The Dominion Key (12 page)

I took his advice. As the massive light swiveled in my direction, I turned the other way and let it pass over me.

“Right this way,” Dr. Fleming said. Opening my eyes again, I saw him crossing the room toward a ladder. “Daisy’s right up here.”

I glanced at the others. “Daisy?”

Dr. Fleming was taking us to see something extremely dangerous … that had a really big nose … and was named Daisy.

Yeah, that made a lot of sense.

Dr. Fleming climbed the ladder and disappeared through a hatch in the ceiling. The rest of us followed one by one.

As I popped my head through the opening, I was slammed by a rush of wind. Bracing myself, I climbed the rest of the way. We were on the rooftop. My tie flapped in the wind. Beyond the school, the gray ocean stretched out on all sides.

It was the first time I’d been outside since we arrived. Dark clouds loomed overhead. A heavy mist clung to the rooftop. Far below, waves crashed against jagged rocks. Not the kind of weather that makes you want to go out and toss around a football.

SQUAWK!

I jumped at the hideous sound. Whirling, I saw something that sent my heart into my throat.

A metal bird the size of a fighter jet was descending on us.

Its enormous wings pounded the air as its silver webbed feet slapped down onto the rooftop just a few feet from where I was standing. I staggered backward, staring up at the thing. It looked like … like …

“A duck,” Milton murmured, gaping up at the bird in wide-eyed amazement. “A humongous robotic duck.”

He was right. The metallic bird was shiny green with matching wings that clicked into place at its sides as it
came to rest on the rooftop. Between its glowing eyes was a huge silver bill that opened and closed on smooth hinges.

I glanced at Miranda. “So it has a huge nose, huh?”

“Nose, beak …,” Miranda said. “Same difference.”

Dr. Fleming approached the robotic duck, speaking loudly to be heard above the wind. “Ladies and gentlemen, meet Daisy!”

“Gather round, class,” Dr. Fleming said. “She won’t bite … unless I command her to.”

In one hand he was holding what looked like a black game controller. When Dr. Fleming punched a button on it, the massive bird opened its bill and let out a skull-rattling
QUACK!

“People tend to forget what a magnificent creature the duck is,” Dr. Fleming said over the rushing wind. “It is extremely versatile, able to go from land to air to water with complete ease. It takes flight to hunt insects and dives beneath the waves to eat fish. That’s why I used the duck as a model for Daisy.”

Dr. Fleming gazed admiringly at the giant robot.

“I took the duck’s natural advantages and made a few modifications to design the ideal multifunctional airborne-aquatic-submergible
machine. Daisy represents the top of the line in high-grade weaponry.”

I was having trouble believing that Daisy was some kind of superweapon. If she’d been a giant robotic eagle or a hawk, then maybe I could see it. But a
duck
? Standing there on the rooftop, Daisy looked like a much bigger version of something you’d see paddling around a pond or begging for scraps of bread—not exactly the most threatening sight.

At least, that was what I thought
before
seeing Daisy in action.

Dr. Fleming fiddled with the controller. Suddenly, Daisy began to flap her massive wings. With another booming
QUACK!
she launched into the air. Daisy sliced through the sky with remarkable speed, maneuvering gracefully around the stone walls of Alabaster. Afterward, the duck glided out over the ocean and plunged into the water.

Just as I was starting to wonder whether she would ever come back up, Daisy popped above the waves, bobbing on the surface with a huge fish dangling from her bill. Gulping down the fish, the robot skimmed across the water like a motorboat before taking flight again. She was far out over the ocean when Dr. Fleming punched a button on the controller and a supersized egg dropped from the duck’s metal tail feathers. The egg tumbled a hundred feet and exploded like the world’s biggest grenade when it hit the water.

Okay, so maybe Daisy wasn’t such a bad weapon after all.

You’d think meeting a huge robotic duck would be the highlight of my day, but the excitement was just beginning.

That evening, Milton and I were on our way to dinner when we saw Sophie and Miranda waiting for us in the rec room.

“We need to talk,” Miranda said.

“Now,” Sophie added.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

Sophie cast a glance across the room. Kids lounging around, watching TV or working on assignments for tomorrow. “Not here. Let’s find someplace more private.”

It wasn’t so easy to find a spot where we wouldn’t be overheard. We attempted to sneak Sophie and Miranda into our room, but it turned out Cassie wasn’t kidding about the robotic hall monitors—they
really
weren’t cool about girls in the boys’ dorms. When Bob the RHM spotted us, the robot’s eyes flashed red and it chased us down the hallway, shrieking, “FEMALE INTRUDER ALERT!”

