Brass Monkeys (32 page)

Harriet tossed the sword back to Toddwilly without him calling for it, and he grinned and flipped her a ball.

“You see yourself breathing, reading, playing,” said Harriet, “all those years ago. Sometimes when I read about Joan of Arc or Alexander the Great, I can actually feel some of the emotions they must have felt. And that makes the whole thing kind of like—she caught the sword again—an adventure.”

Toddwilly kept on juggling, but you could tell he was studying Harriet now. “What’s your name?”

Ray and I couldn’t keep our mouths shut so we blurted out her name as if Harriet didn’t know it herself. I saw guys standing up all over the room trying to get a better view of her.

Toddwilly smiled. “Well, Harriet Grove, do you realize you’re holding Alexander the Great’s sword?”

The class let out a cry of stunned surprise.

“I believe it,” said Harriet fervently. And so did I. At that moment I would have believed anything this guy said.

Toddwilly grinned and motioned for the sword. Harriet tossed it back.

“We’ll juggle again sometime,” said Toddwilly. Harriet returned and sat down amid a burst of cheering and stamping feet. All this died away suddenly as a tall Stormie dressed in black leather burst into the pool area. Some of the kids screamed, while others scrambled back out of the way.

“Look out Toddwilly-man!” Ray cried out.

But Toddwilly seemed unconcerned. “Take your seats,” he called out. “There’s nothing to be alarmed about.”

Perkins and Adjana also stepped forward and waved us back to our chairs. We sat down again, but reluctantly. I was breathing in a shallow way and my whole body felt like a coiled spring.

The Stormie threw back his head and roared with laughter. His gray, wind-swept hair bobbed in a weird way. “You chattering fools, there’s plenty to be alarmed about,” he said in a guttural voice, “now that I’m here.” He drew his curved sword and leveled it at Toddwilly. “Where’s your man Perkins? He’s the one I came for!”

“I’m right here,” said Perkins in a calm voice. He stepped out of the crowd on the far side of the room. “What is it you want?”

“I want everything you stand for,” cried out the Stormie. “In particular, I want your stupid word
pothos.”

Perkins gave him a cool look. “No one can take words from us. Words live beyond the grasp of people like yourself. They soar beyond your dark classrooms, your music and incense. You can’t contain words. They have their own power and life. They live on.”

“Wrong!” cried the Stormie. “I can kill them. I can crush them. I can change and make them do whatever I say! And today, I will demonstrate that by crushing
pothos
, the word, the idea, the spirit of it. Crush it!”

He raised his sword and swung it around his head in a menacing way. The entire audience cried out a warning, but again Toddwilly and Perkins calmed us and urged us to stay in our seats. Harriet, Lilah, and Teddy did, but Ray and I stayed on our feet, poised to run. I thought the whole scene might be part of show and tell, but Ray had other ideas and he made me doubtful.

“He’s a real Stormie, man,” he whispered to me. “And he’s out for trouble!”

Toddwilly picked up Alexander’s sword from the desk and underhanded it to Perkins. The Lion caught it easily, then did a strange thing. He walked straight to where Ray and I stood. His gaze took in Lilah, Teddy, and Harriet, but then landed on me.

“Pothos,”
he said loudly, “means to have a strong and powerful hunger for some great and nearly unreachable goal. Have you ever had a goal like that, some grand thing you wanted and needed so badly? Have you ever felt that?”

I didn’t say a word, but I could feel my lips quivering. I wanted to yell out, “Absolutely!” But I didn’t move because of the sudden, threatening advance of the Stormie. He came straight for Perkins.

The kids in the front rows scuttled back out of the way and cried out in alarm. Perkins gave me a last, grave look, turned, and brought his sword up in a defensive position just in time. Then the two came together with a great clashing of metal. The Stormie grunted and said fiercely, “You mealy-mouthed shadrack!”

I remembered the Stormie back in Ming’s school using the word “shadrack,” and it made me think Ray was right. But the class, along with Adjana and the other teachers, started rooting loudly for Perkins as if it were all a show. Finally, Ray and I joined in, but I think we were both suspicious of the Stormie.

At first the Lion was doing great and holding his own, but then slowly he was driven back. Now it appeared as if the Stormie had wounded him.

