by B. C. Harris
“Mr. Kraviak said that you abruptly left his class.”
“Yes, that’s true,” I reply in my best innocent voice. “I wasn’t feeling very well. I’m sorry if left so quickly, but wasn’t that better than vomiting all over the classroom floor?”
Ms. Cathbert looks at me and then looks at Mr. Kraviak. There’s a glimmer of fear in his eyes. I guess that the last thing he needs right now is to have Ms. Cathbert doubt his story.
“But I heard your cell phone vibrating,” Ms. Kraviak says as though his life depends on me supporting him.
I pause, gazing back and forth between Ms. Cathbert and Mr. Kraviak.
‘I think what you must have heard was my stomach churning,” I say. “Perhaps, to you it sounded like a cell phone vibrating but to me it was my stomach telling me to get to a washroom.”
“What about what just happened?” Ms. Cathbert asks with growing confusion on her face.
I don’t respond. I pretend to be puzzled. I know that neither Ms. Cathbert nor Mr. Kraviak will ever be able to explain what happened minutes ago on the front steps of the school.
“What do you mean?” I say.
Ms. Cathbert looks like she’s about to begin, but she stops herself. Her thin lips bite together. What can she possibly say? Is she going to say that my friends and I vanished before her eyes?
“I’d like to look in your locker,” Ms. Cathbert states, avoiding any further reference to what happened in front of the school.
“Sure,” I reply. I know that she isn’t going to find anything there.
As we walk towards my locker, I’m hoping that my friends have been able to establish contact with Jasmin. I shudder to think what might have happened to her.
As we walk along the hall, I’m once again the source of stares from other students who see me being accompanied by a distraught vice-principal. I’m beginning to become infamous within the school, although I realize this is not a good thing. I don’t need others watching every little thing that I do.
“Here we are,” I reply as I stop at my locker. A few students at nearby lockers linger in an attempt to hear whatever conversation might occur between Ms. Cathbert and me.
“Move along,” she firmly orders the other students. Her voice leaves no uncertainty that she means business.
As the hallway clears around us, I open my locker. Although I want to challenge Ms. Cathbert’s right to search me locker, I think it’s in my best interest to cooperate.
There’s little in my locker. A few books. My lunch. My coat. And that’s it.
Ms. Cathbert takes out my lunch, coat, and books and then stares intently into the void as though a secret door might appear. She opens my lunch to see if I might have hidden my cell phone there. Perhaps it’s in one of my sandwiches, I almost say, but I force myself to keep quiet. She digs her hands into my coat pockets.
I stifle a laugh. Right now, it’s important for me to present an air of innocence.
Finally, Ms. Cathbert replaces my books, coat, and lunch, and slams my locker door as though she’s trying to close the door on a problem that she can’t solve.
“This isn’t over yet,” she announces defiantly as she struts away. “I’m going to look at the security tapes. They will explain whatever you are up to.”
I gulp. Security tapes? I had forgotten that our school has security cameras throughout it, especially near the front entrance. Ms. Cathbert will soon have proof that we vanished. This is not good. How will I ever explain what happened?
As soon as Ms. Cathbert and Mr. Kraviak are out of sight, I rush to the cafeteria. It’s the busiest time of the day. Where are my friends? I look throughout the mob of students who fill every corner of the room that’s far too small to accommodate everyone.
Finally, I see Drew. As I walk towards him I see Jamie a few tables away. Michael is missing.
Although I want to ask Drew about Jasmin, I race towards Jamie first. I need to tell him about the security video.
Reaching Jamie, I say, “There’s a security camera at the front entrance of the school. Ms. Cathbert has gone to look at the images. She’s going to see that we were all standing there one minute and then the next we disappeared. We’re in big trouble. I can’t possibly tell her about my emerald.”
I’m surprised by Jamie’s reaction. He smiles as he stands. He pulls me gently by my sleeve as he leads me away from the table and out of the cafeteria. A few students step out of our way as if to say that I’m not someone to mess with.
