by Mikey Brooks
“Oh, Madam LeBeau,” Emmy cried. Miss LeBeau smiled. Emmy knew she liked it when she referred to her as “Madam.” Although Emmy took note to only call her that during their lessons or out of earshot of other students. “I know I will just love it.”
“There are some complex routines in this book, but I am sure with your gift you will be able to master them. Pay close attention to chapters thirteen through seventeen.”
Miss LeBeau held out the book for Emmy and she greedily took it. A warm tingling sensation went up her arms. She couldn’t wait to lose herself within its pages. It felt like electricity in her hands.
Hugging the book close to her chest like a long lost pet, Emmy nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
“Now then, lunch.” Miss LeBeau pulled out a small tin box and opened it.
Emmy nodded and got her backpack. She had taken to eating her lunches with Miss LeBeau. Madison, Abigail, and even Hannah had taken a great liking to the new lunch menu. Emmy didn’t mind. She liked the one-on-one time with Miss LeBeau. She brought over her lunch box and sat next to her teacher.
“I see you have started copying my lunch regimen,” Miss LeBeau said, eyeing her lunch box. Emmy blushed.
“I asked Mama J to get me what you eat. I like what you eat.” What Emmy really wanted to say was, I want to be just like you.
“Si doux! That’s so very sweet.”
Emmy loved it when Miss LeBeau spoke in French. It sounded so magical and rich. She pulled her bran muffin and apple from her lunch box and sipped at her sugar-free soda.
“Who is Mama J?”
“Oh, she’s Jax’s mom.” Emmy brushed a crumb from her lip with a napkin. “My parents are out of town, so my brother and I are staying at the Washington’s house. Ethan and Jax are in Mrs. Burton’s class.”
“Ethan is your twin?”
“Yeah,” Emmy sighed. “We kinda look alike. We both have red hair and blue eyes, but we couldn’t be more opposite personality-wise. Ethan likes math and science, I like dancing.”
“And what is it that your parents do?”
Ah, the dreaded question Emmy never had a terrific reply for. “Oh, they’re in the family business.”
“And what is your family business?”
“We’re not quite sure. Ethan thinks they’re spies, I think they’re undertakers.”
“Undertakers?” Miss LeBeau looked shocked.
“Not really, it’s just what we come up with. They travel a lot, so we don’t really know. I like to play a game with Dad. I name a bunch of random places and try to get him to reveal the answer. He’s not very good at hiding secrets.” Miss LeBeau smiled and leaned in. Emmy went on. “We did figure out where they were going this time. Transylvania.”
“Transylvania? What could possibly take your parents there?”
“Another mystery in the Orion house. Really, your guess is as good as mine. They’re probably after vampires or witches.”
Miss LeBeau gave a slight smile. “And why do you say that?”
“You know Transylvania—Dracula. I mean, what else is there?”
“Transylvania is known mostly for Bram Stoker’s tale, but that is not the only thing Romania is known for. They have beautiful castles and a rich heritage, not at all associated with vampires. I’m sure your parents are there on business, or perhaps they are taking a vacation. I have been to some of the castles in Romania and they are quite breathtaking.”
“Probably.” The idea that her parents were off exploring castles while she was stuck at Jax’s house was unnerving. Not that Jax and his parents weren’t cool, but that wasn’t fair. Emmy would love to explore some gothic castle where vampires may or may not have lived.
“Is something bothering you, chéri?”
“No, I was just being stupid.”
“Non, non, Emmy, you should never say that you are stupid.” Miss LeBeau held her chin up with her index finger. She smiled, revealing perfect, white teeth. “You are smart, beautiful, and very talented. Never forget how special you are. I believe fate has brought us together, Emmy. I am going to teach you to be the greatest dancer in the history of ballet. Now then, let us enjoy the few short minutes we have left of our lunch. There will be no rehearsal today after school, but I want you to practice the routines you find in the book I gave you.”
“I’m kinda bummed we’re not meeting after school today,” Emmy confessed.
