the scent of cats. Firecrackers was standing behind her, hands shoved in his pockets. They both turned towards Qibli.

"Sky wanted to show us something," said Qibli.

Fuck off, Firecrackers said.

"No, really, he said it was cool."

That's why I said "fuck off."

"What is it?" Sparky got up and patted dust off her knees to no avail.

"I didn't know."

"Ugh," Sparky started towards her, "C'mon Crackers, there's no cat here anyways. Might as well just go."

Firecrackers shrugged and nodded.

Qibli and Firecrackers didn't bring their phones, but two flashlights were enough. They stood around the metal chunk, inspecting every bit of its surface they could see — which wasn't much, since it was backed up against the wall.

"Holy shit," Sparky said, repeatedly slapping the casing, "it is a real fucking nuke!"

Careful with it, Firecrackers tried to say, but it was too dark for anyone to see him sign. He put his hand on Sparky's shoulder instead, earning himself a glare which no one saw either.

"What was that flag?" Qibli pointed at a picture printed on the side, near the end of the nuke, highlighted by Sparky's flashlight. It was a moose on a green background.

"Moreland," Sky replied with no hesitation.

"Moreland. Is that a… another country?"

"Duh," Sky rolled his eyes, but nobody could see his face in the dark.

"What was a nuke from Moreland doing here?" Qibli asked, "I thought we needed to call the police."

"Police?" Sparky swirled around, shining her flashlight into their faces. "What do you think this is, a kid crying for their mom? We found the nuke. It's ours. The cops can go fuck themselves."

Qibli pulled her magic wand out of her pocket, pointed it at Sparky, and pried her phone out of her hands.

"Hey! Give it back!" But Qibli kept it out of her reach until the police were on the way.

The cops were visibly stunned. They circled the nuke — or semi-circled it, as the other side was against the wall. They pried Sparky off of it, who was screaming things about finders-keepers and how the nuke should belong to Sky and by extension herself. In the end they put up tape around the house, told the kids to wait outside, and made some more phone calls.

A moment later, a black car pulled up to the house. It wasn't a police car, but radiated more authority than one. It had a government plate.

It parked behind the police car on the side of the road. The shotgun door opened and an old man stepped out. He was wearing a jet-black uniform with a purple belt fitting it tightly over his body. His heavy boots were of the same purple color, polished gleaming, and produced scarcely any sound when landing. When he turned to close the door, Firecrackers noticed snow-white gloves on his hands and a baton as long as Firecrackers's arm jammed into his belt. He had black eyes. Sparky had never seen anyone with black eyes before.

A policeman, the one who made the phone call, lifted a part of the tape to let him in. He took off his right glove and extended his arm, and the policeman shook it.

"Paperweight, Ministry of State Security," said the old man.

"Thank you for coming, sir," said the cop. "It's down in the basement."

Other people, all wearing identical uniforms, also emerged from the car. The driver was a man with a fox's face and blue-green eyes. A little like Tephra, noted Sparky. Two officers came out the back, a woman with pink eyes and a man with orange eyes and curly brown hair. Sky thought he might have dyed and curled it. Firecrackers would have told him it was natural. They were both in their twenties.

The orange one yawned. Sparky yawned after him.

"Goose," Paperweight said, "why don't you come down with me?" Qibli was getting addicted to his voice.

The pink one was spinning her baton on her finger. Paperweight's voice startled her and it fell to the ground. Sparky felt an urge to pick it up.

"Goose," Paperweight said again, sternly. Goose gave a nervous laugh, bent down to pick the baton up, but the orange one did it ahead of her and he handed it to her.

"Thanks," Goose said, and trotted into the house with a visibly irritated Paperweight.

"You can leave the place to us now," the green one said to the policemen. "Leave the kids here. We have some questions to ask them."

The police duly left.

"Who the fuck are those?" Sparky asked as soon as the police car door slammed shut and rocked the kids out of their trance, totally within earshot of the two officers left outside.

"Ministry of State Security," said Sky the green one at the same time, except that Sky added an "idiot" at the end.

"Allow me to introduce myself." The green one ducked back out of the police tape and approached the kids. "Halcyon, Ministry of State Security." He showed his badge. "This," he pointed to the orange man, who was now petting a gray tabby cat, "is Pumpkin. The ones in the house right now are Paperweight and Goose. We are here to deal with the nuclear bomb you found. Pumpkin!"

The cat had ran away and Pumpkin was about to chase it. He came over to Halcyon instead. "What is it?"

Halcyon handed him a clipboard and a pen. "Collect the general information of the kids."

Pumpkin groaned but did as he was told.

"Alright guys. Who wants to go first?"

Qibli was staring somewhere else. "The cat…?"

"Alright young lady. Name, please?"

"But the cat…" she started to walk but Pumpkin stopped her.

"C'mon, forget about the cat. Your name!"

"Qibli Donut Lightning."

Pumpkin snickered.

"Do you think it's funny?" Qibli demanded. Halcyon shook his head by just a tiny bit.

"No, no, no," Pumpkin forced himself an awkward smile. "It's a great name. Address?"

Qibli spat out her address. It was really long.

Pumpkin was trying to write it down when he realized, "whoops, wrote your name down on the address field." He ripped the piece of paper off, crumpled it in his hand, and shoved it into his pocket. "Could I please have your name again?"

Qibli refused to speak. Halcyon was taking a deep breath.

"Let me do this," Halcyon said. He snatched the clipboard away from Pumpkin, muttering Qibli Donut Lightning as he wrote. He also caught Qibli's address flawlessly. He then went on to the other three kids while Pumpkin stood awkwardly. He was getting a scolding for sure.

Just as Halcyon had down all the kids' names, addresses, parents' phone numbers, and what they had for breakfast two weeks ago, Paperweight and Goose came out of the house.

"It really is a nuke!" Goose was stomping her boots on the ground. "I've never seen an actual nuke before!"

"Whoa, seriously?" Pumpkin said. "Can I go see it?"

Paperweight ignored them both and spoke to Halcyon. "Take the kids to the nearest police station."

"Why the fuck?" Sparky had her hands clenched into fists. "Are we getting arrested?"

"No," Halcyon said, "just routine questioning. You're the ones who found the bomb. Of course we'll have to ask some questions."

"Uh, sure," said Qibli. "We were looking for a cat —"

"At the station, please," Paperweight cut in. "Separately."

"I'll have to call my parents," Sky said.

"We can handle that for you," Halcyon said. "Just come with us."