As we exit through the cafeteria doors, I say, “Jamie, didn’t you hear what I said? There’s a security camera mounted at the front of our school. There are images of us standing there and then vanishing.”
Unexpectedly, Jamie laughs.
“What’s going on?” I say, confused by his response.
“After you left us, Michael told me that last year when he was working on a computer in the library, he found a way to hack into the school’s administrative network which includes the security system.
I know where this conversation is going.
“Michael and I realized that our images on the front steps had been recorded. While Ms. Cathbert was chasing after you, he went to the library to erase our images from the security system.”
“Does this mean that Ms. Cathbert won’t find anything?” I say as though a prayer has been answered.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Ms. Cathbert will not find any pictures of us standing on the front steps of the school or even any pictures of us together in the hallway.”
As Jamie finishes, I see Michael walking towards us. From the proud expression on his face, I know that he has been successful in erasing the images.
Although I want to hug Michael as he reaches us, I force myself to stay composed.
“Everything okay?” Jamie asks without showing any emotion.
“Mission accomplished,” Michael grins. “As well, I saw some pictures of the Stalker on the security system.” Turning hesitatingly to me, he adds, “Emily, I hate to tell you this, but she really looks like your mother.”
I don’t reply.
“The security cameras caught the Stalker coming into the school and also leaving the school. I erased her images when I deleted ours.”
“What about Jasmin?” Jamie asks.
“Before the Stalker was out of the camera’s range, she turned to look back at the school,” Michael continues. “It was almost as if she knew that someone was following her. Then the images show Jasmin exiting the school. The pictures only go as far as the edge of the school property. I wonder if the Stalker was leading Jasmin into a trap.”
As I search for what to say next, Jamie says, “We can’t all leave the school or we’re going to arouse Ms. Cathbert’s suspicions.”
“You’re right. I’m going to the office to call my mother. I’m going to tell her that I’m sick and that I need to go home. This will help to support the story I told Ms. Cathbert about me not feeling well. It will also allow me to use my emerald to find Jasmin. As soon as school is over, I need you to contact me.”
Jamie and Michael nod their approval.
I see Drew approaching.
“Fill Drew in on what has happened. I’ll get my cell phone from him later. And tell Jasmin’s teachers that she has gone home sick. Is there some way we can prevent the school’s automatic messaging system from contacting Jasmin’s mother about her missing any classes.”
Michael grins.
I know he can handle my request.
- 20 -
SMOKE AND MIRRORS
My mother picked me up from school and brought me home without saying a word. As she dropped me off, all she said was, “Be careful.”
As I think about what she said, it isn’t the words, but the tone of her voice that continues to bewilder me. It’s almost as if she knows what’s going on, but she can’t possibly know, can she? Unless, of course, she’s the Stalker.
Locking the metal door leading into our house and arming the home security sys
tem, I retreat into the basement. I have barely turned on my computer when there’s a beep to signal that someone is in our secret chat room.
It’s Jamie.
WISDOM: Drama texted Hunk several times before she disappeared. She followed the Stalker to the Westside Hotel. That was her last text message.
Westside Hotel? That’s about ten blocks away from our school. Is it possible that the Stalker is staying at the hotel? If Jasmin’s last text came from the hotel, is it possible that the Stalker has kidnapped Jasmin?
As these thoughts race through my mind, I type.
GLOW: The Stalker must have Drma in the hotel. We’ve got to find a way to save her.
WISDOM: Yes, I agree with you. Hunk is already on his way there. Comic Man is on a computer in the library adjusting the attendance records so that neither Hunk nor Drama will show as being absent.
GLOW: Great. I’m going to help Hunk. After school, can you and Comic Man continue to look for my aunt? If we need your help at the hotel, I’ll contact you.
WISDOM: Will do. Be careful.
I don’t reply. Be careful? Isn’t that what my mother said to me as well?