“Don’t think on it, chéri. We will have plenty of days next week. I must leave directly after school to take care of some personal business out of town. Promise me you’ll practice.”
“I promise.”
Miss LeBeau returned to her bran muffin and Emmy did likewise. She felt elated. Fate had brought them together. Emmy felt like all her dreams were about to come true.
Chapter Five: Experiment Gone Wrong
Ethan plopped the box of scientific doodads on the kitchen counter. He pulled out a beaker and handed it to Jax. If his mother knew what they were about to do, he’d be grounded for a month—at least. His parents made him swear when they bought him the chemistry set for his tenth birthday that he’d only use it with supervision. Jax is here—he’s supervising. Something told him if they got caught, that wouldn’t hold up.
“Okay, let’s say that the lunch ladies are putting something in the school lunch,” Jax said, eyeing the beaker. “What would be the point?”
“I don’t know. But didn’t you notice how weird everyone acted at lunch? It was like they hadn’t eaten in forever.”
“Dude, I know! That was freaking crazy. I saw Madison Walker down three of those cinnamon rolls—three! That girl won’t even drink apple juice if there’s added sugar.”
The way everyone had acted didn’t stop in the lunchroom. Once they got back to class, everyone was completely drained of energy. Ethan thought Mrs. Burton was going to get hysterical when no one took an interest in writing time. Normally the whole class pitched in to create a fun story together, using the spelling words they’d focused on that week. Ethan hadn’t helped either—he was trying to figure out how to extract the secret ingredient from the cinnamon roll.
“So what are we doing again?” Jax looked at the display of Ethan’s chemistry set. Again Ethan felt guilty for taking advantage of the empty house and his parents’ absence.
“When you boil a plant, like tea leaves, it extracts tannins and caffeine out of the leaves and into the water. I’m thinking of trying that method. We’ll use a distillation technique to get the chemical from the boiling flask to this vial. Then we can see what it looks like under a microscope.”
Jax laughed. “Dude, I didn’t understand half of what you just said.” Ethan tried not to look embarrassed. He knew Jax was not into science the way he was. He pulled a surgical mask over his mouth to hide his grin and handed Jax the second pair of safety goggles and rubber gloves.
Luckily, Ethan’s parents had opted for a more advanced chemistry set than the one he saw in the toy store. He took the sample of the cinnamon roll from Jax, and placed it into the boiling-flask along with some distilled water. He placed the flask over a small Bunsen burner and they waited.
Jax pulled at his mask. “How long do you think it will take?”
In answer to his question, the water in the flask started to boil. The small sample of cinnamon roll began to tumble around in the liquid, turning it brown. They watched as a tiny drop of purple liquid lifted from the flask and went up into the distilling tube. It slowly ran along the cylinder then dropped into the test tube. Excited, Ethan turned off the burner. The boiling slowed to a simmer.
Ethan eyed the solitary drop of purple liquid. “I didn’t expect that!”
“Dude, look at the color. That purple stuff was hiding in my cinnamon roll?” Jax went to reach for the test tube when it began to hiss. Immediately he pulled his hand back.
The purple liquid flashed, bright then dim, bright then dim. A high pitch whistle sounded. Ethan grabbed Jax
and pulled him away from the counter. The whistle grew louder and they covered their ears. The liquid flashed once more and the test tube exploded.
The boys dropped to the floor, covering their heads with their hands. Bits of glass and black sludge dropped down from the counter splatting all over the polished tile floor. Ethan risked a peek up at the counter. An angry black cloud erupted from the mess filling the room with the putrid stench of a skunk’s butt.
BEEEEEE—the fire alarm screamed.
Jax again covered his ears. Ethan searched for the fire alarm in the hallway trying to fan the smoke away with his hands. It was too high. He reached into the kitchen closet and pulled out the broom. Again he tried fanning the smoke away, but it wasn’t working. He flipped the broom over and sent the handle careening into the alarm. It cracked, killing the sound.
“What the freak just happened?!” Jax shouted, ripping the safety mask from his face.
