by Katrina Cope
“Do tell.” The professor seemed very interested.
“Well, it was a brief conversation that I just happened to hear.”
“Go on,” the professor encouraged him.
“There was a group of senior girls chatting in one of their dorms and they said that there was another explosive device found at the next train station.”
“Really?” The professor raised an eyebrow. “How shocking. Did they know who found it?”
“They said that a group of senior students had found it at the train station. It sounds like it was found by pure luck. It only came to their attention because the device looked like their friend’s prototype of a remote-controlled robot, so they had a look and found explosives inside it. They disabled it before it exploded.”
“How lucky,” The professor said. “Do they have any idea who made it?”
“No, they don’t. I honestly don’t think it was anyone at the school,” Jayden said. “They seemed genuinely surprised.”
“Well, time will tell. As you’ve discovered, it looks like these bombs were planted on items created by the students,” said the professor. “It looks more than a little suspicious to me.” He peered over his glasses. “Perhaps not all the students at the school are guilty—maybe only a few, but we must find these few and put a stop to this nonsense. Don’t you agree?”
The four students nodded.
“Very well. Good work, all of you. Thank you so much for offering to help, especially when it isn’t even during school hours.” The professor flashed his large teeth in a grateful smile. “Jayden, that was exceptionally good work—particularly getting such great results from your first project. You definitely are a natural, just as Avando said.” He plunked a fist down on the desk, stood, and went over to a large jar of candies that sat on his main desk.
The students rose to their feet. He handed out several sweets to each of the students. “Take these as a token of my gratitude for your help. Now you can enjoy what little time you have remaining before bed.” He showed the children out of the room and closed the door behind them.
“It feels rather odd getting candies for doing spy work,” Jayden said as they walked to the common room. “I mean, how old are we—like, five?”
“Yeah. Doesn’t it?” Aaron said, looking puzzled.
“Well, I’m not complaining,” said Robert.
“You wouldn’t be,” Eva said. “Besides, what’s this about making the most of our time before bed? It’s already ten thirty—way past our bedtime.”
They all looked at their watches.
“So it is,” Aaron agreed. “At least we helped a good cause.”
They all nodded in agreement and headed to their rooms to hit the sack.
~~~~~
THE ROOM WAS pitch black, but the darkness of the night didn’t quiet the racket outside the four walls.
Liam groaned as he rolled over and put a pillow over his head, desperately trying to block out the noise and get some more sleep. He had gone to bed late the night before, because he worked on a project with Dryden, Hayley, and their new friend Brendan. In record time, they were piecing together the older students’ remote-controlled train instructions. The motivation of trying to see if it would work was effectively speeding up the process. They badly wanted to discover if the toy was somehow connected to the terrible train-station bombing that had happened earlier that day.
The commotion in the hallway outside their room grew louder. Giving up, Liam took the pillow off his head. His curiosity grew.
What is that? he wondered. Is that a siren? Throwing the blankets off, he got out of bed, stood, and looked out the window. There were people running everywhere under the lights of the campus. Isn’t it the middle of the night? he thought. What’s going on down there?
He felt the adrenaline waking up his body as questions sprung into his mind. Then something caught his eye. A bright fire burned in one of the buildings. He squinted his eyes, trying to assess which building it was, and thought it might be the science lab. He shook Dryden awake.
“What?” Dryden’s drowsy voice croaked.
“There’s some sort of commotion going on outside, and it looks like one of the buildings is on fire,” Liam said in a rush.
“What? How?” Dryden bolted upright and looked out the window. “Which building do you think it is?”
“I don’t know. I think it might be the science lab, but I’m not sure. Come on—it looks like we should evacuate.”
For protection against the chilly night air, they grabbed blankets to wrap around their shoulders as they left the room. They joined the noisy group of students who were evacuating the building and made their way outside to the front of the school. The majority of teachers were herding the students in a safe direction away from anything that might burn. All the students were wearing their pajamas or nightgowns and had the same expression of concern and confusion on their faces.
Once they reached the front of the school, they heard the scream of sirens coming from the fire truck that was roaring down the road toward the school. The truck screeched to a halt out front. The students watched helplessly as the firemen jumped out, grabbed all their firefighting equipment, and then hurried toward the burning building.
In the distance, Liam spotted a student with a big, fluffy ball of messed-up, curly, red hair that glowed in the lights. “Hey Dryden!” he said while giving him a nudge with his elbow. “What do you want to bet that’s Hayley?”
Dryden looked over to where Liam was gesturing, and they both laughed. They approached the fluffy-haired redhead, and when Liam touched her on the shoulder, she turned to look at them.
That was too much. They both roared with laughter when they saw her face framed by the big fluff of red hair.
Dryden pretended to call to the firemen. “Hey guys, I think you missed this little fire over here!”
“Ha, ha!” Hayley responded without humor. “Obviously, I didn’t have time to do my morning routine of taming my hair before anyone saw me.”
