Mattie stood next to Delia’s bed and contemplated jumping up and down. It would indeed be louder and it would definitely irritate Caroline, but he had bigger things to accomplish right now. Mattie peeled back Delia’s yellow striped covers and sprinkled powdered milk directly on the mattress. He studied the effects, then sprinkled some more.
And a bit more.
And…there. Mattie stood back. That was perfect. He tugged the sheets and covers back over the mattress and smoothed everything flat. It looked like it had never been touched. Mattie grinned. He dusted off his hands, leaving ghost prints across his sweater.
Drat, Mattie thought. He swiped at the powdery marks and made them worse. He brushed and banged and—whoops! The powdered milk can fell off the bed and hit the floor. It rolled underneath.
“Mattie?” Caroline sounded panicky by the doorway.
“One second.” Mattie dropped to his knees and swept one hand under the bed. His fingertips bumped the can and it rolled farther under. Mattie groped around on the floor. He went left. He went right. He stuck his palm straight in a wad of used chewing gum.
Mattie gagged and yanked his hand back. The gum followed. Stuck to Mattie’s skin, it stretched and stretched until he could see it wasn’t gum at all. It was some sort of thin cable.
“Wha—?” Mattie managed just before there was a click and whirr and the bed lifted up a foot. Floorboards peeled back and a computer screen and keyboard lifted up. The keyboard swung toward Mattie’s lap and the screen tilted forward and turned on. Blue static filled the screen and then suddenly snapped into focus.
Miss Maple’s face filled the screen. “Why, Delia! I wasn’t expecting you!”
OH, NO! MATTIE SCRAMBLED BACKWARD. Miss Maple was as round and pillowy as ever. Her blond curls bounced and her smile was wide.
“How’s my favorite niece?” she asked.
Mattie’s blood went icy. Niece? Miss Maple? DELIA?!
Miss Maple continued to stare at him. She was waiting for Mattie to respond and Mattie had no idea what to say. His brain was stuck on things like: There’s a computer under Delia’s bed and Miss Maple and WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE?
“Mattie?” Caroline came around the edge of the bed and stopped dead. “What is this?” she hissed.
“Delia? What’s going on?” Miss Maple peered closer at the camera on her side. For a moment, the screen was filled with pink Miss Maple nose. “Is this thing on?”
The visual shook as if Miss Maple were tapping the camera. Mattie sat up. She can’t see me, he realized.
Tentatively, Mattie waved, and just as he’d thought, the movement didn’t seem to register with Miss Maple. The former school secretary just kept glaring at the camera.
“Stupid technology,” she muttered, blond curls trembling. “I’ll have the IT guy’s head for this!”
“What’s she talking about?” Caroline’s eyes were as bugged as Beezus’s as she knelt next to Mattie. “This is crazy.” They looked from the keyboard to the floorboards to the computer screen. “Ugh, Eliot will love her even more if he sees this. Why would she even have it?”
“I think a better question is, why is Delia communicating with Miss Maple?”
Miss Maple peered closer again. “Is your keyboard not working, Delia?”
Keyboard? Mattie glanced down and spotted the keyboard again. “She can’t see us and she can’t hear us, so do you think Delia communicates with Miss Maple on the keyboard?”
Caroline shrugged. “Maybe? I don’t know. Turn it off. We shouldn’t be using it. Delia’s going to know we were here.”
“She’s going to know someone was here anyway. Don’t you think it’s more suspicious if we just turn everything off?” Mattie faced the screen, feeling something that might have been bravery filling up his chest. “I want to talk to her.”
Caroline whimpered as Mattie reached for the keyboard. Sorry for delay, he typed. Was thinking. Mattie paused, fingers hovering over the keys. What would Delia be thinking about? About Munchem, he finished.
“I’ve been thinking about Munchem too,” Miss Maple said. “I followed up on Lem and that Shelley woman. Trust me, if she wants to protect her job, she’ll keep backing you up, but she better figure out how to get those gym cameras down. It can’t be that complicated.”
“Huh?” Caroline whispered. “Is that why Professor Shelley always sides with Delia and gives us detention?”
