I settle against the pillow and stare at the stones surrounding the waterfall. They’re arranged in a perfect pattern. It must have taken someone a long time to fit them together like that. The ideas on the red board float around my brain like a puzzle. They don’t fit together at all. I’m not even sure they’re the right pieces. I close my eyes and soon an idea pops into my head, but it’s swirling in a jumbled clump. So I take several deeps breaths and try to unjumble it.
We need to think of something that has already been invented and find a way to make it do something even more life-changing. What invention can we use? The task says that many inventions have already changed the world. Okay, we know that—there are a lot of amazing inventions. But there has to be one that can be made better. What can we invent that will change the world more than it already has? An aero-scooter would have been a good one, or an aero-car. People used to use just regular scooters and cars—until someone reimagined those.
I stay huddled up in the quiet area, but not one great idea comes to me, nothing unjumbles. I peek around the waterfall and see Mare with a book on her lap, but her eyes are closed. Of course. I glance at the other end of the room and see the boys and Jillian hanging out in the harmony area playing with the drum sets. When thirty minutes is up, the door to the Inspiration Room swings open, and I walk through it feeling like a failure. I trudge down the stairs behind my teammates, while they chatter about naps and drums and crafts, hoping their time in the Inspiration Room was more inspiring than mine.
When we get to our backyard clubhouse, Seraphina jumps up from her log chair. She’s now wearing her platform heels. I swear, she must wear them as slippers. “Hi, guys! How did it go in the Inspiration Room? Any great ideas?”
“Yes!” says Jillian. “After I left the Work Room, Ander and Jax and I played with the instruments. I played the tambourine and the xylophone. It was so fun. I was thinking that since we’re good at doing skits, we should do another one this time when we present our solution to the judges. The task states that we have to sing anyway. Maybe we can add instruments this time too.”
I picture us singing in a choir, wearing robes and clanging bells. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
The red board records her idea.
Ander jumps up on the log. “Jillian’s right. We’re good at performing. That’s what made our team memorable at the National Finals. I definitely think we should do another skit. We can make even better props this time using stuff from the craft area.”
“I think we should do a skit this time too,” I say. “Definitely. But I was in the quiet room, and I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. It’s like all my great ideas have dried up.”
Seraphina smiles. “I’m sure they didn’t dry up. Something will come to you. What about you, Mare? Did any ideas come to you in the Inspiration Room?”
She folds her arms across her chest. “Nope.”
“Alright. What about you, Jax?”
“When I was in the harmony area, nothing really came to me. I don’t know if we should do a skit again.”
“But we ran into this problem last time,” says Jillian. “A skit is the best way to present whatever our solution is. What other way is there?”
“Maybe something more like everyone else.”
I look at Jax. “Why would we want to be like everyone else?”
“Yeah, Big Guy, why?” asks Ander. “We’ll never win that way. Remember what Seraphina said last time. We want to be memorable if we’re going to win.”
“What’s so great about winning anyway?” asks Mare.
Ander’s arms flail. “What’s so great about winning? What a stupid question! First of all, the Ancestor App will get built, and second, we’ll get to go on the Swirl and Spark Tour.”
“All over the world!” Jillian squeals. “With two other teams! We’ll be together for like a whole year. It would be so amazing!”
Mare glares at Ander. “First of all, my question was not stupid.”
Ander sits back down. “Sorry.”
All I can think about is the Ancestor App. “Don’t you want everyone to be able to talk to their relatives like we did? Grandma Kitty thinks it’s really important. Her mother died when she was only thirteen years old. She still misses her a lot. And even though she can’t talk to her anymore, with the Ancestor App she could learn things about her and then maybe she wouldn’t miss her so much.”
“I know why winning is important and why the Ancestor App would be important to people. I want it to be built too. But what about the Swirl and Spark Tour? Do you really want to leave home for a whole year?” asks Mare.
“I don’t,” says Jax quickly and sits up straight, like he has been waiting for someone to ask him that question all day.
“Well, it’s not like it’s for a whole year straight,” I explain. “We would go to one place, like France maybe, for a few days, and then come back home for a while before we go to another place, right Gregor?”
Ander looks at me like I’m five years old. “Did you learn any geography in Human History at all?”
I shrug. “Yeah. Some.”
“Do you know how far away all those places are?”
“Ander’s right, Kia,” says Gregor. “If you win this competition, you’ll leave on the Swirl and Spark Tour for a full year. We would not come home during that time.”
“But what about our parents?” I ask.
“They would be allowed to visit you two times during the tour. Once in England and once in Japan.”
“What? That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
My stomach twists in a knot. I didn’t think it would be like that. A whole year away from my family—away from Grandma Kitty?
“Is this why some of you are having a hard time coming up with ways to solve this task?” asks Seraphina. “Are you afraid to win?”
“I’m not!” Jillian insists. “It would be fabulous, an adventure of a lifetime. We’d definitely be famous then. We’ll probably be treated like royalty.”