I can’t waste time walking to the hotel. Besides, my intuition is telling me that the Stalker might be using Jasmin as bait to catch me for some reason.
Searching online I quickly find a picture of the Westside Hotel. It’s not too far from my mother’s work. I’ve traveled past it many times.
The Westside is five stories high. It’s an old faded yellow building.
As I scroll through the pictures of the hotel, I find exactly what I need. A picture of the lobby.
It’s a typical hotel lobby. Several abstract paintings on the walls. Big tropical plants. some cozy brown leather chairs. A couch. A coffee table with a newspaper sitting on it with a few magazines.
I focus on the picture of the hotel lobby as I hold my emerald in front of me.
“Sandarium, lobby, Westside Hotel.”
I imagine sitting in one of the comfy large brown leather chairs in the hotel lobby. I feel the smoothness of the leather. My body sinks into the softness of the chair.
There’s a man dressed in a navy blue suit approaching the registration counter. On both sides of me are tall plants. A colorful abstract painting on the wall catches my attention. It’s one of those paintings that the more you look at it, the more you begin to see.
“Emily?” I hear a familiar voice.
It’s Drew.
I’m in the hotel lobby.
“How did you know to come here?” Drew asks as he hands me my cell phone.
I could really use a hug from him right now to settle my nerves, but I resist in spite of looking into his deep blue eyes.
As I stand, I say, “Jamie told me you were here. Have you heard anything from Jasmin?”
Drew looks at me like I have super powers. Finally he says, “No, she hasn’t contacted me.” He stares at my emerald in a curious manner. “Can you use the emerald to find Jasmin?”
I shake my head. “For some reason, when I try to visualize a picture of Jasmin, my emerald gets blurry. It’s as if something is blocking me from seeing her.”
Drew looks at me as though he doesn’t understand what I’m saying, but that’s okay because I don’t really understand either.
“Have you seen any trace of the Stalker?” I ask.
Drew says no with a slight shake of his head.
“Any ideas?” I ask.
“If only we could fly,” he says. “There’s no other way to check all the rooms in the hotel. If we had a small remote-controlled plane with a camera mounted on it, we could look in the windows of each room.”
I immediately think of Michael. Mounting a camera on a toy airplane is exactly the kind of thing he could do. Then I realize we don’t have time for Michael to do this. Besides, a small airplane would attract attention.
I have another idea.
“Drew, I’m going to be leaving for a few minutes. I’m going to get the help we need. I think you should pretend you’re reading a newspaper or a magazine to avoid anyone asking you any questions.”
“Where are you going?” Drew asks. “What are you planning to do?”
I ignore Drew’s questions. I’m already staring intently into my emerald.
I focus on my destination. I mumble a few words.
- 21 -
AN UNLIKELY SOURCE OF HELP
“Emily, Emily, Emily,” a squeaking voice repeats.
Suddenly, hundreds of other voices are all repeating, “Emily, Emily, Emily.”
I feel something soft and furry jumping on my shoulders.
It’s Squirt.
“Squirt, is it really you?” I exclaim, but from the array of bizarre creatures around me I know that I’m back in the Land of Limnits.
Before I can reply, a blast of water greets me. It’s my friend Cool. Bedlam erupts. Here I am on a serious mission and all around me a crazy water fight is occurring.
Not wanted to disturb the great fun that the limnits are enjoying, I gaze once again into my emerald as I hold Squirt.
I concentrate on seeing a picture of Radwin. I visualize his two yellow heads and small wings. As a clearer picture of him emerges in my mind, I say, “Sandarium, Radwin.”
I feel a tingling around me. More water is being sprayed at me, I think. Then I realize it’s not water.
I’m in the midst of a sea of waving morphadels.
“Emily?” a gruff voice greets me.
It’s Radwin.
The yellow doadling is darting here and there in front of me.
“Radwin. Squirt. I need your help.”
