by Bret Schulte
“We’ve got three for pickup Cervantes,” Nero said.
So it was Cervantes. Sam had never really bothered to imagine him as anything more than a cartoony vampire before. But seeing him in person, he looked remarkably like a real person--a real person with a strange fashion sense and more magical power than anyone else on the planet.
And his roving eyes had landed on her.
“You.” His eyes turned red as they locked onto Sam. He hunched over like a cat ready to pounce.
“Down, boy,” Nero ordered. “We have a schedule to keep, remember? There will be time for revenge later.”
Cervantes flashed his fangs at Nero, but reluctantly stood up straight again. “Who do you want?”
“We need Mr. McQueen, Dr. Frost, and Miss Dalal,” Nero said, pointing at each of them in turn.
“Leave them alone,” Sam yelled. “Take me.”
She didn’t know where that came from, but she stood by it.
Nero just laughed.
“The funny thing, this whole thing was actually set up to kidnap you,” he said spreading his arms. “Then Cervantes here would tear your mind apart to reveal your oldest friend. But now you are completely useless, so I’ll let you keep your brain. Congratulations.”
Cervantes snapped his fingers and Zack, Doc Frost, and Zoey vanished in bursts of green light.
“Very cool,” a boy in a New York Yankees uniform said as he waved his hand through the air where Zoey had been standing.
People actually started clapping and cheering as if this was all some sort of elaborate Halloween magic act. But Sam was too worried about her friends to bother to correct them. She knelt down to check on Tasha.
“Thank you, thank you,” Nero said with a gracious wave. “But we really must be going.”
Cervantes ignored Nero, keeping his focus on Sam instead. The smile spreading across his face didn’t seem to contain any joy, just teeth.
“Run,” Tasha said as she sat up, trying to place her body between Sam and Cervantes.
A burst of lightning crackled over her shoulder, striking Cervantes in the chest. He howled in pain as the force of the blast knocked him backward through the double doors.
Nero snapped his pocket watch shut.
“Later,” he yelled as he ran for the door, leaping through the flames along the way.
“Got another one of those?” Tasha asked someone behind Sam.
Sam turned her head to see Coach Powers standing next to her with the ray gun still trained on the double doors. A spark of electricity danced on the tip. It clearly wasn’t just for show.
“Just the one,” he said. “And I think it just made him mad.”
Sam looked back to Tasha. “What happened to Zoey and Doc Frost?”
“They’re fine,” Tasha said, nursing her head. “It was a teleportation spell. The maximum range is two hundred yards. They didn’t go far.”
“Then we have to find them.”
“We have to get that bear back,” Tasha said to Coach Powers.
“The teddy bear?”
“Yes,” Tasha said, standing up. “It is a very important present from her parents.”
“I see,” he said with a weighty nod.
“And we have to save Zoey and Doc Frost,” Sam said, just in case either of them forgot. She left out Zack, but they should probably save him too. If they had time.
“I can’t just leave all these students,” Coach Powers said, clearly torn.
But a quick look around revealed that the students were fine. Most of them seemed to be having a good time. They probably still thought this was all some sort of magic show, anyway. In fact, a crowd had formed near the refreshments table, where laughing students were throwing different bits of food into the red flames. The few students that did seem freaked out were gathered around Mr. Norton and the other chaperones.
No one was standing around Dean Futuro though. Not that Sam was surprised. He seemed to be studying Sam, waiting to see what she was going to do.
“Right, let’s go,” Coach Powers said.
“Where are we going?” Natch asked.
Sam, Tasha, and Coach Powers turned as one to stare at Natch. In all the excitement Sam had completely forgotten about her date, who had been standing by her side the entire time.
“Uh, I don’t think you want to go with us,” Sam said as politely as she could muster under the circumstances.
“Stay here with Dave,” Tasha said.
“I have absolutely no idea what is going on here,” Natch started. “But I’m going with the guy with the laser blaster.”
“Fine, come on,” Sam said. They didn’t have time to argue.
