The Dark Academy

by Gerhard Gehrke

  The deep sound of the pickup’s engine approached. The engine roared, coughed, and went silent.

  “Finally,” Agent Walters said. He went to the kitchen door and stepped out onto the side porch.

  Brendan peered through the window. He could just see the front of the silver pickup. A rush of nerves filled him. They didn’t have much time. If Vlad had seen the phone, hopefully he would call the authorities. His dad was unreachable, and there was little else to be done. Brendan knew he would have to buy Vlad as much time as possible.

  When he approached the kitchen door, Agent Walters barely noticed. His attention was on Kemp. He had Tyler and Lucille with him. They all got out of the truck.

  “Kemp, what are you doing?”

  Kemp tilted his hat and considered his two captives. “I caught them down by the turnoff looking around. Thought it’d be best to pick them up.”

  “Is that so? Bravo for making this much more complicated than it needed to be. And what about the food? You were supposed to be getting food.”

  Kemp scratched his head and hesitated before answering, as if unsure of what words to use. Brendan immediately sensed something was off about the man. Kemp looked at Lucille. She gave him the slightest nod.

  “Kemp, where’s your sidearm?” Agent Walters asked. His own gun came out of its holster.

  Brendan grabbed the agent with both arms and jumped forward with him, sending them both crashing through the frail railing and down onto the dirt and sand. The jarring impact surprised Brendan, knocking the wind from his lungs. The gun had tumbled from the agent’s hands but he recovered first, punching Brendan squarely across the face. Walters wriggled out from under him and was up before Brendan could move.

  Tyler yelled as he charged forward, a primal scream that Brendan would have found silly if it weren’t saving his hide. He caught the agent square on and they both fell. Tyler punched the man a few times before getting up. The agent was curled up and moaning. Tyler took a moment to stare down in triumph. Then Brendan saw Walters reach into a pocket.

  “Watch out!” he yelled.

  Agent Walters fired a Taser straight up at Tyler. The two darts hit the boy square on and Tyler danced and collapsed, his body racked by twitches. Walters dropped the Taser and pulled out his little black club. Brendan was still trying to get up, but his head was spinning. Lucille had Kemp by the arm. She was pointing in Agent Walters’s direction, but Kemp just looked confused. Walters picked up his pistol.

  “Will everyone please just get inside, and we can finish our business here?” Agent Walters said. “This is turning into quite the can of worms.”

  The little black drone came out of nowhere and clocked Agent Walters on the head. He faltered and the club dropped to the sand, but the pistol was still in his hand. Without hesitating Brendan grabbed the gun from him. As Lucille had mentioned the night before, the agency weapons had a biometric tab for a thumb on the grip. The drone came around for another pass and jerked to a stop, hanging in front of Brendan’s face.

  “Charlotte?” he whispered.

  It made no sense. How was it operating?

  Agent Walters lunged for the gun. Brendan saw the move coming and stepped away. The drone feinted for Walters, causing the man to flinch.

  “You got it to fly.”

  “Don’t look at me,” Brendan said.

  Tyler grabbed the agent by the back of the neck and pushed him forward next to Kemp. Brendan wasn’t sure what to do with the pistol and held it awkwardly before tucking it into his belt. That was uncomfortable, so he put it in the small of his back, wondering if the gun was really safe or if at any moment it might fire with horrific results.

  Lucille stepped away from their two captives. Agent Walters had two sets of handcuffs. Tyler cuffed their hands to one another with the wooden post of the partially collapsed carport in the middle. Brendan took the opportunity to reach into Agent Walter’s coat pocket and retrieve the flash drive. At least that was safe. Having Charlotte’s glove design in the wind would be a whole new brand of trouble. Tyler double checked the cuffs and confirmed they were tight. Kemp had a confused look on his face. He was watching Lucille as if he expected her to tell him something important.

  Agent Walters just looked angry. “This is only going to get worse for you. All of you. This doesn’t end with you just going back to school and pretending nothing happened.”

  “Give me the gun,” Tyler said to Brendan.

  “No,” Brendan said. “Besides, it’s locked.”

