Cragbridge Hall, Volume 2: The Avatar Battle

by Morris, Chad

  © 2014 Chad Morris.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Shadow Mountain®. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of Shadow Mountain.

  All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  Other Books in the Cragbridge Hall Series

  Book 1: The Inventor’s Secret

  Text © 2014 Chad Morris

  Illustrations © 2014 Brandon Dorman

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Shadow Mountain®, at permissions@shadowmountain.com. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of Shadow Mountain.

  Visit us at ShadowMountain.com

  This is a work of fiction. Characters and events in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are represented fictitiously.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Morris, Chad, author.

  The avatar battle / Chad Morris.

  pages cm. — (Cragbridge Hall ; book 2)

  Summary: The evil Muns tries to convert Abby into helping him change the history of the world while her and Derick’s grandfather asks Derick to finish a challenge that a trusted teacher was never able to finish.

  ISBN 978-1-60907-809-6 (hardbound : alk. paper)

  [1. Space and time—Fiction. 2. Boarding schools—Fiction. 3. Schools—Fiction. 4. Twins—Fiction. 5. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 6. Grandfathers—Fiction.] I. Title. II. Series: Morris, Chad. Cragbridge Hall ; book 2.

  PZ7.M827248Av 2014

  [Fic]—dc232013038732

  Printed in the United States of America

  Publishers Printing, Salt Lake City, UT

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  To my brave daughter.

  And to everyone who helped spread the word about

  The Inventor’s Secret when I couldn’t.

  Table of Contents

  Gift

  Detectives and Psychopaths

  Message

  Little Round Top

  The Basement, Bullets, and Bayonets

  The Charge

  Stand Back

  Like a Ninja

  The Black Box

  A Virtual Bridge

  The Immortal Game

  The Sentinels

  The Council of the Keys

  Spheres

  First Strike

  Doesn’t Fit

  Tryout

  Assassination

  Restrictions

  Interrogation

  The Impossible and Murder

  Plan C

  In the Night

  Another Inventor and the Speckled Band

  Friends in Cages

  The Answer

  Not What You Think

  Waiting

  A Fitting Revenge

  Capybara

  Relay

  Crash and Burn

  Tired of Being Afraid

  Not Going Anywhere

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  RECOMMENDED READING

  1

  Gift

  Derick pushed his bulky legs forward, running with his head slightly lowered and his two-foot horn leading the way. He barreled ahead, feeling the weight of his steps, the thickness of the skin at the top of his legs rubbing against his tough body. It wasn’t really him, of course. Derick’s real body was hooked up to sensors and straps suspending him from the ceiling in an avatar lab. The high-tech equipment allowed his movements to control the robot avatar. What he did, the rhino did. And what it felt, he felt. It was as though Derick really was a hulking beast.

  “11 . . . 10 . . . 9,” Dr. Mackleprank counted down. “You’d better hurry, Derick. You’re doing better than ever, but I’m not sure it will be enough. A real white rhino can run up to thirty miles per hour and Rafa may be able to go that fast.” As the teacher spoke, Derick could hear his classmates cheering him on from behind the viewing window. It was definitely one of the louder days in Zoology. Their yells fueled him to move faster. He knew they were all gathered in one of the large rooms outside the created animal habitat, watching intently. The habitat, complete with trees, boulders, and watering holes, was a place where they could practice being animals. If they studied hard, passed all their tests, and excelled enough with the avatars, they could one day interact and play with the real animals nearby in the school’s zoo.

  Derick leaned and rounded a boulder. He could see the tree with two monkeys sitting completely still at its base—the first switch point. He was almost there. But he wanted more than cheers. He wanted to win.

  “Three. Two. One. Rafa, go!” Dr. Mackleprank shouted. Derick’s head start was over.

  He could hear another rhino bounding forward behind him. He didn’t have time to look. Rafa was fast, extremely fast.

  Derick’s rhino skidded to a stop, nearly tumbling over onto the monkeys.

  “Careful, Derick,” Dr. Mackleprank’s voice warned over the speaker. The avatars were made to help some of the best students in the world improve, fulfilling Cragbridge Hall’s mission to prepare youth to change the future of the world for the better. And Dr. Mackleprank didn’t want them broken.

  Derick guided his mind away from the massive rhino robot and focused on his real human body in the avatar lab. He pressed the button on the back of his neck. His virtual connection with the robot animal severed; the rhino in the practice field fell limp, a huge heavy mound on the dirt. For a moment, Derick looked out of his own human eyes at the simple white walls of one of the booths in the avatar lab. There were no windows. He didn’t need them—the booth was designed for him to connect with an avatar and look out of robot animal eyes. He blinked hard and adjusted the suspension system from holding him horizontally—ideal for moving like a rhino—to holding him in a mostly upright position, compensating for a tail. It was time to be a squirrel monkey.

