by Morris, Chad
“But wouldn’t whoever the bad guy was know something was up when Ms. Entrese was out for weeks and Mackleprank was up the next day?” Abby asked.
“That was your grandfather’s decision,” Rafa said. “He quickly analyzed the darts and based on how much of the tranquilizer each one held, it actually looked as though the dart that hit Mackleprank was only intended for the night. It was the first time my mom had done anything against Muns. It was probably a warning more than anything. And the second time was to keep her out of the way.”
“But wait,” Derick blurted out. “When you were in the gorilla in the basement, why were you in such a hurry when you heard that Mackleprank had been attacked? Your mom was fine, right?”
“Everything was happening very fast and I hadn’t heard from my mother yet. I went to make sure she was fine and that her secret was safe.” A corner of Rafa’s mouth curled up. “You can’t just leave one of the world’s most sophisticated robots lying around, pretending to be tranquilized. Your grandfather said everything was okay, but I didn’t want to take any chances. Plus, the person most likely to figure out her secret was whoever it was who shot her. It was time to be extra careful.”
“It explains why Dr. Mackleprank couldn’t sit in the Chair,” Abby added. “Because he’s not human. A robot can’t have its mind read.”
“Exactamente.”
“And that is why Dr. Mackleprank gave me his locket,” Derick said. “Because he couldn’t go into a simulator as a robot either.”
Rafa nodded.
“So, super crazy,” Carol said. “I really can’t even think of the right way to express this. Take the craziest thing you know of, dip it in crazy batter, fry it in crazy oil, dip it in crazy sauce, chew it all up, and that would not be as crazy as this.” She paused, tapping her finger on her chin. “No. That didn’t quite do it. But it did make me a little hungry. Doesn’t crazy batter and crazy sauce sound mouthwatering together?”
“Wait,” Derick said. “Why would your mother have a key in the first place?”
“I believe your grandfather hoped that one day she would live at Cragbridge Hall in person. But when Cragbridge received the avatars for educational purposes, it would be the first place anyone would check for my mom. So she hasn’t lived here yet, at least in person. My mother couldn’t have known she wouldn’t be able to finish the challenges as an avatar.”
“Wow,” Abby said. “It is going to take me a while to get used to this.”
• • •
“Holy cow!” Carol whispered to Abby in the bed across from her. “We have an armed guard outside our room. And one inside.” She gestured at the woman standing at attention, a gun drawn over her forearm, against the far wall.
There was also a guard at the door. Abby had seen him as she and Carol moved to an apartment in the teacher’s quarters. Grandpa had left their room empty and found this open space. It was unpredictable, and in this case, unpredictable was very good. Grandpa assured them that he had picked only the most trusted of those on the security staff. In a way, they were hiding—with guards. It made Abby feel safer, but not completely. She would rather have spent the night with her parents and Derick and Grandpa. She wanted them all as close as possible. But if they were all together, that might make it too easy for the attacker. He could get a bunch of keys in one stop.
“Maybe ‘holy cow’ wasn’t the right expression,” Carol whispered. “I don’t even know what it means. Is it like a cow with wings and a halo? So weird.”
“I have no idea,” Abby whispered back.
“Super toad!” Carol said.
“What?”
“I was trying out another expression. Instead of ‘holy cow,’ maybe you can just pick any adjective and any animal and it would work.”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Dancing piglet!” Carol whispered a little louder. “Oh, it totally works. Bloated antelope! Ugly barn owl! Hippie hedgehog! I’m going to have to write these down.”
“Shhhh,” Abby shushed, but she was secretly glad that Carol could lighten the mood.
Then the lights went out.
Abby heart leapt to her throat. Over the pounding in her ears she could hear the guard shuffle her feet. Was she pointing her gun at the enemy right now?
Something hit the door. It wasn’t a knock, and more of a thud than a scrape.
“Are you okay out there?” the security guard asked. A moment later, she repeated, “Are you okay?”
