by C. W. Trisef
“What have you got there, Cooper?” Brittany asked suspiciously of Ana, noticing her unusual behavior in the locker room.
“Oh, nothing,” said Ana playfully. “Just my secret weapon. It’s why I’m so good on the court.” Brittany took a few steps closer until she was in their faces.
“I don’t know how you two got on my team,” she sneered threateningly, “especially you,” singling out Paige, “but I plan to do everything in my power to make sure you get kicked off my team—,” then addressing Ana specifically, “even if you are Miss Carmen’s favorite.” They watched Brittany strut out of the locker room, then listened to the whistles and flirtations of the ogling jocks outside.
“I’d like to point this in her general direction,” Ana said with scorn, clutching the firework.
“Come on,” Paige insisted, rolling her eyes at Ana’s emotions. “Wrap it in this.” She handed Ana a page from the school newspaper sitting on the floor. “Let’s get this over with.”
They hurried out the door and ran off to join their teammates, who had gathered in the center of the football field amid runners on the track that encircled it.
“Now’s your chance!” Paige instructed. “Do it now!”
“Now?” Ana worried, wavering in her resolve. “In plain sight? Everyone can see me!”
“Just pull the pin and drop it!”
“What is this, a grenade or something?” Ana said to stall. “There, I pulled the pin. Now what? Now what?” Her anxiety was making her irrational.
“GET RID OF IT!” Paige yelled. “Drop it! Throw it!”
Ana let out a terrified yelp before tossing the firework in a trashcan they passed as they continued their jog to the field. Not knowing what to expect next, she and Paige sprinted away from the explosive, out of breath by the time they joined their team on the football field.
“Excellent sprint, ladies,” Miss Carmen complimented them. “You run like the school is on fire. Perhaps I’ll have you demonstrate for us later. You can show your teammates how it’s done.”
“Sure thing, coach,” Ana pledged between breaths. She could almost hear Brittany growling as she passed in front of her.
As the team continued to stretch, Ana and Paige looked over at the trashcan frequently, on pins and needles. They were just about ready to call the bomb a dud when they started to see smoke rising from inside the trashcan.
“Is it supposed to do that?” Ana whispered to Paige, who shrugged her shoulders.
A few seconds later, the trashcan erupted in flames, which swished and swirled as they consumed the rubbish within. Then, without any warning at all, the trashcan sped away across the ground. Remaining upright, it zoomed through the soccer field, knocking people over like a pinball machine.
“Did you throw it in sideways?” Paige wondered. Ana only glared at her with innocence and alarm.
As if under a magic spell, the flying trashcan, still standing up and flaming wildly, whizzed onto the baseball diamond, where it scooted into the pitching mound and fell onto its side. Now rolling uncontrollably, the trashcan was spewing its contents, leaving a trail of burning garbage in its wake.
Finally, the bewitched trashcan was stopped when it ran into the homerun fence of the baseball field, but the force of the firework’s propulsion sent the projectile skyward. Like an infrared homing missile chasing a drunken bumblebee, the airborne trashcan looped and zigzagged above the fields.
At this point, the spectacle had drawn quite a crowd; in fact, every pair of eyes on the fields was watching the kamikaze garbage can with great interest. When the trashcan firework started climbing straight up, Ana and Paige breathed a sigh of relief, hoping it would finally explode. But then it made a sharp reversal midair and began hurtling downward. Screams filled the air as everyone scattered for shelter, no one knowing where it would strike. When it became clear the misfired rocket was heading straight for the football field, all the girls on the volleyball team scrambled chaotically to avoid the impending impact. With a rush of air and a flash of light, the trashcan collided with the earth, and the firework exploded in a wave of heat and sparks.
The members of the volleyball team had been thrown to the ground, where they now coughed and squinted amid smoke.
“Paige, are you okay?” Ana asked out loud.
“Yeah,” her nearby voice wheezed.
