Georgia's Greatness

by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

  And then, all too soon, the hour was up, the parade was over, our day in the sun was finished. We said goodbye to Pete, who had to rush back to work.

  We watched as most of the other students went off with their parents. Then we headed back to the classroom. If we hurried, we could just make our bus.

  "Where are you seven going?" We were stopped by the voice of Serena Harkness.

  "We need to get our things from the classroom," Annie told her. "Then we have to hurry to catch the bus."

  "Oh, dear." Ms. Harkness put a pretty hand to her own pretty cheek. "Do you mean you didn't have even one parent here to see you today? You don't have even one parent to take you home?"

  Seven visible heads plus one invisible one shook no.

  "Our father is modeling in France," Jackie said.

  "Mommy went with him this time," said Zinnia.

  "But our uncle will be by later to check on us," Annie hastily added so Ms. Harkness wouldn't worry that we'd be home alone.

  "But what about Georgia?" Ms. Harkness asked. "Who's taking care of her? You know, I really do worry about her whenever I can't see her."

  "Ouch!" Annie said, and we realized that Georgia must have pinched her between the ribs. "That's right. Er, our aunt is there with her right now. Aunt, er, Sally."

  "I tell you what," Ms. Harkness said as though she'd just had the most wonderful idea. "Why don't I give you a ride home today?"

  "How big is your car?" Rebecca asked. "There are eight of us here, you know. Ouch! I mean seven."

  "We fill up most of the minibus," Marcia added.

  "Oh," Ms. Harkness said, "I have a vehicle big enough to hold all of you. Come along."

  So we followed her to the teachers' parking lot, where, it turned out, she did have a big vehicle.

  "I think that must be the biggest car ever made!" Zinnia said, awe in her eyes. The vehicle was huge, and it was painted the color of an army uniform.

  "Do you like it?" Ms. Harkness asked. "I just bought it yesterday."

  When we climbed inside of it, it did have that new-car smell.

  Ms. Harkness put the key in the ignition, and the car hummed to life. Then she pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street.

  "Don't you need me to tell you where to go?" Annie yelled from the back.

  "I have an even better idea," Ms. Harkness said as she drove, speaking as though this idea too had just come to her. "Why don't I take you all back to my place for dinner? With your parents both in France, your aunt taking care of Georgia, and your uncle not stopping by until later, it might be more fun for you. I know—we can even order a pizza!"

  Seven voices instantly shouted, "Yes!"

  Georgia pinched us all at least five times, but it was too late: we'd already accepted the invitation.

  And we were glad we had.

  After all, what could be better than being invited over to have pizza with Serena Harkness?

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The house was solid brick; at least, the whole front side of it was, with not a window in sight.

  For some reason, we all thought immediately of the last house that was built by the Three Little Pigs—you know, the one the wolf couldn't blow down.

  The house was also very large, even larger than our house!

  And it was the only house on the street.

  "Wow," Rebecca whispered, then she let out a low whistle. "I had no idea substitute teachers made so much money."

  "Come along," Ms. Harkness chirruped at us. Then she used several keys to open the several locks that were on the one iron door that was the only way into the house as far as the eye could see.

  Once we were inside, she locked just as many locks from the inside before pocketing the set of keys.

  "Feel free to look around," she said, turning on the lights. "I just need to check on something in the other room. Won't be more than a few minutes, and then we can order that pizza."

  Since it's silly to refuse an invitation to be nosy, we took her at her word and looked around.

  The front room was the most beautiful room we'd ever been in. Everything was a work of art, and yet so touchable, in pretty shades of pink and purple, green and turquoise.

  "Psst," we heard Georgia's voice hiss. "Get out of this house while you still can. Something's not right here."

  But we ignored her voice. We even ignored all her pinches.

  We'd seen the Wicket's house. We knew what evil looked like, and this wasn't it.