Abby quickly turned on her rings and messaged her parents and Grandpa:
Something’s happening. We may have just lost the guard outside our room.
Her fingers shook as she typed.
Then a hum began in the room. It was just like Grandpa had described. Grandpa sent a message back.
Someone is on the way.
“Something’s messing with my night vision,” the guard muttered. And then they heard her drop to the floor.
“It’s him,” Abby whispered. “He’s here.” A surge of terror coursed through her. She couldn’t be shot with a tranquilizer; she had to solve this. She had to finish out this semester.
Abby looked at the window, then her door. Whoever it was, he was able to come in without a trace. She didn’t even know what direction to face. She couldn’t see anything. And with that hum, she couldn’t hear anything either. She wanted to grab something to hit him with, but she didn’t have a bat or a bar in her room. There was nothing. Wait. Abby grabbed her blanket and pulled it around her neck. She wasn’t going to give him a target.
Abby felt something next to her. She screamed. Was she about to get shot? Would she wake up to some alternate reality? Or would she even wake up at all? Suddenly Ms. Entrese popped into her head. She was so bold, so brave. “You coward,” Abby said into the darkness. “You come sneaking into people’s rooms in the middle of the night. You shoot them with tranquilizers and steal what’s theirs. And now you hunt seventh-grade girls. You’re just a coward!”
“Whoa,” Carol muttered.
The doorknob wiggled.
Carol screamed.
“Leave us alone!” Abby shouted.
“Yeah, you creepy ugly crazy freakish man. Get out of here!” Carol added.
The door rattled again. “Abby! Abby!”
Two voices blended together. It was her parents.
Abby stumbled off her bed and to the door. She entered the code and pulled it open quickly. In moments, she was in her parents’ arms. Carol joined her, hugging them both. The two guards who had flanked Abby’s parents now continued on into the room.
“You’re okay,” Dad said, moving them both down the hall away from the room.
“He was here, Dad.” Abby broke down into tears. “He was here. He took out the guards.”
“But you’re okay, right?” Mom asked, looking them over.
“It was terrifying.” Carol opened her mouth to say something else, but instead just mumbled “terrifying” a few more times.
“I was so scared,” Abby confessed. “So scared.”
“You’re okay now,” Dad comforted.
The lights flickered back on. Abby could no longer hear the hum in the room.
The two girls related everything that had happened. The guards checked on their two counterparts and called for more people to take them down to the med unit. “That’s four tonight,” one said.
Four? Had the man struck somewhere else?
One of the guards approached the two girls. “Is this yours?” He handed Abby a thin screen. It wasn’t, but it hadn’t been in the room before. When Abby touched it, a simple drawing appeared—a simple drawing of Abby’s belt, with an arrow next to the latch. Abby closed her eyes and groaned. He knew where she kept her key.
“Oh, and this.” The other guard handed Abby a small black object. As she took it in her hands, she noticed its notches and curves—another chess piece.
• • •
This time they sat face to face. There was no need to do a virt
ual meeting. Grandpa looked older and tired. “I invited my son and daughter-in-law,” Grandpa said. Abby loved seeing her parents there. “They were not in this council, but we know Muns knows them and we need more help. Last night, our attacker hit all the doors we guarded. He took out all the guards. And—” Grandpa flicked his fingers and showed the footage of finding Coach Horne. There were several darts in his neck. Perhaps it took more for such a large man. “He took his key,” Grandpa explained.
“He knew where mine was,” Abby said.
“And mine,” Derick added.
“Yes, it is perplexing why he gave up and only left screens for you two. He wanted you to know that he knows where they are.”
“He left no such screen for us,” Mr. Trinhouse said. “In fact, he left us alone. I believe he is trying to get you to suspect us.”
If that was the intention, it might be working.
“I know you are innocent,” Grandpa said.
Abby hadn’t done her own research. She couldn’t say that for sure, but she did trust her grandpa.
“Now he has three keys,” Derick said slowly. “He can change the past.”
