by PJ Hoover
Benjamin took a deep breath. “So what do you think?”
“I think that given the information you just found out,” Jack replied, “now’s not the time to be picking fights with your friends.”
“I didn’t pick a fight.” Benjamin jumped to his feet. “Iva should have told me what she knew.”
“No, she shouldn’t have. Iva would never violate her oracle vows. I don’t think she could even it she tried.” Jack levitated up to perch on Benjamin’s shoulder. “Think about it. You lashed out at her because you were upset about Nathan. You know it’s true.”
Benjamin opened his mouth to protest but paused. He really had nothing he could say to defend himself. Jack was right. Getting in a fight with Iva after five minutes in Lemuria wasn’t the best strategy for saving the world.
“Great,” Jack said. “So let’s go find your homeroom.”
But Benjamin didn’t even have time to stand up. Something else materialized right in front of him.
“Telepathy.”
Benjamin scooted back against the bench. “What?”
“You!” Jack said.
The new Nogical in front of Benjamin smiled. “Yes, me.” She looked a lot like Jack, even down to the green skin and sarcastic attitude. But instead of aqua blue hair like Jack’s, hers looked like a mass of flames. Their eyes were the same—both yellow, like a sunflower with a spot of black in the middle.
The six-inch tall Nogical girl flipped backwards from a sitting position and landed on Benjamin’s thigh. “Betcha don’t remember my name.”
Benjamin racked his brain. He should remember the Nogical girl’s name. She'd helped him last summer when he’d traveled back in time and needed to hide some golden disk for himself to find in the future. After all, he hadn’t been able to touch it, and well, whatever it was, Nogicals could touch it and not be affected.
“Just ignore her,” Jack said. “That’s what I always do.”
She smirked. “See, you don’t remember.”
Benjamin crossed his arms. “That was like three thousand years ago.”
The Nogical laughed. “It was a few months ago. And it’s Lulu.”
Benjamin nodded like he knew all along. “Of course. Lulu. You guys are friends, right?”
Lulu coughed out a laugh. “Friends. More like he’s my annoying little brother who never stops pestering me. ‘Travel back in time and help my friend Benjamin,’ he says. And then he doesn’t even bother to tell me what kind of help you need. Anyway, the answer is telepathy.”
“What’s the question?” Benjamin said.
Lulu jabbed her little green finger into his chest. “Your shirt. Telepathy.”
Benjamin looked down at his blue t-shirt. It was the same one he’d been asleep in only a couple hours ago. In white letters across the front it read, “TELEKINESIS or TELEPATHY?”
Benjamin laughed. “I don’t know, telekinesis is pretty cool, too.”
“Telekinesis is for wusses,” Lulu said.
“You’re just no good at it,” Jack replied.
“No. I just like knowing how awesome people think I am,” Lulu said.
“Annoying you mean,” Jack said.
“Whatever. Helios needs you,” she told Jack. “And when you talk to him, tell him not to order me around. I’m not a servant, you know.” And then Lulu teleported away.
Jack turned back to Benjamin. “See what I have to put up with? Too bad genetic engineering doesn’t eliminate big sisters from the gene pool.”
And before Benjamin could ask what Helios wanted to see Jack about, Jack teleported away.
CHAPTER 3
Andy Gets in a Fight
Something that smelled a lot like natural gas emanated from the dining hall. But once Benjamin sat at a table with Andy and Gary, he figured maybe the whole place exploding would have been better. The menu system was hosed and only seemed to be making cabbage soup and oatmeal. And not even oatmeal cookies or anything mediocre like that. Plain oatmeal so thick they could have used it to tack pictures on the wall.
Benjamin scanned the dining hall for the kid in their homeroom who’d managed to fix the menu system—until it broke again at the end of summer—but didn’t see him. “Where’s Magic Pan?” Benjamin asked.
“No one’s seen him yet,” Andy answered. “At least that’s what my sources tell me.”
“Pretty suspicious, huh?” Heidi asked as she and Iva came over to join them.
“What?” Benjamin said.