“Or sports stars!” says Ander. “I’m not afraid to win. Nope. Not me. It would be just like being on the road playing hockey for the Buffalo Sabres.”
“Well, not exactly,” says Gregor. “You would be showcasing your invention and meeting with children at their schools . . . talking to them about how you solve your tasks so creatively and giving them tasks to solve as well.”
“Well, that’s okay,” says Ander. “I can do that.”
I pick at the skin around my nail. “I could do that too,” I say. “But what about PIPS? We all planned on going to the Piedmont Inventors Prep School after we get home from Québec.”
“You would still be allowed to enroll. You would take your place there the following year as eighth graders.”
“So our whole seventh grade year would be spent on the tour?” I ask.
“I don’t know if I can leave my mom alone for a whole year,” says Mare. “My brother lives with my dad now, and my sister moved to New York City for her first job. She would live in our house all alone.”
I’ve never seen Mare look so sad.
“What about you, Jax?” asks Seraphina.
His face turns beet red. No, fire engine red. “I’m not sure.”
“Why, Jax?” says Jillian. “It would be so fun!”
He wipes his hands on his shorts. “I may want to enter the military.”
“Jax, if you want to be placed on the military track, none of this is for you,” says Gregor.
“I know. I talked to my dad about it when we came back from Camp Piedmont. At the end of this competition, we all have the choice of going to PIPS or being programmed into the category we performed best in. I think I would be placed in New Technology. One of the career choices for that program is to work for the military in a government position.”
“So
even if we don’t win here, you might not enroll at PIPS with the rest of us anyway?” I ask.
He looks at the ground. “I don’t know.”
My head pounds. This can’t be happening. I finally have four best friends, but if Jax gets programmed into New Technology, I would be down to three.
We sit in silence for a long time. Finally, Seraphina says, “Okay, guys, I think you should take a break. Do you want to play on the floating playground?”
None of us answers. Bouncing on the floating clouds doesn’t sound fun at all.
“I think a break out in nature would be best,” Gregor suggests. “Perhaps a walk down to the Creativity Pool would help—take your minds off the task.”
“I don’t feel like swimming,” I say.
“Me neither,” says Ander.
“You don’t have to swim. Just walk over there together. Preceptor’s orders.”
We know we don’t have a choice so we head down the path, passing the German tree suite and the Texas tree suite. They all look the same from the outside, all shimmery-silver. I wonder what they’re like inside though. I wonder how they’re doing on their solutions. Probably better than us. I mean, we’ve got nothing. We don’t even have an idea yet, and I don’t even know if my whole team wants to win. And if they don’t, that means they won’t even try to figure out this task. This is worse than bad. It’s like falling off the waterfall and getting stuck in mud.
THE CREATIVITY POOL
When we get to the pool, about ten other kids are already there, swimming and splashing and laughing under the hot afternoon sun. Becca and the kids from the Texas team are trying to cross the pool on the problem-solving bars. They must be pretty weak because none of them are able to cross. Maelle, Danielle, and Zoe from the French team are diving from the Think Pad while Stephan and Gwyndol are swinging from the Idea Swings, competing to see who can jump the farthest into the water. I’m not sure much thinking or brainstorming is going on here, and even though I want to be back at our tree suite figuring out a way to solve this task, this stuff looks really fun!
Ander climbs onto the pool ledge. “Let’s go in!”
“But we don’t have our bathing suits,” Jillian reminds him.
“Who cares? Neither does the Texas team.”
“But I brought my fabulous polka-dotted suit from our trip to NYC. I want to wear it!”
“Go ahead, but I’m not waiting.” He takes off his socks and sneakers and jumps into the pool.
The kids from the French team swim toward us. Zoe yells, “Come in! Don’t worry about your suits. The water is so nice.”
I look at the rest of my team and shrug. “Will Seraphina and Gregor be mad if we get our team shirts wet?”
Mare takes off her sneakers and socks. “Who cares? We have like a million matching shirts.”
Jillian looks like she’s about to cry.
Ander splashes her, soaking her shorts. “Come on, Jillian. You’ll miss all this.”
“Ander!” she screams.
“What?” He grins. “You’re wet now, anyway.” Jillian huffs but jumps in eventually, and together we race for the Think Pad.
“Hey guys,” says Becca. “I can’t believe none of the other teams are here. This pool is crazy cool!”
For the rest of the afternoon, we swing on the Idea Swings and dive a million times from the Think Pad. The sparkles float all around us, and that’s when it hits me. These are just like the air purification sparkles at Camp Piedmont. They must purify and chlorinate the water!
Gwyndol emerges from underwater. “I have found a secret drawer underneath this Thinking Pad. There are floating toys to throw. Perhaps we shall be able to play with them?”
“I’ll help,” Ander calls.
“Me too!”
We dive underneath and see the drawer Gwyn is talking about. He pulls it open easily, and there they are, small blobs that look like they’re made of rubber. We tug at them hard, and after a few tries, they release from the drawer and float to the surface. I come up for air and take a deep breath, wiping the water from my eyes. When the blobs reach the surface, they quickly spread out around the pool, each expanding into thin circular mats.
