The Initiation

by Chris Babu

  Alex stood and eyed Drayden up and down. “Look, it’s a wetchop sandwich! Two wetchops on both sides, and the king of the wetchops in the middle. You’re supposed to climb down the wall, not take a swan dive off. What, they didn’t teach you that in math class?”

  Drayden’s face flushed red hot.

  “Shut up, you useless shkat flunk,” Tim hissed. “It’s a miracle he didn’t land on your nose, with its gravitational pull.”

  “Ooh, good one.” Alex rolled his eyes and walked off.

  They began the trek again, Tim and Sidney partially carrying Drayden. Charlie and Alex surged ahead of the group. Alex kept whispering to Charlie, and they both repeatedly turned around to look at him.

  How could Charlie be so helpful one minute, even pulling him to safety on the wall, only to revert to Alex’s evil sidekick a minute later? Drayden hated them both.

  His ankle throbbed, but the pain began to dull, thanks to the painkiller. Perhaps he had simply sprained it. Years of medical lectures from Dad were finally coming in handy. He was fortunate it wasn’t a compound fracture as forcefully as he landed. That spelled a death sentence, with the guaranteed infection that would follow.

  Even just sprained though, the next bravery challenge would be a problem. Drayden could barely walk. With some luck, the Bureau would serve up riddles the rest of the way. Or for the upcoming challenge anyway. He would have to focus on those, adding his value there, and lean on everyone else for the physical tests. He’d known coming into the Initiation the bravery tests would be his weakness. Technically he’d passed the first one, though it didn’t exactly go well. And to think, for a moment on that wall he’d felt brave.

  Yeah, right.

  He thought about Dad and Wes, and what they were doing right now. He bet his father was angry with Wes for defying him, allowing Drayden to enter the Initiation. It must feel empty in the apartment with both him and Mom gone.

  Sidney rubbed Drayden’s back in a circular motion. “Drayden, why did you enter the Initiation anyway?”

  He didn’t know what to say. He could tell them what he’d overheard from Thomas Cox, that random exiles in the Dorms were about to surge. That while they all held their own personal reasons for entering, they truly had no choice at all. They just didn’t know it. Would it relieve them, realizing they’d inadvertently made the right decision? Or would grasping the danger facing the families they left behind crush them? The risk of exile might exist even if the pledges passed the Initiation. The Lab and Precinct might not be safe if the power situation deteriorated enough. Only the Palace was safe, but not all of them could make it.

  There was no urgent reason to tell them right now. The Bureau was supposedly watching and listening to their conversations by camera and microphone. He absolutely could not let the government discover he possessed this information by blabbing it out loud.

  “My brother and Mr. Kale talked me into it,” Drayden said. “I was hoping for a better job than the Dorms offered. And once my mom was exiled, I knew it would never be the same at home.” He decided to stop there and omit his other reason: finding out what had happened to his mother. He didn’t want the Bureau knowing about that either. If he did make it to the Palace, investigating the exile would be a clandestine operation.

  “I prayed that you would enter so I could too.” Sidney continued rubbing his back.

  Those words cut into Drayden’s heart like a hot knife. “I think I want to try walking by myself, you guys.”

  “Attaboy,” Tim said.

  With a significant limp and moderate pain, Drayden slogged on his own, slowing their progress. How much time remained? The Bureau hadn’t left a clock at the Times Square station, and the rock wall challenge ate up a hefty chunk of time. The tracks curved to the right here, limiting their visibility down the tunnel. According to the map, they were nearing the Thirty-Fourth Street station. It was a major station, certain to contain a challenge.

  As if on cue, Charlie yelled, “Light up ahead!”

  Thirty-Fourth Street was as close to Drayden’s apartment as they would come. Although the pledges journeyed much further west, it wasn’t that far to his home on East Thirtieth Street. He wished he could pop out and see Wes. He was missing that shkatty couch right about now too.

  Not surprisingly, the Thirty-Fourth Street station glowed bright, indicating a challenge.

