Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis

by Paula Berinstein

  Cars and lorries and their contents. Maps and flashlights, wrenches, pliers, and bolt cutters.

  Not surprising, but again, pretty run-of-the mill.

  Lunch pails.

  Probably smelling of onions. Those guys she’d hid from had eaten so many onions they stunk. That was how she’d been able to follow them and find the school for criminals—and Nick in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Keys.

  Now that was interesting. Maybe one of the keys opened a safe or locker. She put a check mark next to “Keys.”

  Weapons: guns, knives, swords, coshes.

  Ick, ick, ick.

  Lighters.

  Like the one she’d used to set off the ceiling sprinklers. Nick had never expected that.

  Cigarettes and cigars.

  Yick, smelly.

  Whiskey and beer bottles.

  Ketchup and mustard containers.

  Food wrappers.

  Food trays, dishes, eating utensils.

  More yick, smelly.

  Sugar samples.

  Chemicals.

  The sugar samples would contain the virus the cartel had developed, so they were important. Chemicals fell into the same category. She didn’t see how these could be related to the whatsit, but they might be. She checked both “Sugar samples” and “Chemicals,” even though the detectives already had some sugar samples on file. Maybe these contained a different virus.

  She thought about the list carefully. What were the Moriartys doing with her mother’s books? Surely they didn’t enjoy reading them. There must be some nefarious purpose to their possessing them. Were they studying her mom?

  Was it possible that Nick’s cell phone was among the items, with his game Explosions! and the link to the film they had been making on it? Maybe she should phone Ms. Pencil back and ask her, although neither the game nor the film was related to her purpose. She was just curious, and she couldn’t justify bothering people for that.

  What about all the files on the computers? Was it possible they contained something that could lead to the whatsit? Was the data even salvageable after having been drenched in sugar water and burned to a crisp? Maybe she couldn’t justify calling Ms. Pencil about Nick’s phone, but the computer files were another matter.

  She phoned back. Fortunately Ms. Pencil was still there. When Amanda had posed her questions, the woman told her that she was afraid they hadn’t been able to salvage any digital data so far, even from the cell phones, but they were still working on it.

  Without access to the Moriartys’ phones and computers, that avenue was closed. As for the other items, the team might be able to follow them up later but it wouldn’t be easy. They’d have to jump through all kinds of hoops with the Metropolitan Police. For now it would be easier to pursue whatever they could get their hands on locally.

  Amanda turned her attention back to her own list. The points were pretty vague but they might get the kids thinking. She sent the list to the others and thought about the next step. She kept coming back to the question of what had changed between Professor Feeney’s phone call, when the teachers were concerned but not panicked, and now, when they were almost hysterical. Whatever it was couldn’t have anything to do with the earthquake because the teachers had been discussing it in Thrillkill’s office before the quake had hit. So what was different?

  For one thing, most of the students had gone home for spring break. What could have happened during that week to change things? Where did the teachers go over the holiday? Now there was a lead. Amanda and her friends needed to find out where the teachers had been and what they had been doing. Maybe they should pay special attention to Professor Feeney, which would be difficult because she wasn’t even their teacher. Amanda wrote:

  “Where were the teachers over the break, especially Prof. Feeney?”

  That was one lead. Another might have to do with Editta’s disappearance, although it was hard to see how. Still, anything out of the ordinary should be investigated.

  What did Amanda really know about Editta and her family? She knew that her mother was superstitious. That was where Editta had got that trait. What else? Where was Editta for those couple of days? Why wouldn’t she say? Could she be ill? Family problems? Something to do with criminals? Amanda wrote:

  “More about Editta and possible connection to whatsit.”

  What else had changed? Was it possible that there was another mole inside the school and the teachers had hushed up the scandal?

  This idea was particularly disturbing because it made her suspicious of everyone, even her friends. That wasn’t good. How did she, or anyone, know that people were who they said they were? The school had supposedly checked out Nick and Mavis and they’d missed the truth. What would keep that from happening again? Or . . . OMG! What if the criminals could turn a student or a teacher who had been good to start with bad? How could you tell? Even if Amanda knew what to look for, how could the four of them watch everyone? The prospect was overwhelming. Even so she wrote:

  “How can you identify a mole?”

  Suddenly she got three texts at once, all responding to the list she’d sent. Amphora said, “All.” Simon said, “All.” Ivy said, “All of the above.”

  All of the above! Of course. That had to be it. Whatever was missing was so critical that it would affect everything, just as Professor Feeney had said.

  Amanda looked at the list again. The detectives were the last line of defense against the criminals, and as she’d seen, the bad guys weren’t just bent on stealing money. They were also developers and users of weapons of mass destruction. Without the detectives to keep them in line, they would threaten the entire world!

  No wonder the teachers were so upset. She still didn’t know what had changed, but she was certain that the stakes were even higher than she’d imagined. Maybe it was time to hold her nose and do something she really, really didn’t want to do. Maybe it was time to ask Scapulus Holmes for help.

