“I’ll say,” said Ivy. “They’re just like Nigel.” At the sound of his name the dog looked up at her lovingly.
“We also know that they blink when they like something and turn pink and stop blinking when they don’t,” said Simon, ignoring Amphora. “And we know that when you hit them they turn red and glow brighter. But after a while, if you leave them alone they fade. We also know that the light they produce is triboluminescence and it’s produced by the piezoelectric effect.”
“We know quite a lot about them, don’t we?” said Amanda, picking one up and holding it to the light. Even in the icky fluorescent purple of the lab’s fixtures it gleamed a rich apricot color.
“Yes, we do,” said Simon. “And from that information we can posit one, that they’re organic, and two, that they’re alive and possibly sentient.”
“And three,” said Ivy, “that they can communicate.”
“Yes,” said Simon. “And what that boils down to is this: I think we’re looking at a new life form.”
“OMG,” said Amphora, whirling around to face him. “This is amazing. I have to tell—”
“Not so fast,” said Simon. “We need to keep this to ourselves for the moment.”
“But why?” said Amphora, whining.
“How would you like the Moriartys to find out?” said Simon. “If you thought they were trying to make a killing out of sugar, can you imagine what they’d do with these little guys?”
“You’re right,” said Amanda, holding the crystal tighter. “We have no idea if there are still moles at Legatum. We’ve got to keep this quiet. If you’re correct, Simon, and these are sentient creatures, they need to be protected.”
“Right,” said Ivy. “We don’t know yet if they can take care of themselves. If they can’t, they might easily be abused. No one can know about this.”
“Do you think these crystals could be what Professor Feeney was talking about?” said Amanda.
“No way,” said Simon, who was still making notes and, it appeared, drawings. “Several of the teachers have seen them, and none of them reacted like they were a big deal. We would have seen or heard something.”
“You’re right,” said Ivy. “These aren’t the whatsit.”
“So what do we do now?” said Amanda.
“Act like nothing has happened,” said Simon. “But continue testing. We need to find out a lot more about these puppies.” Amphora smiled. “And don’t tell Editta. She’s too unstable.” He looked carefully at the girls. “What, no objections? You don’t think I’m being unfair to her?” All three girls shook their head. “Really? I guess I have a lot more to learn than how the crystals protect themselves.”
21
An Unexpected Party
After the kids had concluded that the crystals were alive, their experiments proceeded quickly. They discovered that the little cuties liked cool temperatures, which was very much not like babies. They also learned that they preferred a bit of humidity, which seemed consistent with where they had been found. Simon wondered what would happen if they put the crystals in a cave and suggested that the tunnels would be the ideal place. Amanda thought they should experiment with light sensitivity first to see if that kind of darkness would be harmful to them. They did, and learned that they were extremely sensitive to light. It seemed that they got stronger as the light intensity increased, as long as it wasn’t too strong.
None of this information was surprising, but something they observed while testing the crystals’ light sensitivity was: the light source they were using dimmed ever so slightly when the crystals were exposed to it. In addition, as they took in light they would turn deep, deep orange and not blink at all. After much testing and questioning the reliability of their instruments, they concluded that the crystals were absorbing light!
Simon put forth the theory that this deep apricot color must be a good thing—more of what they liked. Light was their food, and the more of it they “ate,” the healthier they were. If that was the case, then putting the crystals in a cave would harm them. Perhaps the environment in which they’d found them was making them ill.
The idea that whatever light they were eating would diminish as it was consumed gave them pause. Would it be possible for the crystals to absorb so much light that they would visibly dim a bulb? As it turned out, this was exactly what happened, but it wasn’t until Ivy connected the dots that they realized the implications. The crystals could be used as weapons to steal light, leaving the victim in the dark! This horrifying thought led to the subject of the Moriartys again, as so many things did, and they resolved even more strongly to guard the crystals carefully.