“Menus are broken. Magic Pan is nowhere to be found.” Heidi ticked off the items on her hand. Her blond ringlets bounced around each time she extended a finger.
“So what are you trying to say?” Benjamin asked, yanking his eyes away from her ringlets and back to her face. Boyfriend or no boyfriend, it was really nice to see Heidi again.
“Are you dense?” Heidi said. “How much clearer do I have to be? Magic Pan is responsible for the menu malfunctions.”
Benjamin looked at Gary.
Gary nodded. “Heidi’s right. I did some checking over the last few months. I was studying how the food processing system functions.”
“You were trying to figure out how to fix the menus yourself,” Heidi cut in.
Gary spent about half a second looking embarrassed but then reverted into scientific mode. “Okay, fine. I was trying to fix them myself. Given my aptitude with…well, with so many things, it should have been a no-brainer. But what I found was the menu system isn’t really broken at all. It’s just locked out in a deeply nested, varying algorithm, cryptic loop.”
“And no one in all of Lemuria can unlock it?” Andy asked.
“Well, I don’t think they really called out the top cryptologists to fix the school menu system,” Gary said. “But the fact of the matter is whoever’s looked at it can’t do anything.”
“What about you?” Iva asked.
Gary feigned humility. “I have been working on cracking the code, though at my present rate it may take a few more months to get the random key algorithm just right.” He pulled out his thought cache and activated it. “You can see here some of the calculations I’ve been working on.”
Andy shuddered. “Maybe we can look at that some other time?”
“Sounds great.” Gary put the thought cache away and pushed his glasses up on his nose.
“What’s up with the glasses?” Benjamin asked.
Gary took them off and looked at them. “Oh, these? I think they make me look smarter.”
Andy spit out cabbage soup onto the table. “You think you need glasses to make you look smarter?”
Gary shrugged and put them back on. “You know. It helps when I’m around humans.”
“Helps you what?” Heidi asked. “Stand out even more?”
“Iva?”
Benjamin turned and saw Iva smile and Andy frown at the exact same moment. Nick Konstantin, a classmate from last year, walked toward them with a smile the size of a giant squid—and just as slimy. Andy stepped closer to Iva and linked his arm through hers. She unlinked it, using the arm to brush back her long, dark hair. Andy’s frown deepened.
“Nick!” Iva walked over and hugged the boy.
Andy flat out scowled.
“I ’ave missed you, my dearest Ivana.” Nick kissed the back of her hand.
Iva giggled. “You couldn’t have missed me that much, Nick. We just talked a week ago.”
“You did?” Andy’s eyes had bugged open so wide, Benjamin thought they might actually fall out of their sockets.
Nick looked at Andy like he was a pesky fly. “Ah, yes. I spoke with dearest Ivana regarding poem I ’ad written for ’er. Would you like to ’ear it?”
“Um, no,” Andy said.
“Then I shall call upon you later, Ivana, when we might ’ave some privacy.” And Nick kissed her hand, again. “Until then.” He turned and walked away.
Andy started after Nick. Benjamin wasn’t sure what Andy was going to say or do, but whatever it was couldn’t be good.
He reached out with telekinesis and grabbed Andy, who struggled, but then stopped at the sound of a different voice.
“Iva?”
Benjamin turned to look. This time it was Ryan Jordan. Apparently Iva’s entire entourage had decided to stop by and say hello. Benjamin figured that’s what being drop dead gorgeous would get you: creepy guys declaring their undying love every time you turned around. What was odd was Ryan was alone. Normally he had Jonathan Sheehan in tow.
“Oh, hi, Ryan.” Whereas Iva beamed at Nick’s attention, Ryan seemed to make her skin crawl.
“Where’s Jonathan?” Andy asked, and the telekinetic energy around Andy started increasing. Last summer Ryan’s best friend Jonathan had spied on Iva’s dreams. Andy had sworn to kick his butt the next time he saw him.
Ryan didn’t bother looking at Andy when he answered. He kept his eyes on Iva. “He got kicked out of school.”
Heidi scoffed. “Kicked out. Please. He got thrown into juvvie. Or at least the telegen equivalent. Turned out he’d been cheating for the last couple years.”
