Amanda Lester and the Red Spider Rumpus

by Paula Berinstein

  Despite the fact that there were no secrets to guard, the wretches moved into the trove. A deal was a deal, Thrillkill said, and anyway the detectives would reconstruct the secrets eventually. Besides, the wretches would add extra security to the school, especially as they tended to stay up all night and would detect any suspicious activity that might occur during that time. And so the kids watched as the artists dragged easels, paint, canvas, and all manner of supplies into the tunnels, all of them having been approved as non-toxic.

  Despite Thrillkill’s obvious affection for the troupe, their presence made Professor Kindseth uncomfortable. He still didn’t know that his online creative partner was Charlotte and he had barely spoken to her since the kidnapping. Despina claimed it was obvious the two still loved each other, not only from their online behavior but from what they said and did around her. Amanda couldn’t see a shred of evidence, but then she had other things on her mind so who knew? The pair would have to sort things out for themselves anyway. She just hoped Despina would keep out of the way.

  The third Bible page never did show up. Simon kept watching the tracking, visited the post office umpteen times, and still couldn’t figure out what had happened to it. Even though Clive had been frantic about the loss he seemed to have decided that his friendship with Simon was more important, and backed off. The boys kept watching the peacock trackers too, but no clue as to the page’s whereabouts came from there either.

  The Simon/Ivy infatuation remained unresolved. Ivy continued to dither, asking endless questions about Simon and Dreidel, and Simon continued to moon. As far as Amanda knew, Ivy hadn’t mentioned her feelings to Dreidel, but she did notice the boy looking at her oddly now and then. She hoped another love triangle wasn’t developing. She didn’t think she could deal with that.

  When Thrillkill found out that Lila had sabotaged Amanda’s helmet and poisoned the peacocks he threw her out. She claimed she hadn’t taken the secrets, but considering everything that had happened she was still under suspicion. She responded by lashing out and refused to pay one more pound toward Amanda’s tuition. However when Thrillkill found out what Lila’s boyfriend had done, he arranged for Amanda to stay on for free, the only requirement being that she at last present the storytelling seminar he’d commissioned the year before.

  The issue of Waltz was a tricky one. Unbeknownst to Amanda, Professor Scribbish had gone to Thrillkill and expressed concern about Lila’s association with the lawyer. But Lila and Herb had been staunch supporters of the school, and Thrillkill hadn’t felt he could dismiss the woman without cause. When Waltz had taken Amanda, Thrillkill had just begun to prepare a dossier on him and had put Lila under surveillance, but he hadn’t got very far. He’d briefly toyed with the idea of keeping her on so he could watch her, but her behavior had made her a danger to the students and he’d had to let her go.

  The question on everyone’s mind, of course, was how much Lila knew about Waltz’s actions. On looking back some people thought she’d colluded with him from the start and claimed they’d seen signs all along. Others felt that even though Lila could be a bit much, her awkward behavior was all ego and had nothing to do with her turning to the dark side. A few people even defended her and, thinking she’d been duped, actually felt sorry for her. But everyone agreed that she was dangerous, especially now that Waltz had taken over Blixus’s organization. Or was it Waltz and Lila? No one knew.

  No one knew why there had been a secret about Scapulus Holmes either. Holmes claimed he knew nothing about it and didn’t seem bothered, but Amanda thought there was something ominous about it, although she couldn’t explain why. She wondered what secrets Holmes might be harboring, or what the detectives might know about him that he didn’t. Not that she would ask him. But she might do a bit of digging herself.

  Was there some significance to the fact that Holmes secretly admired Moriarty? With his heritage there was a lot of pressure on him. Perhaps the feelings were just a safety valve, some outlet for keeping him from exploding. Or might they run deeper? Having seen how she loved Nick, could Holmes’s envy have mutated into something larger and more dangerous? Something like Editta’s admiration for Blixus, perhaps, or David’s rebellion against “the rules.”