They quickly ran into their first obstacle, the ring of fire.
“Just run through it,” Tasha yelled.
“Are you nuts?” Natch asked.
Tasha ran through the fire, screaming in pain the entire way. When she made it to the other side her entire body was shaking and she was breathing heavily, but she looked fine.
“It hurts as much as real fire, but it doesn’t do any physical damage,” she said.
“Yeah, right,” Natch said.
“Just go,” Coach Powers bellowed, shoving Natch and Sam through the flames.
The pain was insane. Every inch of Sam’s body was instantly fried. She forgot that she even had arms and legs and became nothing more than a ball of pain. It was so intense she just hoped she would pass out.
And then it was over.
Coach Powers had pushed Sam and Natch the entire way through the flames. All three of them were breathing heavily and patting their bodies to put out the non-existent flames.
“What kind of crazy stuff are you people into?” Natch asked, still patting his shoulders.
Tasha rolled her eyes at him.
Coach Powers led them out of the back door of the ballroom and out into the crisp October night. It was a good thing the moon was almost full; without the lights on, Sam could barely see where she was going.
“It’s so dark,” she said.
Jerry’s EMP fried the circuits of every electronic device on campus,” Natch said bitterly. “Except for the Dean’s cane and your laser pistol, for some reason.”
“That’s because they use a crystal-based technology. No circuits,” Coach Powers said. “But most of the school still uses old-fashioned circuits and wires.”
“Where did-“
The rest of Natch’s question was lost in the loud whirring of a helicopter flying overhead. Hanging from the bottom of the helicopter was the prototype hovercar from Doc Frost’s lab.
Silently they crept down the side of the Student Union until they reached the corner. From here they could see four large cargo helicopters sitting in the parking lot. Several men in black uniforms were quickly loading computers, robot pieces, and entire filing cabinets into the two helicopters furthest away. A few of the men were trying to figure out how to get the ion cannon to fit in the third helicopter, but Sam was mostly concerned with the fourth and nearest helicopter.
Zoey, Doc Frost, and Zack were being forcibly led into the helicopter, their hands bound by the same blue energy bands Constable Albion had used on Sam. Zoey turned around and pounded on Nero with her bound fists. He swatted her away. Fortunately, Doc Frost was able to catch her before she fell.
Nero pushed both of them into the helicopter ahead of him and closed the door. Sam wanted to rush out and throw open the helicopter door. Tasha must have realized this because she placed her hand on Sam’s shoulder to stop her.
“We have to save them,” Sam whispered.
“We will. But we have to save the bear first,” Tasha whispered back.
But as the helicopter blades began to spin, Sam saw that they had failed on both counts. Nero was sitting in the co-pilot’s seat of the helicopter, with Mr. Hopscotch still in his pocket.
“Shoot the helicopter,” Tasha ordered Coach Powers.
He looked from her to the ray gun in his hand.
; “If I miss I could hurt everyone inside.”
“Then don’t miss,” Tasha said.
“Aim for the back or something,” Sam suggested.
Coach Powers took a deep breath and aimed at the helicopter, which was now a foot off the ground and rising quickly.
Bang.
It took Sam a moment to remember that Coach Power’s ray gun didn’t go bang.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
That was a gun. A real gun.
But Sam thought the campus security guys only carried tasers.
It wasn’t a campus guard; it was Agent Rosenberg. She was firing a pistol up at an angry dinosaur the size of a semi truck. Nero must have used the Lantern of the Blue Flame on one of the fossils in the Palentology building.
The only dinosaurs Sam knew by name were Stegosauruses and Tyrannosauruses. This was neither. But it was big and had a mouth three times the size of Sam’s head filled with dagger-like teeth.
“Dinosaur!” Natch yelled.
“Zombie dinosaur,” Tasha corrected.
“Cool.”
In the back of her brain, Sam had to admit that it was extremely cool. Too bad it was seconds away from eating Agent Rosenberg.