  17

  Crystal Weirdness

  Amanda debated about asking Holmes for help. It was unlikely that the four friends could solve the problem of the whatsit alone, but to invite the new kid into their group was a big deal. For one thing, it would put all of them, especially her, in Holmes’s debt. For another, it would be humiliating. If he thought she needed him, he’d gloat. And if he said yes, he’d be hanging around even more than he already was. She should probably think the matter through a little longer before committing herself.

  But before she was able to reach a resolution, something else happened: the crystals started to exhibit strange properties.

  Amphora burst into their room and told Amanda that the crystal she had been wearing had dimmed. They decided they should see if the same was true of the others, so they went to the lab where most of the rest of them had been taken. The same thing had happened. In addition, the color had changed. The beautiful apricot hue had lost some of its saturation and faded to a pale orange. The crystals were still lovely, but they looked like they’d lost their oomph. Amanda could relate to that. She felt the same way.

  “What do you think this is about?” said Amphora. “Are they more poisonous now?”

  “Would you cut that out?” said Amanda. “You can put it back on, you know. It isn’t dangerous.” She picked up Amphora’s crystal and rubbed it all over her face and hands. “See? Am I sick? No. They’re fine.”

  “Hang on,” said Amphora. “You did something.” She moved close to the crystal in a tentative way and peered at it. “It looks different.”

  “It does n—whoa! You’re right. It got darker again.” Amanda picked up the crystal and held it up to the light. Then she moved it around. “You know, I didn’t notice before, but it looks kind of like David Wiffle’s hair.”

  Amphora laughed. “You’re right.”

  “It’s not coppery enough to look like Ivy’s,” said Amanda. “Hers has much more red in it.”

  “Ivy’s hair looks more metallic than this,” sa
id Amphora. “This is softer, more of a pastel.”

  “Yes,” said Amanda, “but I don’t understand.” She put the crystal in her palm and tapped on it. The light got brighter.

  “This is really weird,” said Amphora. “Do it more.”

  Amanda hit the crystal against a lab bench. It glowed even more strongly and its color became saturated again. “I wonder if the same thing would happen with the crystals in the skull.”

  “Let’s check with Professor Hoxby,” said Amphora. She forgot that she was afraid of the crystal and grabbed it out of Amanda’s hand.

  The two girls practically ran to Professor Hoxby’s office, which was right next to the autopsy room. When they blasted through the door, Amanda noticed that the poor man looked even more purple than usual. She wondered if there was something wrong. Well, besides the whole whatsit thing and the skeleton.

  “Ladies,” he said, “you seem in a hurry. Is there another body to examine?” He looked almost excited at the prospect.

  “No, Professor,” breathed Amphora. “It’s just that, well, uh, I, you tell him, Amanda.”

  Amanda thought Amphora should have been the one to ask the questions because it was her crystal, but that was never going to happen so she said,” Professor Hoxby, have you noticed any changes in those crystals from the skull?”

  “Which skull?” he said, as if there were so many to choose from.

  “The one with the body,” said Amanda.

  “My dear, skulls almost invariably come with bodies. Although occasionally they are separated. You know, there’s a wonderful collection of skulls at—”

  “The one with the dead body. The one you just autopsied.” She was feeling frustrated.

  “Oh, that one,” he said. “My guess is that he was quite a handsome man.”

  “Yes?”

  “Yes what, my dear?”

  Amanda wanted to scream. Was he being deliberately obtuse?

  “Sir,” she said, “have you noticed any changes in the orange crystals that were stuck to the skull of the body we found under the school on Saturday?”

  “Oh, those crystals. That body. I don’t know. Shall we take a look?” He sat there so calmly that Amanda wanted to stick a lighter under his butt and get him to react.

  She didn’t have to, though, because the purple professor arose and motioned for them to follow him to the autopsy room. Normally this would have been a nauseating prospect, but the two girls were so desperate to see what was going on with the crystals that neither seemed to mind.

  It took about two seconds to walk from Professor Hoxby’s office to the autopsy room. When they got there, though, it seemed that he had lost the key to the cupboard that held the crystals.

  “Oh dear,” he said. “Wherever did I put that key?” The girls fidgeted so much you could almost hear their bodies hum. “I wonder. Perhaps in this drawer. No. That one? I can’t remember.”

  Amanda spied a key sitting on top of the autopsy table. The idea of touching it was repulsive. She didn’t know how the man could handle all that awful stuff, even with gloves. She wasn’t going to touch it.

  “Oh, Professor,” she said, pointing to the key. “Is that it?”

  “I, uh, oh, there you are, you silly thing,” he said. Amanda and Amphora exchanged glances. He picked up the key and examined it. “Yes, I do believe this is the one. I know because it has an especially deep notch about a thirty-second of an inch from the right-most end.” The girls rolled their eyes but he didn’t see. “Let me just—aha! Treasure unearthed.”

  He opened the cupboard and removed the crystals, which were sitting in a clear plastic dish. Apparently Professor Stegelmeyer had succeeded in removing them from the skull after all. Amphora held hers up next to them. They were definitely different. The skull crystals were paler and less luminescent than hers.