Grandpa wagged a finger. “I don’t believe he can yet. Whoever it is would not have a way of taking the keys from campus. If we can find out who it is, we may still be able to stop him and keep the upper hand.”
“I guess we know that it isn’t Mackleprank,” Mrs. Trinhouse said.
“Correct,” Grandpa answered, showing footage of an unchanging door to a cage. He also showed the perfectly still, sleeping form of Dr. Mackleprank.
Of course it wasn’t him. That him was a her—Rafa’s mother. And she was as loyal to Grandpa as they could get.
Grandpa looked at the remaining members of the Council. “With your permission, I will release him after this meeting. We may need him more than ever.”
Everyone nodded.
“What about the others with keys?” Abby asked. “Isn’t there another council, another group of people with keys? Has anything happened to any of them?”
“No,” Grandpa said. “He doesn’t know about any other council as far as I’m able to tell. This is the only group he knows about.”
Derick scratched his head. “How is he attacking?”
“I don’t know,” Grandpa said.
All of Abby’s theories had been blown to pieces. She had nothing. Whoever this was had completed his job as a terrorist. She was completely terrified. “Whoever it is knows about our keys,” Abby said. “Muns already has three, but if I had to guess, he will want them all. That would give him all the power over time. And he will be coming after our keys when he wants to. That seems to be his message.”
Grandpa pounded his cane on the floor. “No!” he yelled. “Do not give in to fear. Do not give up. If I am not mistaken, I can see it in your eyes, and I need you to fight it. We will not lie down. We will not give in. We will fight this and we will win, but you must stand with me.”
Abby felt a surge inside her. Could they possibly find a way out of this?
Grandpa stood. “For centuries, people have tried to make their enemies afraid, for if they are afraid they do not fight back as they should. They do not stand as strong. If Genghis Khan’s men approached their victims by day, Khan had them drag branches behind their horses. It would kick up extra dust and make their enemies think he had more men than he did. It would make them afraid. If they approached by night, his men would carry extra torches for the same reason.”
Grandpa paced back and forth. “Blackbeard the pirate wore all black and put fuses in his hair and beard. It surrounded him with smoke and made him look like a demon. Why? To make his enemies afraid.” Grandpa paused to look at each member of the Council. “And why has Muns done what he did? Not only to get revenge, but to make us afraid. To make us wish we had not stood up to him. And I agree with Abby that he must be going for all the keys he knows about. But we cannot give in. We cannot be afraid.” He said each word of the last sentences slowly and emphatically.
Abby sat in awe. Her grandpa had courage like those in history he wanted her to learn from. He stood for what he thought was right even under the most difficult of circumstances. She thought of Ms. Entrese again. She had that kind of courage too. Abby took a deep breath. Maybe she could be like them.
Her rings vibrated. She had a message.
Muns.
Her heart dropped. She looked up at her grandfather. “I just got a message from Muns.”
Grandpa did not gasp or groan. He gazed back at her, his intensity still high from his speech. “Do you mind if we all see it?”
“It may give us some sort of a clue,” Mr. Trinhouse said.
Abby synced to the others and pushed play. Soon Muns’s confident face was speaking to them. “Abby and Derick. I’m sorry that you didn’t decide to take my first warning. You should have stood clear. But I am a forgiving man, and I don’t think children should get mixed up in all of this. I will give you this one chance. You can step away now or things will escalate in ways that will change everything. Simply send me a message back saying that you have decided to give your keys to your grandfather or to your parents and that you have walked away from it all. Then I will leave you alone. But if not, I will treat you both as I do all the others. You have two minutes.”
Two minutes?
Abby looked over at Derick. He just wagged his head silently.
“Perhaps he’s right,” Abby’s mother said. “He surely can tell when you’ve seen his message. Give us your keys and step away. You are too young to have to worry about this now.”
“Do as your mother says,” their dad instructed. “We want you safe. No matter what.”
Abby closed her eyes. She wanted to give them her key. She wanted to walk away. It felt so clean, so safe. Her hand rested on her buckle.
