Cragbridge Hall, Volume 2: The Avatar Battle (34 page)

“Stop,” a woman’s voice said. She had stepped out of Mackleprank’s back closet—she must have been another avatar. She had a light build and long blond hair. She pointed at the lion. “You traitor. You put everything I love in danger.” She pointed at Rafa. “Especially my son.” A chill ran down Derick’s spine. It was Rafa’s mom. She had been freed and now controlled another avatar. Rafa had broken through. He had fought through soldier after soldier until he rescued his mother. “At this moment, my son is standing over your real body in quite a dangerous avatar. If you focus, you can hear him breathing in my lab in Brazil.”

The lion froze.

The woman continued. “I decided not to pull you out of my trailer just yet. I thought perhaps we should see how much the student has learned from the teacher.” Derick could hardly believe what he was seeing. It was a woman challenging a lion. Of course they were both avatars, but still.

The lion growled and leapt at the lady, who nimbly danced out of the way. Then Derick watched a fight he would never forget. A woman kicking, dodging, and punching. She moved with grace and rhythm. The real Mackleprank was back, and he—she—could still fight like a ninja. Several minutes later, the lion lay on the floor, its electronic insides exposed and crackling.

The woman avatar stood. Rafa took off his visor and approached her, tears streaming down his face. “I’m sorry it took me so long,
Mãe.
” He hugged her.

“Don’t worry,
Filho
.” She hugged him back and kissed his cheeks. “I knew you would figure it out and rescue me.”

Rafa pulled back and put his visor back down. “
Vamos.
Let’s get you out of here. Let’s get you safe.”

34

Tired of Being Afraid

Abby and Carol raced out of the basement and out of the small hallway in time to see a series of soldiers with teachers in their custody. Several security guards were unconscious on the floor.

Abby looked down at the straw and blowdarts. There was no way she was going to be able to stop them all. But she had to try.

Abby moved around to the side of the hall and hid around the corner.

“Hey, you uglies,” Carol shouted at the men down the hall. Well, Abby wouldn’t have to worry about distracting them. “It could just be me, but I don’t think it is very nice to pull teachers out of their rooms and drag them down the hall. In fact, I would say that it is just plain rude. Like super rude. Like ruder than licking someone else’s candy, or calling them buffalo face. Not that any of that has ever happened to me.”

One of the soldiers released the teacher’s arm and stepped forward, pointing the gun barrel directly at Carol. “Just run away, young lady.” It was the voice of a woman. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will.”

“Really?” Carol said. “A woman? Don’t get me wrong. I know that women can be fantastic warriors, shoot guns and arrows and stuff. I mean we rock and there is nothing else to say about it. But I really thought no woman would follow Muns. I thought only boys were dumb enough for that.”

The woman raised her arm, and then fell to the ground.

Abby was surprised she had hit her. Maybe all her practice had paid off.

The other soldiers quickly moved into some sort of defense formation. The teachers fell to the floor and Carol dove to the other side of the hallway, away from Abby.

This wasn’t good. Now Abby had all of their attention.

Abby turned to run away down the hall when she heard growling. Lots of growling. Then there was a lot of yelling and gunshots.

Abby peered around the corner to see the soldiers shouting in desperation as a rhino charged them, a gorilla swung down from the stairway above, and two more lions joined the fray. A second gorilla had managed to sneak behind them and conk two of their heads together. Within moments, all of the soldiers were either unconscious or had surrendered. The teachers were free.

Abby still had no idea what had gone on until Derick came rushing down the hall. He had been in one of the avatars that neutralized the soldiers. Once the action was over, he came back to explain about the avatar club and how they had come to the rescue.

Each of the teachers shared their thanks for saving them. Abby didn’t recognize any of them, though she thought she had probably seen a few of them in the halls. Whether they all had keys or not, she couldn’t tell for sure, but she knew whoever had taken over for Mackleprank believed they had.

“Thank you again,” an Asian man with slightly long dark hair said. “I must admit, I never expected someone so young to be involved in this.”

“Yeah, maybe we didn’t expect it either,” Abby admitted.

“But we rocked it!” Carol said, with a fist jab in the air. “Oh, yeah. Uh huh. We deserve so much chocolate. ”

Derick smiled. He glanced at the soldiers sprawled on the ground. “What are we going to do with them?”

The man thought for a moment. “I think we should have security take them to the police and press charges for breaking and entering, carrying weapons in a school, and several counts of assault. All those charges are true, though we will leave out other details. We won’t have to worry about them anymore.”

“Shouldn’t Oscar be advised?” asked a woman who was short and plump with bushy red hair. “And we should speak as a council before we make any decisions.”

She had said “council.” Apparently both of them were part of the other Council of the Keys. Abby could trust them, but she still hesitated to answer. Finally, she spoke. “My grandpa is unconscious in the basement and has several burns. They may be serious. He needs medical attention. My parents and the Trinhouses are also unconscious. They were tranquilized. And I have no idea how long they’ll be out. It could be weeks.”

Several of the teachers rushed down to the basement.