Mattie slowly nodded. It had to be. “That’s what she gained by lying: protecting her job.”
Caroline’s face screwed up with confusion. “What?”
“My dad says—” Mattie started to explain, and couldn’t. His voice locked inside his throat as Miss Maple leaned closer.
“Well?” the former secretary asked. “Aren’t you going to say thank you? You won’t have any trouble with those two!”
Thank you! Mattie typed. That’s really great.
“That’s ‘really great’?” Caroline whispered.
“What am I supposed to say?” Mattie shot back.
“Well, you’re welcome.” Miss Maple smoothed a hand over her curls and Mattie realized Delia smoothed her hair the same way. How had he missed their resemblance?
“What is going on?” Caroline asked through clenched teeth. “I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either,” Mattie said.
“We should go.” Caroline glanced nervously at the door. Mattie knew what she was thinking: they were taking too long.
“Five more minutes,” Mattie whispered. “I have to know what they’re doing. Help me sound Delia-like. How do I do that?”
Caroline looked as if she were weighing a number of different responses. Mattie turned to the computer. What’s new? No, that wouldn’t work. Or How’s it going? Nope, definitely not.
Wait! Mattie sat up straight. Do you have any updates? he typed.
“Oh, yes!” Miss Maple peeked into the lens again. Her face curved into a mean little smile that looked exactly like Delia’s mean little smile. “One of my contacts at General Mills’s office reported today, and do you know what he told me? Hoo met with Mills. Without us.”
Mattie’s mouth hung open. “‘Without us’? Miss Maple is Hoo’s partner?”
Caroline tugged twice at the end of her ponytail. “Maybe? And that would mean Delia was meeting with Hoo, not Shelley, right?”
Mattie and Caroline stared at each other. Caroline tugged the end of her ponytail harder. “Why wouldn’t Professor Shelley be able to get the gym security cameras down? She’s the smartest person at Munchem. She would have to know how.”
“Maybe she’s stalling them, trying to protect the Weather-matic.”
Miss Maple glowered into the lens. “Did you hear me, Delia? Hoo met with Mills.”
She was expecting a response, but what were you supposed to say when you were pretending you just found out your scientist partner betrayed you? I’m sorry?
I’m sorry, Mattie typed.
“You should be!” Miss Maple’s eyes went glazy and bright. “If you had found those last two clones, we wouldn’t be in this mess. I promised Hoo those clones.” Miss Maple sat back and smoothed her hair. “But,” she continued, “if that fool thinks he can cross me, he can think again! All the security systems are still down.” The mean little smile was back and Mattie and Caroline both shivered. “I’ll come get that crystal myself.”
THE CRYSTAL? MATTIE STARED. CAROLINE stared. Realizations began to fall together: Dr. Hoo was going to sell the Weather-matic to General Mills, but Miss Maple was going to steal the crystal core before Hoo could sell the Weather-matic to General Mills, and Miss Maple was going to use the Weather-matic for…
Mattie gulped. “Wh—wh—do I say?” he whispered.
“‘I’m looking forward to zapping people’?” Caroline suggested.
Mattie’s stomach lurched like he might be sick. Caroline launched herself toward the computer and slapped the screen shut with so much force her hair shivered and Beezus squeaked.
“Caroline!” Mattie protested. “I wasn’t finished!”
There was a soft whirring as it powered down. The screen and keyboard disappeared under the floorboards as the bed lowered.
Caroline grabbed Mattie’s arm and hauled him to his feet. “Delia could be back any minute. Do you really want to explain what you’ve been up to?”
“I don’t know. The powdered milk stuff really pales in comparison to stealing a high-powered weather weapon.”
Caroline glared at him.
“It’s true,” Mattie said.
“You’re killing me. Let’s go.”
They hurried to the door and Caroline cracked it open. She checked the hallway. “Okay, we’re good.”
“We are so not good,” Mattie muttered.
They paused at the top of the steps, listening for anyone coming. Dinner was still going on, and a murmur of voices passed. Seconds later, it was quiet again. Even so, Mattie couldn’t take a deep breath until they were down the stairs and headed for the Student Laboratory.