“I can’t,” she said. “I really want to, but I can’t. And I know I’m not an adult, but I still might be able to help. I have to try.”
“I think Abby’s right,” Derick agreed.
“I thank you,” Grandpa said. He looked at both of them. “I’m so proud of you. We will get through this. We have to.”
“Are you sure?” Abby’s mother said. “You still have thirty seconds.”
Abby nodded. Derick as well.
They waited, knowing that Muns was waiting too.
29
Someone Else?
Grandpa flicked on his rings and began moving quickly. “He’s done it. Two energy bursts at once. I don’t know what he has planned, but I don’t like it.”
Two at once? Abby didn’t know what to think.
“Do we need to call in members of the other council?” Dad asked.
“We must have them at the ready,” Grandpa said. “Alert them that we may need them, and then have that message ready so that at a flick of your finger we can have backup. But let’s not bring them into the basement unless we truly need them. For when we bring them in, Muns may learn who else has keys. Derick and Rafa can guard the entrance. One of them or both could also go in to solve whatever problem Muns has planned. However, I feel it may be best to also bring Dr. Mackleprank and send him into the past.”
Abby nodded. She knew who Dr. Mackleprank really was, and would love to have his—her—fighting skills if necessary. She was pretty sure they would be necessary.
“What about our responsibility to watch all the entrances?” Dad asked.
“We need you with us,” Grandpa directed. “Again, have the other council ready.” That soothed Abby’s fears slightly. There was an entirely different group with keys who could help if the situation called for it.
Abby soon walked with two gorillas through the dark corridors beneath the school, but she still felt terrified. She glanced at one and then the other. She couldn’t tell which one was Derick and which was Rafa. She couldn’t recognize her own twin brother.
Carol had joined her after waiting for the meeting to end. She knew enough and Grandpa felt she might be saf
er with them than alone.
The members of the group had traveled their different ways to the basement, except Derick and Rafa, who were in the avatar lab controlling the gorillas that walked with Abby and Carol. Mom and Dad would retrieve Mackleprank and meet them in the basement while Grandpa would assess the situation. She knew he needed time to use his key and his sphere to spy on Muns and figure out where he had gone in time.
The gorillas left Abby and Carol at the entrance, each standing guard. Abby loved the fact that they couldn’t be defeated by a dart. Darts do not tranquilize robots.
The two girls walked into the large room with the massive tree-looking Bridge. Soon everyone else was there, but Abby couldn’t help but watch Dr. Mackleprank. Knowing that he really wasn’t a person at all, but a complex machine was completely astounding. And he was really a woman in Brazil.
Grandpa addressed the group, his fingers moving along the control panel. “There were two energy bursts. One is quite strange. It is in the 1300s in the Sahara Desert—no man’s land.” The other half of the room filled with a vast desert, its waves of sand looking almost endless. At the bottom of one dune sat a group of men, fully armed. They wore gray combat suits, body armor, and guns along their arms and backs. They didn’t look like anyone from the 1300s. They were ready to walk into a modern battle. Abby counted them; there were ten. “Nothing significant in history happened here.”
“They are just waiting?” Abby’s mom asked. “They aren’t trying to change anything?”
“No,” Grandpa admitted. “We can only assume they are waiting for the criminal within Cragbridge Hall to use his keys in the Bridge and open the way for them to come into this school—to our time.” Grandpa turned to Abby’s dad and had him warn Derick and Rafa of the situation. The attacker may try to force his way in.
“I propose we worry about the more urgent of the two energy bursts.” Grandpa moved his fingers again along the Bridge controls. “The second burst was back on the Hindenburg. This time while it was in flight.” The giant metal blimp appeared on the other side of the basement in Cragbridge Hall. It floated calmly over the ocean, a coast in sight. It looked majestic, gliding through the air with its well-dressed crew and high-class passengers walking along the deck. “It will try to land in less than a half an hour. That is when it will burst into flames.”