“Okay, then,” Miranda said, once we’d bolted from the boys’ dorm. “Maybe we should try someplace else.”

We headed up a spiral staircase to the third floor. On the way, we passed a purple rabbit hopping from one step to another. Milton bent down to pet it, then lurched away when the rabbit transformed into a teenage girl with purple hair.

“Back off, buddy,” the girl said in an annoyed voice.

“Sorry!” Milton jogged the rest of the way up, taking the stairs two at a time.

At the top of the stairwell, we saw the tall wooden door marked
ALUMNI HALL
.

Sophie pulled the heavy door open and we all stepped inside. The Alumni Hall was empty. It looked like the kind of place to hold parties or dances: a vast room with high ceilings and dark mahogany walls lined with paintings of adults who must’ve been former students. Portraits of scientists, politicians, superheroes, and villains, all gazing down gloomily from their ornate frames.

“Hey, Sophie, there’s your dad!” Milton pointed.

Sure enough, one of the largest paintings showed Captain Justice, muscular arms crossed. His shining blue cape perfectly matched his shining blue eyes. The superhero peered into the distance as if he’d just spotted a wounded puppy in need of rescuing.

Next to that was a painting of a gorgeous woman with fiery red hair and a golden one-piece uniform. Scarlett Flame.

Not surprisingly, Sophie insisted that we sit in a corner as far from the two portraits as possible.

“Okay, so what’s going on?” I asked as we settled into four comfy leather chairs. “Why the secret meeting?”

“There’s been another burglary.” Sophie reached into her pocket and removed her phone. Handing it to me, she said, “Grifter and Lunk broke into a lab in Boston. They stole an Oscillating Particle Immobilizer.”

I looked down at the phone. Sophie had pulled up the mobile website for
Super Scoop
. A headline filled the screen in big, bold letters:

Beneath the headline was a grainy security shot of the evil pixie teenager and her gigantic concrete friend.

A dark shadow rolled over my thoughts. I didn’t need to read any more. I passed the phone to Milton and unzipped my backpack to remove a slip of paper. nFinity’s list. I’d crossed off the first two stolen items. Now I pulled out a pen and drew a line through the most recent object to go missing.

“There’s only one left,” I said.

“The Dominion Key.” Miranda shivered, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. “And I know exactly where Grifter and Lunk are planning to steal it from.”

Milton glanced up from the phone. “What? How?”

“When we were on the roof this morning with Daisy, I felt something—”

“Heavy winds?” Milton guessed. “Torrential rainfall? Fear of death?”

“Intuition,” Miranda said. “Like a spark in my brain. At first, I wasn’t sure what it meant. But then Sophie showed me the article from
Super Scoop
and it got stronger. I knew where I needed to look.”

Miranda reached into her backpack and pulled out our textbook for Introduction to High-Grade Weaponry. She set it down on the table with a heavy
thud
.

“Okay, we get it,” Milton said. “You’re doing better in class than us. No need to brag about it.”

Miranda ignored the comment. “Did you ever notice who
wrote
the book?”

I realized I hadn’t. Not only that, I’d never noticed the author of any of my textbooks—
ever
. It wasn’t the kind of thing that showed up on the test, so I never bothered to pay attention.

But now my eyes moved to the bottom of the thick book. And in a small font was a name.

DR. NIGEL FLEMING, PHD
.

I pointed at the name. “
The
Dr. Fleming?”

Miranda nodded.

“The teacher of our first-period class?”

“Yep,” Miranda said.

“The guy with the British accent and the gigantic duck?”

“That’s the one.”

It seemed strange that a teacher could assign his own book to his students. I guess if he was an expert, then why not? But the more important question was, “What does this have to do with the Dominion Key?”

Miranda flipped the book open to one of the last pages. “Take a look.”

My eyes landed on a block of text in the middle of the page. With the steady rhythm of rain washing down the window outside, I began to read.…

I skimmed the next couple of lines, stumbling over words like “experimental atomic fusion” and “particle beam neutralization.” Looking up from the page, I said, “I’m sure this is fascinating for nerds like you. But I still don’t get what this has to do with anything.”

Sophie sighed. “Just read the last sentence.”

Taking Sophie’s advice, I skipped to the end.

I gripped the edges of my chair. The sound of thunder rumbled in the distance, rattling the windows.

“Dr. Fleming created the Dominion Key,” I said.

Miranda nodded. “And I have a hunch Phineas Vex is sending his goons here to steal it.”

I glanced out the rain-smudged window as a blade of nerves twisted my insides. Miranda’s hunches had a nasty habit of coming true.