  At that moment, Tyler looked larger than before. Brendan thought he might try to take the weapon away from him. Tyler’s jaw clenched. Then he leaned back against the truck and glared at their two prisoners.

  Lucille pushed at the hovering drone. It bobbed and shifted in the air, barely making a hum.

  “Where did you guys come from?” Brendan asked.

  “You texted, remember? I wasn’t going to come, but Tyler said we had to.”

  “Well, good on Tyler.”

  Brendan went inside and got Vlad out of the bedroom. Vlad had Brendan’s phone in hand. He showed him the screen. It was displaying the drone camera’s point of view.

  “How did you do that?” Brendan asked.

  Vlad’s familiar smile crossed his face. “I had a backup program saved from when I stole the drone for Lucille. I just downloaded it to your phone.”

  “May I?” Brendan reached for the phone. Vlad didn’t hand it over.

  “Promise me you won’t give it to him.”

  “I promise.”

  “Good. Because otherwise I’m taking the drone back and going home.”

  ***

  “Tackling Walters was really stupid,” Vlad said through a full mouth. “You could have gotten someone shot.”

  “It felt like the right thing to do at the time.”

  Lucille wouldn’t sit and didn’t want to touch anything. She kept her arms crossed as she stepped into the mobile home kitchen. Brendan drank deep from a cup of soda and watched as Vlad ate a fast-food chicken sandwich. A white bag with more sandwiches was on the table, along with more cups of soda secured in a cardboard carrier.

  “This place is disgusting,” Lucille said.

  “Don’t worry, we don’t have to stay here long,” Brendan said. “Just long enough to figure out what to do next.”

  “Too bad you closed the door to Torben’s world. Drop them in the pool, zap them with one of your little gloves, whatever, and they’re out of our hair.”

  “What did you do to Kemp?”

  Lucille shrugged like it was obvious. Then she shifted from foot to foot and made a hand gesture as if the words weren’t forming fast enough.

  “Are you okay?” Brendan asked.

  “I’m fine. We ran into him at the turnoff. We were standing by my driver’s car trying to figure out if this was the road to turn down. When Kemp pulled up and started asking questions, I knew he was up to something. I dismissed my driver and let Kemp take us here. On the way over, I had him put his gun away because it was making me nervous.”

  She wouldn’t make eye contact. In fact, her gaze was shifting about the place like she was on the brink of a panic attack.

  “Maybe you’d feel better if you sat down,” Brendan said. “I’d offer you water, but there isn’t any.”

  “I’m not sitting.”

  Brendan looked outside. Tyler’s complete attention was on their two prisoners, and he looked as if he would pounce if either moved. Agent Walters was looking straight at Brendan.

  “I need to get information from him,” Brendan said. “He knows something about my dad. Something else is going on, but I don’t know what. Like why did the FBI van crash the other night?”

  “Wasn’t it the Cathedral Valley kids?” Vlad said after washing down a mouthful of food.

  Brendan shook his head. “I don’t think so. There’s no connection there that we know of. And now Walters is here without backup and has this Kemp guy as his partner. Kemp’s no FB
I agent.”

  “Sounds like Walters is off the rails,” Vlad said.

  “Yeah. And there’s something desperate about him. Not just detaining us, but kidnapping you. He assaulted Mr. Childes and knocked out one of the security guards. Seems like he’s putting his career at risk breaking the law like this, and somehow my dad’s involved.”

  Lucille yawned as if bored. Vlad gave Brendan a questioning look. Brendan shrugged. He didn’t have time to get to the bottom of Lucille’s weird behavior. Vlad made a gesture of his thumb tipping to his lips and Brendan nodded.

  “Don’t be jerks,” Lucille said. “I’m tired. I’m regretting letting Tyler drag me out to the middle of the desert so I can sit around this dump waiting for you to do something. Let’s get out of here.”

  Vlad nodded in agreement. “She’s right. Sitting around here is dangerous. Agent Walters may have other accomplices. We don’t know who else knows about this place, and waiting here is just asking for trouble.”

  Just then, something thumped on the roof of the mobile home. It sounded like a rock. A curtain of smoke began to roll down over the window and doorway.