All around them, the grass cackled and smoldered. While the breeze was blowing away much of the smoke, it was also fanning a fire on the ground. Soon, the whole field had taken fire, no thanks to the months of heat that had severely dried out the entire island. Backing away from the flames that surrounded them, the team met in the center of the field, unsure of what to do.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Murphy had just started explaining the curriculum for Ret’s science class this year when the fire alarm went off. Ret and his classmates looked around, unsure if the alarm was part of a drill or a prank—or, most uncommonly, an actual fire. Then they heard a giddy student, skipping down the hall, shouting, “The school’s on fire! The school’s on fire!” Panic enveloped the school.
“Calm down, students,” Mrs. Murphy said, trying to contain her part of the uproar. “Follow me on our evacuation route.”
As the rest of the student body spilled out of the school, Ret set out in search of Ana, assuming she had set something on fire by detonating Mr. Coy’s firework. He rushed to the gymnasium, knowing she and Paige had volleyball during their sixth hour. It was empty. He struggled to think clearly with the fire alarm piercing his ears.
Ret dashed outside to the fields, determined to make sure Ana and Paige were safe. That was when he saw the football field, sending up a cloud of smoke from the fire that had encircled the volleyball team.
Ret hastened toward the scene. With nothing but grass for fuel, the flames were not very tall, but they were high enough to intimidate and prevent a band of high school girls from jumping across them, especially since they were outfitted in such short shorts.
“Ret!” Ana cried. “Help us!”
Ret raised his hands, intending to cast up streams of dirt to extinguish the fire by smothering the flames. But instead of commanding the dirt, he commanded the fire. Without really meaning to, Ret parted the flames like a curtain, creating a safe opening several feet wide. Ana and Paige were the first to pass through the gap, with the rest of the team following close behind.
By the time the last teammate had reached safety, the fire department had showed up and commenced putting out the fire on the field. The team members withdrew themselves from the action to a place away from the smoke where they could breathe fresh air and rest.
Amid so much excitement and danger, no one paid much attention to what Ret had done. But, with elation building in his bones, Ret looked down at the palm of his left hand and confirmed the thrilling news that he was suspecting.
“Is everyone okay?” Mr. Kirkpatrick, the assistant principal, asked upon arriving at the scene. Then, once it had been confirmed that no one was hurt, he inquired, “Does anyone know who caused this?”
“It was Ana,” Brittany squealed, immediately stepping up with information. She pointed at the girl who she claimed was the culprit. “She did it.” All eyes turned to Ana.
“Do you deny these accusations, Miss Cooper?” Mr. Kirkpatrick asked.
“Alright, I confess,” Ana admitted dramatically, melting in her own self-pity. “I’m guilty. Take me away, take me away.” Everything was going according to plan.
“The police will be here shortly to pick you up,” said Mr. Kirkpatrick.
“The police?” Ana balked. “You mean I’m being arrested? What am I, a criminal?”
“We’ll leave that for the authorities to decide.” He escorted her back toward the school.
“Come on, Mr. K,” Ana petitioned as the two of them left the scene. “It was just a harmless prank—you know, first day and all…” The rest of the crowd watched as the pair disappeared into the school.
“Well this is b
ad,” Ret mumbled to Paige, in awe at what had just taken place.
“Yeah,” Paige agreed. “Mrs. Cooper’s not going to like this.”
Had the school not been evacuated, Ana would have made quite a scene as Mr. Kirkpatrick pulled her into the main offices. Apparently, no one had told her to come quietly.
“But sir,” she begged relentlessly, “don’t you think this is a little extreme? I mean, detention sounds more reasonable. I’ll even compromise and settle with suspension. But arrest?”
“I’m sorry, Ana,” Mr. Kirkpatrick sympathized, “but Principal Stone is not on campus today, and he is the one who assesses the severity of these kinds of violations and then extends the punishment—not me.” Arriving at his office, he turned to face Ana. “In his absence, I have been instructed to turn wrongdoers over to local law enforcement until the principal takes action. Now please, wait here quietly until the police arrive.” He motioned for her to sit in one of the chairs outside his office.
