“Essay, Mom.”
“Are you ready to read your essay?”
Not at all, but Mattie nodded and Mrs. Larimore smiled like that made her happy. He was good at making her happy, Mattie realized.
“Mrs. Larimore,” Headmaster Rooney called. “Could I have a word with you?”
Mattie tensed as his mother began to pull away. “I’m really glad you’re here,” he whispered. “I think I’m going to need your help.”
“Of course, sweetheart.” Mrs. Larimore squeezed his hand in both of hers. “I’ve missed you so much. I’ve almost convinced your father to let you come home. Just be good tonight, okay? That shouldn’t be so hard for you, right?”
Mattie clenched his jaw. “Right.”
And really it wasn’t hard for him. Mattie sat with the other boys from 14A. He ate his vegetables. He used his napkin. He watched his parents from across the room and felt worse and worse.
“It’s going to be fine,” Eliot told him and took an enormous mouthful of ham.
“Did your parents come?” Mattie asked, using his fork to push mashed potatoes around on his plate.
“Nah, they’re too busy coming up with a new lipstick line. I bet Caroline’s monkey’s completely pink by now. Are you going to eat that?”
Mattie wasn’t, and he let Eliot eat all of his ham and most of his mashed potatoes. In fact, Mattie didn’t know how Eliot could eat at a time like this. It wasn’t just that Mattie’s parents were here and he might get to go home. It was the clones and the remote control and rescuing the students. It was everything, and Eliot was eating like it was nothing.
Maybe Eliot really did have superpowers.
At the head of the tables, Mrs. Hitchcock stood up and faced the crowd. “And now, ladies and gentlemen,” she began. “We have a brief interruption to honor our wonderful headmaster.”
“What?” Caroline squeezed in next to Eliot in a blur of red Munchem uniform and dark hair.
“Go sit back down!” Her brother whispered, wiggling closer to Mattie. “You’re going to get us caught!”
Caroline pushed hair from her face. “I can’t see what you’re doing from over there!”
“You’re supposed to eat with your roommates—”
“Hush!” Mattie breathed. Marcus the Clone had just joined Mrs. Hitchcock. He held a small brass plaque in his hands.
“Headmaster,” Mrs. Hitchcock continued. “Could you join us?”
Headmaster Rooney wiped his mouth and stood. He looked surprised, but somehow Mattie was pretty sure he had known what was coming.
“I would like to take a few moments to tell you all how Headmaster Rooney changed my life,” Marcus began.
“I don’t remember anyone mentioning this,” Caroline whispered, drumming her fingers against the tabletop. “At this rate, we’ll never get to the essays.”
Caroline was right. As usual, Mattie was beginning to realize. Then again…“Eliot,” Mattie whispered. “This is our chance! Use the remote!”
Eliot hesitated.
Why was he waiting? Mattie nudged him. “Do it now!”
Eliot sighed and dragged the remote out from under his jacket. He muttered something about the tragedy of ruining perfectly good robots and Caroline kicked him.
“Ow!”
She kicked him harder.
Eliot shot his sister a murderous look. “I’m on it, okay? Okay?”
He propped the remote between his knees, grumbling. Mattie cut his eyes back to Marcus and saw Carter had now joined them too.
And here came Doyle. And Jay. And Maxwell. All of the clones were joining Rooney and Mrs. Hitchcock at the front of the dining hall.
“Thanks to Munchem,” Carter announced, “I have a new perspective on life.”
“I’ll say,” Caroline muttered.
Carter continued talking about the challenges at Munchem and how they’d made him a better person. Or a new person entirely, Mattie thought. Next to him, Eliot’s fingers were flying over the remote. He typed. He tapped.
Nothing happened.
“They’re too far away,” Eliot whispered.
Still up at the front of the dining hall, Headmaster Rooney dabbed his eyes and shook all the clones’ hands. “At Munchem Academy,” he said to the audience, “we believe making good students is a science!”
Everyone clapped. Marcus and Carter stood behind the headmaster and smiled like they were running for class president. Then, quite suddenly, Marcus—who was on the very end of the stage—stepped to the side.
Mattie straightened. He craned his head to get a better look and, sure enough, Marcus the Clone made another side step…and another.
