“I loaned it to her,” Kate said. “It’s my dad’s, actually. From when he was president of his fraternity a long time ago. He won’t miss it.”
“What are you going to do with it?” Susie asked Athena. “There’s no table here to hammer on.”
Athena looked around the tent. Then she shrugged and said, “That’s okay. I can hammer on people who don’t sit down and shut up.”
By the time Bucky showed up, everyone else, all seven of them plus Lump, were in the tent. It was a tight squeeze but nobody minded because they were all having fun pretending to be animal trainers in case any terrorist spies were hanging around listening to their conversation. They had been working on teaching Lump to sit, but he hadn’t made much progress. He just kept shuffling around, stepping on people and trying to eat their snacks.
“I know what,” Eddy said. “Let’s see how he does with a different trick. I’m going to teach him to drool.” Eddy held up a potato chip and said, “Okay, Lump. Drool!” And Lump obeyed—instantly. Everyone was laughing when Bucky stuck his head in the tent and said, “What’s going on in here? I could hear you guys clear out to the street. Great bunch of secret spies you are.”
So Bucky squeezed into the tent, too, and brought out a pair of binoculars, a big bag of popcorn, and a whole bag of beepers—little black boxes with buttons at the top. He was really excited about the beepers. Some of the beepers were on neck chains and others had pocket clips. Bucky began passing them out, the clip-ons to the boys, the ones on chains to all the girls. Even Athena got one.
“Neat,” Carlos said. “Where did you get these?”
“They’re my mom’s,” Bucky said. “Or at least they used to be. All the agents in her company used to wear them so when they got beeped they would call in to the head office. But they all just got cellular phones instead so these were just lying around in her office. And look at this.” Bucky turned a couple of the beepers over and there on the backs was a list of eight different phone numbers. “See, these are the numbers for all the beepers. If you phone all these numbers everybody’s beeper will go off. And they don’t stop until you push this button right here.”
“So what do we do if we get beeped?” Eddy asked.
“We all meet here at the headquarters,” Bucky said. “Like if anyone sees the terrorists they just call all these numbers and—ta-da! Everybody meets here to decide what to do next. Okay?”
“Okay, great,” Kate said. “Now how about getting this meeting started before it’s time for dinner and we all have to go home. Go on, Athena. Call the meeting to order.”
So Athena hammered on a tent pole and called the meeting to order. They’d just started making plans for their next meeting, when Lump suddenly cocked his head to one side and barked. One short, sharp woof and then silence. Everyone stopped talking and listened—and then almost stopped breathing. Because they all heard it too. They all could hear the soft, shuffling sound of footsteps coming nearer and nearer across the floor of the Pit.
Chapter 14
ARI WAS STILL HOLDING his breath when a hand reached in, jerked the tent flap open—and two faces appeared. Web Wong and Carson Nicely. Web’s sharp black eyes darted around the tent, seeing everything in a flash. Ari had the feeling that if someone blindfolded Web immediately and took him away, you could ask him tomorrow and he would remember every person and thing that had been in the tent. The eight people, and Lump, and all of the flashlights and karate mats, and maybe the beepers, too, even though some of them weren’t out in plain sight. And he would probably even be able to remember who had been eating what. Web was like that. But no one blindfolded him and he didn’t go away. Instead he just nodded slowly and said, “What are you guys doing in here?”
“Yeah,” said Carson, who was peering around Web’s shoulder with his bristly hair standing on end and the light from the flashlight reflecting off his glasses. “Yeah, what?”
Ari looked around at the other members of the A.T. Club. They were all looking at each other, obviously waiting for someone else to decide what to say.
“Well?” Web said.
Kate spoke first. “We’re having a club meeting.”
Athena waved her gavel in the air. “Yes. We’re having a club meeting. And this is my gravel because I’m the president. I already called the meeting to order so you better sit down and shut up.”
Web nodded solemnly. “Okay, we will,” he said. “Come on, Carson. Sit down.” Web sat down in front of the tent flap and pulled Carson down beside him. Everyone stared at them. “Please pass the popcorn,” Web said.