  Drayden shivered. From the end of the platform, no obvious modifications jumped out. It was an encouraging sign that an intellectual challenge awaited them.

  Tim led the way. He stopped short, and everyone bunched up behind him.

  Three steel boxes the size of washing machines hung from the ceiling. Thick steel cables suspended them several feet in the air. A long table sat a few feet in front of the boxes. As they approached, further details became clear.

  Multiple buttons, lit up in different colors, adorned the front of the boxes, as well as levers and large labels. A quiet humming disturbed the silence of the station, as if the boxes were electrified. A clock displayed the time remaining: 06:00:42, 06:00:41…

  A note sat on the picnic table.

  “Man, that rock wall took, like, forty minutes,” Tim said.

  Drayden frowned. The hanging boxes were a puzzle, and everybody would expect him to solve it. The pressure tensed his back and neck. He reached up to touch his hat, to feel his mother’s presence, but he’d forgotten to put it back on after his accident. After retrieving it from his backpack, he held it in his hands for a moment before pulling it on.

  Something clicked and all the lights shut off. The glowing buttons on the boxes dimmed and then died. The buzzing sound dissipated and vanished. The pledges could barely see each other in the darkness.

  “Um, who touched something?” Charlie asked.

  “Is this part of the challenge?” Sidney asked.

  There was the sound of a zipper opening, and some rustling ensued. Tim flicked on his flashlight and shined it around. “You gotta be kidding me. A power outage? During the Initiation?”

  Drayden recounted Thomas Cox’s revelation. Even with the power problems, one would expect the Bureau to ensure Dorm electricity stayed on during the Initiation. Was that how dire the situation had become? Perhaps the Bureau couldn’t even control it.

  “We can’t tackle this problem until the power comes back,” Catrice said. “Those boxes were electrified. I don’t know what we have to do, but it involved pushing buttons on the boxes.”

  The lights returned, flooding the station, momentarily blinding the group. They shielded their eyes. The boxes powered up. A buzzing began low in pitch and zoomed higher until it was barely audible. The multicolored buttons lit up once again.

  Tim packed away his flashlight. “Let’s do this before we lose power again.” He snatched the note off the table and read: “After a problem is read, look several steps ahead. Solve this brainteaser to prove your ability to visualize solutions not obvious at first glance. Doing so will earn you the contents of the boxes, which will greatly assist you in the subsequent challenge. Failing will not result in exile. The boxes contain rubber boots and blowtorches.” Tim looked up at everyone for a second. “One box contains only boots, one contains only blowtorches, and one contains both. The three boxes are labeled with their contents. However, they are all labeled incorrectly. You must pull the lever on one box to release a single item from that box. From that one item, you must determine the contents of all three boxes. If you do so correctly, the three boxes will release all the boots and blowtorches, which you may take with you. You have five minutes to complete this challenge. The clock above will begin shortly. Good luck.”

  Sidney scratched her head. “What’s a blowtorch?”

  “It’s a device that shoots out a hot flame,” Charlie said. “Never seen one, but I learned about ’em from the Guardians.”

  Drayden’s eyes shot up to the clo
ck.

  It flickered and began counting down: 00:05:00, 00:04:59, 00:04:58…

  “Do you know this one?” Tim asked Drayden.

  He shook his head. Blowtorches?

  The top of each box displayed the label. The left box read BOTH, the middle read BOOTS, and the right one read BLOWTORCHES. Below the label on each box was a lever, and below that each box offered three colored buttons, also lit up. The blue left button read BOOTS, the red middle button read BLOWTORCHES, and the green right button read BOTH.

  Concentrate. Understand the problem.

  They had to first choose from which box to sample an item and pull its lever. Then push the appropriate button on all three boxes, correctly guessing their contents. How?

  Tim turned to Catrice. “Do you know it?”

  “No,” she said. “But we can figure it out.”

  Tim ran both hands through his hair. “It’s pretty clear you two are going to solve this. Why don’t you guys work together? The rest of us will huddle up and see what we can come up with.”