“Oh man,” Ray blurted out, “this ain’t good!”

A moment later Perkins took what looked like a terrible cut across the shoulder and he went down, his sword clattering away. The entire audience, myself included, cried out in dismay. The Stormie smiled and raised his sword high, and that was all Ray could take.

He yelled out something crazy and charged into the fight. He snatched up the Lion’s sword and tossed to him.

“Thank you, young sir,” Perkins yelled to Ray. Then he began battling the Stormie with a new fierceness. Now the big Stormie began retreating, and with every clang of Perkins’s sword, we yelled in triumph. When he finally disarmed the Stormie with several clever thrusts, we clapped and roared like lunatics.

At this, the Stormie smiled, saluted us, and left the room. Perkins walked toward me, stopped, and fixed me with those lion-like eyes.
“Pothos,”
he said. Then he turned and walked away, accompanied by a roar of cheering voices.

I stood there stunned for a moment, then joined in, clapping wildly.

Adjana came out now, smiling. “Thank you, Perkins. You and Toddwilly never let us down with your show and tell. Now,” her eyes swept the audience, “let’s move to the last part—the awarding of prizes. Who, by virtue of their splendid answers and their clear-minded thoughts, should get the Silver Ball?”

Only a second passed before a cry of “Harriet! Harriet!” went up. In the next instant the kids broke out in thunderous applause. And Ray and I joined right in. I looked over and got a wink from Lilah. She and Teddy were cheering like mad.

Adjana lifted the Silver Ball from the column of water and walked over to Harriet. “Miss Grove,” she said, “by virtue of your splendid answers and clear-minded thoughts, and by the logical and imaginative manner in which you rendered them, the Silver Ball is yours for the rest of the day.”

Adjana handed the ball to Harriet, who seemed stunned. I saw tears shimmering at the corners of her eyes. Now she gave the crowd a trembling smile, which brought a further ovation from the kids.

“And who,” Adjana went on, “by virtue of his or her quick thinking, should get the object of show and tell?” asked Adjana.

“Raymondo!” cried the crowd. “Raymondo!”

Perkins came back now, picked up the sword, and brought it to Ray.

“Holy Crow,” said Ray. “You mean, I won something?”

“It’s yours,” said Perkins. “One of Alexander’s swords, to be held by your hands for the remainder of the day.”

A furious burst of applause followed this and Ray seemed dumbfounded. He kept staring at the sword. Now he raised it aloft to salute the crowd and got a great roar of approval.

“And who should get the mighty word for the day?” Perkins went on.

A hundred voices rang out with “Bumpus! Billy Bumpus. He should get it!”

When they first started up, I actually thought they were calling out some other kid’s name. I just sat there grinning like a prime dodo. Finally Harriet nudged me in the ribs and said, “Billy, it’s you!”

Perkins laughed. “Come forward, young man.”

I set my trumpet down carefully, then walked out and joined the Lion. To say I was nervous doesn’t really describe how overwhelmed I felt.

“By virtue of your courage in bringing the book back to McGinty,” cried Perkins, “and your true and deep understanding of today’s word, you have earned the golden chain with the word
‘pothos’
spelled out in blue lapis lazuli.”

There was deafening applause at this, but I was so dazed I’m not sure I was aware of much of anything. I tried to say something, but I got emotional and my throat squeezed shut. All I could do was nod like a bobblehead and grin. Perkins lifted up a dazzling golden chain with the six letters in blue lapis and held them up so everyone could see them. Then he put the chain around my neck.

“Keep up the fight, young man,” said Perkins.

“I will,” I managed to stammer.

The band started up with “The Young Shall Ride Unicorns.”

Immediately two burly Tats grabbed me and hoisted me onto their shoulders. A great cheer went up from the crowd as someone handed up my trumpet. I looked over and saw Harriet and Ray being lifted onto the broad shoulders of other Tats. Now the three of us were brought together at the head of a great procession, and we started off out of the pool area. Glancing back, I saw Lilah and Teddy had joined in and were marching with the Grotto teachers. We paraded around the building twice, with me wearing the golden necklace, Ray holding the sword aloft, and Harriet clasping the silver ball to her heart.

We were just starting around the third time when Adjana caught up with me. “I need to talk to you,” she called. The burly guys lowered me to the ground.

