The Pearl Wars (9 page)

Forgetting her, he pushed open the stall door and stepped out to check his new appearance in the mirror. He’d have to be careful. He’d be wearing the same clothing until the Academy’s Visitation Day and needed to stay presenta
ble.

Satisfied, he left the restroom and turned down the hallway, looking for a subtle, unguarded exit. After a few close calls, he stumbled upon an unmarked side door and snuck outside. Once he felt the sunlight on his skin, he knew he’d made it. Next came a long shuttle ride to Skyship Polaris before he could board the school ship to the Academy the following morning. He darted into the nearest alleyway and headed into the city, keeping his face down. He was ready. Madame wouldn’t be disappointed.

11

“Paulina was totally checking me during Bunker Ball yeste
rday.” Skandar reclines in a shady spot under a transplanted oak tree at Lookout Park. A vast green field stretches out beneath us, empty except for a team of students playing soccer in the distance. “Couldn’t take her eyes off.”

Lying on my back, I toss an antigravity ball up into the air. It hovers aimlessly for a few seconds before whirling around the nearest branch and dropping back into my hands. “There wasn’t much else to look at. The view from the bench is pretty boring. I should know.”

“Last guy standing.” He whacks my shoulder. “Nothing to be ashamed of there. The fainting? Well, that’s a different story, isn’t it. Now let me see the note you found.”

I set the ball on the grass and pull a crumpled note from my pocket. “It was slipped under my door when I came back from breakfast.” I hand it over. “It’s from Avery.”

Skandar unfolds it. “
Jesse Fisher
,” he reads, “
Meet me in the library at six-thirty. I’ll kill you if you don’t come.
”

I quickly grab it back. “Okay, maybe it’s not the most romantic note ever written.”

He grins. “Man, she mass wants you.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I’m not kidding,” he continues. “Tonight you’ve just gotta wait for the right moment and then lay one on her.”

“Yeah.” I chuckle, trying to imagine the alternate reality where
that
would happen.

“I’m serious. Girls love that kind of stuff. You’ve gotta take control. How long have you guys been all buddy-buddy?”

“About two and a half years.”

“See? You’re practically married.”

“When we met, I was twelve and she was almost fifteen. I don’t think she thinks of me that way.”

He shrugs. “All I’m saying is take a chance. What’s the worst that could happen?”

I sigh, picking up the antigravity ball and tossing it. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to look like an idiot. Again.”

“Trust me,” he replies, “You’ve got nothing to worry about with
that
girl.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He scoffs. “She’s as spazzy as you are, mate. Did I tell you I saw her outside the training room last week?”

“So?” I chuck the ball over a branch. “She gets bored. She’s all over the place.”

Skandar reaches over and grabs the ball as it falls, yanking it away. “It was the middle of the night
.” He pauses to let his little revelation sink in. “She’s a weirdo. But hey, you’re into weirdos. That’s cool.”

I glare at him. He grins back.

“You gotta put some more spin on it, mate. Watch.” He crouches down and winds up his arm, tossing the ball in a curved pathway around the trunk. It spins up the tree, looping around three branches and back again before returning to his outstretched hand. “It’s all about the wind-up.”

I sit up. “Hey, that was—”

A soccer ball bashes into the side of my head, knocking me halfway onto the grass. Skandar’s first instinct is to laugh. Mine is to groan in pain.

The ball settles at the base of the tree. I rub my head, disoriented.

“Fisher!” A familiar voice cuts through the otherwise silent park. I turn to see August Bergmann jogging up the gentle slope to meet us. I don’t make eye contact, hoping that he’ll go away. It’s been the same since Year Seven. Just because he’s a year older than me and a Grade-A specimen of agentdom, he’s taken it upon himself to remind everyone exactly how much I pale in comparison to him.

“Fisher,” he repeats, closer now. “Hey Fisher, I’m talking to you!”

He stops a few feet away, panting. It’s not training time, but he’s still in full jock regalia. I think the outfit’s permanently affixed to his body. Sweat dampens his buzzed hair.

“So you gonna give me my ball back?” He crosses his chiseled arms, grinning.