“They’re turning into lily pads,” Jillian exclaims.
The French kids look at her in confusion.
“You know, the things that float in a pond. Frogs leap on them.”
Ander grabs a hold of one. “Maybe we can leap on them too!”
While the Texas team and the French team look on, he climbs up. It wobbles at first but he steadies himself. Spray comes shooting out of the mat and he shields his eyes. I freak out at first, thinking he’s definitely getting poisoned, when a voice from a speaker calls out, “Sunscreen is being applied.”
Ander looks at his arms and legs glistening with oil. “It has built in sunscreen? Cool! Come on, guys, let’s leap on these things like frogs.”
“All of us?” I ask.
“Sure, there’s a lot of them.”
Soon we’re each balancing on a lily pad, covered in sunscreen, falling off, getting soaked, and getting right back on. Ander and Gwyndol leap to the empty ones. We follow them, jumping from one to the next, sometimes falling off, sometimes not. My shirt is soaked and heavy, but I don’t care. This is for sure the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.
Sometime later, Maelle floats over to me. “I’m so tired from all this jumping. I must lay down.”
“Me too.”
Before long, Danielle, Zoe, and Becca join us and we float in a clump on our backs. I shield my eyes from the sun and peek at Mare and Jillian still jumping with the boys. But then I close them, letting the warmth of the September sun wash over me. The next time I open them, everyone else is lying on their lily pads too, and now it’s all fifteen of us, resting and floating like frogs in a pond—with no worries in the world.
I almost feel hopeful about the Piedmont Task. Maybe I was worrying too much about it. We solved a big task before—after our first one got smashed. We can definitely do it again. Maybe Jax and Mare will change their minds about wanting to win. Maybe today was so much fun that Mare won’t worry about her mom so much and Jax will forget about his idea to enroll in New Technology. I’m still a little scared to think that I wouldn’t see my family for that long, but after today, with all these kids and cool inventions, maybe I’ll be okay without them.
The French girls sit up, and I open my eyes. “Goodbye, everyone,” Danielle says. “We must go now. Our preceptors are waiting for us.”
“Me too,” says Becca. “The others are leaving, and I have no idea how to get back to our tree suite without them. I get lost all the time.”
I float over to the rest of my team. “Do you guys want to try the problem-solving bars? See if we can cross them?”
“Sure,” says Jax.
We swim over and climb up the ladder, but when we get to the top, it looks different than before. Each bar is ten feet apart. How in the heck do we get across?
“What do we do, leap for it? We’ll just fall into the water,” says Mare.
“Yeah, we’ll never get across,” says Jax.
“I bet I can do it.” Ander jumps up to the first rung, his feet dangling ten feet from the water. If he stretches for the next one, his arm won’t even reach halfway across. Instead, he swings with both arms, waving his legs wildly, and lunges for it. He falls quickly to the water and lands with a splash.
He pops to the surface and wipes the water from his eyes. “How close was I?”
“Not close at all,” calls Mare.
He slaps his hand on the top of the water. “Ugh!”
“Let me try,” she says. She jumps up to the rung and swings just like Ander did. She’s way more graceful than he was, but no closer to the next bar. She falls into the water right next to him.
“Maybe you
should try, Jax,” I suggest. “Your arms are the longest.”
He steps up to the rung and doesn’t even need to jump. He grabs onto it with one hand and reaches for the next rung. He gets closer to it than Ander and Mare, but still misses by a mile and crashes into the water with a huge splash.
Jillian looks at me. “It’s hopeless.”
“We may as well jump in anyway.” She shrugs, and we each give the problem-solving bars a try. But just like the rest of our teammates, we aren’t even close to solving them. I come up to the surface and wipe my bangs away from my eyes.
“KK, you didn’t even come close. I think your arms need to grow about three feet if you’re going to have any chance,” says Ander.
I splash him with as much water as I can. He laughs and pushes me under. I come back up and push him right back. I may have shorter arms than him, but they’re definitely stronger. Finally, we all get out of the water, dripping and tired, and sit on the ledge of the pool so we can dry off at least a little bit. I decide I may as well take advantage of the fun we had today and confront Mare and Jax.
“You know guys, if we did end up winning and got to go on the tour, I bet there would be really fun things for us to do together—just like this.”
“Yeah, can you imagine how tricked out the aero-bus would be then?” asks Ander.
Jax nods. “Yeah, today was awesome. I think I’d like being on the tour.”
Mare looks down into the pool. “Me too.”
“Would your mom really be all alone if you went, Mare?”
She glares at me. “Yeah, I told you she would be.”
I bite my thumb nail. “Well, what about your grandparents, or anyone else? Maybe they would spend more time with her.”
“I don’t know. Maybe. But why are you so worried about it?”
“Because I feel bad about your mom. I would have a hard time leaving, too, if I thought my mom would be all alone. Besides, I think you guys won’t try to win if you don’t want to go.”
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