At one point during the testing, Ivy said that she was hearing an unpleasant noise coming from the crystals. Nigel had pricked up his ears and was looking distressed. Simon said that the crystals were purring, but when he gave them so much light that one of them turned red and blinked out, they realized that too much light could kill them.
That meant several things. First, a certain amount of light made the crystals happy, but above that, it hurt them. Second, their ability to store light was limited. They could hold so much and no more. Third, you had to get the amount of light just right, and what was the optimum amount?
What they had was a living species that could store light and potentially be used as an energy source, but could steal light and possibly be used as a weapon. In addition, the crystals were so sensitive that if you exposed them to the wrong amount of light or the wrong environment, they’d sicken and die. The good news was that you could tell instantly what state they were in just by looking at them. The bad news was, well, obvious.
To make sure they could keep all this information straight, Amanda made a little cheat sheet for all of them, which read:
Apricot: Healthy.
Deep orange: High energy, but also stressed.
Pink: Unhappy.
Red, no color: Dead.
Weak apricot: Ill.
Blinking: “Yes.”
Making noise: Distress.
Once they realized the crystals could die, they were more careful. Unfortunately they did manage to kill a few of them. What they learned in the process was that the crystals were capable of containing a large amount of energy for a short time, but if they weren’t relieved of it they would die. Unfortunately, the kids hadn’t figured out how to drain the excess energy off yet, although they knew in theory that if they used the crystals as a power source, the energy would diminish. Probably not quickly enough though.
“You know what?” said Ivy. “I just remembered that I need to put those drops in Nigel’s eyes. Amanda, can you come back to the room with me and help?”
“Sure,” said Amanda. They’d been at the experiments for hours, and as excited as she was she could use a break. “I guess you guys should continue without us. Although I hate to miss stuff.” She was a bit dubious about leaving Simon and Amphora together, but she told herself she wasn’t their keeper.
“Me too,” said Ivy, “but I’ve got to do this.” Nigel stood up and wagged his tail. He knew they were going somewhere.
When they got out in the hall, Amanda said, “This is huge.”
“I know,” said Ivy. “It’s a good thing the Moriartys are behind bars. If they got wind of this they’d be trying to steal the crystals. As much as we say we’ll protect them, I don’t know if we could.”
“They’d have to know about them first. A lot of people know they exist, but the four of us—and Nigel—are the only ones who know what’s really going on.”
“We have to be careful about our notes,” said Ivy. “No way do we want them hacked.”
“Uh oh,” said Amanda, squeezing her new tablet tight as if to protect it.
“What?” said Ivy.
“Maybe we should bring Scapulus in on this so he can help us protect our notes.”
“Sure. He’s trustworthy.” Amanda gave Ivy a look she couldn’t see. “You don’t think so?”
“Who can say?” said Amanda.
“He’s a royal pain, that’s for sure. But I think what you see is what you get with him. Although—”
“You have to forget about him, Amanda,” said Ivy.
“I can’t,” said Amanda. “I’ve tried. By the way, we are talking about Nick now, aren’t we?”
“Yes,” said Ivy. “He was a fluke. Scapulus is different.”
“What makes you say that?” said Amanda.
“I can hear it in his voice,” said Ivy.
Amanda didn’t want to say what she was thinking. Why hadn’t Ivy heard the dissembling in Nick’s voice? “Let’s let it sit for the moment,” she said. “We don’t have to make any decisions right now.”
Suddenly everything started shaking. Amanda grabbed Ivy and shoved her into a doorway, then held onto her while the building shook for what seemed like twenty seconds. It was one of the worst aftershocks they’d felt. Ivy was trembling so hard it was difficult for Amanda to tell what was coming from the outside and what was internal. Ivy had adjusted to the aftershocks better than she’d hoped, but she was still afraid. Who wouldn’t be? When the ground moves under your feet, nothing is stable. The only safe place is in an airplane flying high off the ground.
Poor Nigel was shaking too. Fortunately when he was scared he’d come close to Ivy and lean on her, so he was under the doorway frame too. Simon never had made him a special protective device, although he had fashioned the breathing mask and it seemed to help. The dog wasn’t wearing it now though.
