The School for the Insanely Gifted by Dan Elish Page A

house.
    â€œSing them part of your one-woman Macbeth ,” Harkin yelled to Cynthia. “Maybe they’ll run away.”
    â€œFunny,” she replied. “I was thinking you should recite your poem.”
    They were trying to keep it light, but Daphna could hear the fear in their voices. What did these monkeys want? To play? Or were they dangerous?
    Once she and her friends were pinned against the door with no escape in sight, the largest monkey of them all clapped twice. The others cackled wildly and stomped the ground with their feet. The large monkey clapped again. To Daphna’s horror, the monkeys broke into three groups, one of which rushed forward arms outstretched, and lifted her over their heads. She was thrown into the air, only to be caught a second later by another group of monkeys that immediately tossed her to a third group. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Harkin and Cynthia were receiving the same treatment. They were being used as giant human balls in some sort of game. As Daphna and her friends kicked, clawed, and screamed, the monkeys merely passed them around more quickly.
    Until a loud crack —almost like a gunshot—filled the air. A voice boomed:
    â€œEnough funny business! Give them some room!”
    Daphna fell to the earth on her stomach. Looking toward the voice through a maze of monkey legs and paws, she saw a man standing by the edge of the yard. He was medium height with a long reddish beard. His eyes were so intense, she could make out their color, hazel, from a distance. Along with a dirty flannel shirt and jeans, he wore boots that laced all the way up to his thighs. Most striking was what he held in his right hand: a giant whip.
    â€œGo!” the man called to the monkeys.
    The animals hesitated, looking longingly at the kids.
    â€œI said, ‘Go!’” the man commanded.
    When his whip thwacked the ground an inch from the leader, the monkeys scampered as one to the edge of the trees, leaving Daphna and her friends lying on the ground by the front door, frozen with fear. Thankfully, it seemed the man’s wrath was saved for his monkeys. As soon as they were gone, his face softened.
    â€œYou’ll have to excuse my friends,” the man said. “We’re not used to visitors around here.”
    Daphna looked at Harkin and Cynthia and nodded. They rose slowly to their feet, a little banged up and a bit embarrassed, but otherwise none the worse for wear.
    â€œSorry to drop in like this . . . ,” Daphna said. Her voice trailed off. What should she say? How could she explain everything that had led them to this moment? After a full day of travel, she couldn’t come up with a single coherent sentence out of the million in her head.
    What happened next didn’t help. The man jerked up his powerful arm. The whip went thwack! against a low-hanging branch, and a single coconut dropped into his hands. He cracked it open on his knee and took a giant drink. Though Daphna found the sound of the whip terrifying, it dawned on her that if the man had wanted to harm them, he probably wouldn’t have stopped for a snack first. Instead of ordering the monkeys to let them alone, he could’ve commanded them to hoist the children into the trees. He might have done anything.
    As the man took a second drink from the coconut, she decided it was time to be brave.
    â€œI’m Daphna,” she said. “These are my friends Cynthia and Harkin. You can call him Thunk if you want.”
    She reached into her back pocket and pulled out the picture.
    â€œThis is my mom,” she said. “And we think you might be one of the men with her.”
    As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Daphna felt ridiculous. She took another look at the burly, slightly overweight, messy, bearded man in front of her. How could he be one of the thin, handsome guys with her mother?
    Daphna looked to her friends for support. She could tell