  There was a painting on the wall, a very large painting of two women, obviously twins, with long chestnut-colored hair. The women reminded us of Serena Harkness, but they were about ten years older than her. They also reminded us of someone else, but we couldn't quite figure out of whom. One of the women's eyes were chocolate brown; the other woman's eyes looked as if they were moving around desperately.

  Huh. That was funny. Those moving eyes that were following us about, they looked like the McG's eyes.

  But as we stepped toward the painting, thinking to investigate further, Ms. Harkness returned.

  Something about her had changed in the short time she'd been out of the room. Not her clothes, not her hair—it was nothing like that. Rather, it was the way she acted toward us.

  "Come along now," she said, but it wasn't in the bright and friendly way she'd said it before. "Don't dawdle."

  Feeling as though we couldn't argue, we followed her out of that room, around the corner, and into another room.

  This room was nothing like the front room.

  The walls were made of dark brick, and there were no windows, although we supposed, having seen the front of the house, we shouldn't have expected any. It was like a dungeon except it wasn't in a basement. The floor was made of cold-looking cement, and there wasn't a stick of furniture or a pillow or a decoration or a painting in sight. But there was one other person, and we don't mean Ms. Harkness, and we don't mean Invisible Georgia.

  "McG!" we cried, unable to address our teacher properly in the midst of our shock.

  "Eights!" she cried back at us, equally shocked.

  And what was even more shocking? The McG actually looked relieved to see us.

  "What's going on here?" Annie demanded, rounding on Ms. Harkness.

  "Isn't it obvious?" Ms. Harkness said. "And I was informed that you eight—now seven—were supposed to be so very smart. Well, from where I'm sitting, you don't seem very smart at all."

  "You're not sitting," Rebecca pointed out. "You're standing."

  It probably wasn't the best time for rudeness, but we couldn't blame Rebecca. And, truth be told, if we hadn't been so scared right then, we would have cheered for her.

  "Fine." Ms. Harkness bit off the word. "I'm not sitting. But I still can't believe you can't figure this out."

  "You kidnapped our teacher," Annie said.

  "Yes," Ms. Harkness admitted freely.

  "Then you impersonated a substitute teacher," Durinda said.

  "Yes again," Ms. Harkness said.

  It would normally have been Georgia's turn to speak, but she was too busy being invisible.

  "You staged the St. Patrick's Day parade for a purpose," Jackie said.

  "So you could lure us here afterward," Marcia said.

  "I don't like you anymore," Petal said, her lower lip starting to quiver.

  "Now I'm not sure why I ever did," said Rebecca.

  "I wish I'd never carried that stupid flag," said Zinnia.

  "This isn't getting us anywhere," Ms. Harkness said. "You still haven't told me why I would do all this."

  And we still didn't know. We did have our theories. But if we voiced those theories, we might be giving away information best kept secret... Top Secret.

  "Fine," Ms. Harkness said when it became obvious that we wouldn't speak anymore. "I know all about your mother being a scientist. Believe me, I know a lot about your dear mother."

  How dare she talk about Mommy as though she knew her!

  "And I know about th
at project your mother was working on," Ms. Harkness went on. "I don't know all the details, but I know it involves the secret of eternal life."

  Her eyes looked kind of crazy when she said that last part. It was amazing, we were beginning to realize, how crazy certain adults got when the subject of the secret of eternal life came up.

  "I want to know what you know," Ms. Harkness said. "I want you to tell me where your mother is. I want that secret!"

  But we remained silent. We remained silent because (1) we really didn't have the answers she wanted—we knew very little, other than that our parents had both disappeared, or died; and (2) we wouldn't have told her anything even if we did know. She was obviously a crazy lady, and who knew what would happen if such Top Secret information fell into the wrong hands? She was so crazy, she probably imagined herself taking over the world.

  "So that's the way it's going to be, then?" Serena Harkness said, crossing her arms across her chest as she tapped one high-heeled foot in anger. "You're just going to keep everything to yourselves? Well, if that's the way you want to play it"—and here she turned on her heel and started striding to the door—'Tll lock you in until you get so hungry, you'll beg me to let you talk! I'll tell you one thing before I go, though: I'm glad that pesky Georgia isn't here. She always was the most trouble of you Eights!"