Skandar grabs the soccer ball and holds it captive. “You mean the one you chucked into his head?”

He shrugs. “It was an accident.”

“Yeah,” I mutter. “Sure.”

He watches me cradle the side of my head, barely containing his laughter. “Jameson’s got one hell of a power kick. I guess you guys shouldn’t be sitting here.”

“It’s a free park,” Skandar replies.

August smiles. “Hey, at least you didn’t faint this time, right Fisher?”

I keep my eyes fixed on the grass. Bergmann knows about my little training room disaster—just what I need.

He turns back to Skandar, hands on hips. “You gonna give me that ball or not?”

Skandar nudges me. I pull my head up, glancing at him. He tosses the antigravity ball into my lap. I fumble to catch it.

“It’s all in the wind-up,” he whispers, clutching the soccer ball close to his body.

August rolls his eyes, annoyed. “Five seconds, Harris, or I pry it from your fingers.”

Skandar shifts the ball to his left hand, taunting August. I realize what he wants me to do. Retaliation’s not really my thing.

But I can make exceptions.

Skandar throws the soccer ball high up into the air and I switch the settings on the side of the antigravity ball to “boomerang.” Then I hurl it into the field. It curves to the left, hangs in mid-air for a second, and reverses its path. August looks up to the sky, oblivious. A split-second later the antigravity ball plows into his back, right between the shoulder blades.

He swears. Loudly. It echoes along the transparent fiberglass dome protecting the park.

Skandar slaps my hand. “Payback!”

August lunges straight for me. Panicked, I try to stand up and get away. He’s too quick. Before I know it, he’s pinned me to the grass, fist held up in front of me ready to punch my face into the dirt. He smells mass disgusting. The soccer ball lands behind him, rolling down the hill.

“Stupid move, Fisher.” He glares at me. “You don’t throw the first punch if you’re not prepared to fight.”

I try to squirm away, but he’s too big. Too strong. I wanna point out that it was actually him who threw the first punch—or soccer ball—but I know it’ll only make him angrier.

“What?” He slaps my face, keeping me pinned down with the other hand. “You gonna fight back? You gonna whip me with those little noodle arms of yours?”

I kick at him, pressing my heel against his thigh, trying to push him off or flip him over or something. But it’s like trying to move a slab of concrete.

Skandar leaps from the ground, eager to join the fray, but a hand pushes him away. Then it grabs August’s right ear and twists. His face contorts and he forgets about me, yanking his ear free and flipping around to sit on the grass.

Eva stands before us, arms crossed. “Boys.” She frowns. “What the h
ell are you doing?”

“Jeez, Rodriguez.” August cradles his burning ear. “What are you, my freaking mother?”

“No,” she replies, “But I don’t think your mom would be happy to see you picking on a Year Nine.”

“Fisher’s not a Year Nine.” August glowers at me. “He’s like … a Year
Two
.”

Eva sighs. “Not funny, Bergmann.”

He sneers, rubbing his ear. “I was just asking for my ball back.” He picks himself off the ground and backs down the hill, mouthing threats in my direction.

I keep an eye on him until he’s out of sight, then turn to Eva. “You know, I can take care of myself.”

Her eyebrows raise. “Looked like it.”

“I
can
.” I brush the dirt from my hands, sitting up. “I was just about to push him down the hill.”

“Sure you were.”

Skandar grabs the antigravity ball, switches it off boomerang, and tosses it from hand to hand. “Where’d you even come from, Eva? I swear, you’ve got a sixth sense or something.”

She sighs. “In case you didn’t realize, August Bergmann isn’t the most subtle person in the world. They probably heard him cursing all the way down in the library.”

I pu
ll myself up, rubbing the side of my head. “Maybe next time you should just stay where you are instead of rushing in to help me. I’m gonna go get so
me ice.”

She grabs my shoulder, stopping me. “Jesse.”

“What, Eva? What else do you wanna do to embarrass me?”

“It’s not to embarrass you.”

I turn around, meeting her face to face. “Then what is it? Because I don’t see you stepping in and saving any of the other guys.”

“You’re not
any of the other guys
,” she says.