“You’re doing it!” Mattie whispered. “You’re really doing it!”
“What part of ‘genius inventor’ did you not understand?” Eliot whispered back, his eyes still pinned to the clone. “Of course I’m doing it!”
Mrs. Hitchcock had noticed Marcus’s twitching and was edging closer to him. She was almost close enough to grab him. If she pulled Marcus away—
“Hurry!” Mattie gasped.
“I’m trying!” Eliot retorted
Marcus the Clone broke into dance. His arms flailed. His head bobbed. His legs, well, his legs did their own thing. Their own separate things, actually. Marcus the Clone looked like he wanted to do the splits or needed to go to the bathroom. Mattie couldn’t decide.
Caroline and Eliot and Mattie watched as Mrs. Hitchcock grabbed Marcus. She righted him with a jerk and everything continued.
Like nothing had happened.
Headmaster Rooney grinned at the crowd. “Because at Munchem Academy,” he said and winked, “the best you is a new you!”
The parents clapped, the teachers smiled, and Mattie stifled the impulse to yell. He wanted to stand on top of the tables and shake his fist in the air. Both of which would have been supremely satisfying, but neither would have actually accomplished anything.
Except…Mattie did stand up. In the dim lights of the dining hall, it wasn’t that noticeable. Or maybe it was because all of the teachers were watching the clones.
Or maybe it was because Mattie was so short.
It was hard to tell, but Mattie didn’t care. The teachers weren’t watching him, his parents weren’t watching him—they were too enchanted with the clones—and the double doors were still open. Mattie had his window of opportunity and he was going to take it.
“What are you doing?” Eliot tugged on his friend’s sleeve. “Sit down! I’ll try again when the clones do their speeches in the auditorium.”
Mattie shook his head. “I’m going to get Carter—the real Carter,” he said, edging away from the table. “It’s the only way.”
HEADMASTER ROONEY WAS WINNING. He was winning, and if Mattie didn’t do something fast, the whole thing would be over. Unfortunately for Mattie, he wasn’t particularly fast. His legs were short and his lungs were burning before he even reached the hallway that led to the back gardens.
Mattie spun around the corner and slipped. He righted himself and kept going. He ran past Mrs. Hitchcock’s classroom and the dingy lockers on the first floor. He ran past the stairs to the science wing and ran out the rear doors that led to the garden.
He ran so fast he was wheezing by the time he reached the garden gate. Mattie grabbed the handle with both hands and yanked. The gate sprang open and Caroline dashed past him.
“Hurry up, Mattie!”
Eliot ran after his sister. “C’mon, Mattie!”
Caroline was almost invisible in the dark, but Eliot’s blond hair looked white in the moonlight. It bobbed down the hill and across the field toward the cemetery. Mattie trailed them, but not by much.
Clouds drifted past the fat white moon. Mattie could see the cemetery coming into view. There were the spikes and a headless gargoyle sitting on the spiny iron fence.
Mattie ran faster. He dashed between the tilted tomb-stones and shoved through the mausoleum doors. Inside was just as cold and dark as h
e remembered. Mattie fumbled about looking for the green button at the bottom of the plastic speaker.
“Yobbo!” Mattie finally whispered. The tomb slid sideways and, this time, Mattie and the Spencers clattered down the stairs together.
The overhead lights clicked on, humming like bees. Mattie hopped down the last step and dashed over to Carter’s pod. “Are you sure this isn’t going to hurt him?” he asked Eliot, hand hovering above the pod’s handle.
“Let’s find out,” Eliot said.
Mattie swung around. “Eliot! We can’t hurt him!”
“I’m almost entirely sure he’ll be fine,” Eliot admitted. “Like ninety-nine percent. Look at Caroline. She’s fine.”
Mattie looked at Caroline. She rolled her eyes. “Mattie,” Caroline warned, pointing to the stairs and then the tomb above. “We don’t have time for this!”
It was true. They didn’t. Mattie took a deep breath and faced the pod. He hit the red button. He wrenched open the top and nothing happened. Carter kept sleeping.
“Carter,” Mattie said, shaking his brother’s arm. “Carter, wake up.”