Ethan looked over to their experiment gone wrong. His mother’s white countertop was a charred mess of black and brown. The test tube and boiling flask were in pieces all over the counter and floor, and the purple liquid, whatever it was, had vanished.
“My mom is going to kill me,” he moaned. He thought about trying to explain the dark stain on her no longer white countertop. Maybe he could just pretend he didn’t know where it came from. But then he thought about his dad’s way of showing a truth by his eyebrow twitching. Ethan had inherited that honesty trait.
“Dude it really stinks in here,” Jax said, a hand pinching his nose. “Help me open this window.”
Ethan set the broom against the wall and crossed over to the window. In an instant they had it open and the black haze began to drift outside. He looked back at the mess on the countertop, not understanding what had gone wrong. Where had the black sludge come from? “That shouldn’t have happened! Nothing in a cinnamon roll should be volatile.”
“Maybe the secret ingredient is nuclear waste?” Jax suggested. “And the lunch ladies are paid to get rid of it by hiding it in the lunch food. Maybe we should call up Madison and ask her if her pee is glowing green?”
“Not green—purple.”
“Yeah, purple. That was sick. Have you ever seen anything like that before?”
Ethan shook his head. He doubted anyone had ever seen something like this. Part of him wanted to scoop up the remains of their experiment and see if they could find anything under a microscope. The other part of him wanted to run and not look back. He’d seen enough superhero movies to know that things always went bad when people started messing around with unknown chemicals. The last thing he wanted was to transform into a glowing purple goblin.
They both jumped when they heard the front door open.
“Boys, it’s time to wrap up. We’re going out to eat at—heavens to Betsy, what is that smell?”
Ethan looked from Jax’s worried face to the mess on the kitchen counter. His heart, already racing a mile a second, kicked into overdrive. He dashed toward the mess. Grabbing several kitchen towels from the stove, he flung them out over the science experiment. Mama J came around the corner, her hand covering her nose.
“What are you boys doing?”
Ethan tried his best to cover the mess. “Sorry, umm . . . our science experiment went a little . . . umm . . .”
“Are you two trying to burn down the house? I don’t know what I’d tell your parents, Ethan, if they came home to find nothing but a few bricks and ash. Look at you two. Are you all right? You weren’t playing with dangerous chemicals, were you? You two look all red and sweaty.”
“It just surprised us,” Jax said. “We must have had the burner too hot.”
Ethan stepped in front of Mama J so she didn’t go any further into the kitchen. “We’ll clean it up!”
“Well, you boys get to it. Goodness gracious! You’ve got about ten minutes, then old Papa Washington is taking us out to Freddy’s for cheeseburgers and shakes. Really, boys, it smells like you’ve been over cooking eggs and cabbage in here. Crack open a few more windows before you leave. Goodness!”
Ethan let out a held breath when he heard the front door shut. He turned to Jax, who nearly collapsed. “Your mom handled that a lot better than mine would have.”
“That’s only because we’re going to Freddy’s for dinner. It’s her favorite place in town. I could drop a bucket of red paint on her minivan and she’d still want to go.”
Ethan ran his hand through his hair. This was probably the strangest day he’d ever had in his life. He looked back at the countertop. Even with the towels covering most of the mess it still looked like a bomb had gone off. Whatever that purple liquid was, it was bad. No doubt about that.
“We know something for sure,” Ethan said, dragging the trashcan over. “Those lunch ladies are up to something. And by the looks of this mess, it’s not good. Not good at all.”
Chapter Six: Boys Can Be So Stupid
The Washingtons had the worst timing in history. Emmy just finished a chapter in The Art of Choreography and was about to practice her routine when Mama J called for her to come down. Not that the idea of a strawberry shake didn’t sound good, but she was anxious to start on the dance moves. Some of the techniques looked easy enough on paper, but Emmy was sure they’d feel a lot different when she actually attempted them. She wanted to show Miss LeBeau how hard she’d worked.