When the shaking had stopped, Ivy said, “That was a bad one.”
“Yes,” said Amanda. “The worst one yet. I wonder if anyone’s hurt.”
“We should know quickly,” said Ivy. “With all this earthquake stuff going on, people have been communicating really well.”
The girls waited a couple of minutes but no texts arrived, so they continued on their way. When they had arrived at their room, Ivy went to look for Nigel’s eye drops, and Amanda cuddled with the dog on her bed. She decided to take the opportunity to call her dad. She hadn’t spoken with him for a while and she was worried about him.
“Hey, Dad,” she said when she’d reached him.
“Hello, dear,” said Herb. He sounded breathy.
“How are you?” she said.
A pause. “What’s that?”
“I say how are you?” She raised her voice.
“Sorry, it’s hard to hear you in this asana. Let me straighten up.” What was he talking about? Asana? Wasn’t that yoga? “Ah,” he said much more loudly. “Those inverted poses are murder. Do you a world of good though.”
“Are you doing yoga, Dad?” she said.
“Yup. I’m studying with a fellow from India. Name of Krishna Samosa. Quite a revelation. You should try it.”
“You think I should do yoga?” said Amanda. Ivy lifted her sunglasses in a way that said, “What in the world is going on?”
“Absolutely. Change your life.”
“Uh, okay, Dad. I will.”
“See that you do. You okay?”
“I think so. I mean . . .” He was not in a frame of mind to talk. He sounded spaced out. “Yes. I’m good, Dad. Really good.”
“I’m glad, Amanda. I’ve got to go back to my practicing right now, but please find yourself a teacher. Okay?”
“Sure, Dad. I will.”
“Namaste.”
“Uh, Namaste.”
Amanda put the phone down and sat silent for at least a minute. It was the weirdest conversation she’d ever had.
“What was that?” said Ivy finally.
“I have no idea.”
“Are you going to take up yoga?” said Ivy.
“Oh, sure. That’ll find the whatsit and identify the body and help us figure out the crystals. Are you kidding?”
“Think he’s okay?” said Ivy.
“I don’t know,” said Amanda. “I really don’t.”
“There are worse things than yoga,” said Ivy.
“Not if you’re Herb Lester,” said Amanda. “He’s not a New Age sort of guy. He’s Mr. Practical. Well, he does have a passionate side. I never realized that until recently. All his career he’s been on a mission to get rid of bad guys and save the world. You have to be idealistic to be like that, don’t you? But that’s not the same thing as being a hippie.” She paused as the very idea hit her. “OMG, my dad is a hippie! I wonder if he has a ponytail. I’m freaking out. I feel like I don’t know him anymore. Maybe I never did. Krishna Samosa? Yeesh.”
“Give him time,” said Ivy. “He’s been through a lot.”
“Yes, you’re right. He probably just needs to get whatever all this is out of his system.”
Then Ivy said, “I can’t find the drops. Can you help me?”
“Sure,” said Amanda. “Nigel can’t smell them, can he?”
“I wish,” said Ivy. “Don’t think so.”
But the eye drops were nowhere to be found. The two girls turned the room upside down and after nearly half an hour they still hadn’t found them.
“Oh no,” said Ivy at last. “What a dummy. I think I left them in the common room. Let’s go look.”
Girls and dog trundled down to the Holmes House common room. On the way Ivy started to chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” said Amanda.
“I’m just a dope,” said Ivy. “I should have remembered where I put those things.”
“No biggie,” said Amanda, stepping into the common room. “I do that stuff all the time.”
Suddenly she heard, “Surprise! Happy birthday!” and just about fell over backwards. There in their favorite hangout was the entire Holmes House first-year gang, as well as a bunch of other students she knew, including Ivy’s sister, Fern, and the décor gremlins, who seemed to have outdone themselves yet again.