Carter did not wake up. He remained stiff and lifeless, like the time he pretended to be dead to scare Mattie.
“Try punching him,” Caroline suggested.
“Don’t do that,” Eliot said and started tapping away at the pod’s keypad. “We’ll try this.” He hit the green keys and then the blue keys and then the green keys some more.
Mattie’s eyes went wide. “What are you doing?”
“No idea, but—”
Carter sat up in a whoosh of cold air. He scrubbed one hand across his face and blinked at the overhead lights.
“Carter!” Mattie jumped up and threw his arms around his brother. Carter felt solid and familiar and his Munchem shirt was a tiny bit crispy from the cold. “I’m so glad you’re okay! Wait—” Mattie stopped squeezing Carter and studied him “Are you okay?”
“What?” Carter stared at Mattie and then he stared at Mattie’s arms, which were still slung around his waist. “Where am I?”
“Um.” Mattie took a step back and looked at his friends. Eliot’s eyes were huge, and Caroline waved one hand like Go ahead and tell him. I mean, really, what else are you going to do?
Or maybe Mattie thought that because he knew Caroline a little too well by that point.
Mattie took a breath and faced his brother. “Headmaster Rooney cloned you and while your clone has been running around pretending to be you, you’ve been stored down here.”
“Whaaaaaat?”
“Headmaster Rooney cloned you and while your clone—”
“Shut it,” Carter snapped. “I don’t want to hear about the stupid clones!”
“Then what’s all this?” Mattie yelled. He grabbed his brother’s arm and shook it. “Look around you! What’s all this?”
Carter eyes grew wider and wider. “Are you insane?”
“No. I saved you. Look around!”
Carter looked at Mattie instead. He looked at Mattie’s face and then at Mattie’s hand and then at how Mattie’s hand gripped his arm like he would never let go. Carter looked at Mattie like he was seeing him for the first time, which Mattie knew couldn’t be right because Carter had always known him.
“You look different,” Carter said at last.
“I am different,” Mattie said. “And I’d really love for you to explain how you got down here if I’m making all this up.”
Carter’s gaze took in the whole room. He studied the other pods and the stairs and the Spencers. He was quiet for so long that Caroline started to make little growling noises because she knew—just like Mattie and Eliot knew—that they didn’t have time for this.
Finally, Carter faced his brother. “Okay,” he said and swallowed. “Tell me everything, Mattie.”
Mattie recounted it all, even the part about Doyle’s baked muffins.
“Muffins?” Carter repeated. “Doyle bakes?”
“Yes,” Mattie said with a nod. “And he irons socks instead of kicking seventh graders.”
“That’s some machine.”
“Yeah.”
“And I was cloned too?”
“Yeah.” Mattie hesitated. “We were all down in the basement when Rooney came in, and you knew what was going to happen, but you sacrificed yourself anyway. It was my fault and I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to bring you back ever since.”
“Huh,” Carter said, blinking and staring at his brother. “Huh,” he said again.
“Do you remember now?” Mattie asked. Sometimes hope felt like a bird in his chest. It flew higher and higher.
“No,” Carter said at last. “I wish I did though.”
Mattie sagged. He wished his brother remembered too.
“Guys?” Caroline huffed. “Maybe you might want to hurry this along?”
Mattie took a deep breath, but this time it didn’t loosen the knot in his throat. “We don’t have much time, Carter. Will you help us?”
Carter looked at Mattie then he looked at the Spencers then he nodded his head. “Yeah, okay, Mattie, but here’s what we’re going to do—”
“Why does he get to decide?” Caroline demanded. She crossed her arms and glared at Carter. “He just woke up. How do we know he’s not brain-scrambled? Maybe Eliot should check him.”
“No,” Mattie said, stepping between his friends and his brother. “I know what we’re going to do. I have a plan.”
“Since when do you have plans?” Carter asked. He looked at Caroline, who rolled her eyes. “Is he always this bossy now?”
“No,” she said. “Sometimes he’s asleep.”
“Hey!” Mattie said. “Knock it off. Both of you.” Mattie stood a little straighter. “Okay, this is what we’re going to do. Caroline?”
