One beautiful morning he woke to the sound of a new text coming in. Visions of Amanda were still dancing in his head and he sighed. He couldn’t wait to see what she had to tell him now. Maybe she’d sent a new picture, or a little snippet from a screenplay she was working on. Or maybe a joke. Her jokes weren’t that funny but he always laughed. She tried so hard.
He ran a hand through his hair and stretched, then reached for his phone. He was surprised to see that the sender wasn’t Amanda. She was the only one who had his number. Who else could it be? Maybe some spam.
He poised his finger over Delete but when he saw the text he stopped in mid-air. The message was from Banting Waltz.
“Nice to see you’re doing so well,” it said. “I’m ever so pleased—so pleased that I have a little gift for you: my generosity. You will do a few things for me and I won’t kill Amanda or that cute little sister of yours. Don’t thank me. Just stand by.”
Nick couldn’t believe his eyes. He threw the phone across the cabin and punched the wall. That bastard! Well, if he thought he was going to hurt Amanda or Basilica he had another think coming. He shrugged into his jacket, vaulted off the boat, and started walking. No one hurt his love or his sister. No one.
He felt his phone buzz again and pulled it out of his pocket. Another text had come in, this time from Amanda. His heart leapt, but by the time he’d finished reading he was tasting bile.
“I don’t want to worry you but Scapulus is missing and I think he might have gone looking for you. He’s really changed. He’s been training and he’s got all these muscles and I’m worried. Please be careful. I love you. xoxox.”
After Professor Scribbish recovered from the spider venom he seemed a lot like his old self. Sometimes he seemed to forget he was two people and joked around like always. He was still under observation though. With Amboy inside him no one knew what he might do, and they kept a guard stationed outside his hospital room.
No one had ever seen a case like his before. Chimerism might mean that a person had two types of DNA but that didn’t make him two people—at least not until now. Professor Hoxby explained that even though the phenomenon was newsworthy he wasn’t going to write it up. The situation was too sensitive for public consumption.
Thrillkill admitted that he had no idea what to do with Scribbish/Moriarty. With all those detectives’ secrets in his head the man posed a huge security risk, but he hadn’t committed any crimes or even threatened to. In fact the Amboy personality seemed like quite a nice person, despite his upbringing. The detectives had no legal standing that allowed them to detain him, so the outcome might depend on what the man himself wanted to do.
It was an odd problem, Professor Scribbish trying to figure out what to do with himself. When he looked at the question objectively, he recognized that he was too dangerous to be let out into the world. But by the same token he felt harmless. Nothing about the Amboy personality caused him to feel hostile or sneaky or dishonest, so what would be the harm?
He did admit to feeling a certain sadness at times, as if even with two people inside he didn’t feel whole. Amanda and Ivy wondered if his Amboy personality was missing his twin. Blixus had certainly felt the loss. Which raised a question: if Amboy hadn’t died, why had Blixus lost the connection with him? Had the Scribbish DNA gotten in the way?
Clive wondered whether the teacher should have another bone marrow transplant. Perhaps, he said, all that new DNA would replace everything else and allow him to start over. Professor Hoxby expressed reservations, however. Scribbish/Moriarty’s biology was so unique that you couldn’t predict what might happen. He might end up with a third personality inside him, and then what? Clive then offered to be the donor because “I’d like to see what it’s like to be in two places at once,” but Professor Hoxby nixed that too. As Dr. Who-ish and attractive as the idea sounded, it was just too risky.
At last Headmaster Thrillkill decided that as terrible a solution as it was, Professor Scribbish should be free to roam around the campus as long as he wore an electronic tracker. Many of the students were outraged on his behalf, but others thought it couldn’t hurt and was better than some of the alternatives, such as committing him to an institution. But Professor Scribbish declared himself game and the tracker was fitted.
It came in the middle of the night. He’d been dreaming of nothing in particular when he was hit by a feeling so compelling that he couldn’t resist. He rose from his bed and tied his robe around him, then ducked out of his quarters limping ever so slightly. He knew what he had to do.
He quickly picked the lock on Thrillkill’s office door and pushed it open. They would be in the safe. He made short work of that too. As he swung the heavy door aside his fingers trembled. He’d never felt so excited in his life and he had no idea why.
There they were in all their glory, almost glowing with the power they harbored. He reached out and caressed the earpiece, then lifted them out and looked at them lovingly. Someone had polished them and the lenses sparkled like crystal.
He breathed deeply and lifted them to his face. As he settled them on his nose a shiver of something not quite fear and not quite excitement rippled through him. Then, just as suddenly, a sense of calm took over and he knew that whatever occurred it would be all right.
For a moment nothing happened and all he could hear was the sound of his own breathing. And then the voice he hadn’t heard for thirty years filled his head, soft like a caress but as powerful as a Titan.
“Amboy,” it said. “Is that you?”
Christopher Scribbish raised his arms to the sky in thanks and prepared to meet his destiny.
“Yes,” he said aloud. “I’m here, brother. I’ve come home at last.”
Summer Term Second-Year Class Schedule
Monday
8:00 – 9:15. Pathology, Hoxby
9:30 – 10:45. Cryptography and Cryptoanalysis, Turing
11:15 – 12:30. Crime Lab, Stegelmeyer
12:30 – 1:30. Lunch
1:30 – 2:45. Weapons, Snool.
Tuesday
8:00 – 9:15. Legal Issues, Mukherjee
9:30 – 10:45. Toxicology, Pargeter
11:15 – 12:30. Self-defense, Peaksribbon
12:30 – 1:30. Lunch
1:30 – 2:45. Investigative Techniques, Gently.
Wednesday
8:00 – 9:15. Weapons, Snool
9:30 – 10:45. Cryptography and Cryptoanalysis, Turing
11:15 – 12:30. Pathology, Hoxby
12:30 – 1:30. Lunch
1:30 – 2:45. Crime Lab, Stegelmeyer.
Thursday
8:00 – 9:15. Investigative Techniques, Gently
9:30 – 10:45. Legal Issues, Mukherjee
11:15 – 12:30. Self-defense, Peaksribbon
12:30 – 1:30. Lunch
1:30 – 2:45. Toxicology, Pargeter.
Friday
8:00 – 9:15. Pathology, Hoxby
9:30 – 10:45. Crime Lab, Stegelmeyer
11:15 – 12:30. Investigative Techniques, Gently
12:30 – 1:30. Lunch
1:30 – 2:45. Weapons, Snool.
About the Author
Paula Berinstein is the former producer and host of the popular podcast, The Writing Show. She lives in Los Angeles.
Amanda Lester and the Gold Spectacles Surprise Page 29