Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis

by Paula Berinstein

  “He’s got them,” Amanda said. She was a hundred percent sure that Blixus had found the crystals and removed them. If he hadn’t missed the few they’d found they might never have known, either.

  “You’re probably right,” said Simon. “And the worst thing is that he probably knows about their special properties. Why else would he have taken them?”

  “What is he going to do with them?” said Amanda.

  “There are organisms on the crystals,” said Clive. “Parasites, I think.”

  Amanda and Simon looked at each other. “What?” they said together.

  What indeed would Blixus Moriarty do if he had the crystals? Amanda just knew he would find a way to make them into weapons. He might turn them into energy storage devices, but doing that would kill them. Either way the crystals would die, leaving Legatum with the only live specimens in the world. She was growing very fond of the little creatures and did not want to see them hurt. Of course she didn’t like the idea of Moriarty coming up with new weapons either. But what was this about parasites? How could Clive tell, and what did it mean?

  The other immediate problem was the book. It was possible that it, too, was hiding somewhere in the rubble, but because it was only one thing and the crystals potentially many, it would be way more difficult to find. Now they had three tasks ahead of them: the book, the rest of the crystals, and the virus formula. Oh, and the parasites, whatever they were.

  “What are we going to do about the book?” Amanda said to Simon, who was still sweeping with the sensor crystal. “We don’t have a book Geiger counter to tell us it’s here.”

  “I think we have to assume that Moriarty has it,” said Simon. “If it’s here, fine—no one has it, and no one can hurt Legatum. But if he’s got it he can do a lot of damage, or so it seems. We need to find him first, and then the book.”

  “I think you’re right,” she said. “So where do we look? We have no idea where he is or where he’s going.”

  “Let’s approach this logically,” said Simon, still sweeping. “Where does he live? Does he have a flat? A house? A relative he can go to?”

  “I’m sure Thrillkill would have a good idea,” said Amanda. “Obviously that’s off the table. I wish Professor Kindseth were out of the hospital. He’d probably help us.”

  “He’s doing better,” said Clive.

  “I’m not so sure he would,” said Simon. “He is a teacher. He can’t betray the other teachers. Oh, good. Thanks, Clive.”

  “By helping us?” she said. “All we’re trying to do is get their stupid book back for them. And save the crystals. How is that betraying anyone? Thank goodness. Can he have visitors, Clive?”

  “Not yet.”

  “You and I don’t think it’s a betrayal,” said Simon, “but I don’t think they’d see it that way.”

  Amanda thought for a moment. “I wish there were a place to sit down,” she said. “I’m tired.”

  “How about the curb along Factory Road?” he said. “We’d have to walk down a ways, but that would work, wouldn’t it?”

  “Yes, good idea. Do you mind?”

  “Nope. I could stand to sit down for a minute too,” said Simon.

  “‘Stand to sit.’ Cool,” said Clive.

  Simon put the sensor crystal away and the two of them waded out of the debris, which reached halfway down the street, or so it seemed. At last they found a nice stretch of curb and plopped down.

  No sooner had her butt touched the concrete than Amanda remembered something. “OMG. How could I have forgotten? One time when the common room was done up like an ocean liner, Nick said he liked sailing. Maybe his dad has a boat.”

  “Good thinking,” said Simon. “The river is right there. Let’s check it out. “You still there, Clive?”

  “Yup,” said Clive. “Take me to the river.”

  Getting to the Thames was not the easiest thing with all that wreckage between them and it. They would either have to go through or around the mess, and in either case they might be blocked when they got near the water. But eventually they agreed that it would be faster to go around, even if the route was longer.

  When they got close they were disappointed to find that there was a solid fence in their way. Simon said they should climb over it, but Amanda peeked underneath and said that the ground dropped off precipitously on the other side.

  “At least I can climb up and take a look,” he said.

  “Show me,” said Clive.

  “Sorry, Clive,” said Amanda. “Can’t.”

