Poppy Mayberry, Return to Power Academy

by Jennie K. Brown

  He was right. I didn’t feel any safer here than I would in my own home.

  “Look. People here and at the N.P.C. are trying to get to the bottom of this, but until then, you’re staying put.” She stood up and placed her hands firmly on the table. “That decision’s already been made.”

  “But what about our par—” Ellie started.

  Clothes-too-tight Larriby opened the folder in front of her. “Your parents are in complete agreement with this decision. Even they believe it best you are here under our supervision.”

  In the folder were four documents. Larriby’s sausage-like fingers slid a sheet to each of us.

  “Permission slips,” Ellie acknowledged, sighing.

  At the bottom of the page were the cursive signatures of my mom and dad. They did, indeed, know about the cusper situation, and they’d given their permission for us to stay here under false pretenses. Why hadn’t mom told me before I left? This was so not okay.

  Larriby’s voice brought my attention back to her. “As I said, those at Nova Power Corporation are looking into this right now. In fact, that is top priority. There are agents placed all over Nova keeping an eye on cuspers like you.” I slid the paper back to her side of the table.

  I thought back to my first sighting of Mr. Fluxnut at Novalicious; I bet that’s why he was there that day. He wasn’t watching me because he was a total creeper. He was watching me for protection. He was looking out for me. And Mayor Masters checked up on us for our own good, our own protection.

  “But why didn’t you just tell us, then? Instead of tricking us?” Logan asked, pushing the sheet of paper back to Larriby.

  “We simply didn’t want to alarm you.” She cleared her throat. “Those at N.P.C. are still trying to grasp the cusper ability, and until things are more solidified, we didn’t want to bring unneeded attention to individuals like you.”

  “But Sam is missing, so how protected are we here?” Ellie said. Her voice shook as she spoke. She was afraid, and I couldn’t blame her. Larriby just confirmed it—cuspers were disappearing, and not even the higher-ups at Nova Power Corporation knew where they were going.

  “That was an unfortunate oversight, and the N.P.C. is doing everything in its power to find Sam.” Larriby’s eyes softened, exposing another new side to her. “We will find him,” she said, now looking at Ellie, who sniffed back tears. It seemed like Headmistress Larriby was reassuring herself.

  If we wanted to find Sam, I had a feeling that we would have to do it ourselves, but I didn’t even know where to begin.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I decided to put the whole disappearing cusper situation out of my mind as best as I could. It was beyond my control at this point, and we were assured that N.P.C. was on it. We just needed to let them do their jobs so we could focus on ours—getting our mentees weekday ready. Easier said than done.

  I walked into Monday power intensive class the next morning and was happily greeted by Sabrina. “Hey, Poppy!” she said, beaming. “Something amazing happened last night. Watch.” Her enthusiasm was contagious and a nice distraction from my worries.

  I smiled. “Okay. Go ahead.”

  Sabrina lifted her left hand and pointed toward the back of the room. Slide. Slide. Slide, she willed the chair in the back corner.

  I stared at the chair, but it didn’t budge. I thought about sliding it using my own Monday power, just to give her a boost of confidence, but decided that that wouldn’t be the best idea. It was my job to see that she mastered her power, not to do the hard work for her.

  Slide. Slide. Slide, she said in her head with more force. And just when I was about to give up on her, the chair began to wobble.

  Now! she thought. Faster than my eyes could follow, the chair slid sharply to the right, smacking into Hunter. He swayed back and forth on his feet and then fell to the floor.

  “Oh my gosh. Hunter? I am so sorry!” Sabrina ran up to him and tugged on his arm.

  “Nah. Don’t worry about it,” he said, swiping bits of dirt from his pants.

  “That’s amazing, Sabrina!” I said, hugging her. “I’m so proud of you!”

  And I really was. This was huge for Sabrina, and I was happy to be her mentor. Over the past few days, we had been fitting in mini-lessons over lunch, after rehearsals, and during any downtime. It seemed that our hard work had paid off.