  “Look,” she said. “They’ve faded, just like the others.”

  “Amazing,” said Amanda. “They’re still pretty, but they’re definitely fainter.”

  “So they are,” said Professor Hoxby.

  “But watch this,” said Amphora. Forgetting to be afraid, she reached out and scratched one of the skull crystals. It immediately brightened and the orange color came back.

  “Oh my,” said the professor. “Shall we try another?” He reached out and did the same thing to another crystal with the same result. “This is definitely worth more study. We must involve Professor Stegelmeyer.”

  That was the last thing the girls wanted. First, they didn’t particularly like mean old Stegelmeyer, and second, they wanted to try things for themselves.

  “Do you think we could take one or two to the lab and try our own experiments?” said Amanda.

  “That’s what we’re here for,” said Professor Hoxby. “I want you to learn as much as you can from this out of body experience. Oh, that was funny.” He grinned. Amanda groaned in her head. “Yes, by all means. Would you like to select them?”

  Amanda didn’t think it mattered which crystals they took, but she said yes anyway. She and Amphora each pointed to a crystal, which the dead bodies teacher bagged and labeled for them.

  “Now you know you must sign for these,” he said.

  “Of course,” said Amphora.

  “Here is my register. Oh. It was here. What have I done with it?” He retraced every step he’d made when looking for the key. “Sorry. Can’t find it. Why don’t you sign this piece of paper?”

  It was an old, crumpled, yucky piece of paper Amanda could swear had blood on it. She grabbed a pair of gloves and the pen he was holding out to her and signed. Amphora did the same, and they left with their prizes.

  “Don’t forget to send me your report,” said the pathology teacher cheerily.

  “Of course,” Amanda said, then whispered to Amphora, “I’ll use purple ink for his copy.”

  The girls ran to the lab with their treasures. They repeated their previous experiments with the same results. Amphora seemed to have forgotten all about the crystals’ potentially deadly properties. Their odd behavior so intrigued her that she couldn’t wait to penetrate their secrets.

  In fact, she was so excited that she did something completely out of character. She ran to Simon and dragged him to the lab to show him what they’d found. Amanda couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Perhaps the crystals did have secret powers. They had certainly effected a change in her roommate.

  When Simon heard the news he lit up. “We’ve got to run exhaustive tests,” he said.

  “Agreed!” said Amphora in a way Amanda hadn’t seen before, especially when talking to Simon, who looked as startled as if a live dinosaur had entered the room and sat down to watch TV.

  “We should get started right away,” he said.

  “I’d like to,” said Amanda, “but you know—the whatsit. That’s the most important.”

  “Oh,” said Amphora. “Right.” She hesitated for a moment and then said, “Do you think we might get something named after us? The Kapoor crystals or something?”

  Simon gave her a withering stare. “You’ve got to be kidding. Is that what you’re after? Glory?”

  “Not really, but if it happened, wouldn’t it be cool?”

  “Science is important for what it can do, not who does it,” said Simon. “It’s not about being a celebrity or massaging your ego.”

  “I’m not massaging my ego,” Amphora said, raising her voice. “I do want to know. Why can’t it be both?”

  “Hey, you guys,” said Amanda, “let’s forget about this, okay? If Ivy comes by she’ll fine you, and anyway we have more important things to do than squabble.”

  Simon looked at her appreciatively, but Amphora frowned. “Why do you always cut me off right before I’m about to win an argument?” she said.

  “I don’t do that,” said Amanda. “Where did that come from?”

  Amphora moved back and looked at her feet. Amanda knew she was about to dig in and didn’t want to waste time trying to p
lacate her. She was about to suggest that they come back to the crystals later when another strange thing happened. Amphora apologized.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I was wrong.” Amanda had to stop her mouth from dropping and Simon looked at her as if she were an alien with six heads. “Don’t look so surprised. I’m perfectly capable of admitting my mistakes. Sometimes I think you guys don’t know me at all.” She didn’t wait for a response. She turned and walked calmly out of the room.

  When she’d gone Simon said, “That was weird.”

  “I’ll say,” said Amanda. “I’ve never seen her like that before. You know, I definitely think something is in the air around here. Everyone is acting really strange. Do you think the earthquake released something?”

  “Could be,” said Simon. “Except that a lot of this started before then.”

  “You’re right. What then?”

  “Who can say?” he said. “I suspect we’ll find out though.”

  18

  I’d Like to Thank the Academy

  While the kids were turning their attention to the whatsit, the teachers were hard at work trying to establish the identity of the dead body and the person who had killed him. The most likely suspects were Moriarty’s moles—Mavis, the old cook, the crooked doctor, and Nick—so even though the staff had searched their rooms more than once, they did so again, looking for a murder weapon and any evidence that might tie the criminals to the body. Fortunately they left Amanda out this time, or at least they left her out of the search by name. They were still keen on getting the kids involved in a real case, so they encouraged all of them to help look for evidence, following procedure, of course. Professor Scribbish was to supervise their activities.