Ryan kind of let out a laugh. “Yeah. Weird, huh? But he made sure I told you he said hi,” he said to Iva. “And something about having sweet dreams.”
Andy took a step toward him.
“What?” Ryan asked.
Benjamin looked at Ryan. Either Ryan was a really good liar or completely stupid. Benjamin chose to think it was the latter. Ryan probably had no clue Jonathan had been invading Iva’s dreams the entire summer. But Andy did, and before Benjamin could tighten his telekinetic restraints, Andy took the final two steps forward and punched Ryan right in the nose. It must’ve been the adrenaline still pumping from the conversation with Nick, because Andy followed it up with a good three more punches. Ryan fell to the floor.
Benjamin had no idea what to do. Someone in the room did, though he wouldn’t have been Benjamin’s top choice.
“What is going on over here?” The Panther asked, his voice booming as he walked over.
Okay, their telekinesis teacher would have been last on the list of who Benjamin wanted to break up the fight. Their homeroom teacher Proteus Ajax would have been ideal. The Panther was not. Andy and Ryan levitated off the ground and separated. The Panther held them in the air and began his tirade.
“What in the name of Helios and Selene Deimos is going on here?” The Panther asked. He cracked his knuckles until Benjamin thought they might separate at the joint.
“He started it.”
Benjamin looked up at Ryan as he spoke. Talk about pathetic. Ryan hung in mid-air and was covered in blood. Andy, on the other hand, looked like he wasn’t done with the fight. His arms threw punches into the air as he struggled against the telekinetic bonds.
“Mr. Grow?” The Panther asked Andy.
Benjamin held his breath. How mad was Andy? Hopefully not mad enough to tell The Panther that Ryan had to be working for Nathan Nyx last summer.
“He’s been stalking us,” Andy replied. “I’m just giving him what he deserves.”
The Panther turned back to Ryan and eyed him up and down. Benjamin didn’t blame The Panther for not believing Andy; Ryan didn’t look like he could stalk an anemone.
Andy and Ryan both dropped eight feet to the floor, hovering for just a second before hitting with a solid thud. “If this happens again, you’ll be joining your classmate Jonathan in the delinquent center. And I assure you they will not be as kind to you there as I am.” And without another word, The Panther left the room.
CHAPTER 4
Benjamin Has a Secret Admirer
Benjamin heard the mail tube in the dorm room whoosh. One of them had mail, which almost never happened. Messages came via telepathy or the telecom. And boxes of cookies were teleported.
He hopped down from the upper bunk and consulted his heads up display. Eight o’clock. Just great. Too early to get up and too late to fall back asleep. They were meeting their friend Aurora at the Deimos Diner at ten. And if one word summarized Aurora, it was prompt. Or bizarre. Or free-spirited, though technically that was two words.
Since he was the only one who’d woken up, Benjamin slid open the mail tube, pulled out a package, and pressed his thumb onto the identifier pad on top.
“Identity confirmed. Benjamin Holt,” the parcel intoned.
The pad lit up green, and the top popped open. Benjamin upended the box onto the desk in front of him. He felt his heart speed up; someone had sent him a present. And then he noticed the wrapping paper. It was black with three green hearts etched in gold.
“What’d you get?”
Benjamin turned and immediately felt his face grow hot as Andy’s eyes settled on the package.
“What’s that?” Gary asked from across the dorm room.
“It’s nothing.” Benjamin tried to cover the present with his arms.
“It’s not nothing,” Andy said. He walked over and tried to swipe it away. “It looks like you have a secret admirer.”
“I do not,” Benjamin replied.
“You do, too.” Andy finally managed to grab hold of the present. “Let’s open it.”
“Let’s not.” Benjamin pulled out the only trick he could think of on demand. He teleported the box right out from under Andy’s fingers.
“Bring it back,” Andy said. “We have to see what it is.”
“No, we don’t,” Benjamin said. “It’s nothing. I’ll open it later.”
“You know,” Gary said, “The probability of it being from a secret admirer is extremely low. Who would it be?”