Ana slumped into a chair. “Just my luck,” she murmured to herself. “I go to the trouble of setting his school on fire—the best prank this school has ever seen!—, and Stone’s not even here to witness it. Well isn’t this just great? I mean, what kind of principal skips the first day of school? That miserable little—”
“Quietly, Miss Cooper,” an annoyed Mr. Kirkpatrick reminded her from within his office.
Ana spent the next several moments thinking how she might overcome the obstacle of Principal Stone’s absence. In the midst of her scheming, she realized she was sitting directly in front of Stone’s office. Then, noticing the small window installed within the door, she cheered, “Bingo!” She crept up to the door and peered through the window. But Stone’s office was pitch black.
“Just like his heart,” Ana muttered to herself. Had the drapes been drawn, there may have been enough light to determine whether or not the chest was still inside.
Even though she knew it was a long shot, Ana tried the doorknob. After tinkering with it a few times, she came to the unfortunate conclusion: “Yep, locked.”
“What are you doing?” Mr. Kirkpatrick asked, appearing at Ana’s side. She was still clutching the doorknob.
“Uh…” she stammered, “I thought I heard something—someone—in this office, here—right here, this office, in front of me.” Mr. Kirkpatrick shot her a perplexed glare.
“There’s no one in this office,” he reaffirmed. “It’s been locked all day.”
“Are you sure about that?” Ana questioned him slyly, raising one eyebrow to remind him of her recent criminality. An air of suspicion came over him, and he unlocked the door to Stone’s office. He opened the door and turned on the light just long enough to help him feel reassured. Then he quickly shut it, affording Ana more than enough time to see what she needed to see.
“Yes,” he said assertively, “I’m sure. And there’s the police now.” Ana turned to see a pair of officers walking up to the front of the school.
* * * * *
“Ana Cooper!” Pauline announced as she stormed into the police station. “What in the world were you thinking, young lady? Were you even thinking at all? Why would you do such a thing? How did you get such a thing in the first place? No mother should have to bail her own child out of jail. I feed you, I clothe you, I bend over backwards for you, and this is how you thank me?”
If anyone had been sleeping at the time Pauline entered the station, they certainly weren’t sleeping anymore. Pauline continued to rant at her child, much to Ana’s embarrassment. Ana was well aware of her mother’s tendency to overreact to new things, but Pauline’s reaction to the infraction was almost as uncalled for as the infraction itself. As Ana sat timidly by the front desk, she could spy out of the corner of her eye several police officers peeking into the room to see what all the commotion was about. Pauline’s raving didn’t stop until one of the officers asked her a question.
“Hey,” he yelled so she could hear him, “aren’t you that lady from the school board meeting?”
Pauline instantly fell silent, recognizing the officer as the guard who had carried her out of the meeting. All of the humiliation from her ill-fated faceoff with the school board suddenly returned. The frustration in her eyes faded into sadness as many of the other officers recognized her as “that crazy woman” or “Ms. Cooper, the loopy old bat.”
“Like mother like daughter, eh?” the initial cop joked. Soon, the entire station was rolling with laughter. Pauline, feeling like a failure at home and in society, sunk into the chair next to Ana. They leaned against each other, waiting to see who would shed the first tear.
The last person either of the Cooper women wanted or expected to see waltz through the station door was Principal Stone. Tall and commanding, he burst through the double doors and marched to the front desk.
“Why is this young woman in handcuffs?” Stone demanded of the officer in charge. He was leaning over the counter so far that the officer bent backward in fear. “She is one of my students. This is completely inappropriate. I order you to release her, this instant.” The cowering officer obediently unlocked Ana’s handcuffs.
Suddenly, the police chief appeared around the corner. Not noticing Stone, he saw one of his men releasing Ana and slapped him upside the head.
“What do you think you’re doing?” the chief interrogated rashly. “Fraternizing with the accused, are we?” When everyone remained motionless, he glanced at his officer.