• • •

The reality of it sunk in, and Abby hated it. Though they had stopped Muns’s plans, he still had keys. He could be planning how to use them right now. He could be
using
them right now. He could be destroying everything. Grandpa was unconscious. And her parents. And the Trinhouses. And the coaches. And Ms. Entrese. But Muns wasn’t. Who was going to stop him?

After all she had been through, she still felt terrified. She still didn’t know what Muns was going to do. If only he had been . . .

Abby’s eyes widened. She had an idea.

She raced up to the avatar lab and found Dr. Mackleprank’s beaten robot body. She searched its pockets. There were still two spheres that looked like they would work. The third was unrecognizable. She quickly tucked them away. Even among those who had keys, there was no telling who knew about the Bridge’s ability to interact with the present and the recent past.

Derick was in the avatar lab, cleaning up as best he could with the help of several students Abby didn’t know. He said they were the Crash, and they had a lot of questions. They would have to decide how much to tell them later.

“Derick,” Abby whispered. “Can you come with me back to the basement?”

“Can I finish this first?” he asked.

“No,” she said. “I need some help now.”

“I’m coming,” Carol said.

“What’s up?” Derick asked.

Abby looked at them both. “I’m tired of being afraid.”

Soon they all stood in the Bridge room again. Everyone who had been tranquilized had been cleared out and was getting any medical attention they needed.

Abby approached the Bridge. She pulled out the three keys she had taken from the Bridge before she and Carol could unlock the Bridge room and try to help save the teachers. Abby placed all three keys in their slots.

“Derick, can I use your sphere?” she asked.

“What do you want to see?”

“Please,” Abby pleaded, “before I change my mind.”

Derick hesitated and then handed his sphere to his sister. She placed it above a key, then placed the other two. Metal arms came out of the console to retrieve them.

“You’re going into the present,” Derick said. “To do what? Wait. We could go get Rafa’s mom and bring her straight here.”

“That’s a great idea,” Abby said, “but I have to do this first. Will you please turn the keys with me?”

“You’re sure about whatever you’re going to do?” Derick asked.

“Yes.”

They twisted the keys. Abby knew she had a very limited time before the Bridge started to tremble. She searched the Bridge’s history and found the entry she wanted and selected it. A large desk in a finely decorated room appeared on the other half of the basement. Two guards stood at its sides, and Charles Muns sat behind the desk.

“We will move immediately,” Muns said.

“Abby, what are you going to do?” Derick asked.

Abby didn’t answer. She only watched for a moment until she saw Muns with the keys in his hands. She approached the divide in time, and pulled out a straw and some darts. She could do this. She counted to three and stepped into Muns’s study. She immediately blew a dart, hitting the large guard to the left. The guard to the right triggered his gun, but Abby hit him in the chest. Not what she was aiming for, but she was nervous and it would work. She dove behind the desk. One guard circled around after her, while the other called for reinforcement. Within seconds, both fell to the floor.

Abby stood up, glaring at Charles Muns.

“Abby,” he said. He sounded calm, but she knew he was on edge. There was no way he could have seen this coming. “So good to see you. I was just . . .”

But Abby didn’t let him finish. She didn’t have a lot of time. The Bridge may already be shaking. “I hate your game,” she said and knocked all the pieces off the chessboard that lay on the corner of his desk. “I’m tired of being afraid. Your turn.”

Muns’s eyes went wide. Abby loved it so much, she almost paused. Almost. She shot him with a dart that stuck in his forehead. He collapsed headfirst onto the table.

Abby heard footsteps outside the room. She reached for Muns’s hand and pried out the keys, then dove back into the basement of Cragbridge Hall.

Derick twisted the keys, and the quaking Bridge calmed down. “You’re crazy. You could have gotten killed.”

“
You
are a rock star,” Carol said. “Seriously, I need your autograph.”

Abby breathed deep. She wasn’t going to be afraid anymore.

35

Not Going Anywhere

I’m excited to have a new zoology teacher,” Derick said to Rafa’s mother. They had used the Bridge to bring her from the jungles of Brazil into the basement of Cragbridge Hall. They also brought the treacherous assistant and put her in a cell. They would need to ask her questions later. After giving the Bridge time to stabilize again, they even went back to retrieve the avatars and their parts. What they couldn’t take, they had to destroy. Derick stuck out his hand for a handshake.

She hugged him. “I’m not a new teacher, Derick. I’ve been teaching you for a while. It’s just now I’m going to teach you in person.” Mr. Sul, the Asian man who had been rescued by the avatars, was also an assistant administrator. He had worked feverishly with the other Council of the Keys members to clean up the mess that night, and turn Muns’s men in to the local authorities. It would bring bad press when the world discovered that Cragbridge Hall had been invaded, that it was not as safe as it claimed to be—especially when several teachers and security officers were recovering in the medical unit. It would bring unwanted attention, but there was no way around it. Mr. Sul also hired Rafa’s mom as the new zoology teacher after Dr. Mackleprank “had an emergency he had to take care of”—that was what they were telling the other students, anyway.