“You mean you look like that every morning?” Liam asked in disbelief while both boys were still laughing.
Hayley changed the subject. “Any idea what’s going on?”
Liam shook his head. “No. It looks like a fire. I’m not sure—but it might be the science lab.”
Her eyes searched the crowd. “Have either of you seen Brendan?”
“No, but I’d imagine he’s in this crowd somewhere,” Liam said, indicating the large gathering of students.
Hayley asked, “What time is it? I didn’t have a chance to grab my watch.”
“Don’t you wear it to bed?” Liam asked.
“What, and risk it getting caught up in this mass when I wake up?” She pointed to her hair. “I don’t think so.”
“Good point! I’m surprised your pillow doesn’t get lost in that tangled mess, too,” Dryden teased her.
“Oh, you’re so funny.” She squinted at him. “Time?” She tapped her wrist impatiently.
Dryden looked at his watch. “It’s ten past five.”
She sighed loudly. “Well, that’s the end of my night’s sleep.”
The three students huddled and talked for a while longer and watched the light starting to fill the sky when the sun began to rise.
Professor Klarance made an appearance in front of of the crowd. “Students! We have good news and we have bad news. Firstly, the rooms were empty at the time of the explosion, so no one has been hurt in the blaze.”
A cheer sounded from the crowd.
“Secondly, you’re all free to go back to your rooms to try to get some more sleep. Or, you can get dressed and go to the dining room for an early breakfast. The bad news is that there will be no science classes today because two of the science buildings, A and B, have been affected by the blaze.”
“Oh no! Our train,” whined Hayley.
The two boys looked at her in confusion.
“We left our train project in science building A. I
t’ll be ruined!” she explained.
The boys voiced their disappointment.
“We had that late night for nothing,” Liam moaned.
Professor Klarance continued with sadness in his voice. “So no one will be allowed to go near the science rooms. Naturally, a cleanup will commence after forensics has conducted their investigation.”
Excitedly, everyone started coming up with all kinds of possible reasons that the fire had started.
“Did he say explosion?” asked Dryden.
“Yeah, he did, but that could mean that some chemicals connected somehow and reacted—with it being a science room, and all,” Liam pointed out.
“True,” Hayley agreed. “I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to be able to get back to sleep now, so I’m going to tame my hair and go get some breakfast.”
“We’ll have time to sleep some more while we are waiting for you,” Dryden teased her.
“Enough with the hair jokes, already!” Hayley snapped.
“What, and you don’t tease everyone else all the time? Finally, we have something to tease you about!” Dryden said.
“Whatever. If that’s the best you can do!” She turned on a heel and walked away.
“We’ll be in the dining room waiting for you,” Liam called after her.
After getting dressed, the boys made their way there. The room was very busy, and tables were filling up fast.
“Obviously, just about everyone else thought it’d be useless to try to sleep again, too,” Dryden said.
“Well, who’d be able to sleep after all that excitement?” Liam asked, grabbing a plate.
Filling their plates from the large selection of food on the buffet that the cooks had prepared early due to the emergency, they made their way to a table that had chairs for them, and two extra chairs for Hayley and Brendan. A little while later, Hayley joined them with a plate full of food. Her hair was now in neat curls.
“Who are you? You’re not the friend we saw earlier this morning,” Dryden said.
“Are you still working on your hair jokes, genius?” she responded tartly. “Still no sign of Brendan?”
The others shook their heads.
“Does he ever eat?” she asked.
“Knowing him, he’s probably gone back to bed. He does seem to sleep a lot,” Liam remarked.
“How full is this dining room?” Hayley mused. They looked around at all the different faces of the students, who were all clever in their own way. Some could be described as typical nerds, and some couldn’t. Some of the students preferred their solitude, some enjoyed crowds, and some were interested in finding romantic partners.
A group of girls who looked to be fifteen walked past the three friends. They were twirling their hair, giggling, and looking in the direction of one of the guys who was about the same age and quite good-looking. He looked their way and smiled, which made the girls almost scream with excitement.
Eventually, they took a seat together as close as they could get to the young man, with each of them trying to find the best position to watch him.
The three friends shook their heads as they witnessed this spectacle.
The hall was now full, with a line of people who were waiting starting to form outside. Unexpectedly, Dr. Ernest walked into the room with a microphone. Beads of sweat from the tension of the previous night had formed on his bald head. He held the microphone up to his mouth and said, “Good morning, students.”
A muttered response filled the room.
He continued, “As you know, there’s been an unfortunate episode here at Ernest State College. For those who don’t fully understand what has happened, I will fill you in on what I can. This morning just before five a.m., there was a large explosion in science building A, which is one of the outer buildings of the school. It started a large fire, which then also affected science building B.”