A blast from Coach Powers’s ray gun knocked the dinosaur backward, giving Agent Rosenberg the opportunity to roll away to safety.
She looked over her shoulder to see her rescuer. Her eyes locked onto Sam. “What are you doing, Powers? Get them out of here.”
Coach Powers looked confused and embarrassed for a moment. He looked at Sam and the others as if he was just now realizing he had brought a group of teenagers into a war zone.
“Shoot it down,” Tasha commanded, pointing at the rising helicopter.
Coach Powers snapped back into fighting mode. He raised his gun and then immediately lowered it again.
“It’s too high,” he said reluctantly.
Indeed, the helicopter was already flying over the big glass dome of the Norman Borlaug Agricultural Science building.
“We have to get the bear back from Nero,” Tasha protested.
But before they could argue the point any further, Agent Rosenberg shouted at them again. “Get them out of here, Powers!”
Coach Powers looked at Tasha with pleading eyes.
“Fine,” she said, grabbing Sam’s arm. “Let’s go.”
Tasha had only dragged Sam ten feet when they heard a pain-soaked scream behind them. They turned around to see Agent Rosenberg writhing on the ground. Her right shoulder was soaked in blood. The dinosaur had clawed her with its giant foot.
“Tasha, get Sam to safety,” Coach Powers yelled over his shoulder as he charged at the dinosaur with his ray gun spitting lightning.
“This is nuts,” Natch said, watching Coach Powers fire repeated energy blasts at the very angry dinosaur as two campus guards in hockey goalie gear pulled Agent Rosenberg out from beneath the snapping beast.
“Run,” Tasha urged.
The three of them ran in silence for several minutes between the blacked-out buildings before coming to a stop near the lake. From here campus looked extremely creepy without any of the lights on. The occasional dinosaur roar didn’t help matters either.
“Where are we going?” Sam asked.
“We have to contact someone. The BEA might be able to track the helicopter,” Tasha said in a panicky rush. “Otherwise we’ll never be able to find him.”
“I know where he’s going,” Sam said.
Tasha looked at her in complete amazement.
Natch just stared at her in complete confusion.
“I cracked the final clue,” Sam said with profound joy. “Okay, I guess I didn’t, technically it was-“
“Where?” Tasha cut off her rambling.
“Vegas. The Camelot casino.”
Tasha slapped her forehead. “Of course. Who would ever think that your parents would hide it with the McQueens? Oh, and that’s why Nero took Zack. He probably knows all about the casino’s security.”
“Cracked the clue? Who talks like that?” Natch asked the night air.
Tasha ignored him. “Okay, how are we getting to Vegas? Think, think, think.”
She tapped her left temple and walked in a tiny circle for a few seconds.
“Got it,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “The horses.”
“What horses?”
“The stables,” she said. “Come on.”
“Oh, you mean those horses,” Natch said pointing over to the horses galloping along the edge of the lake with sword-wielding security guards on their backs.
Tasha swore loudly.
In the distance they saw another helicopter taking off. Sam couldn’t tell if it was the one with the computers or the one with the ion cannon. It was probably bad news either way.
“Uh, we got company,” Natch said.
Sam and Tasha followed his gaze. There was a light bouncing towards them.
“Get back,” Tasha ordered. She drew an arrow from her quiver and took aim at the light.
But as it drew closer, Sam could hear the familiar hum of a moped engine. She recognized Lucas immediately despite his Lone Ranger hat and mask. A half-full trick-or-treating sack hung from the handlebars.
“What’s with the arrow?” he asked.
“Sorry,” Tasha said lowering her bow.
“And what was with the PG-13 language Tasha?”
Sam stepped forward. “Jerry is Bad Guy, except his real name is Nero. He set off a bomb or something that fried all the electronics on campus, he kidnapped Zoey, Doc Frost, and Zack, and is on his way to Las Vegas to get the Witch Hunter’s Gauntlet right now.”
She stopped to catch her breath.
“Jerry? Really?”