“Yes?”
“I need you to distract Carter’s clone and hold him until we can show both Carters together on the school stage.”
Caroline cocked her head. “Like cage the clone up or something?”
“Yeah, exactly.” Mattie nodded hard. “You usually let stuff loose, so just reverse it. Do you think you can?”
“I can do anything with duct tape.” Caroline tossed her hair. “It’s a talent.”
“I’M NOT PRETENDING TO BE A CLONE,” Carter repeated as he followed Mattie back through the garden. Caroline had long since disappeared into the shadows, muttering about duct tape and clone lures. Mattie kind of wanted to know what could possibly be a clone lure, but, at the same time, he was afraid to ask.
“I’m just going to confront the Rooster and get it all out in the open,” Carter added.
“But it won’t get out in the open because he’ll stop you!” Mattie tugged on the garden gate. It wouldn’t budge. He tugged and tugged and—wham! It swung open, nearly smacking him in the face. “You have to have witnesses! If you stand up to read your essay, you’ll have everyone’s attention—”
“I don’t have an essay,” Carter complained as he followed Mattie into the garden. “I never bothered to do it.”
“That’s why you’re going to read mine.” Mattie took his folded essay from his pocket and passed it to Carter as they hurried past the dead flower beds. “Everyone will be watching and when Caroline and Eliot free the other kids, you’ll have even more backup. Your clone will be there and the other clones will be there and everyone will believe us.”
Right? It was a small voice in Mattie’s head, but it turned his hands and feet to ice.
“They’ll have no choice,” Mattie whispered as they edged closer to the school.
“Are you still doing that thing where you talk to yourself?” Carter asked.
Mattie ignored him. He had Eliot’s remote tucked into the waistband of his pants and, with every step, the plastic dug into his spine. The boys hovered close to the doorway, listening for any other footsteps.
Nothing, Mattie thought with relief. He took a deep breath and motioned for Carter to follow him. He kept one hand on the wall,
steadying himself as they went inside. His legs seemed kind of shaky when he climbed out of the pod, but he was getting better.
“Tuck in your shirt,” Mattie said. The school was warmer, but not by much, and his breath rose in fat, round puffs. “You’re not dressed like the other Carter and I can’t fix that and—”
“What are you two doing?” Miss Maple rounded the corner and stopped. She had both hands on her hips and her head was high. The light from behind turned her into a tower of shadows.
Mattie’s heart swung high. Miss Maple! They could tell her what was happening! She would help them!
“What are they doing?” Mr. Karloff appeared next to Miss Maple. He stomped toward the boys, his shoes slapping the tile. “What’s the meaning of this? Mattie? Carter! How did you get out here? You’re supposed to go on now!”
Carter stared at Mr. Karloff. He opened his mouth, shut it, and opened it again.
“He must need rebooting,” Miss Maple said. Mattie’s stomach sank. She knew. Miss Maple was in on it too.
“Clearly,” Mr. Karloff muttered and grabbed both boys by their arms and hauled them toward the auditorium. Miss Maple tripped along behind them, her heavy purse rustling like she had something alive inside it.
Mattie was afraid to look, but he also couldn’t. He was too busy scrambling to keep up with Mr. Karloff. They hustled down the hallway and past the dining room and up the stairs. Mattie could hear a muffled loudspeaker and soft clapping.
Please let Caroline have found the other Carter, Mattie thought. Please please please.
“Wait,” Mattie puffed. “Where are our parents? I need to see them!”
“You can’t see them,” Miss Maple said. She had a smile in her voice, which meant Miss Maple sounded just like she always did—bright and sunny. But there was something about the bright and sunny that left Mattie cold. In fact, Miss Maple seemed a little too happy when she added, “They had to go.”
“Go?” Mattie dug both feet into the tile. It didn’t slow him down. Mr. Karloff just dragged him along. “How could they go?”
They can’t go! They had to be here for Carter’s big reveal! Mattie needed Mrs. Larimore to hug Carter the way she hugged Mattie. He needed Mr. Larimore to yell and make a fuss. It was his father’s greatest skill, and Mattie had never needed it more.
The Boy Who Knew Too Much Page 19