Someone started the popcorn toward Web, but when it got to Bucky he stopped it. “I don’t know about that,” he said. “This is an official meeting of the A.T. Club and you twerps aren’t members.”
“All right.” Web stood up. “Come on, Carson.”
Looking hungrily toward the popcorn, Carson got slowly to his feet. Web lifted the tent flap and went out, but then he put his head back in and asked Bucky, “What is A.T. an acronym for?”
“A what for?” Bucky said.
“What does A.T. stand for?”
“Ohh,” several people said at once. “Animal Trainers. It means Animal Trainers.” And then Kate added, “We’ve been training Lump to do tricks.”
Everyone nodded.
“Yeah,” Bucky said. “Eddy’s been teaching Lump to drool. Show them, Eddy.”
Everyone was smiling when they looked at Eddy, but after a second they stopped. Because Eddy wasn’t smiling, or anything like it. What Eddy looked like was—worried and determined. “Listen, you guys,” he said. “I think we ought to tell them the truth. I mean, Web and Carson ought to know if anybody does. They’re the ones in the most danger.”
For a moment no one said or did anything, but then Carlos first and then some other people started nodding their heads. And then Kate said, “Yeah. Wong is right. Web and Carson ought to know.” Then everyone was nodding, even Bucky.
Web and Carson came back inside the tent and sat down, and Eddy started in on how these two guys in a black van had been hanging around the cul-de-sac because they wanted to steal a science-fair project. “Yours and Carson’s,” Eddy said. “At least that’s what we heard.”
Web’s slow smile said he didn’t believe it. He smiled first at Carson and shook his head, and Carson smiled back. Then he looked at Eddy and asked, “Why?”
Eddy looked a little embarrassed. “Well, what we heard was that you guys are making a secret weapon and these two terrorists …”
When Eddy said the words secret weapon Ari felt his face go stiff. Behind his stiff face he was thinking frantically, This is it! This is when they find out that I just made up that part about the secret weapon. But then he looked at Carson.
If the words secret weapon had freaked Ari out, something that Eddy said had an even bigger effect on Carson. As Ari watched, Carson’s whole body seemed to go stiff and his face went pale and bulgy eyed. “Terrorists?” he whispered. “The terrorists?”
But Web was still smiling. “That’s pretty dumb,” he said. “Why would a terrorist want to steal a …”
Web paused and Bucky’s voice broke in. “Yeah, twerp. Tell us. A what? Steal a what?”
Web looked at Bucky for a second before he shrugged and went on. “Okay,” he said. “I guess we’d better tell. Okay, Carson?”
Carson nodded stiffly.
Web shrugged again and sighed. “Our experiment is to see how the width of a rubber band affects its propulsive strength. Our hypothesis was that a wider band would—”
“Rubber bands?” Bucky yelled. “You mean, all this time all you got in there is rubber bands? Some secret weapon!” Bucky pretended to be shooting a rubber band with his thumb and forefinger. “Okay, you terrorists. Surrender or … ka-blooie!” Then he laughed so hard he fell over backward on Lump, who jumped up and stepped all over Kate and Susie. And then everyone was either laughing or yelling and Lump was bumbling around, and Athena was yelling for eve
ryone to sit down and shut up.
It took several minutes for things to quiet down, but when they finally did everyone was staring at Web and Carson.
“Rubber bands,” Bucky said again. “Gimme a break!”
Chapter 15
WHEN ALL THE COMMOTION died down Eddy asked the first question about Web and Carson’s “rubber band” project. “I don’t get it, Web. What was the big secret then? Why wouldn’t you let anybody know what you were doing?”
“Well, Ms. Nelson said we should keep our projects secret. And besides”—Web looked at Bucky and then looked away—“I heard that some people were planning to copy other people’s ideas. So Carson and I decided not to let anyone know what we were doing.”
Ari looked around curiously. (All investigative reporters are very curious people.) Almost everyone was either amused or a little disappointed, like maybe they were a little bit sorry the terrorist scare had fizzled. But not Kate. Kate, who was staring at her little brother, was definitely looking worried. And when Ari checked out Carson he saw why. Poor old Carson still looked as if he’d just seen a ghost.