“Help, help, help,” Squirt repeats.
“You’ve got to come with me to my planet. I will explain more later.”
- 22 -
TRAPPED
We’re in the lobby of the hotel. I’m sitting in one of the cozy leather chairs again. Drew is staring at me bewildered. Squirt is jumping up and down in my lap, with Radwin hovering in front of me.
Before I can explain my plan to Drew, a woman and a young girl walk through the lobby near us. When the girl spots Squirt, she exclaims, “Look, mommy. What’s that? It looks like a purple squirrel, but its face looks like a goldfish.
The mother’s eyes grow wide as she looks at Squirt.
The little girl is already excitedly stepping in our direction.
What now? I can’t possibly explain that Squirt is from another planet.
When the girl spots Radwin, she stops in her tracks.
“What’s that?” the curious girl asks her blonde hair in a bouncing ponytail, her big blue eyes as wide as saucers as she looks at Radwin. “It has two heads: one at each end of its body.”
“Oh,” I begin, my eyes darting back and forth between Radwin, the girl and her mother. “It’s a new kind of toy. It’s still in the testing stage, so nobody knows about it yet.” Good story, I think to myself.
The bubby girl looks again at Squirt.
“Mommy, look at the purple thing.”
“Purple thing, purple thing, purple thing,” Squirt repeats.
“And it talks,” the girl says as she reaches out to touch Squirt who is more than willing to play with her.
“Mommy, mommy, can I have one of these?”
There’s a look of concern on the mother’s face. I doubt that she believes my story about these being toys, but what she’s seeing is beyond her realm of possibilities, so fear begins to grip her.
As the little girl touches Squirt who giggles, her mother snatches her hand and pulls her away.
“Mommy, mommy, I want to play with it.”
“Not now,” the mother says, as she quickly tows her daughter towards the hotel door.
“Mommy, mommy, please…”
As they step out of the hotel, the mother glances back for a final look at Radwin who is still hovering in front of me. Her face contorts as though she has seen an alien. Guess what, I think. You’re right.
“That was close,” I say. “You can’t make contact with any humans. It will be too hard for them to accept you.”
“Closed minds?” Radwin says.
For a moment, I reflect on how open the inhabitants of Tamor were in accepting me.
“Humans are different,” I say. “They have trouble dealing with anything new and unusual.”
“Unusual?” Radwin says. “You’re telling me that human beans with only one head aren’t unusual.”
“Another time…”
“Jasmin,” Drew interjects, reminding me why we’re here.
“Yes, we need to find Jasmin,” I say.
“Is something wrong with Jasmin?” Radwin asks.
“Yes. We think that Jasmin has been taken hostage by an evil woman. We think she’s being held as a prisoner somewhere in this hotel.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Radwin says. “How can I help? And what’s a hotel?”
“A hotel is a place where people stay when they’re not at home,” I offer, but from the look on Radwin’s face I know this is a discussion for some other time.
“Radwin, I need you to fly outside the hotel and look into each window to see if you can find Jasmin.”
He nods.
“And it’s important that no one sees you. You will have to blend in with the faded yellow bricks on the building as best as you can.”
“Me, me, me…” Squirt says.
“Squirt, for now, I need you to come with me,” I say as I stand and begin to walk out of the hotel.
“Drew, I think you should go to the back of the hotel. I’ll stay across the street at the front. If Radwin finds Jasmin, he can quickly tell either one of us where she is.
Once we’re through the doors, I say, “Okay Radwin, see if you can find Jasmin.”
Instantly Radwin zooms upwards. Without his lights flashing, his pale yellow color blends in well with the bricks on the hotel. In a matter of seconds I lose sight of him.
Drew quickly moves away from us as Squirt and I cross the street. Squirt looks confused by the cars that are passing us.”
“Cars,” I say in response to the little purple creature’s unasked question.
“Cars, cars, cars…,” Squirt excitedly says.