  “I can’t wait to show Miss Maggie!” she said excitedly, getting out her notebook and pen. “I’m ready for whatever assignment we get today.”

  I debated whether or not to tell her that I had a bunch of ups and downs with my Monday power before I totally controlled it, but decided against it. “That really is amazing,” I said, a grin spreading across my face.

  Miss Maggie entered the classroom and used her Monday power to shut the door. A breeze flew through my hair, pushing a few spirally red curls in my eyes. I suddenly wished I had thrown it up in a messy bun this morning.

  Today, Miss Maggie had on a vibrant pink skirt with a white top and a blue necklace that jingled with each step she took. I wished that I’ll have her sense of style when I got older—posh with a hint of casualness. When she opened her mouth and the British accent came out, her chicness grew even more.

  “Today we have a special guest with us,” she said. I followed her gaze to the back of the room where her mother, Mayor Masters stood. Mayor Masters had a ginormous smile on her face—she was obviously proud of her daughter.

  “Mayor Masters is just popping into the classrooms today to see what exactly it is we do in the summer program.”

  “Yes,” Mayor Masters said. “I just love seeing the progress weekday students make over a few short weeks. Even if you’re behind in your powers, it’s good to know you aren’t a Saturday or Sunday,” she said through a forced chuckle.

  Then I thought of her powerless son, Mark. Poor kid. Still, after hearing the news of cuspers going missing, being a powerless weekend didn’t sound so bad.

  Miss Maggie began her lesson. “Today, we will be talking about breaking barriers with our Monday powers.” Her eyes met mine for a split second before she continued. “Sometimes, we will encounter instances when we need to harness more power than usual.” Today, her typical smile was replaced with a stoic expression. Something was up. Maybe her mother told her about the missing students. That would make anyone feel pretty bummed.

  She walked to the back of the room and, using her Monday power, slid the bookshelf from the wall to reveal the secret compartment I knew was there.

  Last year, the hidden compartment’s shelves were filled with candies, chocolate, and sweet goodies of all sorts. When she slid the case over this time, the shelves were empty. I wasn’t sure what this had to do with today’s lesson, but I was positive all would reveal itself shortly.

  “If you ever find yourself in harm’s way, it’s important to know that you can use your power for escape.” She said this without any expression. Yes, something was definitely off with Miss Maggie.

  With three effortless flicks of her wrist, a gust of wind escaped from the tips of her fingers and sharply hit the three shelves in the wall. All three pieces of wood cracked and then crumbled to the ground in a pile of debris. We all stared at the shelfless wall and clapped.

  “Did she just do that, for real?” an awestruck Morgan asked.

  “That was amazing,” Caleb added.

  Even I, a pretty powerful Monday, was in awe. I’d seen Mondays move pretty heavy and cumbersome objects. Heck, I’d cracked a few wooden planks last year when I broke into the old shed to rescue Pickle. But I’d never seen anyone crumble multiple pieces of wood at once.

  “Now, watch closely once again,” she said, her last word rhyming with mane. I never got tired of her British accent. “Poppy, you help this time.”

  I mimicked her movement and lifted my arm.

  “On three,” she said. “One. Two. Three!”

  After three quick flicks of our wrists, th
e exposed wall that was situated behind the now-destroyed shelves cracked right down the middle. Miss Maggie flicked her wrist one more time and a few smaller cracks appeared around the original. Not two seconds later, pieces of wall crumbled down on top of the destroyed shelves. There was now a gaping hole in the middle of the hidden closet. Simply amazing.

  “No way!” Sabrina shouted. She bent over, poked her head through the hole and then looked at me. “You can see into the next room!” Her eyes grew wide.

  With a few more wrist movements, the crumbled pieces of wall and shelves came back together in perfect form. Gasps escaped from the mouths of the Mondays.

  “Now back to your seats, ladies and gentleman,” Miss Maggie announced. Everyone did as they were told.

  “Never underestimate the powers of those around you. It’s important to realize that although you’ve been gifted with an amazing ability, with that ability comes the power to destroy. Never forget that.” Maggie looked briefly to the back of the room and then cracked the first smile I saw from her today. I turned around to see Mayor Masters leaving the room in a rush.

