Cragbridge Hall, Volume 2: The Avatar Battle

by Morris, Chad

  That made sense. Abby could think of several students she loved having in her classes. They gave answers she wanted to hear. They asked questions she wanted to know the answers to.

  “However,” Grandpa continued. “There are others who decide not to learn.” One of the students put his head on his desk. “Their example will affect the morale of the class.” A few others began putting their heads on desks. “They may even choose to be rude or degrading”—one student threw something across the row, hitting another student; that student repeated the action, hitting another—“which can affect others’ desires to learn and even their opinions of themselves.” A student retaliated with another throw, and his victim bowed her head away from the rest of the class.

  “Though we can decide how much we will let others influence us, they will still influence us. We must act deliberately, understanding these principles. But what if,” Grandpa continued, “there could be another influence?” The castle shuddered. “Something from outside your world. Something that you didn’t have the power to influence, but that could destroy you.” The ground quaked. Abby heard cracking. The top stones of her castle began to fall, dropping heavily to the dirt below. Soon the wall with the screen began to wave back and forth. Why? What was causing this? More stones fell. The walls moaned, and then one pitched forward and collided into Derick’s avatar training ground with a mighty thud. A tower crashed into the movie screen. The destruction continued until all was a pile of rubble and dust.

  Abby wanted to cry. She was tired. She had been working on her castle forever. In a few moments it had all been destroyed. She had planned on turning it in as her project in Mrs. Trinhouse’s math and engineering class.

  Grandpa appeared in the wreckage. “I’m sorry, but this was the best way to teach this lesson. How does it feel to have the power to choose and to make something beautiful—and then have someone else destroy it?”

  He looked solemn as he walked forward. “What if this lesson repeated itself over and over again? What if every time you tried to create something, someone else interfered with your choices, your world? I have often spoken about the need to preserve history the way it is—to not allow anyone to meddle with it, to change it. It is for this reason. Freedom is power. Some will use their freedom to create wonderful, beautiful things. Others will use it in other ways, some discouraging and even destructive ways. Both will have natural consequences, but unless someone is being destructive, we have no right to steal their power to choose. We have no right to destroy their work or meddle with their choices if we cannot naturally influence them in person, in the time we live in.”

  That made sense. But the next words Grandpa said rang in Abby’s mind.

  “And what if it was more than history we had to protect?”

  What did that mean? More than history?

  Grandpa raised his virtual cane. “Please bring your spheres to the simulator in the basement for a final test.”

  22

  Plan C

  There was no time for the simulator now.

  Derick raced through the corridors of the basement until he approached the large metal door crossed with gears and bars. Abby and Carol were right behind. They had all been on their way to the simulator when they had received a message about another emergency.

  Derick reached into his pocket and used his fingerprint to draw his key from a protective compartment inside. He looked at his key again. He had earned it, and now he would finally use it.

  The large door lurched open and Derick moved further beneath the school. There was no gorilla there yet. Because they were already on their way, they must have been much faster than expected. Knowing Rafa would be there soon, they left Carol outside again, and Abby and Derick stepped into the large room with the original Bridge.

  Derick saw the familiar frame of his grandfather standing in front of the console, and for just a moment caught a glimpse of what he was looking at on the other half of the room. Derick didn’t recognize it and didn’t have enough time to take in too many details, but it looked modern, a few people wearing lab coats standing in a room. The image faded, and Derick heard a faint noise, as if maybe someone had dropped a marble. He checked the floor quickly, thinking maybe his sphere had fallen out of his pocket. Grandpa adjusted his Cragbridge Hall blazer for a moment.

  Grandpa must have selected another entry, for the scene quickly changed. The other half of the room filled with an old city—not ancient, but old. The streets were lined with wooden houses packed so close there was no room between them. A couple of young beggars stood on the street corner, calling out to the people who passed them. They had thick English accents.

  Grandpa stood at the controls of the Bridge and moved its perspective to follow two people as they walked down the street. Grandpa sighed and turned.

  “Derick, Abby,” he said, surprised. “How long have you been here?” His eyes were wide, and he quickly placed his cane against the ground.

  “We just got here,” Derick said.

  “You were incredibly fast,” Grandpa said.

  “We were on our way to the simulator, still trying to find answers to Abby’s question.” Derick explained. They gave him the update on where they were in the process.

  “Good,” Grandpa said. “It is becoming more urgent. The more Muns strikes, the more I understand that someone else must know the answer to that question.”

  “Is that where the problem is?” Abby asked, pointing to the other half of the room.

  “Yes,” Grandpa said. “Hopefully the others will come quickly.”

  “And what were you looking at before?” Derick asked.

  Grandpa stood completely still for a moment, then rubbed his chin. “I must be careful, but time is of the essence. I cannot answer that now, but only reiterate that you must complete your search for the answer to your questions. You are almost there.”

  “Is Muns in the past again?” Coach Adonavich asked, trotting into the room, winded from her run to the basement. Coach Horne entered behind her.