  She didn’t think so. Holmes seemed too well grounded for that. Except for his weird behavior at her birthday party where he’d momentarily gone all James Dean, the worst she’d ever seen from him was irritability, although he had gleefully zapped Nick back in the Moriartys’ cavern. Was it possible his outward calm was masking something darker—something the detectives knew about? Mental illness, perhaps, or a dastardly deed in his past?

  No, it was impossible. She knew him too well. He was a nice boy—sometimes too nice. She’d seen that the first day he’d walked into Professor Sidebotham’s class. She’d called him a dork because that’s what he was: a goody-goody who could be just enough fun that people liked him. So what could the big secret be? Unless he was trying to seem mysterious. Maybe that slip of paper hadn’t said “Scapulus Holmes” at all. Maybe he’d just said it did.

  The truth of it was that she still loved him. Not in the way she loved Nick, but loved him nonetheless. In a different world they’d still be together, she was sure of it. But now she had to let him go, and she needed to do it properly.

  She wasn’t sure he’d meet her, but when she asked him to come to the library he did, in fact, turn up. Now he was sitting across from her at a lonely table in an upstairs niche, glaring at her.

  “Scapulus,” she said.

  “Don’t say it. It’s obvious. It was always obvious. I just didn’t want to accept it.”

  “It wasn’t obvious to me.”

  “Then you’ve got a problem.”

  “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I hurt you.”

  “I’ll get over it. Are we done now?”

  She looked at him long and hard, trying to suppress her feelings so he wouldn’t get the wrong idea. “There’s just this. Everything I ever said was true.”

  “I wish it hadn’t been,” he said, and got up. Then he took out his phone and pressed a couple of times.

  “What are you doing?” she said.

  “Sending you the prop department. You can have it.”

  “Scapulus—”

  “See you around, Amanda,” he said, and left.

  As she watched him leave the room she noticed that he had become tall and lean, and wondered how she’d missed that. He’d changed before her eyes and she hadn’t even seen it. She’d been so wrapped up in Nick that she’d never appreciated what was right in front of her. She burst into tears and spent the next hour berating herself for being so selfish.

  The next morning Amanda realized that the spiders were still living in a jar and should be restored to their natural habitat. She needed to get some air anyway, so she asked Nick to go to Ambleside with her.

  As they made their way through Windermere, Amanda saw Eustace standing in a doorway. She raised her hand to wave, but when he saw her he looked away and made off in the opposite direction. Certain he hadn’t seen her she took off after him, but when she called out he turned around and said, “Why are you following me, Amanda?”

  Shocked, she almost said, “Just to say hello,” but he looked at her in a such a nasty way that the words died in her mouth. “My mistake,” she said, and ran back to where Nick was waiting for her.

  “Did you see that?” she said, motioning.

  Nick was able to read her lips. “Yes. What was that about?”

  “I have no idea. He’s never acted like that before. Do you suppose he’s that upset about not getting into Legatum?” Then she realized what she’d said and put her hand over her mouth. “I mean—”

  Nick threw his arm around her and pulled her close. “I don’t know what you said but you can tell me later. Come on. Let’s put these spiders back.”

  When they got to Kate’s B&B, they found at least a dozen of the red spiders shriveled in their nest. They were lying in what
looked like some kind of sticky dried liquid. Someone had poisoned them and they were all dead.

  When Amanda and Nick got back to the school they could immediately tell that something was wrong. It looked like there was a riot going on outside Thrillkill’s office.

  Amanda let go of Nick’s hand and pushed her way through a mob just in time to see her cousin Jeffrey slap handcuffs on Thrillkill and read him his rights. When he said, “Gaston Thrillkill, I am arresting your for child endangerment and harboring fugitives,” she thought she would just about die.

  “What are you doing?” she screamed.

  Jeffrey turned, looked at her with those dull blue eyes of his, and said, “Andalusia Sweetgum and her husband are pressing charges. And that wretch society? We’re arresting them too.”

  “You can’t do this!” Amanda yelled.

