Once everyone was out of the building, Simon went to the Holmes House common room and Clive set up the machine on the back lawn. Amanda couldn’t stand the suspense so she brought out a huge umbrella and held it over Clive, but left the machine exposed as it would be at the castle. Both kids put on helmets to protect themselves from the effects. Simon stood at the window and signaled that he was ready and Clive turned the plastic-encased machine on.
The machine was working! Within about five seconds, Simon had covered his ears and was wriggling like a worm on a fishhook, so Clive turned the machine off. Simon continued to hold his ears and bend over for another minute, then straightened and gave Clive a thumbs up. Then he pointed to something—a crack in the window it seemed. The vibrations were so strong that they had broken the glass!
Simon came running out and managed to trip and fall into the mud. “You okay?” said Amanda.
“I’ll be fine,” he said. “But I’ll tell you—those effects are really powerful.”
“Do you think Taffeta will be able to resist them?” said Clive.
“Not a chance,” said Simon. “Not unless she’s got some sort of protection.”
“Good,” said Amanda. “I feel better.”
“Aren’t you going to tell me how brilliant I am?” said Simon. He looked ridiculous with all that mud on his face.
Amanda gave him a sarcastic look. “Nope.”
“Why not?” said Simon. He looked crestfallen.
“Fine, you’re brilliant. You too, Clive. Now can we please just get going?”
Amanda, Holmes, Simon, Binnie, and Clive met Professor Darktower in front of the school, where he was waiting in his monster four-wheel-drive SUV, which he kept calling a UTE. It was a good thing he had such a car because nothing else would have done under the circumstances. Professor Scribbish and the new weapons teacher, Professor Xerxes, came along as well. With so many people and all that equipment, the extra weight made the car sink into the mud and it was quite a slosh getting to the castle. Darktower’s driving didn’t help matters either, as he had a habit of stomping on the accelerator and skidding all over the place. Amanda was glad she had a brand new package of gingersnaps in her bag because she really needed them to settle her stomach.
In addition to the helmets and vests, the detectives had brought tranquilizer guns. They wouldn’t need to kill or even injure Taffeta, Philip and Gavin, and whoever else was there, and they certainly didn’t want to hurt Hugh. They needed him alive and well. All they had to do was get them all out of the castle. Then they would stun them and the police would do the rest.
The whole way there Amanda tried to avoid Holmes, which was rather difficult because he was sitting in front next to Professor Darktower and kept turning around and looking at her. Fortunately he had the good sense not to make puppy dog eyes at her with all those people around, but she just knew what he was thinking: he’d made the deal with Nick in good faith to help the detectives, and if he’d managed to eliminate his rival at the same time, who was he to argue? As far as she was concerned, though, he had ruined any chance they had to be together and she was still seething over his behavior.
When they arrived at the castle, Professor Darktower found a secluded area in the woods and parked the car. It seemed that the place wasn’t quite as private as they thought, though, because before they could get out they heard banging on their rear window. It was Professor Also! Amanda was so surprised to see her that she dropped her bag on Clive’s foot, and he bashed into Binnie, who fell over and accidentally bit Simon’s hand.
“Who’s that?” said Darktower, who had never met the history of detectives teacher.
“Winifred Also,” said Professor Scribbish. “She’s one of the Punitori. What’s that she’s saying? I can’t make it out.”
“Open the window, Simon,” said Amanda.
“I can’t,” said Simon. “Driver control.”
“Well open the door then.”
Simon pulled the door aside and Professor Also stuck her head into the car. There wasn’t room for the rest of her, so she kind of bent over. Her hair dripped all over the floor.
“Professor!” said Amanda. “What are you—”
“Look,” said Professor Also without preamble, “you need to go back.”
“What are you talking about?” said Amanda.
“It’s our job to fight Taffeta Tasmania, not yours,” said the teacher.
“What’s she saying?” said Darktower, addressing Holmes.
“She says the Punitori should fight Taffeta,” said Clive.
Amanda couldn’t see Darktower’s face, but she could tell he was furious.
“You what?” he bellowed. Holmes winced and moved away. Amanda wondered if Darktower had broken one of his eardrums.
“We’ve got it covered,” said Professor Also. She chin-pointed toward Darktower and said, “Who’s he when he’s at home?”
“New logic teacher,” said Simon.
“They’re hiring pirates now, are they?” said Professor Also. “I told Thrillkill—”
“It wasn’t Thrillkill,” said Simon. “He’s still missing.”
“Still missing?” said Professor Also. “Do you mean to tell me you haven’t been able to find him yet?”
“We sort of did,” said Amanda. “But then we lost him again.”
“Sorry, Miss Lester,” said Professor Also abruptly. “I’d love to catch up on all the latest but we must do this before the light fades. Go home. Professor Ducey, Professor Snaffle, Professor Buck, and I will take care of this.” No more mention of Thrillkill. Didn’t she care what happened to him? Not for the first time, Amanda was dismayed to see a side of Professor Also she didn’t like.
Then she heard another voice. “Who’s this, Winnie?” It was Professor Buck, the large, dark-skinned profiling teacher Amanda had tangled with on several occasions. She was not happy to see him.