“I’ll catch up later,” I said to the Tats. They grinned and went on.

Adjana eyed me gravely. “You did really well in there.”

“Thanks. It was a terrific class.”

She lifted those wondrous eyebrows. “So how much time do you think you wasted?”

I looked at her a moment, then muttered an embarrassed “Duwang. How stupid can I be? The fact is, it was the greatest class I’ve ever been in.”

“And do you feel, perhaps, a bit inspired?”

“Truthfully,” I said, “I feel like I could fly. I’m not kidding.”

She gave me a faint smile. “It’s funny you should use that phrase, because before the hour is up we hope you’ll be doing just that.”

I gave her a baffled look. “What do you mean?”

“You’re going to fly to the Book Mountains.”

I gave Adjana a stunned look. “What are you talking about? I thought we were trapped down here?”

“It’s all changing, Billy.” She took a deep breath. “I just got two messages during class that have put us on another track entirely. First, let me give you the bad news. We just received word that the Stormies are working to unseal the old tunnel leading down to the Grotto. Mingley evidently found out you’re here so she’s sent them after you.” Adjana drew a shuddering breath. “She’ll do anything to keep McGinty from getting his book.”

I cleared my throat and tried to steady my voice. “You mean the Stormies are on their way down here, right now? How close are they?”

“If our sources are accurate,” replied Adjana grimly, “they can’t be more than two or three hours from breaking through. In other words, very close.”

“Holy Crow,” I said, borrowing a bit from Ray. “That’s scary. So how do the Book Mountains come in?”

“That’s part of the good news. Eddie Alfonso and his Tat friends just sent me a message saying their secret project is ready. They’ve been working outside of the regular classes on the project. If it works, you and your friends will be flying out of here very shortly, headed for the Book Mountains to find McGinty. But there’s something else I have to tell you. You deserve to know why you couldn’t go swimming with the others.”

I began nodding. “Yeah, what’s the deal? I mean, that really bothered me.”

“I know, and I’m sorry for that. But let me explain the reason. You were chosen for this mission out of thousands of boys and girls. It’s a dangerous and difficult assignment that most adults would fail at. And yet we’ve asked you to do it. But in order to carry it out, you need to be sharp and clear-minded about everything. Especially later in the mission, you’ll have to have all your wits about you in order to survive and finish the job.” She waited to see if I understood all this.

“Okay,” I said. “All that may be true, but why can’t I jump in the dumb pool?”

“Because, Billy, the Grotto water has great powers. It not only heals and refreshes the mind and body, it also makes it easier to forget about bad past experiences. All the kids who end up down here—the teachers too—usually need the waters to bring back their health, particularly after dealing with Mingley and her classes.”

“So Harriet and the others are going to forget all the rotten stuff that happened at Ming’s school, right?”

Adjana sighed. “They won’t forget everything, but the details will be blurred and softened. Then the ride back to the surface will take care of the rest. But don’t you see? You can’t afford to forget anything.
Nothing
can be blurred for you. You must concentrate every fiber of your being in order to finish the mission.” She gave me a pleading look out of those blue-green eyes. “I know it’s a lot to ask of you, and it
isn’t
fair. I just hope you understand.”

“What the heck,” I said, “of course I understand. It’s no biggie. I just need to keep a clear head.” I grinned at her. “That’s hard enough for me to do on a normal day.” I frowned. “But there is one person who really needs a dip in the pool, and that’s Jack. Some really awful things happened to him back at Ming’s school and he hasn’t been the same since. Maybe if you could talk him into a swim, he might change his mind and go with us to the Book Mountains.”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” said Adjana, “and maybe we have a chance yet because here comes your Mr. Hastings.”

I looked up and saw Jack coming our way, walking along the edge of the pool.

“Perhaps you’d better get out of sight,” murmured Adjana. “He may be a bit difficult, and he’s already a tad angry with you.”

“A tad is right.” I scurried behind a large stone pillar and crouched down. Off in the distance, I could hear the parade making its way around the building. Now I heard Jack’s muffled voice. Right away I could tell he was still grumpy. I took a chance and peeked around the pillar.

Adjana was holding out a pair of baggy orange bathing trunks to Jack, and I saw him rudely brush them away.