“Yeah,” I reply, “because I’ve got my own personal babysitter. Look, you’re a girl. I don’t expect you to understand.”

“You’re my teammate, Jesse.”

“August is never gonna let me live this down,” I mutter, ignoring her.

“We’re responsible for each other.”

I shake my head. “Saved by a girl. What a freaking wimp.”

She sighs. “You’re not a wimp.”

“Just … next time, please stay away.” I start off toward the field, but three steps in, something stops me. A tug at my consciousness. A sudden awareness.

“Guys,” Skandar points at the sky, squinting, “what’s that?”

Eva’s gaze follows the path of his finger. I raise my head to stare at the blanket of blue beyond our ship. It doesn’t take me long to notice it. Something bright above us, and not a star.

“A Pearl,” Eva says, a grim frown on her face. “It’s falling. Fast.”

We run down the hill to get a better look. I keep my eyes focused on the green dot, growing bigger and bigger with each second that it hurtles toward Earth. “Can you tell what direction it’s headed?”

Before anybody can answer, a dull alarm sounds around the park, followed by three clear warning chimes. Everybody in the Academy knows the drill. We practice it each semester.

“It’s heading right for the park,” Eva says. “It’ll smash through the dome as soon as it hits.” She takes off through the field, shouting back at us. “Emergency tunnels. Now!”

Skandar and I sprint behind her, heading to a darker patch of grass beside a plot of flowers. Eva digs between the blades, finding the handle of an invisible trapdoor. “Skandar, help me with this.”

Skandar moves to her side, grabbing hold of the handle and pulling. The alarms sound again, followed by
three more chimes.

I spin around and stare up at the Pearl. It hurtles down at us like an out-of-control bowling ball. Two years ago, one came three feet away from smashing into the top of the Central Tower. This one’s headed straight for the dome, and there’s no changing a Pearl’s course once it gets started.

“Jesse!” Eva shouts behind me, tugging my arm. “Get in the tunnel!”

I ignore her, transfixed by the bright jewel in the sky. Skandar jumps through the trapdoor. Eva positions herself halfway down, pulling at my ankle. “Jesse, the oxygen will disperse if it hits!”

Her
words are muted by a ringing in my ears—not from the alarms, but from the Pearl itself. It’s like I can hear it piercing the atmosphere as it draws closer. My heartbeat increases, thu
mping faster and faster the nearer it falls.

I stretch out my arm, pointing two fingers and shutting one eye until I’ve framed the Pearl between my fingernails. My hand buzzes with static. The hair on my arm stands on end.

I blink.

The Pearl rockets to the side, shoved off course by some invisible force. I watch as it shoots to the left and disappears beyond the row of trees bordering Lookout Park.

Seconds later, the alarms shut off. I drop my arm to my side.

Eva crawls out onto the grass, scanning the skies and muttering something in Spanish. “What were you doing?” She swallows, whispering to herself. “Pearls don’t change course.” I rub my fingers. The electricity leaves my arm.

She’s right. Pearls aren’t like antigravity balls. I’ve never once seen one move even the slightest inch from its predetermined path.

Eva shakes her head, blinking twice before breaking from her stunned trance. “I don’t … I … ” She pauses. “I’m going to the library.” She lays a hand on my shoulder before heading to the nearest staircase. Skandar’s already retreated to the emergency bunker below the grass, along with everyone else. An uncomfortable silence falls over the park as I stand in the middle of the field, alone.

I sit down, cross-legged, and pick at the grass. Every once in a while I glance up at the sky, wondering if I imagined the whole thing. After a few minutes, people start filtering back up to the park—August and his friends, a group of adults jogging along the outer perimeter. I trace the lines on my palm, feeling for anything out of the ordinary. It’s a coincidence, that’s all. I just happened to blink when the Pearl shifted course. Yeah.

Could happen to anybody.

12

Clutching Avery’s well-worn note, I punch in the six-digit code to unlock the transparent door to the library. It’s secured after six o’clock, but now that I’m an official trainee I can get in whenever I need to for studying. Not that there’s going to be any studying going on tonight. I hope.