“Legatum,” said Professor Also. “I’ve told them to leave.”
“Who are you?” said Professor Buck, approaching the car and eyeing Professor Darktower.
“I might ask the same,” said Darktower. “If you’re one of those Punitori you can go back to Scotland.”
“Another one, I see,” said Professor Buck. Amanda wasn’t sure what that meant. “Realist or Neutral?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” said Darktower, opening the door and bashing Professor Buck with it.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said Professor Buck.
“We don’t need your help,” said Darktower. “Now get out of the way.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said Professor Buck.
“Then what are you waiting for?” said Darktower.
“What’s going on here?” came another voice. It was a soaked Professor Snaffle. Her face was even more lined than Amanda remembered it. She looked even taller, too, which was hard to be, since she was at least six feet tall. “Miss Lester? What are you doing here? Mr. Holmes, is that you?”
“She’s just leaving,” said Professor Buck. “Oh, hello, Holmes. I didn’t see you there. How’s your father?”
“Hello, sir,” said Holmes. “He and my mother are well, thank you.”
This familiarity made Amanda fume. Why was Holmes always such a teacher’s pet?
“We are going nowhere,” said Darktower, who, despite Professor Buck’s considerable height, towered over him.
“Who are you?” said Professor Snaffle. “Mr. Binkle, Mr. Ng, Miss Belasco, Mr. Holmes, what are you doing here?”
“Capturing the girl who ruined your trove,” said Simon.
Professor Snaffle looked amazed. “You are?” Simon nodded. “I appreciate that very much, Mr. Binkle,” she said, “but we’re here to do that. You go on back to Legatum and I’ll tell you all about it later.”
The kids were now looking from one set of teachers to the other. Professor Scribbish, who hadn’t yet opened his mouth, said very quietly, “Saliva, Follifoot, Winnie, we can
work together here.” Amanda was glad to hear him say that. She liked the way he was always trying to create win-win situations.
“We already have a plan, Chris,” said Professor Also. “You’ll just be in the way.”
“It will take two seconds to make adjustments,” said Professor Scribbish.
“Yes,” said Professor Buck. “Two seconds for Blackbeard there to turn on the ignition and put that thing in drive.”
Amanda was getting impatient. A formidable standoff was developing, and if they didn’t get to their work soon they’d miss the opportunity. Not to mention that Nick was out there somewhere, probably drowning by now.
“Simon,” she whispered. “Do something.”
“Like what?” he whispered back.
“I don’t know. Create a diversion.”
“And what will that accomplish?”
“It will get them out of the way while you operate that thing and flush Taffeta out of the castle.”
But before Simon or anyone else could flush anyone anywhere, the Punitori had turned around, drawn their weapons, and made for the castle.
“Hey!” yelled Darktower. “What are you doing? Come back here.”
“You told us to leave, so we’re leaving,” said Professor Also, turning around and giving him a sour look.
“I said to go back to Scotland, not attack,” said Darktower.
But the Punitori were too far away to hear him.
“Get out and follow me!” yelled Darktower, making a misstep and falling into a huge puddle. “What the—”
The kids looked away and tried to keep from laughing. Fortunately they were out of Darktower’s line of sight. Amanda could see that the other teachers were equally amused, however, and if they weren’t careful, the lot of them would have a laughing fit and share in Darktower’s wrath.
Suddenly Simon got very serious, though, and said, “Uh oh. I just thought of something.” Still giggling, the others turned and looked at him. When they saw his expression they went silent. “I didn’t expect the Punitori to be here. I can’t turn my device on with them here. I’ll hurt them.”
“Oh, right,” said Clive. Then, “Oooooh. You’re right. That’s bad.”
“Simon,” said Binnie, “can you control where the vibrations go?”
“You mean so the Punitori aren’t affected?” said Simon. “I’m not sure. We didn’t test anything like that. Right now the vibrations travel pretty widely. That’s why we’ve all got helmets.”
“What do you mean you didn’t test that?” said Holmes.
“We were so busy trying to boost the vibrations to the right level we sort of forgot,” said Clive.
Holmes shook his head. “Bad practice.”
“I know,” said Simon, clearly annoyed. “We were in a hurry. Excuse us.”
Amanda looked from Simon to Holmes to Clive and back to Holmes again. She could see Binnie watching her out of the corner of her eye. She was pretty sure the girl had figured out that she and Holmes had feelings for each other, but she wasn’t about to discuss her love life with her. Anyway, all she was doing was watching people on two sides of a disagreement. Surely you couldn’t tell how she felt about Holmes from that.
“What’s this about the device?” Darktower sputtered. He had climbed out of the puddle and was dripping mud all over.
“We’re just a little concerned about the Punitori being hurt,” said Simon.
“Fools,” said Darktower. “They have no business being here.”
“But what about—” said Binnie.
“Shh,” said Clive, putting a finger to his lips.
“I think I can do something,” said Simon. “We’ll be okay.”
Amanda whispered, “Are you sure?”
Simon whispered back, “Nope.”
“Simon, you can’t do this.”
“I’ll figure it out.”