  With the flick of a finger, Derick selected his monkey, Goggles. He had named it that because the white fur around the squirrel monkey’s eyes made it look like it was wearing goggles.

  Derick pressed the button on the back of his neck again. After a wave of dizziness, his point of view changed. He looked up at a massive tree towering above him. It was slightly disorienting to see the world from a lower perspective, but he had done it many times before—it was still awesome. He used his small furry hands to dig into the bark and nimbly climb the trunk. He loved the feeling of being so light and limber, a little trapeze artist.

  Rafa. The thought nagged at him. Derick was the best at the avatars in his class and maybe his whole grade, but Rafa, the zoology teacher’s assistant, was the best Derick had seen—maybe the best in the school. He was a total prodigy. And he was gaining on him during the last zoology class of the semester—Derick’s final chance to beat him.

  Derick ran along a branch and leapt to another—four more trees to cross. He launched himself again. Squirrel monkeys can jump nearly six feet, and Derick could almost match that distance with his avatar.

  “Rafa has his monkey,” Dr. Mackleprank announced. “This is his best time yet, Derick. Hurry, but no jumping from the branches to the ground. I don’t want to have to make any more repairs.” Hollers from his classmates nearly drowned out their teacher. Derick found more energy. He could beat Rafa. This would be no different from when he finally beat Jax Carlson at one-on-one basketball, e
ven though Jax was over a year older than him. Or when he conquered the virtual game Mitchell had designed pitting Vikings against a mutant sea monster before even Mitchell did. Derick usually won. At least he used to. He needed this.

  Derick shimmied down the final tree. He could hear the soft sounds of branches moving and swaying with the light weight of a monkey behind him. Rafa wouldn’t let up; that was for sure. Derick jumped the last few feet, willing to brave what Dr. Mackleprank might say. He landed next to a gorilla, pushing the button on the back of his neck only a second later. “C’mon, Kong. We can do this,” he spoke to the avatar as he changed perspective once again. Then he was up and running the last leg of the race. Using his long arms and short legs to barrel forward, he heard the grunt of another gorilla behind him. He didn’t have much of a lead after all.

  He bounded up a thick metal ladder and swung across the overhead bars of the obstacle course, skipping handholds where he could. On one swing, he caught a glimpse of a black furry shadow close behind him. No. He wouldn’t lose. No more failing. Derick grunted as he hit the ground and raced forward.

  Ten feet to go. He used his arms and legs in a fast rhythm across the ground, the gorilla’s raw power pushing him forward. He wouldn’t look back. Five feet. Four. Rafa was nearly even with him. Three. Two. Derick let out a roar and lunged for the finish. One.

  Less than a minute later, Derick and Rafa were unhooking their gear and putting it back in its place on the wall. Derick rubbed his hand through his short dark hair, scratching his scalp.

  “Muito bem, rapaz.” Rafa slapped Derick on the shoulder. He stood a few inches taller than Derick, but he was two grades older as well. A smile crossed the Brazilian’s bronze face.

  “I’m not sure what you said, but it doesn’t help me feel any better.” Derick walked out from under Rafa’s hand. “Unless you said that you were lucky, and I’m really much better at this avatar stuff than you.”

  Rafa’s grin broadened, a long strand of black hair slipping from his ponytail and falling over his face. “I said, ‘You did well.’”

  “Nope. Didn’t help.” Of course no one had expected Derick to win. At least they shouldn’t have. He was the underdog. But he had wanted it so badly.

  The two started walking toward the door. Derick slowed his pace; the class was waiting outside.

  “Seriously,” Rafa said, “you’re becoming pretty impressive.” He paused. “A few of us get together to practice on the avatars a couple times a week. It’s a small group—like a club, I guess. Since I have access to the lab, Dr. Mackleprank lets us get together. I can’t make any promises, but I’ll ask the others if you can join up if you are interested.”

  Avatar club? That existed? “Definitely.” Just the idea of getting a chance to get more practice on the avatars made Derick’s heart beat faster. He wondered what they did to practice and what they were capable of doing that he hadn’t even thought of yet. His mind filled with images of monkeys having contests leaping from tree to tree, rhinos breaking through walls, and gorillas doing triple backflips and aerials.

  “Plus, you came up with the idea for a relay race,” Rafa said. “I hadn’t done anything like that before. We could use your creativity.” He grabbed the handle to the door. “I’ll let you know.” After a quick pull on the door, he motioned Derick through to greet the rest of his class.

  The students who had been waiting congratulated Rafa and said things to Derick like “Nice try,” “You were really close,” and “Next time.” It still bothered him, but with the possibility of joining the avatar club on his mind, it wasn’t so bad.