  “We have company,” Tyler called from outside. “Someone flying.” His words were choked off and he started coughing.

  Lucille smirked.

  “Did you…?” Brendan began to ask.

  “Invite Jennifer?” Lucille replied. “Yup. Just like you asked. And it looks like she got the message.”

  22. Dueling Ground

  The high whine of a motorcycle engine was approaching the mobile home.

  “Why would you invite the Cathedral Valley kids here?” Vlad asked. He had ketchup on the corner of his mouth.

  “I was desperate!” Brendan said. “At the time, I was grasping for anyone who might provide a distraction so we could get you out.”

  “The police have a number. It’s nine-one-something.”

  Before Brendan could respond, he caught a whiff of the smoke and his eyes and nose started burning. He got Lucille and Vlad down on the floor and they went through the door and dropped down to the dirt. The smoke made his eyes water so much that it was difficult to see. Brendan heard Tyler shouting something. Both Agent Walters and Kemp were coughing, neither able to speak. The engine sounds came close, and he heard a girl let out a whoop and a cheer. Brendan pushed Vlad and Lucille along towards the back of the mobile home and around the side of the RV parked next to it. Vlad was gagging and spitting. Brendan could just make him out enough to see the phone was still in his hands. He took it. The small screen and interface were hard to make out, but he managed to tap the screen twice in the correct place to bring the drone up.

  Someone landed above them on the roof of the RV. “Remember me?” Ike said.

  “Really a bad time, Ike,” Brendan said. “Can we get a rain check?”

  “Here’s a present.” Ike dropped something to the ground next to them. It spurted purple-and-white gas. They ran. Brendan held his breath until his lungs felt like they were about to burst. Lucille kept up. It was Vlad that had to be dragged along as they got out of the growing gas cloud and made it to a metal cargo container by the road. Vlad’s eyes were red and swollen and he was wheezing heavily.

  “Sit tight here,” Brendan said. “Lucille, stay with him.”

  She tried to reply but a coughing attack seized her.

  Brendan got up and ran into the middle of the road. Enough of the smoke and gas swirled in the air to obscure his view of the surroundings, but he heard the bike engine nearby. It got closer, then cut out. He could hear Tyler shouting somewhere near the mobile home. Then he sensed motion above him. Ike was diving in his direction. Brendan threw himself to the ground. Ike blew past, his wings brushing the tops of clumps of weeds. Ike laughed as he banked and climbed again.

  Brendan’s eyesight remained blurry as the tears flowed from the burning gas. He couldn’t tell on his phone screen who was who, so he flew the black drone straight up. He got up and stumbled forward, hoping to escape the cloud. He dabbed his eyes with his sleeve and forced them to focus. On top of all the targets was one higher than the rest, moving fast. Ike. Brendan set the target and hoped Vlad’s program worked.

  The drone streaked in. Ike flew fast, but the drone was faster. Ike shouted in surprise, adjusting his course as the drone glanced off of him. When it came around again, it struck him dead-on and caused the flying boy to wobble. Ike tried to climb to gain altitude. The drone hit him again and again, faster than Ike could react to it. It caught a buffet from his wing but recovered almost instantly.

  “Jen! Help!” Ike cried as he dove down and gained speed, the harrying drone relentlessly pummeling him.

  Brendan’s eyes cleared enough to see Jennifer standing by an off-road motorcycle parked just outside the gas cloud. Just past her, two large figures were rolling in the dirt. Tyler and Bull were exchanging blows, meaty smacks and thuds the only sounds coming from the two combatants.

  Jennifer looked over at Brendan. She made a gesture with both hands. A shimmering rainbow leaped into the air and flew towards him. The twisting cone of droplets moved in a high arc and followed as he ran. He used the shipping container as cover and then ran around an RV. The droplets moved faster than he did. His lungs were already burning from the gas, and the exertion only intensified the sensation. He felt dizzy. Flecks from the encroaching cloud stung his cheeks.

  No choice.

  He charged into the gas again, pulling his shirt up to his nose and mouth, knowing it would do little good. Both the agent and Kemp were gasping and choking. He ran straight for them.