  “It appears so.” Grandpa pointed. “These two are our problems.” He followed two people with the perspective of the Bridge—a man and a woman. From their clothes to their hairstyles, they looked like they belonged in old England.

  “They used an energy burst in a back alley several streets ago,” Grandpa explained. “They could only be here to stop the Great Fire of London.” He moved the Bridge a little further into the future, and the majority of the city was a blazing inferno.

  “I know we can’t allow Muns to change history, but is it okay that I wish we could save some of this architecture?” Coach Adonavich asked.

  “It was tragic,” Grandpa said. “So much of London in flames. The museum. Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. But though this is tragic, it also served its purpose. This was the time of the Black Plague that killed thousands. The Great Fire killed the rats that were disseminating the disease. It is possible it led to the end of the plague.”

  “Let’s stop them,” Coach Horne said.

  Grandpa looked around, and paused. “Has anyone seen Dr. Mackleprank?”

  No one answered. Grandpa quickly moved his rings, waited for a moment, and then continued. “We will have to move to plan B.” He typed on his rings again.

  “What’s Plan B?” Derick asked.

  A gorilla barreled into the room.

  “Awesome,” Derick said. He imagined a gorilla bounding into history.

  “That will make a statement,” Horne said.

  “Yes,” Grandpa said.

  “But will Rafa still be able to control the avatar once it is in the past?” Derick asked. He knew Rafa was in the lab upstairs controlling the robot. It worked from far away, but would it work with the robot hundreds of years in the past?

  “I believe so,” Grandpa said. “As long as we leave the keys open on our side, the past should be an extension of the basement. If we close them, then he will undoubtedly lose his ability to control the avatar.”


  Derick nodded. He hoped his grandpa was right.

  The gorilla let out a huge grunt.

  Grandpa looked at Rafa for a moment, then asked for those with keys to use them.

  Rafa growled and pounded his chest. He then began moving his fingers as though he had rings on.

  “What’s wrong, Rafa?” Derick asked.

  A message sprang up on Derick’s rings. He could see that it went to everyone in the room. It was the only way Rafa could communicate other than grunts and growls.

  Why am I going in? Where is Dr. Mackleprank?

  Grandpa looked at him. “We need to take care of this quickly, Rafa. We can answer as soon as you return.”

  Rafa folded his long gorilla arms.

  Grandpa sighed. “He hasn’t responded to my messages.” He paused, letting his message sink in. “I have security searching for him as we speak, but right now . . .”

  Rafa didn’t wait for Grandpa to finish his sentence. His avatar fell limp on the floor. He had disconnected and had gone to look for his teacher.

  Derick looked at the limp robot beast. He wanted to run after his friend, but he also knew that someone was about to change history. “What’s Plan C?” he asked.

  Grandpa looked back at him. “You.”

  • • •

  Derick raced through the hallways of Cragbridge Hall, knowing every second was valuable. His grandpa must have sent word ahead because he walked right in to the avatar lab, though it was guarded by several men and security robots. It was nice to see them there. At least that crazy guy couldn’t attack him while he was helping his grandfather.

  He slipped into his suit, pulled down the visor, and hooked into the suspension system.

  He selected Rafa’s gorilla avatar and brought it to life. Though Derick was in the lab, he saw everything through his gorilla eyes in the basement.

  Grandpa pointed to the intruders one more time and brought the Bridge perspective behind them.

  “And what happens if the Bridge connection doesn’t work once he crosses over into the past?” Abby asked.

  “Then I’ll go in and get Derick,” Coach Horne offered. “I mean, the gorilla,” he corrected. “And I’ll get those two as well. In fact, why don’t I just go in right now?”

  “Calm down please, Coach Horne,” Grandpa said. “You’re still recovering from your injuries.”

  “We’re here.” Mr. Trinhouse entered the room, his wife behind him.

  “Please guard the entrance to the Bridge,” Grandpa said. “We will call you in if we need any more help.” Grandpa had even thought to replace Rafa’s guard position. “Now, Derick, it’s your turn.”

  Derick nodded at his grandfather and stepped closer to old London, stepped closer to two people who didn’t belong there. He took a deep breath, and crossed over. He felt a wave of nausea. It was working, wasn’t it? Or was he feeling the connection being severed? Was this okay? Should they do experiments first? Was there a chance that it could do some damage to him? To his brain? He felt heat and then a chill.

  He blinked. He looked at downtown London in the 1600s.

  Yes! His heart beat faster. This was going to fun—he hoped. Maybe even better than handball or monkey tree football.

  Just as he approached the two intruders from behind, one of the two looked behind her. Maybe he wasn’t all that quiet as a gorilla. Her mouth dropped open. Derick couldn’t blame her. There was no way she was expecting a gorilla to appear out of nowhere in seventeenth-century London.

  Derick raced to meet them. Within moments, he grabbed the man and lifted him over his head. The man screamed—it sounded kind of sissy. Derick would have laughed if he didn’t have a lot more to do. Derick threw the man back in the direction he came from and watched him disappear. Awesome. He must have traveled into the basement of Cragbridge Hall, but Derick couldn’t see that from this side. This was like some crazy sci-fi dream come true.