  Dr. Mackleprank was also waiting for them. “Good job, you two,” the zoology teacher said, then turned to the rest of the class. “Good work today, everyone. I hope you did well on your final and enjoyed the end-of-semester challenge. It has been a pleasure to teach you this semester. Hopefully I’ll see some of you in my classes next semester.” As the students began to file out of the room, Dr. Mackleprank reached out and put a hand on Derick’s shoulder. “Could you stick around for just a few minutes?”

  Rafa waved at Derick and his teacher. “Até a próxima vez.”

  “English!” Derick called out, as Rafa walked away. “I saw it on the homesite. English is the official language of this school.”

  Rafa didn’t turn around.

  Derick looked to his teacher. “I can’t help but think he’s either insulting me or cracking jokes.”

  “He is,” Mackleprank said.

  “You understand it?” Derick asked.

  Mackleprank nodded. “Claro que entendo.”

  Derick palmed his forehead.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I studied Portuguese for a while.” The zoology teacher chuckled. “And I was kidding. He just said, ‘Until next time.’”

  “Oh,” Derick said. “Good to know that someone understands him.”

  “Step into my office.” Mackleprank gestured toward the doorway. Derick followed his teacher out of the viewing area and through the largest of the avatar labs, a room with several stations for students to control the robot animals. At the back of the lab, Mackleprank unlocked the thick door to his office. A desk and several tables covered in avatar parts lined the walls. Derick noticed a gorilla arm, a set of robot eyeballs, and a monkey with half of its inner robotics exposed. Various sets of machinery and tools lay beside the parts. Charts of animal skeletal structures and muscles were displayed on the wall screens. A large set of doors stood at the back of the room. Derick guessed it was some sort of storage.

  Mackleprank sat on the edge of the desk, the same position he usually took while teaching zoology class. He looked around for a moment, scratching the nape of his neck just below his light hair, a mix of blond and white. “Let’s wait just a moment.”

  Wait? Why step into his office just to wait?

  There was a knock at the open office door. Derick turned to look into familiar eyes. His grandpa walked into the room, his cane tapping the ground every other step. As usual, he wore a simple collared shirt and blue blazer, the school crest featuring a watchtower embroidered over the breast pocket. “Hello, Derick,” he said, a smile sweeping over his wrinkled face. He shuffled across the room rather quickly for a man of his age and gave Derick a hug. It probably would have made Derick feel uncomfortable when he had first started at Cragbridge Hall, but after having his grandpa kidnapped and almost losing his parents earlier in the year, he didn’t mind.

  “You didn’t start without me, did you?” Grandpa asked Mackleprank.

  “No,” the zoology teacher answered.

  “Good.” Grandpa turned and motioned for Derick to sit down. Derick chose a tabletop. Grandpa brushed a robotic wing—only partially covered in feathers—off to one side and leaned against the desk next to Derick. “You know that I trust you, Derick. After what happened last semester, I would be a fool not to.”

  Derick hoped he wasn’t turning red.

  “Dr. Mackleprank has approached me with an interesting dilemma. After discussing it thoroughly, we decided that he should give something of his to you.”

  “Please say it’s a woolly mammoth avatar,” Derick said. “Or a centaur.”

  “No,” Mackleprank laughed. “Those are both great ideas, though. It’s actually more important.” The teacher’s smile disappeared. “And much more serious.”

  “It is something I first gave Dr. Mackleprank,” Grandpa explained.

  Dr. Mackleprank reached forward and opened his hand—a locket. Just looking at it flooded Derick’s mind with memories and gave him chills.

  “This locket led me to four challenges. I made it to the end of three, but the last is incomplete,” Dr. Mackleprank said.

  Derick immediately remembered having his own locket and following clues his grandfather left inside it to discover his secret. But Derick had failed. Just thinking about it made his heart beat heavy and slow. Thankfully, his sister had continued where he left off and finished the challenges. “I’m flatt
ered. But why give it to me?” He looked at his zoology teacher. “Why not finish the last challenge yourself?”

  Dr. Mackleprank and Grandpa shared a look.

  “You’ll have to trust me.” Dr. Mackleprank explained. “I have my reasons.” Why didn’t Mackleprank finish the challenges? Did he not trust himself to find out Grandpa’s secret? Had Muns blackmailed him? Did he simply not want to be involved? Or could he not pass the tests?

  Grandpa tapped Derick’s leg with his cane. “Of all the other possible candidates in this school,” he said, “you deserve this locket the most. And that includes adults, teachers that are world-renowned. If it wasn’t for you, we would not have protected the secret to which this locket leads.”

  Derick took a deep breath. He looked down at the locket, then back at Dr. Mackleprank. “You’re sure?”

  Dr. Mackleprank nodded and dropped the locket into Derick’s open hand. Grandpa nodded too.

  As soon as the metal touched Derick’s skin, a shiver rushed through him. Could he do it this time?