“Carson,” Kate said, “did you start the terrorist rumor?” Carson just went on staring into space. “I’ll bet he did,” she said to everyone else. “He’s been going crazy worrying about terrorists lately. He’s like that. If he sees a scary TV show or comic book he goes bonkers. He doesn’t usually get to see stuff like that but I’ll bet …” She turned back to Carson. “Where did you hear about terrorists, Carson?”
Finally Carson blinked, swallowed hard, and looked at Kate. “In that comic book.” He looked at Bucky. “In that comic book Bucky gave me.”
“Oh yeah,” Bucky said. “I remember that. I was throwing some old comics away and Carson came out in the yard and saw me and …”
Kate glared at Bucky. “Thanks a lot, Brockhurst.”
They all just sat there after that not saying anything. Just letting it all sink in. Just letting it sink in that an old comic book of Bucky’s had made Carson freak out, and that had started the whole terrorist rumor.
But who started the “secret weapon” rumor? No one had asked yet, and Ari was beginning to hope that maybe no one would.
“Well,” Carlos said suddenly, “but how about the …”
Ari cringed, thinking, Uh-oh, here it comes. Here come the questions about who started the rumor about Web’s secret weapon.
But it turned out that wasn’t what was on Carlos’s mind. He went on to say, “How about those two guys in the black van? I mean, they weren’t just a rumor. We all saw them. Right?”
“Yeah,” Bucky broke in. “How about those guys?”
Eddy shrugged. “Meter readers. They probably were just meter readers, or some kind of repairmen.”
“Yeah, maybe,” or “Sure. That’s it,” everyone was saying, and some people were standing up and picking up the stuff they’d brought, getting ready to go home.
Athena stood up, too, and waved her gavel in the air. “Hey. Sit down, everybody. I haven’t injured the meeting yet. Sit down or I’ll hammer somebody.”
Ari grabbed Athena’s arm. “Shhh,” he said. “The club is already adjourned. For good. Right?” he asked whoever might be listening. “The A.T. Club is finished. Right?”
Suddenly everyone was looking at him and then at each other.
“Is it? Is the club finished?” Susie looked disappointed. “I was just getting used to it.”
People nodded. “Yeah, it was kind of fun,” someone said.
“Hey,” Kate said. “Maybe we can find something else to have the club do.”
“Yeah.” Bucky’s face had that lightbulb-going-on look. Not an extra-bright lightbulb, Ari thought, but something was definitely going on. “We can be anti those guys down on Beaumont Avenue. And we could wear red bandannas because they wear blue ones, and stuff like that.”
“You mean like a street gang?” Eddy was grinning. “Great idea, Brockhurst. That’s all we need. The Castle Court Gang War. Drive-by shootings and all that great stuff.”
“We could just wait and see about those men,” a soft, breathy voice said, and everybody turned to look at Aurora. She so seldom said anything that when she did everyone was surprised into listening. “We could leave everything here, like this”—she gestured around the tent—“and then tomorrow we could come back and decide what to do next.”
Everyone began to nod and say “Yeah,” and the way it turned out, that was what they did. They all seemed to be feeling a little disappointed that everything was solved and the mystery was all over. But right at the moment it was dinnertime. So they all split, saying things like, “Okay, tomorrow” and “We’ll decide tomorrow.”
Ari felt let down too. At least he did until he was in his room that night, getting ready for bed. It was still early but he was planning to get into bed and read. So he was halfway into his pajamas when he remembered that there was one part of the mystery that wasn’t solved at all. And that was the part about how Aurora had “seen” the two guys in the black van without really seeing them. And how she’d had that mysterious feeling about them being evil. That part of the mystery still hadn’t been explained away.
Chapter 16
HE HAD TO FIND out. As soon as Ari remembered Aurora’s mysterious feelings about the two guys in the van, he knew he’d have to do a little more investigating before he could go to sleep. And the first thing he needed to do was to talk to Aurora. So as soon as he finished getting into his pajamas he headed for her room. Only she wasn’t there.