  Simon scaled the fence in about two seconds—Amanda wasn’t sure how—and was looking at the river. “There’s a dock down a ways,” he said. “Uh oh.”

  “What?” she said.

  “I think I see him on a boat,” said Simon.

  “OMG,” she said. “We have to get there.”

  “You’re right. There’s no way to get there from here. We’ll have to find another spot. Come on.”

  He dropped down from the fence, grabbed Amanda’s hand, and pulled her back to the street. He was running so fast she could barely keep up with him. “Skateboards,” she yelled.

  He stopped for a moment and said, “Right,” then pulled his skateboard out of his backpack and started going like the wind. In a few seconds she’d caught up with him, still videoing, and within another minute they found themselves with a clear view of the boat and Blixus Moriarty, who was talking on his phone. The boat was about fifty feet long and looked very old. Amanda wondered if it had once been a fishing boat—or still was. She couldn’t imagine the Moriartys casting nets over the side and hauling up tuna or whatever fish lived here. Simon started down toward the dock, but she stopped him.

  “Listening devices,” she said. “If we stay here he won’t see us.”

  “What listening devices?” said Clive.

  “Good idea,” said Simon. “Tell you later, Clive.”

  But even using the listening devices there was too much background noise and they couldn’t hear anything Blixus was saying. Neither of them read lips either, nor did Clive, so that was out.

  “Do you think he’s going off somewhere?” said Amanda. “If he has the book and ends up in Norway or France or something, we’ll never get it.”

  “The Thames leads to the North Sea,” said Simon. “Maybe he’s heading for the Netherlands.”

  “Or Germany,” said Amanda. “Oh dear, oh dear.”

  “He might be planning to head up the English coast,” said Simon, “or around the south coast to the west of the country.”

  “You’d know better than me,” she said. “I’m not familiar with those places.”

  “I’m not sure it matters,” said Simon. “Even if we knew, how could we follow him?”

  “I think we need to sneak on board,” said Amanda.

  “Yes!” said Simon. “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “Take me,” said Clive.

  “The only thing is, how are we going to get on the boat without anyone seeing? It isn’t that big. And what will we do if we get caught? You can’t skate off a boat.”

  “Yes,” said Simon. “We need to think this through.”

  They stood there for a second and then Amanda said, “Maybe we should wait until it gets dark.”

  “Okay,” said Simon. “But even then, how are we going to find the book or the crystals?”

  “The crystals will be glowing and might be easy to spot,” said Amanda. “But on such a small boat it’s likely we’ll run into Blixus, and Mavis if she’s there too.”

  “And they might be in a drawer or something anyway,” said Simon.

  Suddenly they saw Blixus get off the boat, untie it, and jump back on. The boat was leaving the dock! He was escaping and they had no idea where he was going. Amanda started to run after him, but Simon caught her and shook his head. He was right. There was no way they were going to catch up, and even if they did Moriarty would probably just tie them up. They were sunk. And for all practical purposes, so was
Legatum.

  28

  Regrouping

  Everything was looking bleak now. They’d lost Blixus and the crystals and probably the book, the detectives hadn’t identified the dead body or figured out what the key was for, they had no idea who the murderer was, and according to Amphora, who had sent a number of texts while they were searching, Holmes had got nowhere with Professor Redleaf’s computer and the teachers were still at each other’s throats. The faculty had been arguing so much that Ivy had heard one of them inviting another to a special meeting that specifically excluded “the Punitori.” They also told Amanda that a couple who claimed to be her cousins had showed up at the guard gate asking for her—after she’d spoken with Despina.

  Amanda, Simon, and Clive watched Blixus sail toward the English Channel. They feared the worst and hadn’t a clue what to do next. One thing they did know was they had to stop the Moriartys from making more virus-tainted sugar. If they could do that, they could at least prevent them from creating more crystals. That meant that the kids had to get the virus formula and destroy it. But how were they going to do that? Where would it be? Probably on Moriarty’s computer. The one Amanda saw in the factory office last term had been blown to bits, and no doubt so had the one in Blixus’s office. Nick’s computer was with the police, so Blixus couldn’t get that, and anyway Nimba Pencil had told Amanda there wasn’t anything on it.