“I really wish Eliot had come,” Mattie whispered.
“He would’ve wanted to smell her pillow.”
“But he also would’ve wanted to help with the computer.” Mattie paused. “No wonder she was so good in Professor Shelley’s class.”
Caroline grunted, but whether that was an agreement or not, Mattie couldn’t tell. Considering it was Caroline and it was also Eliot and computers and Delia, Caroline’s grunt could’ve meant anything.
They turned toward the Student Lab and spotted Dr. Hoo and Professor Shelley whispering at the end of the hallway. “C’mon,” Caroline hissed. “They won’t notice us.”
Mattie did indeed “c’mon,” but Hoo and Professor Shelley definitely noticed them. Professor Shelley didn’t say anything, but Dr. Hoo flexed his hands like he was thinking about grabbing them. Caroline and Mattie surged forward, not slowing until they passed through the Student Lab’s double doors.
Inside, Mattie dodged a couple of eighth graders and spotted Eliot sitting in the corner. They hurried toward Eliot, who flipped his book shut as Mattie and Caroline sat down. “So how’d it go?” he asked.
Caroline groaned. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
Eliot looked at Mattie and Mattie looked around the room. Lem was dozing in a patch of yellow light from the study lamps. Maxwell was carving stuff into the tabletops. Two sixth graders were flicking a paper football. And Doyle was staring at Mattie.
Mattie gulped. “Give me your book,” he whispered. Eliot passed it to him and Mattie tried to explain as quietly as he could. He started with the generous application of powdered milk—while pointing at a set of math problems. He went on to whisper about how the powdered milk can rolled under the bed—while pointing at notes for the math problems. Then he came to the computer that connected to Miss Maple and how Miss Maple was planning to steal the Weather-matic’s crystal core—and forgot to point at anything because retelling Eliot about it made Mattie break out in goose bumps.
“Miss Maple said Hoo wanted the clones and Delia never found them. But Miss Maple didn’t care because the Weather-matic would soon be theirs. And then we panicked and shut everything down and came here.” Mattie sat back. Eliot stared at him. His mouth hung a little open. Mattie didn’t blame him. It was an awful lot to take in.
“You would really like Delia’s setup,” Mattie added. “It’s hidden under her bed and you activate it by grabbing a lump of used chewing gum.”
“Nice! Wait.” Eliot frowned. “What happens if someone cleans under her bed?”
“She probably eats them for dinner.” Caroline had been quiet through the whole explanation and now it didn’t seem like she could be quiet for a moment longer. She faced her brother. “Delia’s Miss Maple’s niece!”
Eliot said nothing.
“Well?” Caroline demanded.
“Well, what?” Eliot asked. “What do you say to that?” He glanced at Mattie. “You know, it’s pretty much your fault Hoo turned on them. You’re the one who told the clones they didn’t have to stick around to meet Miss Maple.”
Mattie kicked his sneakers against the tile floor. “What are we going to do?”
“We could tell on her,” Caroline suggested.
“Yeah, for the computer violation alone, she’d get thrown out of Munchem.” Eliot did not sound nearly happy enough about this. Mattie and Caroline ignored him.
“I don’t know,” Mattie said at last. “Every time we try to catch her on something, she has an excuse. She plans for everything. I’m sure she has a plan for what to do if someone finds her computer.”
Caroline made a face. “At least it would get her thrown out.”
“But who cares?” The more Mattie thought about it, the tighter his chest got. “This is bigger than Munchem. Hoo could still replicate the crystal, and Miss Maple could still steal it. Horrible things are still going to happen.”
Everyone fell silent because this was an excellent point. Why would it matter if Delia were thrown out of Munchem? It might make their lives easier for a time, but how long until Miss Maple and Delia took revenge by blasting them with lightning?
Blasting anyone they wanted with lightning, Mattie thought.
“No wonder Delia’s so awful,” Mattie added. “With an aunt like Miss Maple she’s going to turn out to be an evil genius.”
Eliot nodded. “That’s usually how it happens in comic books—that and accidents.”
“There’s no such thing as evil geniuses,” Caroline said.