“The forensics team has undergone a thorough investigation as to what might’ve started this explosion. Naturally, it being a science building, they suspected it might’ve been an accidental chemical reaction. To their surprise, this wasn’t the case—so I congratulate you all for dealing with the chemicals appropriately. Well done,” he added with a smile. His face then became serious again. “However, what they did discover has caused an immense shock to our teachers, security agents, and—no doubt—I’m sure will also shock you, as well. Unfortunately, they found a trigger and the remains of a bomb.”
A wave of shock rippled through the dining room.
“It was only a small bomb. We’d assume that the perpetrator didn’t intend to kill or hurt anyone, due to the time they set the bomb to go off—a time when no one was likely to be in that room. That, in itself, is a huge relief, but we must address this incident as a form of threat. It’s believed that this bomb was hidden in a white backpack.”
“So, if anyone can give us any information about having seen anyone carrying or wearing a white backpack, please come forward and share it with us. The majority of the school has been thoroughly checked for any explosive devices and has been declared safe. The parts that have not been cleared have been barricaded. Do not access these areas.”
“Needless to say, all classes held in the science building have been relocated. Please check the noticeboard in the Administration building for the locations. Otherwise, the schedule will continue as normal. Try to concentrate on your schoolwork as much as possible, because we will not allow this invasion on our campus to deter us from being the most renowned and respected school in the country.”
He handed the microphone to Professor Thornton. Her plump, friendly face was sympathetic. “We understand that this may upset some students, so those of you who need help coping, please take the opportunity to talk to our school psychiatrist. Thank you all for being such wonderful students.” She turned the microphone off to indicate that the announcements had finished.
The room immediately filled with excited chatter.
“How messed up were the last couple of days?” Hayley sat on the edge of her seat as she asked the others. “First the train stations, and now our science labs.”
“I know. Weird, huh?” Liam agreed. “Besides being tired, everyone seems to be dealing pretty well, though and carrying on as normal.”
“It just goes to show that terrorism can’t ruin our life. It can disrupt it in a big way at times, but it won’t make us change our ways,” Hayley added.
Dryden considered this. “Makes you wonder why they try!” he said.
- Chapter Fifteen -
David’s Mortification
A few days had passed since the terrorist attack at the train station, and everyday life remained unchanged between the Sanctum walls. The shock and excitement from the previous few days had faded. The students of all levels and ages were bustling to participate in their daily lessons. Jayden sleepily washed his face, dressed, and got ready to go down to breakfast. He dropped his used towel and pajamas down the laundry chute in the bathroom fit for a king, then started to wander down to the dining room.
“Psst!”
Thinking he was hearing things, Jayden continued on his way.
“Psst!” The sound was louder this time. “Hey, you. Little kid!” said the whisper.
This time Jayden’s curiosity was piqued, and he turned to look for the owner of the whisper. He spotted David, the older student, squatting under a large potted plant near the bathroom.
“Are you talking to me?” asked Jayden at a normal volume. “’Cause I’m not a little kid.”
“Shhhhhhh!” whispered the older boy. “Sorry, but you are to me.”
Jayden shrugged his shoulders. “What are you doing?”
“I need your help.”
“Why?”
He looked sheepish. “I tried to reprogram Scarlet so that I could go into the girls’ bathroom,” he whispered. “Not only did she give me an electric shock, the big B has also locked me out of the boys’ bathroom as well.”
“Wow! D
o you not learn at all?” Jayden asked, shaking his head.
David rolled his eyes. “I know, I know. You would’ve thought I’d have learned by now, but surely she must be able to be bypassed somehow. Anyway, the reason I need your help is because I’m dying to use the toilet. Can you please scan your hand so that I can get in?”
“I’ll try.” They went to the bathroom door together, and Jayden scanned his hand. The door opened a fraction but then stopped and closed again.
“It’s nice of you to try to help that loser,” Scarlet said, her face appearing on the screen. “But if you keep trying, I will lock you out as well, Jayden Jenkins!” Her eyebrow rose as she glared at him.
Jayden looked at David. “Well, you heard her. I’m not going to lose my bathroom rights just ’cause you never learn. Sorry. Why don’t you go outside and use a tree?” he asked with a smile.
“Actually…that’s not a bad idea,” David said, sounding surprised. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself.”
They went down the stairs to the main common room together and then parted. Jayden headed for the dining room, and David headed for the front door.
“Ah, Jayden!” Hearing his name, Jayden turned to see who had called him. Coming out of his office was Avando, looking much more relaxed than he had the other night, as he limped his way toward him.
“Hi, Avando,” he said, changing direction to meet up with him.
“I hear you did some great work the other night.”
Jayden’s face got warm.
“So good to hear. You’re an absolute natural, Professor Showden informed me,” he said, smiling as he placed an arm around Jayden’s shoulders.
“That was nice of him,” Jayden said modestly.
“But also true, I’m sure. Thank you so much for your help. I haven’t seen the others since, so would you please pass on my appreciation to them, as well?”
“Sure.”
“You’ve got so much potential starting to shine through. I’m so glad I found you.” Avando’s dark eyes were sincere.