Sam could have sworn Lucas was actually impressed.
“Wait. The glove is in Vegas?” He slapped his forehead. “Camelot!”
“Yes,” Tasha said. “How did you know that?”
“There is a giant replica of Excalibur there. I saw it during the Video Game Finals. I should have figured that out weeks ago.”
“Its okay,” Sam said, patting him on the shoulder.
“Right now we have to get the word out to somebody who can stop Nero,” Tasha said.
“My phone is dead,” Natch said angrily shaking his cell phone.
“Wait a minute,” Tasha said. “Lucas, you were off campus, right? Gimme your phone.”
Lucas had to turn his gun belt a bit to reach the cell phone in his pocket. He handed it to Tasha.
Tasha stared at the phone for several seconds while chewing on her bottom lip.
“Feel free to call long distance. It’s covered by my plan.”
“It’s not that,” Tasha said. “I just realized I don’t actually know my parents’ phone number. Or how to reach the BEA.”
“Brilliant,” Natch yelled.
“I programmed them into my phone so I wouldn’t have to remember.”
“Smart.”
Tasha sneered at Natch. He sneered back.
“Okay, fine,” Lucas said before things could get out of hand. “How about 911?”
“And tell them what? That a teenage billionaire and his pet vampire are on their way to Vegas to steal a magical glove that will let him conquer the world?”
“Vampire?” Natch asked quietly.
“No,” Lucas said slowly. “We could say that someone is going to rob the casino or something.”
Tasha shook her head. “Even if they checked it out they’d be no match for Cervantes.”
“The BEA then. Ask the operator for the number.”
Tasha actually laughed. “Right, because all secret government agencies have their numbers listed with the local operators.”
“Okay, sarcasm noted. Not helping,” Lucas said. “Any other ideas?”
“We have to get to Vegas. We have to stop them,” Sam said.
Everyone looked at her in silent surprise.
“Oh come on,” she said. “We’re all thinking it.”
Natch raised his hand. “I wasn’t.”
She continued. “Okay guys, my parents wanted me to protect the Witch Hunter’s Gauntlet. I can’t escape that. It’s like my job or something, but I honestly can’t ask any of you to risk yourselves to-”
“Knock it off, drama queen,” Tasha said, shaking her head. “Of course we are going to help. Right, guys?”
Lucas exploded with laughter. “Is that a real question? I’ve been waiting for something like this my whole life.”
“Really?” Sam challenged. “You didn’t even know vampires and wizards were real until a few weeks ago.”
“True, but I had always really, really hoped.”
Boys.
“We still need a way to get to Vegas,” Tasha said. “And fast.”
“I think I know a way,” Lucas said. He patted the back of the moped seat. “Hop on, everybody.”
“Yeah, no thanks,” Natch said taking a step back. “I really don’t feel like running off into battle with the Last Starfighter, Nancy Drew, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer here.”
“But this is exciting. And important,” Lucas said.
“I’ve got zombie protocols to follow,” Natch said, walking away. “Good luck on your suicide mission, though.”
“There are zombies?” Lucas asked, looking around hopefully.
“Zombie dinosaurs, actually,” Tasha said.
“Where?” He looked around some more.
“We don’t have time for this. We have to save the world now.”
“Fine.” Lucas slumped forward onto the handlebars. “All aboard.”
Tasha gestured for Sam to get on the moped first. It made sense for Tasha to sit on the back so her quiver and bow wouldn’t be crushed. That meant, however, that Sam had to sit in the middle, pressed up against Lucas with her arms around his waist.
He didn’t seem to mind, though.
If anyone in town knew there was a problem at the school, they hid it well. The town was pretty quiet, but it was after eleven o’clock, so everyone was probably at home gorging on Crackerjacks and fun-sized Kit Kats.
It wasn’t until they were a block away that Sam realized Lucas was taking them to Doc Frost’s house.
Lucas pulled into the driveway and cut the engine.
“Anyone know how to break into a house?” he asked.