“Stone, sir,” the subordinate mumbled almost inaudibly to his superior, jerking his head slightly in the direction of the principal.
“Why, Principal Stone!” the chief greeted warmly, suddenly behaving as he ought to. “What brings you to our station this fine evening?”
“We were just leaving.” Pauline and Ana rose from their seats and exited the building ahead of Stone.
“Don’t think this changes anything, Stone,” Pauline jeered. “Where were you when I spoke to the school board? Now this whole town believes I’m a lunatic! Why won’t you tell them the truth? They all think you’re some king when, really, you and I know exactly what you are: a liar, a cheat, a fraud!”
“You’re welcome, ladies,” Stone replied coolly as he stepped into his car. “Have a pleasant evening.”
“You’re the criminal here, Stone,” Pauline continued to shout after him. “You’re the one who belongs behind bars!”
Their drive home began in loud silence. As the car passed under each streetlight, Ana was given momentary glimpses of her mother’s face. She looked old and worn—like a well-used pair of shoes. Heavy bags hung under her eyes, which she never tried to hide with makeup. Ana felt awful for the stress she had inflicted on her dear mother, but, at the same time, she defended her actions as a service rendered in Ret’s behalf.
“Did Coy put you up to this?” Pauline asked, her voice void of any energy.
“Yes.”
“Did you accomplish what you set out to do?” Her tone was one of pure exhaustion.
“Yes.”
“Well then,” Pauline concluded, “at least some good came out of this.”
Ana waited for a few seconds before saying, “Mom, I’m sorry—”
“That makes two of us, dear.”
As soon as Ana stepped inside the house, she called out for Ret.
“Ret, I have something to tell you.”
“So do I,” came his reply from upstairs.
Despite the tiring events of the day, Ana eagerly climbed the staircase and pushed open the door to Ret’s bedroom. Almost simultaneously, they spewed the exciting news that each of them wanted to tell the other.
Ana reported, “The chest in Stone’s office is gone.”
And Ret, holding up his left hand, said, “Take a look at this.”
Chapter 5
Stone’s Keep
It was late in the afternoon when Principal Stone finally packed his things and exited Tybee High at the end of his workday. Compared to the grimace he employed each m
orning upon arriving at work, his overall appearance seemed to exude a hint of cheer now that he was leaving. He walked to his car, an eye-catching and exceedingly shiny hot rod that was always parked in the space nearest the school’s entrance on account of, as the students hypothesized, either seniority or display.
Sitting atop one of the many palmetto trees in the staff parking lot was Mr. Coy, determined to discover the new location of the second trunk after learning through Paige the results of Ana’s mission. Having climbed to his perch early that morning, he was relieved to learn that Stone was leaving at last, as the spiky fronds were digging into his hindquarters. Noting which automobile belonged to Stone, Coy retrieved a small airsoft pistol from his pocket and fired a soft-shelled pellet at Stone’s car, the faint noise of the impact being concealed by the slam of the driver’s door. With impressive stealth, the pellet exploded into dust upon contact, coating Stone’s car with a near-invisible, magnetic film not unlike pollen.
When Stone had peeled out of the parking lot and driven a block or so away, which didn’t take long given his apparent need for speed, Mr. Coy carefully rose to his feet, put on a pair of sunglasses, and stuck out his arms like a swimmer preparing to jump from a diving board. In each hand, he gripped a sort of handle with a button, which he then pressed. A pair of long wings shot out from the pack on his back and adhered to his arms. As soon as the wings extended, they caught the wind, and Mr. Coy was airborne.
Coy would merely have been a thrill-seeking hang glider if it weren’t for his special glasses. Besides allowing him to see the world in a darker shade, they also picked up the signals being transmitted from the dust particles on Stone’s car, causing it to glow like neon in Coy’s scope. High above the trees, Mr. Coy followed Principal Stone, looking like a soaring superhero but not a giant bird on account of his see-through wings.