“I don’t know,” Mattie said slowly. “In a school filled with bad kids, doesn’t it seem statistically likely that at least one of us would grow up to be like Miss Maple or Dr. Hoo?”
Caroline still did not look convinced. “An evil genius?”
“We had clones last term,” Mattie said flatly.
“Yeah, fair enough.”
“Look.” Mattie took a deep breath. “Maybe she’s not a genius, but Delia and Miss Maple and Dr. Hoo are definitely using their powers for evil and we have to stop them.”
Everyone fell silent again.
“So let me get this straight,” Eliot said at last. “Dr. Hoo is selling the Weather-matic to General Mills. General Mills is going to use the Weather-matic to blow things up. Delia and Miss Maple are going to steal it before General Mills can get it from Dr. Hoo, and then they will probably blow things up.”
Mattie thought about it. “Yeah, that’s about right.”
“Good grief, we have really stepped in it.” Eliot passed a hand through his hair, making it stand up in wispy spikes. “How many bad guys can we have?”
Apparently, they had loads. It was worse than the movies. At least then bad guys looked like bad guys. As far as Mattie could tell, in real life, bad guys looked like everyone else.
Caroline shrugged. “We can do it. After all, there are five of us and four of them.”
“Beezus doesn’t count,” Mattie said.
“Whatever. We can still do this.”
Mattie thought Caroline sounded a bit like she was trying to convince herself, but he had enough sense not to say so.
“We just need the right opportunity,” she continued.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” her brother asked.
Caroline wrinkled her nose. “I hope not. I would hate to be trapped anywhere near your Delia-screwed-up brain.”
Eliot held his response. Dr. Hoo had slipped into the Student Lab. His eyes instantly went to Mattie, and Mattie’s eyes instantly dipped.
We’re being watched, Mattie thought, rolling his hands into fists. He took a deep, deep breath. “Guys,” Mattie whispered, pretending to be very, very interested in his lap. “We have to steal the crystal now.”
PUT LIKE THAT, IT SEEMED so simple. Mattie had the right friends and the right plan and the right…underwear? Or, perhaps not. By the time Carter showed up with the crickets, Mattie had sweated through it.
Still, these thin
gs happened—usually only when Mattie stole a subway train, but apparently now it also applied to crickets and air-conditioning units.
Carter, however, did not look sweaty or nervous as he strolled up to meet Caroline and Mattie. They’d agreed to meet by the south staircase before study hall.
“Hey,” Carter said.
Mattie started to sweat more. “Do you have them?”
“’Course.”
Caroline frowned. “Prove it.”
Carter opened his backpack. Next to a package of bottle rockets, there were five small boxes. Inside, the crickets chirped away. It sounded like a mini summer swamp.
Carter passed Mattie the first box and Mattie gently shook it. The chorus of chirping grew louder. Mattie had expected his stomach to be knotted and his lungs to be tight and they weren’t. In fact, the whole thing felt almost like fun.
Except for the crickets dying in the air vent part. Mattie felt pretty bad about that. “Let’s go,” he said.
“Eww!” Caroline wrinkled her nose.
“What?”
“You smell like Doyle.”
Of course he did. Mattie was wearing Doyle’s dirty baseball jersey and hat—both of which had been stolen by Eliot after he lost three rounds of rock, paper, scissors to Mattie.
“I feel bad doing this,” Mattie said, tugging at the jersey. “If Eliot doesn’t get the cameras turned off and the teachers think Doyle screwed up the air vents, he could get in a lot of trouble.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Carter told him.
Mattie tensed. There was something about the way Carter said Don’t feel bad that made him suspicious. “Why?”
“Focus, Mattie. Not everything is about you.” Carter checked his watch. “You really think Eliot can do this?”
“Of course,” Mattie said. Mostly, he thought.
“Well, let’s get in place, then.”
They hovered under the trees, watching the corner security camera. The light would be easier to see in the dark, but if Mattie squinted, he could see the red flash.
Still red…still red…still— The light vanished and the camera tilted slowly downward as if shutting off.
The Girl Who Knew Even More Page 15