  “That’s a weird thing to say,” Sabrina whispered, nudging my shoulder.

  “Mm-hmm,” I nodded. And that’s when I realized that, just like last year, Miss Maggie had created this lesson for a reason. But I wasn’t so sure what it was.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Another day went by without so much as a word of the missing cuspers, except, of course, when Logan, Ellie, and I ate together. Last night at dinner, Ellie couldn’t stop herself from crying. She felt betrayed by her family, scared for Sam, and scared for herself. The three of us all felt terrified in general. If what Headmistress Larriby and Veronica said was one-hundred-percent true, then there was a chance that we could go missing too. There is no way we could let that happen.

  I had to trust Headmistress Larriby and her insistence that we were, indeed, safe here. My task today was to help Sabrina master her Monday power.

  Sabrina got better and better every time I saw her, which was hard to believe considering we’d only been here for a week. She was so good, in fact, that I forgot that she could also read minds. But she was doing it the right way—mastering one power at a time. I wondered if Headmistress Larriby knew that Sabrina was a Thursday, too. After all, she had said that there were no cusp students at Power Academy this year. Why would she lie? I was starting to believe that Veronica was on to something when she mentioned all the secrets hidden in Nova. It was like telling the truth actually hurt people in this town.

  “It might be a good idea not to mention the dual power thing to anyone,” I had said to Sabrina yesterday at the afternoon power intensive class.

  “Why?” she had asked.

  I didn’t want to frighten her with the knowledge of cuspers disappearing, so I decided to tell her another truth. “Your second power will come in easier if you’ve already mastered your first one.”

  I looked up at the mirror in front of me now. My bright orange hair was pulled up in two purple cones, and hair was pom-poming from the tops of the shiny cylinders. I would never choose to wear the purple leotard with the sparkly overlay that fit like a glove, but the costume designer, Emily, said that there wasn’t a better color to complement my orange hair and green eyes.

  “Your eyes look pretty,” Logan said, as if he had read my mind. Which I knew he totally didn’t.

  “Thanks,” I said, and reached my hands up to my cheeks and pinched. A light pink hue spread across my face. Logan twisted his mouth up in confusion. “For color,” I said to him, our eyes meeting through the mirror’s reflection. Maybe I was just covering up the fact that he had just made me blush.

  Out of nowhere, he reached down and grabbed my hand. “You’ll be great,” he said, sensing my anxiety. It was only a rehearsal, but I was a bundle of nerves. I was not a performer. Then unexpectedly, Logan pulled me up from the chair and wrapped both arms around me. Now I really didn’t want him to look at me—I was sure my face was beet red.

  He pulled his face closer to mine, reminding me of the end of Power Academy last year when he kissed me on the cheek. I got nervous but for no reason—he didn’t kiss me this time.

  “Poppy!” The sound of Sabrina’s voice pushed us apart.

  “I’ll see you out there,” Logan said with a warm smile and hand-squeeze as he made his way out of the dressing room.

  “I need to talk to you about something,” Sabrina said, following me toward the stage.

  “What’s up?” I said, trying to sound chipper. She was my mentee, so my stage fright was the last thing I needed her to see.

  “Places!” I heard Ellie yell.

  “I know we have to start, but I have to talk to you.”

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Fluxnut will kill me if I’m not in place.” I turned to look at her face-to-face. She frowned.

  “You know how he gets.”

  In a hushed voice she said, “We need to talk later. The N.P.C. … and Mark.” Cara Flohr, the stage manager, pushed herself between us, but Sabrina continued. “I read her mind,” she paused, “We can’t trust—” Sabrina’s words came out in short, random phrases. She just couldn’t get a hold of her words.

  “Places!” Ellie yelled one final time, cutting Sabrina off from whatever she was trying to tell me. As an assistant stage-managing Thursday pushed me toward my opening position, I attempted to read Sabrina’s mind, but there were too many people running to their places and shouting last-minute stage directions to get a good grasp.