I think back to what Skandar said at Lookout. She’s gotta have a reason for wanting me up here so badly. Considering all of the different possibilities kept me going through Dr.
Hemming’s two-hour
History of Pearls
lecture in astronomy this afternoon.

Half of the lights inside the circular room are turned off. A few adult agents huddle around a table by the computers playing chess. They glance up as I enter, probably wondering why a kid would want to spend his evening in the library.

I walk past a display of black-and-white Surface photographs. Heavy wooden tables sit neatly arranged on the main floor in front of me. Circular staircases hug the walls, leading up to the second and third levels, the highest of which juts up into Lookout Park like a secret underground house. They poured a lot of money into this place. Too bad I get mass distracted whenever I come in here to work. Maybe if they forced me to study in a white room with no windows or furniture or anything I’d actually get something done and ace a test for once.

I peer down the rows of bookshelves, looking for Avery. Other than the group of agents, the place is deserted.

Someone grabs my shoulder and spins me around.

“There you are, stranger.” Avery grins.

I stare at her in silence for a moment before holding up the piece of paper. “I got your note.”

“Crumpled.” She smiles. “Is that what you think of me, Fisher?”

“No, no.” I lay it against my knee and attempt to straighten it out. Instead, I end up ripping off the corner. “Oops.”

“Cute.”

I wince, stuffing the pieces back into my pocket. “Where did you come out from? I didn’t even see you.”

She shrugs. “I was hiding behind a shelf. Thought I’d sneak up on you.”

I try to keep a straight face but it’s hard. She’s too weird. “Okay
, then.”

She grabs my hand, sending sparks through my skin up to my chest where they explode like fireworks. “Come on. Let’s get going.”

“Where are you taking me?”

“Oh, just wait. Tonight’s the best yet. I’ve got something to show you.”

I sigh. During the past year, Avery and I have covered every inch of the Academy together. She loves sticking her head where it shouldn’t be. And she asks more questions than any person I’ve ever known. No wonder they didn’t make her a bonafide agent.

She pulls me through the library over to the glass doors. Her death grip doesn’t ease up until we’re out in the hallway. Not that I’m complaining.

“Did you hear about the Pearl that almost smashed into us this afternoon?” she whispers as we walk out toward the canteen.

“I was there.”

“You were at Lookout?”

“Yeah, it happened right after August Bergmann almost pounded my face into the ground.”

“What a creep. We should’ve done the chili thing last night.” She shakes her head. “Don’t worry about him. Remember, being the big, flaunt agent is overrated.”

I shrug. “After today, I’d rate it a million percent.”

She rolls her eyes. “I don’t think you can go over a hundred.” She leads me through the canteen, grabbing an apple from a basket on the counter as we go. “They said it was a false alarm. The Pearl, I mean.”

“I think they’re lying.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” she mutters. “You saw it, then?”

“It was headed straight for us, definitely. Then all of a sudden it changed course, curved to the side.”

She spins around, pulling me closer and blocking the exit. “Changed course? You been falling asleep during Dr. Hemming’s lectures again, Fisher?”

I shrug. “Yes, actually. But it happened, I swear. I was standing right in front o
f it.”

She flashes me an inquisitive look. “Do you have a death wish or some
thing?”

“No.” I sigh. “It’s not that. It was just … interesting.”

She turns around, leading me out into the curved hallway along the perimeter of the ship toward the staircase. “Sure. Interesting until it smashes into you.”

The last remnants of daylight stream up through the windows, creating a soft glow around Avery’s face. I can’t help but stare. Luckily she doesn’t notice, too busy chomping on the apple.

“So tell me where we’re going,” I say. “I can’t get in trouble again.”

She swings her arm around my shoulder. “You won’t get in trouble. Promise.” She bites into the apple. “I’ve made an amazing discovery and tonight’s the night to test it out.”

“Why tonight?”

She pulls her head closer to whisper. “Alkine’s having one of his closed-door staff meetings.”

“So? They always do that before Visitation.”

“We’re gonna bash those doors down.”

I look around to see if anyone’s listening. “That sounds dangerous.”

“Nah,” she says. “Not with my discovery.”

“Let me guess. You invented an invisibility potion.”