  Could the formula be on either of the Moriartys’ current phones or tablets? Some devices had been destroyed when Nick had blown up the factory, but Amanda was sure they owned more than that. Surely they’d have backups somewhere—probably all over the place. Unfortunately there was only one remedy for the problem: Holmes. Only he could hack their mobile devices now. He and Amanda had ended their last conversation on a sour note, but maybe Simon could convince him to help.

  “Simon,” said Amanda, “would you mind texting Scapulus and asking him if he’d be willing to help us? Clive, I’m discontinuing the video now.”

  “OK,” said Clive.

  “Still not getting along, eh?” said Simon.

  “Nope.”

  “All right. We don’t have time for games. But remember, I don’t have my phone.”

  “Oh, yeah. I forgot. You’ll have to use mine then. I don’t know if he’ll answer though.”

  Simon took Amanda’s phone and sent Holmes a text but got no reply. “We could get Ivy to try him,” he said. “She isn’t fighting with him.”

  “Good idea,” she said. “I’ll call her. Or do you want to?”

  “You do it,” said Simon. “It’s your phone.”

  “Right,” said Amanda. She took the phone back and pressed Ivy’s icon. The call went straight to voice mail. “Oh great. She’s not answering.”

  Next they tried Clive. He seemed to have put his phone down.

  “If you think I’m going to call Amphora—” said Simon.

  “I’ll do it,” said Amanda. But Amphora wasn’t answering either. “I can’t get hold of anyone. First they send a thousand texts and now they disappear.”

  “We could always try Wiffle,” said Simon, drumming on his skateboard.

  “Very funny,” she said. “Wait a minute.”

  “Oh no. You’ve got that look in your eye.”

  “Do you think Gordon would help us? He seems kind of different lately.” She searched her address book.

  “You don’t want to tell him what’s going on,” said Simon. Drum, drum. “He’ll tell Wiffle and Thrillkill will expel us.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” she said. “But he has been acting weird. Not weird exactly. Just more of a person.”

  “Even so,” said Simon, “we can’t afford to take the chance.” Drum, drum, drum.

  “I guess you’re right. We’ll have to wait for someone to get back to us.”

  “Hang on,” said Simon. “Do you see those two guys over there?” He indicated toward the factory wreckage.

  “Which two guys?” She looked where Simon was pointing. “Oh, those.” She could see two boyish shapes wearing backpacks and dark jackets with the hoods up. Their identities were unmistakable. “OMG, it’s Philip Puppybreath and Gavin Niven. What are they doing here?”

  “Don’t know,” said Simon, “but they sure look like they’re sneaking around. What could they be up to?”

  “I can’t imagine. Maybe they’re trying to get the book or the crystals back too.”

  “Those two?” said Simon. “I hardly think so. Wiffle is always complaining about what jerks they are. Ever since the, uh, explosion, they’ve been rooming with him.”

  “You can say it, Simon,” said Amanda. “I know they used to be Nick’s roommates.”

  “This is just weird,” said Simon. “I think we need to get back as fast as possible and find out what’s going on.”

  On the train back Amanda said, “Who are the Punitori anyway? Do you think they’re connected to the book?”

  Simon felt his nose—he’d been doing that ever since they’d boarded the train back from Euston Station. “Interesting name,” he said. ‘Punitori’ means avengers or punishers in Latin.”

  “You mean like wrestlers?” said Amanda.

  “Doubt it,” said Simon. “But it does sound like they see themselves as aggressive.”

  “Do you think these Punitori are some kind of subgroup of the teachers?”

  “It’s starting to look like it,” said Simon. “From what we know, there seem to be several points of view about the missing book and what they should do about it. Perhaps these Punitori represent one of them. ”

  Just then Amanda received a text from Amphora: “No news re key. Body still unknown.”

  “Boy,” said Amanda, “the teachers aren’t getting anywhere with the murder investigation. You’d think they’d have found something by now. I wonder what the problem is.”