  Then she left the room, and we heard the door lock behind her.

  We looked at the McG. The McG looked at us.

  Then something happened that we never could have imagined happening, not in a million years.

  The McG opened up her arms wide and held them toward us.

  "Oh, Eights!" she said, somehow hugging all of us at once. "I'm so sorry we're all in this mess, but I've never been so happy to see anyone in my whole life! I've been so lonely here these past two weeks!"

  It felt good to be hugged by an adult, even if that adult was the McG. Plus, we did feel responsible in a way; after all, Crazy Serena had kidnapped her over something having to do with our family.

  But no sooner did we settle into enjoying the group hug than:

  "We've been kidnapped!" Petal cried, looking at the locked door.

  "Never mind kidnapped," Annie said, and even she looked scared now. "We've been eightnapped!"

  "I just noticed something," the McG said soothingly, perhaps hoping to calm our growing mass hysteria. She started counting heads. "There are only seven of you here. Where in the world is Georgia?"

  "Georgia," seven voices whispered, much to the McG's astonishment. "Georgia, are you in here?"

  But there was no answering whisper, nor were there any pinches.

  It was then we realized that when Crazy Serena had exited the room, Invisible Georgia had somehow managed to sneak out with her.

  We hoped that wherever Georgia was, she was safe.

  And, we realized with a strange sense of relief, at least one of us would survive to tell the tale.

  CHAPTER NINE

  In that house, the minutes and hours dragged on, and we didn't know if it was day or night.

  We grew hungry, we grew thirsty, we grew bored.

  We could only hope that wherever Georgia was, she really was safe.

  "She probably found a TV to watch and is watching it with the sound off," Zinnia said.

  "She probably snuck into the kitchen and is having a feast," Petal grumbled. "I'm so hungry."

  "She probably found a can of pink frosting," Rebecca said, "and she's eating the whole thing herself."

  "This isn't getting us anywhere," Annie said.

  "Annie's right," Durinda said. "Let's focus on the positive."

  "Such as?" Rebecca asked, hands on hips.

  "Well, when none of us shows up for school tomorrow, and Crazy Serena—" Jackie began, referring to our captor as we'd begun to think of her, but the McG cut her off.

  "You mustn't refer to her that way," our teacher said.

  "Why not?" Jackie asked.

  "Because she's a teacher," the McG said.

  "Oh, is she really?" Rebecca demanded, hands on hips again. "I'm not so sure of that."

  "And she is crazy," Marcia observed.

  "Plus," Jackie said, "we reserve terms of respect-Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms.— for people we actually feel respect for."

  "Yes," Petal said, "like Mr. Pete."

  "But isn't that man your uncle?" The McG was puzzled. "So why would you call him Mr.?"

  "Never mind that now," Annie said.

  "And didn't you all shout 'McG!' when you first saw me here, without any Mrs. before it?"

  She was obviously worried that we didn't respect her, and none of us wanted her to know that the jury was still out on that, so Durinda hurriedly said, "We meant it friendly-like." Then she nodded. "You were saying, Jackie?"

  "I was saying," Jackie began again, "when none of us shows up for school tomorrow, and Crazy Serena doesn't show up either, the Proper Authorities will know something's wrong."

  "No, they won't," Rebecca said. "Frank Freud will be relieved to have us all gone for an entire day."

  "And the school will just call in another substitute teacher for Will and Mandy," the McG said, not even commenting on the fact that we'd just referred to our principal as Frank. "Apparently, anyone can be replaced."

  "Oh," Durinda said glumly.

  "Say!" Annie turned to Durinda. "When Crazy Serena comes back, why don't you do that thing you do with the triple tap and the sharply pointed finger? You could freeze her right where she stands!"

  "What's Annie talking about?" the McG said. "The poor girl must be delirious." She put her palm to Annie's forehead. "That's odd. You don't feel feverish."