“Nope.” She bounds down the stairs and pushes me into a hallway leading back toward the center of the ship. We make our way past dozens of closed doors and two befuddled-looking agents before stopping outside Room 514.

“Isn’t this just a maintenance room?” I try the doorknob. “And it’s locked, anyways.”

She tosses the apple core into a nearby trash chute and digs in her pocket, pulling out a small pointed key. “Bam!” She shoves it in my face.

“Shh!” I look around the empty hallway. “Someone will hear you.”

“Yeah, right.” She crouches toward the door, sliding the key into the hole and turning. “Now spot me, Fisher! I’m going in.”

I keep my eyes on both sides of the hallway, waiting for someone to show up and drag me away to Mr. Wilson’s office. Or worse, Alkine’s.

Thankfully, nobody does.

Avery conquers the lock and grabs the back of my shirt, yanking me into the room with her and slamming the door behind us.

One thing she forgot to do was turn on the freaking light. It’s pitch black now. Like, beyond black.

She giggles. “Oops, where’s the switch?”

Panicked, I grope around the room looking for a button. Any button. A couple of minutes in here and I’ll go insane. Tight spaces are bad enough. Tight spaces in the dark are hell.

In my quest for the lights I trip over something—a broom, maybe—and land on the floor with an agonizing thud. Avery stops laughing and crawls over me, flipping a switch next to the door. Fluorescent light flickers on above us, casting a spotlight on me doing my best impression of a puddle.

I pull myself to a sitting position and rub my shoulder. The closet’s tiny. Stacks of buckets sit next to boxes of mechanical junk and dried-out, still-dirty mops. A row of brightly colored bottles line the shelf along the far wall. A wide metal tube in the corner stretches from the floor to the ceiling.

Avery rests her hands on her hips. “You like?”

I’d like it better if we were in here to do something other than snoop around, but things are never that simple with Avery.

“So we’re in a maintenance room.” I stand up. “This is really blowing my mind.”

Ignoring me, she heads over to the far wall and lifts herself onto a wooden crate.

I walk over to her. “What are you doing?”

She
struggles with a square grate on the ceiling, yanking at the corners until they pop out from the panel an
d reveal an open air vent. “Think of this as our own little portal.” She bends down and leans the grate against the wall.

I stare at the dark hole in the ceiling. “A portal to where? The trash chu
tes?”

“Of course not.” She rubs her dirty hands on the front of her jeans. “This is how we’re gonna spy on Alkine.”

“Oh, no.” I take a few steps back. “I’m not going up there, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“Relax.” She crouches to a sitting position, the heels of her feet kicking the crate. “I’ll go up first. All you’ve gotta do is follow. It’s safe, I promise. And you’ll kill yourself if you don’t go.”

I cross my arms. “Now why would I do that?”

“Because this meeting, Jesse Fisher, is about you.” She pauses. “They’re going to talk about
you
in there.”

“No they’re not.”

“Yeah. They are. And you wanna know how I know that?” She points to the hole in the ceiling. “Because I was up there in that vent a week ago when Alkine announced it.”

“No way.” I picture the faculty sitting around some fancy table arguing over reasons to throw me off the ship. “Why would they
be talking about me?” I think back to my weird conversation with Captain Alkine the other night and suddenly it’s not so hard to believe.

“Trust me, Jesse. Have I ever lied to you?”

“I guess not.”

“And do you really think I’d drag you up into some vent for nothin
g?”

I take a moment to consider it. “Yes.”

She laughs. “Okay, maybe I would, but you’re still coming up with me.”

My arms drop to my sides and I give a defeated shrug. She’s impossible to argue with.

She beams. “Good enough for me.”

Without wasting another moment, she stands and grabs onto the ceiling panel. Her shirt rises, revealing an inch of midriff. If her words weren’t enough to get me up into the vent, th
at’ll sure do it.

Then she lifts herself into the hole. She’s definitely done this before. I bet she’s a pro.

Once she’s all the way through and has a second to turn herself around, I crawl onto the crate and grab her outstretched hands. She helps me up until I’m halfway in. I scoot toward her and turn to look back at the closet. I’m gonna regret this. I just know it.