  “Too bad they don’t have any DNA,” said Simon.

  Amanda was half-listening while she texted Amphora back: “How about teachers?” Within a few seconds she received a text back: “Same old.”

  “What’s she saying?” said Simon.

  “No change,” said Amanda. “Let me just catch them up on what happened here.”

  “Yup,” said Simon.

  Amanda sent several texts explaining what they’d seen and done in London. She asked if Amphora and Ivy had any thoughts about where Moriarty might be going. Unfortunately they were as much in the dark as Amanda, Simon, and Clive. They did find it strange that their friends had seen David Wiffle’s roommates there though. Amphora said she’d see if she could find anything out about that.

  “She’s really coming along, isn’t she?” said Amanda, sticking her feet on the back of the seat in front of her.

  “What?” said Simon, who had removed his skateboard from his backpack and was adjusting the wheels. “You mean Amphora?” Coming along how?”

  “Last term she seemed a bit lost. Not lost exactly. What am I trying to say? Don’t tell her I said this, and don’t you say it, but I think she was a bit lazy.”

  “She’s still lazy,” said Simon.

  Normally Amanda would have jumped all over him for that remark, but instead she said, “I don’t think so. At least not as much.”

  “She’s used to having her own way,” said Simon. “Her family’s got money.”

  “I gathered that.” She didn’t want to tell him about Amphora’s argument with David Wiffle. The last thing he needed to know was that Amphora had been trying to out-aristocrat the little creep.

  “And she’s soft,” he said. “She doesn’t know what to do when things get tough. But she is smart. It’s kind of a waste.”

  Amanda was shocked. Simon had never spoken like this before. “Wait a minute. Did you just say that Amphora is smart?”

  “Yes, but don’t make a big deal out of it,” said Simon. “Lots of people are smart. It doesn’t mean anything unless you use it. Look at Wiffle, for example. He’s intelligent. He’s just a dork. So is Amphora
.”

  Funny he should liken the two. She’d thought that herself but had been afraid to admit it. “I don’t think liking boys makes you a dork, Simon.”

  “I’m not talking about that. I’m just saying she’s spoiled.”

  Bing! A text from Ivy had arrived: “I got into secrets trove!”

  Amanda practically dropped her phone. “Look!” she said.

  Simon glanced at the phone and said, “Ask her for more detail.”

  “Siiiii-mon,” said Amanda. “Aren’t you excited?”

  “Not until I know what that means.”

  “All right. I’ll ask her.” She thumbed a text and sent it.

  Ivy replied that she was able to hear the locks and had been able to pick them. She’d managed to crack several of the compartments but she couldn’t read the papers inside. Editta had been with her and had tried to read them but they seemed to be in code. Amanda sent back a congratulatory text. Ivy was amazing. She was probably the best detective in the first-year class.

  Simon said, “Yeah!” and Amanda was so surprised that she almost fell off her seat. He wasn’t an excitable guy, but for some reason the news had really got to him.

  “I’m excited too,” she said, “but you do realize that there are thousands and thousands of compartments. How are we going to get into all of them? And how are we going to crack that code?”

  “I have some ideas,” said Simon. She bet he did. They probably involved Holmes and she didn’t want to hear about him. “Speaking of ideas, I’m really jazzed about this skateboard design I came up with. I wonder if I could patent it.”

  “I don’t see why not,” said Amanda.

  “Thanks. Did you know that Scapulus has a patent?” She knew. She just didn’t want to talk about it. Simon could obviously tell because he said, “I’m sorry. I know he bothers you. But not for the reasons you think.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” she said.

  “Never mind. It’s nothing” He went back to fiddling with his skateboard.

  Boy, he could be annoying. Speaking of someone who ruined their gifts by being a dork. “What are you talking about? It isn’t fair to bring up something and not follow through.”

  Simon put down the skateboard and looked her full in the face. “The guy is crazy about you,” he said, then turned back to his skateboard and twirled another wheel.