  Drayden and Catrice’s eyes met. Not only was it logical to join forces, it relieved some of the pressure on Drayden. He flung off his backpack and knelt in front of her, whipping out the paper and pencil.

  Catrice followed suit, sitting cross-legged in front of him and tucking her hair behind her ears.

  Just pretend you’re in class.

  Mr. Kale would instruct him to write out everything he knew and search for a trick solution.

  “Let’s go over what we know,” he said. “All the boxes have the wrong labels on them. So that means what? It means the box on the right labeled BLOWTORCHES has either boots or both things, right?”

  “Yes,” Catrice said. She tapped the pencil against the side of her head. Her eyes brightened, her eyebrows raised. “That means the box labeled BOTH is special! It’s the only one we know doesn’t have both items. So…”

  “That’s the box that we need to sample the one item from,” Drayden said, his excitement building. “One of the other boxes has both items. We aren’t sure which one. If we dropped a sample out of the box labeled BLOWTORCHES and we got a boot, we’d have no way of figuring out if that box was all boots or both things. All we know is it’s not just blowtorches since we know it’s labeled wrong. Nice job!”

  Sidney lingered beneath the clock and called out. “Three minutes!”

  Tim stayed close by, bouncing ideas off her. Alex and Charlie stood off to the side, engaged in a heated debate. Though they spoke too quietly to overhear, Alex was right in Charlie’s face. He bared his teeth and punched his index finger into Charlie’s chest.

  Focus, Drayden thought. Only three minutes left. They would sample the one item from the one box labeled BOTH. Then what?

  “Talk to us, Drayden!” Tim said. “We got zippo here. You guys getting anywhere?”

  “Yes! We need to drop the one item out of the box labeled BOTH. We’re figuring out what to do after that.”

  Tim rushed to that box. “You sure? Should I do it? Two minutes left. C’mon you guys, we need you!”

  Drayden and Catrice locked eyes. Drayden shrugged.

  Catrice nodded. “Yes, you can pull the lever.”

  Tim pulled the lever down on the box labeled BOTH. A tall gray rubber boot dropped out of the bottom, bouncing once and landing on its side. “What does that mean?” he asked.

  “It means that box only contains boots,” Catrice answered. “It’s labeled as having both, and we know the label is wrong, so it can only have one of the things. Since a boot fell out, it only has boots.”

  Tim glanced at Sidney, and back to Catrice. “Should I hit the blue BOOTS button?”

  “Yes,” Catrice said.

  Tim pushed it. It changed hues to a lighter shade of blue, and its two other colored buttons went dark.

  “Ninety seconds left!” Sidney shrieked, growing increasingly frantic.

  Alex and Charlie hunched up on the right of the other two boxes whispering to each other. Charlie nodded.

  What the hell are they up to? Drayden rose to his feet and hobbled over to the other two boxes, with Catrice right behind him. “Catrice, we gotta think. We have two boxes, one labeled BOOTS, and one labeled BLOWTORCHES. We know those labels are wrong. We also know neither contains just boots. So one contains blowtorches, and the other contains both.”

  Catrice took over. “And the one labeled BLOWTORCHES can’t contain blowtorches since the labels are wrong. So that one has both! The one labeled BOOTS must have blowtorches!” Her blue eyes glowed from the lights overhead.

  Sidney ran over. “Please, Drayden. Hurry!”

  “Don’t worry. We have it,” Drayden said. He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and stole a cursory peek at the clock.

  Forty-five seconds.

  Done with time to spare. Drayden’s neck relaxed a bit. He spun around to push the buttons.

  Charlie blocked his path. He stood between Drayden and the boxes, his arms folded across his chest, a menacing look on his face.

  Drayden stepped back. “Charlie, what are you doing? We got it. Get out of the way!”

  Charlie shoved him in the chest with both hands, throwing all his weight behind it.

  Drayden flew backward. He landed on his back and rolled over completely, ending up in a sitting position. His ankle exploded in pain.

  He clutched it with both hands, grimacing.

  Tim rushed Charlie and stopped inches from his face. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he raged. “He’s got it! Move!”