  “Of course I can,” said Jeffrey. “I’m Inspector Lestrade.”

  As she watched her idiot cousin take Thrillkill away, Amanda whipped out her phone and called Balthazar Onion. Thrillkill was going to need the best defense he could get.

  With the headmaster otherwise occupied, the teachers selected Professor Buck to act as his interim replacement. As his first official act he sealed the tunnels and confiscated the wretches’ possessions.

  The next morning Amanda woke up to find a text from Nick. When she saw what he’d written she raced downstairs and stopped everyone she saw, frantically asking if they’d seen him, but no one had.

  “What’s going on?” said Ivy when she heard the commotion.

  “Oh, Ivy,” Amanda wailed, grabbing her friend’s hand. “Nick is gone.”

  “What do you mean ‘gone’?”

  “Listen to this,” said Amanda, and read out the text. “‘My dearest love. I cannot do this. You deserve better. The detectives deserve better. I love you fiercely but I am no good to you now and I need to go. Don’t try to find me. I will always love you. Nick.’” Ivy, why would he do this? Even if he doesn’t get his hearing back, so what? And anyway, I don’t love him because he’s useful. I love him because I love him.”

  “What’s going on?” said Simon, rubbing his eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept.

  “Nick is gone,” said Ivy.

  “Permanently?”

  “It looks that way,” said Ivy.

  “Not surprising,” said Simon, picking his teeth.

  “How could you say such a mean thing?” said Amanda.

  “I’m not being mean,” said Simon. “He didn’t tell you?”

  Amanda dropped Ivy’s hand and grabbed him by the shoulders. She was still holding her phone and it clanked against his scapula. “Tell me what?”

  “He’s got PTSD,” said Simon. “Ow, that hurts.”

  He removed Amanda’s hand from his shoulder and gently lowered it.

  “Post-traumatic stress disorder?” she said, not even noticing.

  “Yes. He screams in his sleep. The whole floor can hear him.”

  “OMG,” said Amanda. “No, I didn’t know. He never said anything. How long has this been going on?”

  “Since he came back to Legatum. I thought you knew.”

  Amanda was stunned. All this time Nick had seemed so together. She’d never suspected he was falling apart. He wasn’t just an actor. He was Academy Award material.

  “No, I didn’t know. I’ve got to find him!” she told Simon, and bolted.

  She ran to her room, grabbed her skateboard, and took off. She raced all over town, to the clock tower, to Ambleside, around the lake and through the hills, and still she couldn’t find him. She sent him text after text, email after email, and even left voice messages for him, even though she knew he couldn’t hear them, but there was no answer. At the end of the day she returned to Legatum, bedraggled and miserable, having found no sign of the boy she loved.

  How could he not have told her about the nightmares? Why hadn’t he come to her for help? She hadn’t had a clue, and yet she should have known. After everything he’d been through, no one could have been as calm and strong as he’d seemed. His mother’s death, his father’s beatings, losing his home and his identity, failing to accomplish the third labor, not knowing what would become of him—who wouldn’t go to pieces? How could she have been so blind? What was wrong with her?

  She had messed up big time and now it was time to fix things. She would find Nick and she would help him, the boy she adored, the boy who had sacrificed his chance to become a detective to save her, the boy who was once again without a home or a life. She would find a way to get him into Legatum no matter what it took. In fact, she would talk to Professor Buck right now.

  She glanced at her phone. There was an email from someone named Basilica Pashmina. Wasn’t that the girl who knocked Hugh out, the model whose picture was in Darius Plover’s wallet? She’d finally answered Amanda’s message?

  Forgetting about Professor Buck, she opened the email eagerly and read, “I know who you are. Please come see me.” Then she gave an address in London.

  The next morning Amanda, Ivy, and Nigel boarded the first of two trains that would take them to a South Kensington neighborhood. The ride was long and sad.

  Basilica lived in a three-story townhouse on a tree-lined street. As she contemplated the view Amanda said, “Boy, she must do really well. This neighborhood is ritzy.”