  “Get…these cuffs…off me!” Agent Walters said.

  Brendan ignored him and went to Kemp. “Where’s the keys?” Brendan asked. He began to go through the man’s pockets.

  Kemp shook his head. “Ignition.”

  Brendan felt his skin prickle, but was unsure whether it was from Jennifer’s liquid minions, the gas, or his imagination. He sprinted for the truck. Tyler and Bull were standing now, Tyler assuming a defensive stance as if he were boxing. Bull charged, and Tyler sidestepped and delivered a jab into the larger boy’s ribs. Even as Brendan got the truck door open, the droplets were landing and flying about his face. The stinging began in earnest on the back of his neck. Brendan felt inside at the ignition.

  No keys.

  Then he saw them dropped in the space between the seat and the cupholder and retrieved them. The fob had a lock and unlock button and a red button with a horn icon. He pressed the last one. The truck horn kicked in, blasting a repeating note that hurt Brendan’s ears. But it appeared to hurt Jennifer more. She had her hands up to her ears and was fiddling with her hearing aids. Like they had in the school hallway, the cloud of droplets appeared to waver and lose cohesion.

  But the stinging continued.

  Brendan got out of the cab and rushed Jennifer. He tackled her headlong and they both went into the dirt. Brendan forced himself to ignore the pain on his neck that was spreading to his scalp and back and along his shoulders to his arms. He knew he only had moments before it would overwhelm him.

  “Call them off!” he shouted. He cocked his fist and was about to punch when a big hand closed on his wrist. It was Bull. Tyler was hanging off him and punching the boy in the back of the head, but Bull ignored him, barely nodding with the force of each blow.

  Bull pulled him up. All Brendan could think about was Torben and what the warlord had done to Paul. He was about to either die or get broken, and he braced himself for even more pain.

  From above the car horn came a whistle. Lucille had Walters’s gun and was pointing it at everyone. Bull looked at Jennifer first before dropping Brendan to his feet. Jennifer did something with her hands and the stinging stopped. Brendan felt warm liquid run down his head, dripping uncomfortably along his arms and legs until it drained away over his socks.

  Lucille pointed to the truck. Brendan hit the fob switch and the panic alarm went silent. His ears rang. His body itched from where he had
been stung. His eyes wouldn’t stop burning and snot was running from his nostrils.

  “How many times am I going to have to rescue you, Cesar?” Lucille asked.

  Brendan could only numbly shake his head.

  23. Detente

  “A gun? Really?” Jennifer busied herself with her hearing aids.

  “Yes, really,” Lucille replied. She had tired of holding the weapon up and was pointing it at everyone’s feet.

  “It’s not like we’re going to murder anyone,” Jennifer said. “You asked us here. We’re here for a fight, but not for this.”

  “No one is shooting anyone,” Brendan said, but he was relieved that Agent Walters’s locked weapon had at least served as a bluff to get Jennifer’s bugs off him. He watched in wonder as the droplets swarmed over to Jennifer and she scooped them up. They vanished up her sleeve.

  Tyler dropped down off Bull and punched him one last time on the shoulder. It was as if a switch had been thrown on both boys. Tyler shuffled over to Lucille, keeping an eye on the two Cathedral Valley High kids, while Bull stood there stiffly, his jaw clenched, poised to start moving again once Jennifer gave the word.

  “Call off your little machine,” Jennifer said. Ike was high and flying fast but the drone was keeping up. Brendan recalled the drone. The black machine returned and dropped down into a hover overhead. Ike made wide circles, finally landing on top of the mobile home.

  Jennifer pointed at the pistol. “That clearly violates all the rules.”

  “What rules?” Lucille asked.

  Jennifer made a face. “You know what I mean.”

  Brendan raised a hand to interject. “I think we know who we all are, but we haven’t officially met. I’m Brendan. We need to talk.”

  Jennifer gave Brendan an appraising look. She didn’t appear impressed. Then she looked towards Agent Walters and Kemp, both still handcuffed to the post.

  She looked back at Brendan with mild alarm. “What are you guys doing out here?”