Now Amanda was even more worried. What if something Simon did hurt Professor Buck or Professor Also or whoever was there with them? The problem was, though, that if they didn’t use the device, they wouldn’t get Hugh and they wouldn’t get Blixus and who knew what would happen to Nick and the whole thing was a big mess.
The next thing Amanda knew, Simon and Clive had gone back into the car and were huddled together looking at the device, which they had removed from its plastic blanket. She could hear snippets of their conversation: “High gain,” “No, focus,” “coherent,” “No, I forgot.” She didn’t know what to make of this, and when she looked at Holmes it was clear that he didn’t either. She caught his eye for a second and looked away. Even though she couldn’t see him, though, she knew he was still watching her.
Finally Darktower had had enough of Simon and Clive’s tech talk and told everyone it was time to put on their gear and approach the castle. This was going to be tricky because of that open area around the complex. It was highly likely that the group would be seen immediately. What the Punitori were planning to do was a mystery. It was hard to use camouflage in such a situation. Even wearing green, a person could be seen from every opening in the building. There was simply no way to surprise the inhabitants.
Oddly, though, when they got within view of the castle the Punitori were nowhere to be seen. Amanda couldn’t imagine what they were intending, since they had looked like they were headed straight into battle. She couldn’t see any signs that fighting had taken place. Had they changed their minds and gone home?
With one last check to be sure they’d calibrated the device correctly, Simon and Clive shook hands and Clive set off. Slowly, slowly, he crept toward the entrance. Amanda held her breath and hoped against hope that Taffeta and her gang wouldn’t see him. With each inch he could be more easily seen, and her heart beat through her chest. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Holmes holding his breath, and Simon and Binnie gritting their teeth. Darktower was wheezing behind them, with Professors Scribbish and Xerxes standing quietly off to the side.
At last Clive reached the appointed spot. Through the plastic he made a couple of adjustments—Amanda could hear Simon gulp—then put the device down and slowly backed away. The remote control was safely in Simon’s pocket and he would turn the machine on as soon as Clive had returned.
Then, suddenly, the Punitori filled the empty space around the compound and shots rang out in all directions. Professors Also, Ducey, Snaffle, and Buck lifted their guns and shot toward the sources of the fire. The gang’s weapons could be seen sticking out of various windows, with the smoke from their firing wafting into the air.
Clive went tearing back to the trees where Amanda and the others were waiting, but Darktower, Professor Scribbish, and Professor Xerxes ran straight out into the fray. Amanda could see Professor Scribbish dodge a bullet, and a divot flew up right in front of Professor Also.
“Simon, turn it on!” Amanda screamed. “Make them drop their weapons.”
“I’m trying,” said Simon, lifting the remote up in front of his face and pressing over and over again. “There’s something wrong.” He opened up the back and examined the batteries.
“Change them!” Amanda yelled.
“I am,” he cried. He reached into his pocket and fumbled around. He seemed to take forever. Amanda wondered what all he had in there. At last his hand emerged holding a couple of new batteries. He yanked out the old ones, threw them on the ground, and stabbed the new ones into place, then closed the remote and pressed the button. Nothing happened.
“Simon!” Amanda screamed. “Do something!”
“Here,” came a voice. It was Nick. Like the Punitori he had materialized out of nowhere. “Let me try.”
“You,” said Simon, pulling the remote away. “What are you doing here?”
Nick pulled the remote out of Simon’s hand, made an adjustment Amanda couldn’t see, and handed it back to him. “Press it,” he said.
Simon pressed the button and the “on” light on the machine lit. “It’s working!” said Amanda. “Quick, take these.” She gave Nick
the spare helmet and vest she’d brought along for him.
Nick scrambled into the protective gear. Simon and Clive glared at him in what can only be described as a very non-Simon and Clive way. Then Amanda yelped.
“Make it stop!” she shrieked.
“What?” said Simon.
“The noise!” she said. “I’m going to be sick.”
“The gunshots?” he said. “I can’t. Wait, you weren’t complaining about those a minute ago. Say, you look terrible.”
Amanda felt like she was going to faint. “Not the gunshots. The vibrations. Simon, please turn it off,” she said weakly.
“Hang on,” said Nick. He came close and peered at her helmet. “Holes! At least a dozen of them. Have these things been hit by shrapnel or something?”
“What?” said Simon. “Impossible.”
“No, take a look,” said Nick. “Hm, not shrapnel. These are tiny and round, very regular. It’s as if someone has poked them with an awl.”
Simon moved close to Amanda and stuck his nose in front of her helmet. “By golly you’re right,” he said. “This was deliberate. Who used these last anyway? This didn’t happen when we were testing this morning.”
Nick tore off his helmet and held it out to her. “Take mine,” he said.
“I can’t,” said Amanda. “Ow!” She was writhing now, attempting to get away from the noise the vibrations were making. Clearly their range was massive. She could hear snatches of voices and horses and cannons and muskets and ancient explosions, hundreds of years old. It was as if she were in the middle of a dozen wars all at once. Then, suddenly, everything went away.
Amanda Lester, Detective Box Set Page 133