“Thanks, Gary.” Even if Benjamin had been thinking the same thing, no one wanted that kind of thought to be voiced.
“It can’t be Julie Macfarlane,” Andy said. “She and Ryan are definitely still dating.”
“It’s not Julie,” Benjamin said.
“I know,” Andy replied. “That’s what I was just saying.”
“Maybe Suneeta?” Gary suggested.
Benjamin rolled his eyes and headed toward the shower. This was ridiculous. “It’s not from Suneeta,” he called back.
“Hey,” Andy said, smacking his forehead. “Maybe it’s from the girl who’s always making googly eyes at you in Telepathy.”
“You mean Sherry the Scary?” Gary asked.
Benjamin ignored the comment. No one would want Sherry the Scary as a secret admirer. She was two feet taller than Benjamin and probably could have pounded him into the ground with her pinkie. He cranked the music up on his heads up display and tuned out the rest of the conversation. He figured maybe if he just pretended it hadn’t happened, the whole thing would be forgotten.
But Benjamin should have known Andy better than that. They hadn’t been at the Deimos Diner longer than thirty seconds before Andy brought it up.
Andy slid into the booth next to Iva. “You guys will never believe who has a secret admirer.”
Benjamin tried not to look as Andy leaned over to kiss her. It was getting downright embarrassing to be around the two of them.
“Gary?” Aurora posed. Her hair was egg yolk yellow and done in dreadlocks, and her eyes matched but had glitter sprinkled on them also. Of course, she could get away with that; she lived in Lemuria year round with her dad. She never had to blend in with humans.
Gary’s mouth hardly had time to form an expression of disbelief before Aurora said, “I’m just kidding, Gary.”
“What?” Benjamin said. “It could be Gary.”
“It’s not Gary,” Aurora said.
“Gee, who does that leave?” Iva put her finger to her mouth as if thinking. “Hmmm, let’s see. Benjamin?”
Benjamin’s face grew hot. “I don’t have a secret admirer. I just got a package this morning, and Andy’s making a big deal of it. It’s nothing.”
“If it’s nothing, then why did you teleport it away and hide it?” Andy asked.
“Maybe it’s from your mom?” Heidi said. She glanced at Aurora’s yellow dreads and changed her own hair the same color but super straight. A
nd then she added some black stripes for good measure.
Benjamin tried to force any thoughts of bumblebees out of his mind. But the more he thought about it, the harder it was not to think about it. Heidi glared at him.
“We can rule out Benjamin’s mom,” Gary said. “There were hearts all over it.”
Benjamin sighed. Why had he ever let Andy and Gary see the package? Why hadn’t he teleported it out of the room the second he’d realized it was for him? Benjamin made a mental note to do just that the next time he received any kind of package from a secret admirer. Not that it was from a secret admirer.
“I just got some mail,” Benjamin said. “I haven’t even opened it yet.”
“So open it now,” Iva replied.
Benjamin had nothing to hide. There was no secret admirer. So he teleported the package from the hiding spot in his mind to the table in front of him and prayed it was nothing embarrassing.
Andy reached over to take the package, but Iva put her hand on his. “Let Benjamin open it.”
Benjamin studied the lumpy package. The three heart pattern was the same symbol on the record from Wondersky City last year. The record Ryan Jordan had made a copy of that had eventually led to Benjamin finding his brother Cory back in the Trojan War. Ryan had probably put someone up to doing this.
“It looks like a tetrahedron,” Gary said.
“That’s exactly what I was just thinking.” Aurora nodded. “And it definitely came from someone here in Lemuria; only telegens can make paper etchings like those hearts.”
“I’ll open it on one condition,” Benjamin said. “No more comments on secret admirers.”
Andy opened his mouth to speak, but Benjamin noticed Iva elbow him sharply in the side.
Benjamin worked around the hearts, not ripping them. They just seemed too…pretty…to tear. How stupid did that sound? He tore the rest of the paper off and teleported it to the nearest recycler. Staring at the object in front of him, Benjamin still had no idea what it was.