  “From what you told me, she’s very beautiful,” said Ivy. “She’s obviously a supermodel.”

  “I guess so. Come on.”

  The girls walked up to the door and rang the bell. The leaded glass around it was exquisite. Even the knob looked expensive. “I don’t know why I’m so nervous,” Amanda said.

  “I’m sure she’s very nice,” said Ivy, even though she couldn’t possibly know.

  After a moment Amanda could hear footsteps and the door opened to reveal a stunning dark-haired woman. There was something familiar about her but Amanda couldn’t place it. She was certain she’d never met her before. Then the woman smiled—such a sad smile—and she knew: she looked exactly like Nick.

  She opened the door wider and stepped back. Motioning them inside she said, “I’ve been expecting you. You’d better come in.”

  29

  WITH ME OR AGAINST ME?

  Taffeta Tasmania leaned back and stretched. It was so cool staying here in this beautiful London townhouse, the luxurious home of cybercriminal Edina Sparkle. Soon she’d have enough money to complete her successor to the Schola Sceleratorum and criminal kids would be pounding at the doors to get in. She’d already bought the castle. Now it was just a question of raising enough from the rest of the parents to finish outfitting it.

  It was a pity Waltz hadn’t seen fit to give her the balance, but perhaps his refusal had been a blessing in disguise. He already thought he controlled her. He’d demanded final approval on personnel. He’d even tried to choose the site, but luckily she’d gotten her way with that. The place in County Durham, close to Cumbria and the Lake District, was perfect. Almost under the detectives’ noses. They’d never know there was a snake in their midst.

  What was really a shame was Julie Pantaloon. Not her death of course. Crime was a tough business and you had to expect casualties. The woman had known that. What was really frustrating was that she hadn’t got to Waltz as she was meant to. Taffeta would have to do something about that. The man was out of control and she couldn’t have that.

  Then there was that eejit Harry. A minor annoyance, that. She could deal with him easily. He’d had no idea what he was contributing to when he’d let her into the secrets trove. With all those resources she was building it was just a matter of time before she had it all: the rest of the secrets and the metadata that unlocked them. She laughed. Men were so easy. An eyelash here, a wiggle there, and they were putty in your hands.

  No, it wasn’t the Sheriffs of the world that mattered, or even Waltz. It was people like that Lester girl you had to watch out for. Smart, resourceful, and dogged, she was always sticking her nose in where i
t didn’t belong. It had been stupid attacking Nick. Anyone could see that Amanda was mad for him. She should have left him there to keep her distracted. Oh well. What was done was done. Maybe he’d recover and Amanda would stay out of her hair after all. There was always a bright side.

  Those Moriartys. That whole family was way past its sell by date. Blixus thought he was so great but he was really just a washed up shadow of his ancestor, the real Moriarty. And Hugh, the psychopath. Sure, he was smart, but he was a loose cannon. Anyone who depended on him would ultimately come to ruin.

  Then there was Mavis. She hadn’t actually meant to kill Mavis, who out of the four of them had actually been the most intelligent. But accidents happen. It had been about time to make a break with them anyway.

  And of course Nick. Gorgeous, full of himself, loser Nick. He really thought he was something. Too bad his ego got in the way. No wonder Blixus had been exasperated with him. Just because you were attractive didn’t give you leave to be sloppy. Between that and his ridiculous crush on Amanda it was no wonder he messed up so much. She’d heard he’d defected. No loss. Blixus would be better off without him.

  But that was all in the past. No sense in going over old ground. She did regret wasting all that time at Legatum though. Those detectives with their silly ideals—they were so not her. Every minute there had been torture. It was only because of her iron will that she’d been able to hang on until the third year, but then they’d caught her talking about the school to someone on the outside and kicked her out. Fools. If only they’d known what she was up to they’d have thrown her out earlier. They’d only let her in as a favor to her father in the first place—all those bodies he took care of for them. Those creepy, embalmed bodies. What was wrong with him anyway?