  Whatever Sabrina had to tell me had to wait until later. Now, I stood behind the giant red curtain and took two big breaths as she disappeared off in the wings, awaiting her entrance.

  “In three. Two,” Logan called, and shot me a quick wink. He thought this would help overcome my stage fright, but it just reminded me that I would be performing in front of a huge audience at the end of the Power Academy summer session. “One.”

  I was so not getting used to being on stage. I felt butterflies flit around in my stomach as the curtain began to rise, knowing this was silly considering it was only a rehearsal, but when those lights shine in your eyes, it’s hard to forget you’re on stage.

  I stepped to center stage and began. “A magic carpet, friends, I’ll weave for you. Of slender moonbeams and of silver dew. I’ll spread it out before your feet, and lo, Swift as the wind through time and space we go.”

  That was Sabrina’s cue to enter stage right. Using her Monday power, she was supposed to make paper machete butterflies flutter around us while reciting her opening line. But she didn’t enter.

  I repeated my opening two lines, thinking that, perhaps, she didn’t hear the first time. I began, my voice louder, yet shakier, this time. “A magic carpet, friends, I’ll weave for you. Of slender moonbeams and of silver dew. I’ll spread it out before your feet, and lo, Swift as the wind through time and space we go.”

  Again, nothing. No Sabrina. This was unusual. The last two rehearsals, she not only seemed to have her stage fright under control, but actually became extra confident because she’d started to get the hang of her Monday power. There was no reason for her to flake out now.

  “Sabrina,” Mr. Fluxnut called. His voice grew more impatient. “Sabrina!” he yelled and stomped his way toward the stage. “Sabrina!” he screamed again. His face started to turn as purple as the too-clingy fabric of my costume.

  There was still no sign of the petite Monday.

  Ellie, I thought to Ellie. Go check the dressing room. Ellie didn’t make her grand entrance until scene three, so I knew that she had time to check.

  A few seconds later, Ellie responded in my head. “No luck here.”

  “This is absolutely ridiculous,” Mr. Fluxnut said. “Where is she?”

  Where did she go? I just talked to her a few seconds ago. She was in her spritely sparkly peach costume, and now she was nowhere to be found.

  Suddenly, I knew exactly why. She was a cus
per, even if not everyone knew she was one. And just like Sam, Sabrina had disappeared too.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Look. I know something weird is going on at N.P.C, so I think that’s where we need to go,” I said, pushing the tray of grossness away from me. I looked down at the dog food-like stuffing sitting on my plate. Why do they even feed this to us? Up until now, the food has been awesome this year. I stared at the gray-brown blob in front of me and gagged. Seriously, it looked like something Pickle would eat.

  I glanced up at Logan, who was shoving forkfuls in his face. At least one of us was enjoying it.

  “How do we even get into N.P.C.?” Ellie asked.

  I looked around to make sure nobody was listening in. Deklan and Shelby were still in the extraordinarily long food line, so it would be at least another fifteen minutes until they joined us.

  Headmistress Larriby was on the other side of the cafeteria in deep conversation with Mayor Masters, their eyes frantically looking around from time to time. Last year, Headmistress Larriby’s eyes would have been glaring right in our direction, but whatever was happening this year went way beyond us.

  We all leaned in closer to one another. “Right before I went on stage at rehearsal today, Sabrina tried to tell me something. And she mentioned two things that I think go together—Nova Power Corporation and Mark Masters.”

  I glanced back over at Mayor Masters—she was still talking to Larriby, and whenever she paused and looked around the room, a smile formed on her face. How could she be so happy when people were missing? Then I realized that she probably painted that smile so the students wouldn’t be alarmed.

  “But you said it yourself, Poppy,” Logan said, taking a bite of food. “N.P.C. is a fortress. How would we even get in without being seen?”

  “Do I even have to say it?”

  As if he read my mind, he answered. “No way!” He shook his head. “If I get caught in that place, who knows what they would do to me?”