  When he turned back around the woman was gone. Where could she have gone? Ducked down an alleyway? He began to run in the same direction where she had been.

  He heard footsteps walking behind him. It was probably just a pedestrian, but he couldn’t be seen. He jumped against the wall. That wasn’t going to be good enough. Whoever was behind him would still see a strange gorilla on the streets of London. He looked up, then began to use the windows and brick to climb to the top of the building.

  When he arrived on top, he looked down the various alleyways beneath him. Then he hopped across the roofs of several buildings, looking below for the woman who had gotten away. He could do this. He leapt across the roofs, feeling like an action hero in a movie. Okay, so most heroes in movies aren’t gorillas, but he still felt great. He looked down the next alleyway and saw the same woman he had confronted before.

  He climbed down the side of the building, dropping into the alleyway in front of the woman.

  She barely had time to scream before Derick grabbed her and lifted her over his head. But before he could toss her back through time, he realized he didn’t know where to throw her. He had moved quite a ways from where he had come in. Had his grandpa followed him with the Bridge? Where could he throw the woman so she would go back to the future where she belonged? A blast sounded behind him, and suddenly, where to throw her was not his most important problem.

  Derick whirled around to see three more people burst in to the alley, weapons aimed at his head.

  He froze. It was an ambush. Muns’s men had used another energy burst to come after him.

  All of a sudden, Coach Horne appeared behind the men. With a few mighty swings, one man went down. Derick threw the woman into a second. But the third was the problem. He leapt back in the direction from which Coach Horne had come. He was trying to get into the basement of Cragbridge Hall. If he made it, he would be armed—in the room with all the keys.

  Then Derick felt a quick wave of nausea. In London, the gorilla fell lifeless to the ground.

  They had closed the connection. They couldn’t let an armed soldier in. He could capture them all and take their keys.

  Derick stood in the avatar lab, unable to tell what had happened in the basement. He tried to reconnect with the gorilla avatar in seventeenth-century England, but it wasn’t working. He tried again—nothing. This was all his fault. If he had been able to get both intruders quickly, this never would have happened. But he had missed the woman.

  He tried again. The connection picked up for a second, but failed again. Had they opened the Bridge for just a moment?

  Finally, on his fourth try, the connection restored. He rose up, his gorilla body ready to crash into one of the assailants, but he didn’t need to. Coach Horne was dragging someone behind him, as was Coach Adonavich. Mr. Trinhouse had another. They had had to call in all the backup. Luckily they had been victorious.

  “Grab one of the others before they send in more,” Coach Adonavich said, seeing him rise from the ground.

  Derick got up and grabbed the remaining three assailants at once and pulled them in the same direction. He loved the strength of a robot gorilla, but he hated thinking that he had not done well enough. Because of him, it had almost turned out horrifically bad.

  • • •

  Abby realized she had been holding her breath. Things had come so close to going terribly wrong. Luckily, Grandpa had thought quickly and moved the perspective of the Bridge over the third man and Coach Adonavich had dropped on top of him.

  Now they were dragging the intruders out of the past. More people for the cells.

  As Abby turned back toward the Bridge console, she caught a glimpse of a spider moving back into a small crack in the wall. Gross. Every now and then Abby was reminded that she was deep in a basement, several stories under the ground.

  She had been trying to piece all the information she had together. Grandpa had said, “What if it was more than history we had to protect?” What could that mean? When they had entered the Bridge room, what was Grandpa looking at that seemed so modern? />
  Abby took the controls at the console of the Bridge and began to scroll upward, closer to the present in time. The scene the Bridge actually displayed on half of the room wouldn’t change unless she selected an entry. With the keys in place, could she scroll to a more recent time than fifty years in the past? She tried to work as subtly as she could, knowing that at any moment, one of the members of the Council could come and remove a key. That might change the options in time that she could choose from. And she might have to do some unwanted explaining. She saw Coach Adonavich drop the intruder she had been carrying and come closer to the console.

  Abby scrolled faster, the years streaming by. She was coming close to the 2000s. Could she come all the way to the present? She didn’t know if that was possible. Was a machine designed to show the past limited to only showing the past?

  She saw Coach Adonavich approaching out of the corner of her eye. Abby turned to face her. “Good job,” she said to Coach Adonavich, trying to act natural. She could still see the dates rising.

  “Thanks,” Coach Adonavich said. “Let’s get our keys before any of these guys wake up.”

  Abby reached forward as if to take her key, but watched the scrolling intently. It slowed and then stopped in 2025. Fifty years ago.

  Abby was wrong.

  23

  In the Night

  Abby yawned again. She sat in the virtual booth and looked at the other members of the Council of the Keys. It was thirty minutes before school started and she was in another meeting. She had planned to sleep through breakfast, but a message from Grandpa woke her. If this kept up, her grades would dive even more from falling asleep in class.