  Then, ignoring the McG's obvious confusion and because we were so bored that we needed something to do, five voices urged Durinda, "Freeze me! Freeze me!"

  The only Eight's voice not urging Durinda to freeze her was Zinnia's, because, as we all knew, Zinnia was the only one of us that couldn't be frozen.

  "Come on," Annie urged Durinda, who was for some reason reluctant. "It's been a long time since you've frozen anybody. You should practice up a little bit first; you know, so you'll be ready when the big moment arrives."

  "Very well," Durinda at last agreed.

  Durinda tapped her hand against her leg three times rapidly, then sharp-pointed at Rebecca.

  We couldn't blame her for wanting to freeze Rebecca first. Rebecca could be annoying.

  But nothing happened.

  Rebecca remained unfrozen.

  Durinda stared at the tip of her own finger as though it had somehow betrayed her.

  "Must be rusty," she said with a nervous laugh and a shrug.

  Then Durinda tapped her leg three times rapidly and sharp-pointed her finger at Petal, who was the second-most annoying among us.

  Again, nothing.

  "This is so odd!" Durinda cried.

  She tried freezing Marcia.

  She tried freezing Jackie.

  She tried freezing Annie.

  Nothing, nothing, and nothing.

  In her desperation, she even tried to freeze Zinnia.

  She was about to try freezing the McG when Annie reached out a hand to stop her.

  "I don't think it's going to work," Annie said gently. "It's no use."

  "You mean my power's all gone?" Durinda said, horrified.

  "No," Annie said. "I just think that whichever Eight's month it is to get her power and gift has to figure out how to get us out of whatever jam we're in."

  "So my power is temporarily on hold?" Durinda said.

  "Yes," Annie said. "I think so."

  "But what about you?" Durinda persisted. "You've still got your power. You're still smart."

  "Yes," Annie said. "But I was already smart before all this started."

  "Would someone please tell me," the McG said, "just what is going on."

  But no one did, partly because we didn't know where to begin—our story was getting so involved, sometimes we didn't believe everything that was happening to
us!—and mostly because we heard the sound of a series of locks clicking open.

  Crazy Serena was back.

  Behind her floated a sheet of paper.

  Georgia!

  Quickly, Annie circled behind Crazy Serena, snatched the floating sheet of paper out of the air, and hid it behind her back before Crazy Serena could see it.

  "You must all be very tired by now," Crazy Serena said, using her sweet voice again. She was like Bad Cop and Good Cop all rolled into one person. "You must be hungry—thirsty, too. So I'll ask you again. And then, once you've given me the answers I want, we can all have that pizza I promised you earlier. Tell me what I want to know!"

  For the first time, we realized that every time she said the word pizza, she said just the singular word pizza, not pizzas. Did she really think she could feed eight growing girls with just one pie? What a stingy person.

  We stared back at her, silent and stony-faced. If we'd been made out of wood, we would have looked like totem poles.

  "Still not talking?" Crazy Serena said, heading back to the door. "Well, let's see how good you are at keeping silent when morning comes and you haven't eaten anything since lunchtime the day before!"

  Again, she was gone.

  We waited a moment, then:

  "Georgia," Annie whispered, "are you still here?"

  We had no way of knowing if Georgia had remained with us or if she'd followed Crazy Serena back out of the room.

  And then— poof!— Georgia was back with us.

  The McG blinked. Then she put her fingers under her glasses and rubbed her eyes.

  "I didn't just see that," the McG said. "A moment ago there was no Georgia and now— poof!— Georgia."

  But there was no time for explanations.

  "Just look at this," Georgia said hurriedly, grabbing the sheet of paper Annie had been holding, the better to show us what she was talking about.

  "But this just looks like a normal letter," Annie said after reading it, "that hasn't been sent yet."

  "But look at the signature!" Georgia said. "It says right there Serena Smith. Harkness isn't her last name! I found her desk and went through it. All her stationery, everything, says Serena Smith. Even her towels are monogrammed SS!"