“You two smell like rotten eggs,” Emmy told Ethan and Jax as they got into the minivan. They both sniffed each other. Emmy rolled her eyes. Sometimes boys act more like animals than humans. “Can we crack a window or something?”
Papa Washington rolled down the front windows, and Emmy welcomed the cool fresh air. She eyed the passing autumn trees, thinking about dancing in the golden foliage. Maybe she’d perform a solo at the talent show. I could dedicate it to Miss LeBeau.
“Did you boys get your mess cleaned up?” Mama J asked.
Emmy turned to her brother. “What did you two do? Is that why you smell like a toilet bowl?”
“It was a science experiment,” Ethan sneered. “I didn’t expect it to explo—I mean . . .”
“Your experiment ex-plo-ded?” Emmy said, dramatically enunciating each syllable.
“You boys should be more careful,” Papa Washington said. “Next time you want to do experiments, make sure I’m around, okay? There are dangerous chemicals that you don’t want to be messing around with.”
“You got that right,” Ethan mumbled.
“Are we clear?” Papa Washington said. “No more experiments without me.”
“Yes, sir,” Ethan and Jax said in unison.
“We’ll have to tell your parents when they call,” Mama J said.
Ethan harrumphed. “Yeah, if they ever call.”
Mama J went to say something but Papa Washington put a hand on hers and shook his head. They exchanged a disappointed look and Emmy rolled her eyes. It wasn’t any surprise her parents hadn’t called. They were always too busy with work to notice anything around them. If she knew how, she’d nominate them for the worst parents award.
Emmy turned her attention to Ethan and Jax. She noticed black smudges on Ethan’s nose and what looked like bleach stains on Jax’s shirt. “What were you two doing anyway?”
“I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you,” Ethan whispered. His right eyebrow twitched.
“Liar! I know you’re going to tell me anyway, so why not come out with it?”
Ethan glanced at Jax’s parents, and then back at her.
Fine, Emmy thought. Spill your guts when we’re alone. She rolled her eyes and stared out the window. Perhaps she’d do an interpretive dance entitled ‘Experiment Gone Wrong’. She imagined Ethan and Jax in ballet costumes prancing around a fire like sugarplum fairies. She laughed to herself.
***
When they got back to the house, Emmy rushed up to her room. It wasn’t actually her room but she’d stayed in it more times than anyone else,
so the Washingtons might as well have called it hers. She lifted her pillow and pulled out her book on choreography. That familiar warm tingling moved up her arms as she opened the cover, bringing a smile to her lips. She flipped to the section she’d been reading and looked at the images of the dance routine. Laying the book open on her bed, she tried to strain her back to make the perfect arch pose. It felt more like strange yoga than actual dancing, but Emmy was sure she had the pose right. She kicked her right leg forward and did a half turn, pivoting on her toes. With as much grace as she could muster, she twirled around and pointed her left leg and fingers forward. Someone knocked on the door. She crashed to the floor.
“Whoa, you okay?” Ethan asked, as he opened the door.
Emmy glared at him, her face heating. “I’ve been trying to work on my dance routine, but I keep getting interrupted.”
“Hey, I thought you wanted to know what Jax and I were up to.”
“Really . . . I don’t care. I’m trying to get this routine down. You guys blew up Mom’s kitchen. So what? As long as I wasn’t there—I’m not involved—and I won’t be grounded.”
“Em . . .” Ethan whined.
Exasperated, Emmy pushed herself off the floor and stormed to the bed. She slammed her book shut and shoved it under her pillow. She dropped onto the edge of the bed and crossed her arms. “Fine! So, talk.”
“I don’t want to tell you now.”
“Are you serious? I just put my book away and you don’t want to tell me?”
Ethan did a little hop and she could tell he was trying not to lose it on her. What he wanted to say was clearly important. She gave a sigh. “Fine. You have my undivided attention. What exactly were you doing in Mom’s kitchen? Oh, and you have to swear by telling me I won’t be held at all responsible.”
“I promise. This was all me and Jax.”
“I did what?” Jax said, popping his head into the bedroom.