Aurora wasn’t in her room, or in the living room, or in Nick and Diane’s studio, or anywhere. Athena was sound asleep in her room, Diane was still working in the studio, and Nick had gone off to an Artists’ Guild meeting. No one was in the kitchen, either, but as Ari opened the door he heard a soft clicking noise that seemed to be coming from the laundry room. It sounded like the very quiet opening and closing of the back door. Tiptoeing across the room, Ari opened the back door and peered out in time to see a tiny beam of light and a small, shadowy figure crossing the backyard, heading for the old studio. It was, he was quite sure, Aurora carrying her pencil-sized flashlight. But what on earth was she going to do in the old studio at—Ari checked his watch—eight-thirty at night?
Closing the door behind him, Ari started running across the yard, running barefoot on sharp pebbles and prickly dry grass. Something stabbed his left big toe and he was hopping around trying to get it out, when the door opened suddenly and there they were, face-to-face.
“Er, hi,” Ari said.
Aurora gasped, stepped back—and then shined the flashlight right on Ari’s face. “Oh.” Her voice was shaky. “It’s just you. You scared me.”
“Sorry,” Ari said and then added, “Ouch. Hey, could I use that flashlight for a minute? Something’s stabbing my toe.”
Aurora handed him the light, put down a paper bag she’d been carrying, and helped him pull out the thorn, before she asked, “What are you doing out here at this time of night?”
Ari grinned. “No fair. That was my question.”
Aurora sighed. “Well, you might as well know. I was supposed to water Mrs. A.’s plants today. And I forgot. I promised I’d do it today and then with all that stuff about the club I just didn’t remember. So I’m going to do it now.”
That explained everything. For most people, watering the neighbors’ plants in the middle of the night might be a strange thing to do, but for a Pappas it was practically normal. “Okay,” Ari said. “Great. I’ll go with you. If you wait for me to put some shoes on.”
Back in the house Ari grabbed a pair of shoes and his jacket and a few minutes later he and Aurora were on their way along the sidewalk toward the Andersons’. As they were passing the Grants’ house, Ari noticed that an almost full moon was just beginning to rise above the jagged rock called Castle Crag. But here, among the trees and houses, it was still very dark. Except for the small rectangles of light spilling out of a few windows, and the t
iny circle of light shining from Aurora’s flashlight, the whole cul-de-sac seemed to dissolve into nothingness. Ari shivered—and tried to think of something else.
“So,” he said, “you got the key?”
“Uh-huh.” Aurora pulled out a key that had been hanging around her neck on a string.
“Good.” He looked down at the bag Aurora was carrying. “And what else? What’s in the—” He stopped and sniffed. He couldn’t believe it. “You don’t have rotten fish in that bag, do you?”
“Yes, I do,” Aurora said. “I’m going to put some on Mrs. A.’s African violets. They’ve been looking unhappy lately.”
“But the smell. You’ll stink up their whole house.”
Aurora giggled. “Only for a little while. The smell will be all gone by the time the A.s get home. And the African violets will be all full of blossoms. Mrs. A. will be very happy.” Ari shrugged and grinned. He wasn’t so sure.
They were almost past Dragoland by then, and Ari was walking a few steps behind because of the smell, when he suddenly turned to look back toward Beaumont Avenue. Afterward he remembered exactly why. He’d heard the sound of a car’s motor and it crossed his mind that Nick might be getting home. And if it were Nick, he just might notice that two of his kids were missing.
So Ari stopped to see if Nick had just turned in to Castle Avenue—but it wasn’t Nick’s car. In fact, it wasn’t a car at all. It was a big black van.
Immediately Ari’s investigative reporter’s quick instincts took over. The first thing he did was to call to Aurora. “Look out,” he hissed. “Turn off your flashlight. Run!” And the next thing he did was to follow his own advice. Running as fast as he dared in the almost total darkness, he scurried down the Dragoland driveway and into the underbrush that surrounded the Pit. It wasn’t until he was crouching in the midst of a thick bush that he checked to see if Aurora had followed him. She hadn’t. Aurora was nowhere in sight.
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