  “Thirty seconds!” Sidney screamed, crying hysterically.

  Alex slid behind Charlie. “We’re doing this one,” he said over Charlie’s shoulder, his eyes crazed. “We have the answer. If you wetchops solve all the puzzles, I’m not getting picked for the Palace. And I’m going to the Palace.”

  Tim grabbed Charlie around the waist and fought to wrestle him away, but Charlie was too strong, and tossed Tim aside like a rag doll. Tim stopped himself before falling off the platform. Alex faced the boxes and walked up to the one labeled BOOTS.

  “Hit blowtorches, Alex!” Drayden yelled. “Hit it, you shkat!”

  Alex reached for the BOTH button, his index finger outstretched.

  “No!” Drayden screamed.

  Alex pushed BOTH.

  CHAPTER 13

  All three boxes shut off. The life faded out of the formerly glowing buttons, and the humming noise died with a sad wheeze.

  Drayden sat in stunned silence. What happened? They’d solved it, in plenty of time, no less, and Charlie and Alex blew it. They were screwed now.

  Sidney dropped to her knees, crying, her hands over her face. Charlie turned sheepishly toward Alex, who cast his eyes down at the ground. Tim’s face flushed red. He leapt up off the ground and charged Charlie. He grasped Charlie’s shirt with both hands and shoved him hard. Charlie didn’t resist.

  “You flunks!” Tim screamed. “You two shkat flunks! What have you done? You’re too stupid to even realize how lucky you are. You have two people with you who can actually solve stuff, who can get you through the Initiation. You’re too stupid to just stay out of the way and let it get done for you!” He stormed off, back toward the station entrance.

  Catrice methodically placed her things back inside her backpack. Tim returned, still red-faced. He snatched up his backpack and marched toward the far end of the platform.

  The pain in Drayden’s ankle diminished. After he gathered his paper and pencil, he slung on the backpack and limped over to Alex and Charlie.

  They hadn’t moved from the site of their epic failure.

  With a jutting jaw, Drayden paused before them, staring at them hard. Neither met his gaze.

  Drayden called back to Catrice and Sidney, “Let’s go.” He headed down the platform, with th
e girls close behind. Alex and Charlie trailed them. Drayden shuffled down the stairs to begin the trek to the next station. He shined his flashlight down the tunnel.

  Tim was walking alone thirty yards ahead.

  Amidst the pressure of the last challenge, Drayden hadn’t considered what hellish test would require boots and blowtorches. Blowtorches? Whatever nightmare awaited, now they would have to face it without them. On the rock wall, the sticky gloves they’d earned had proved invaluable. They probably would have fallen and died without them.

  Boots implied they’d have to walk through something wet. But blowtorches…they’d have to burn something. How could they even burn anything if they walked through water or mud? Everything would be wet.

  Stupid Alex. Although Drayden had expected Alex to cause problems for him in the Initiation, he’d never imagined Alex would ruin it for everyone.

  Tim slowed ahead and waited for them to catch up.

  “Hey, great job you guys,” Tim said, rubbing his temples. “Even though Alex and Charlie botched it, you guys totally had that one. Awesome teamwork. Our superstars combining their brainpower.”

  Sidney inched closer to Drayden. “I don’t know how you do it, Dray. I wish I was as smart as you.”

  Catrice clenched her jaw.

  “Well, that one was mostly Catrice,” Drayden said. “In fact, the last two challenges were.”

  Sidney turned away. Alex and Charlie caught up to them.

  “I’m sorry, you guys,” Charlie said, his lips pursed. “Dray, I apologize for shoving you like that. Tim, you too.”

  “Everybody needs to chill,” Alex said. “It’s not like we got exiled. I don’t know what you guys are getting all mad about.”

  Tim shined his flashlight in Alex’s eyes. “Are you serious? Alex, you totally blew it. What about the next challenge? That’s when we could be exiled. You’re a flunk, a loser. Drayden and Catrice are smart, and you’re not. You don’t even have to do anything other than ride their coattails right to the finish. Nobody’s asking anything of you. Just don’t screw everything up.”