The room looked like the FAO Schwartz toy store in New York. It was stuffed to the gills with plush animals, toy trains, puppets, games, musical instruments, building sets, books, art supplies, balloons, glitter, and the most tantalizing cakes and cookies ever.
“But my birthday isn’t till next week” said Amanda. Then she caught sight of Amphora and Simon, who were grinning like Cheshire cats. “You knew about this,” she said.
“Yup,” said Simon.
“That’s why—”
“Never mind,” said Ivy. “Let’s look at the gifts.”
Amanda was astounded to see a huge pile of presents in the corner by the window. Someone, probably Simon, she thought, had stacked them as high as they would go in a tower-like structure that looked as if it would topple any moment. She hoped there wasn’t anything breakable inside the colorfully wrapped packages.
“Come look at my cake,” Amphora said, pulling Amanda toward the other side of the room.
“You made me a cake?” said Amanda.
Amphora dragged her over to a gigantic cake. It had about a billion layers and was covered with bright blue frosting with curlicues and other decorations in different colors. Half of it was gorgeous, but the other half was lopsided and rickety.
“Ha ha,” said David Wiffle, who had crashed the party. “What a stupid cake.”
“Shut up,” said Amphora. “I worked really hard on that.”
“Yeah,” said Gordon Bramble, who was back at David’s side. Amanda figured they must have made up.
“It’s super ugly,” said Harry Sheriff, who was attending for some unknown reason. Amanda didn’t even know him. If that was the way he behaved, why did all the girls like him so much? “Is that your self-portrait on it?”
“What’s the matter with you?” said Amanda. “She put a lot of effort into making this cake. I think it’s lovely.” Harry Sheriff indeed.
“I’ll bet it cost the school a ton of money,” said Editta from behind her. Amanda was surprised to see her there, but glad. Maybe she was returning to normal.
“It didn’t,” said Amphora, who was getting worked up. “And anyway, they can afford it.”
“Don’t think so,” said Simon.
“With all the earthquake repairs they have to make, they’re going to have to spend a lot.”
“Oh, shut up, Simon,” said Amphora. “You ruin everything.”
Ivy looked like she was about to say something but shut her mouth. Amanda figured this wasn’t the time or place to be fining those two and was grateful for Ivy’s good judgment.
“You did this all by yourself?” said Editta. She was definitely sounding like her old self.
“I did get a little help,” said Amphora.
“Figures,” said Simon. “You only made this so you could spend time with Rupert. That’s why you made it so big. The bigger it was, the more time it would take.”
Ivy turned to face Simon and said, “That’s it, Simon. I’m not going to fine you for that. I’m going to kick you out.”
“You can’t do that,” said Simon. “You’re not Thrillkill. I can be here if I want.” He sounded uncharacteristically petulant.
“We’re going to have a talk after this,” said Ivy. “We need to get some things straight.”
“Suit yourself,” said Simon, walking off. Then he turned around. “Oh, and by the way, Amphora, your precious Mr. Thwack isn’t here because I told him not to come. You should think about someone besides yourself for a change. He could get fired for mixing with the students. Put that in your cake and eat it.” He stomped out of the room in a way that was quite unlike him.
“I’ve had enough too,” said Amphora, turning and huffing out after him. “Happy birthday, Amanda. It isn’t my fault your party is ruined.”
Amanda stared at her. Here her friends had gone to all this trouble to give her a party, and now one by one they were spoiling their own event.
She grabbed a piece of Amphora’s cake, which was delicious if a bit aesthetically challenged, and found a seat near the presents. She wolfed down the cake, smearing frosting all over her face, and began to open them. Maybe these people weren’t such good friends after all. Well, Ivy was, but the others were giving her so much trouble that they might not be worth hanging around with. Editta was sullen, Amphora prickly and selfish, and Simon rude. Sullen, Prickly, and Rude, attorneys at law. That sounded about right. But not for her. Maybe it was time to find some new friends.
Amanda Lester, Detective Box Set Page 55