It was a great purple slash across an iron sky. Rain muddied the desert streets, and thunder shook overhead. Indira bit her lip. She couldn’t separate that dark sky from whatever dark plot was happening. Deus had warned her about the storm, but he had also warned her that the city needed a hero. She just needed to piece together the clues before things got worse. She passed Brainstorm Ketty’s office and stopped in front of an identical door at the end of the hallway.
Before she could rethink her decision, she knocked twice.
“Enter,” a voice called from within.
Brainstorm Underglass had molded the surroundings to her own style. The clean-cut precision of her office made it look nearly empty. She sat in a straight-backed chair, arms crossed in her lap, her desk meticulously clean. Like Ketty, Brainstorm Underglass had a blackboard wall behind her desk. Neat little lists were organized there like spreadsheets.
“It’s Indira, isn’t it?” Underglass asked.
Indira nodded. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry for interrupting.”
“Not at all,” Underglass replied. “I’m a bit surprised to see you, though. You’re one of Brainstorm Ketty’s students, aren’t you?”
“I am, but it’s not about my classes. Not exactly.”
Underglass considered her. “Go ahead.”
“Well, I heard that Brainstorm Vesulias was found innocent,” Indira began.
“Correct. While we did confirm that Vesulias was with Dr. Montague before the attack, we also confirmed that he couldn’t possibly have performed the magical spell that was used. His name has been fully cleared. We’ve even gone as far as suspending that fool of a detective.”
Indira nodded. “I think I know who is responsible.”
The brainstorm’s eyes narrowed. “Your original testimony accused Vesulias.”
“Not really. I only said that he was arguing with Dr. Montague.” Indira fished into her pocket. She set the dragon scale on Underglass’s desk. “Someone else was down there.”
“What’s this now?”
“A dragon scale. I’m pretty sure it matches Brainstorm Ketty’s jacket.”
Underglass made a thoughtful noise. “All this proves is that Brainstorm Ketty was in the Sepulcher. So was I. So were you, for that matter. Are we all suspects now?”
“I found it on the steps.” Indira leaned closer. “Before everyone came into the room.”
She expected a gasp or widening eyes. Underglass just shrugged.
“But you didn’t see her in the Sepulcher?”
“No, but the dragon scale—”
“Did you happen to hear Brainstorm Ketty speaking with Dr. Montague? Or do you have some other reason to suspect foul play between the two?”
“Not really, but—”
“So your belief is that Dr. Montague and Brainstorm Vesulias had an argument. In the brief time span between when Vesulias left and when you returned to the room, you believe that Brainstorm Ketty performed a devastating magical spell and fled the scene.” Indira opened her mouth to explain, but Underglass held up a single, silencing finger. “And then Brainstorm Ketty managed to get back into her office, where I found her before heading down to the Sepulcher? I appreciate your bringing this to my attention, but Protagonist Preparatory cannot suffer more false accusations against its administrative staff. The details just don’t line up.”
The brainstorm stood and gestured toward the door. “Good day, Indira. Oh. And please be sure to be in proper attire. We require the jackets be worn at all times.”
Frustrated, Indira stood, pocketing the dragon scale and leaving. She hadn’t even gotten to the part about the cursed stationery. It wasn’t right. Indira didn’t know how to explain her feeling to anyone other than Maxi and Phoenix, but she felt certain that Brainstorm Ketty was behind all of this. She was passing by her brainstorm’s office when she noticed that the door had been left open a crack.
Indira glanced up and down the hallway. Empty.
She set a tentative hand on the door and pushed. She could see Brainstorm Ketty’s desk and a glimpse of her disorganized chalkboard. She saw no sign of Brainstorm Ketty within. After taking another quick glance down the corridor, Indira slipped inside.
Her breath caught. Brainstorm Ketty’s black dragon-scale jacket hung over her chair. She wasn’t in the room, but Indira knew she might be back at any moment. In the stories, this was the point where suspicious girls and boys always got caught. Indira just had to play it smart and make sure that didn’t happen to her. She crouched in the shadow of the doorway and scanned the blackboard for clues.
Dates and lists and ideas, but none of them looked connected. She kept her grip on the handle and combed the lists again. Her eyes fell on a familiar name: Darby Martin.
This time it had been scrawled in the topmost right-hand corner. She saw a series of lightning bolts around it and a phrase etched below: Absence makes the heart grow FONDER. She took a mental note of the name before glancing back down the hallway. Nothing.
Breathless, she made her way across the room. Every time she’d been inside, she had seen Brainstorm Ketty fiddling with the controls to her board. Maybe there were more lists, more clues. She found a series of buttons attached to the brainstorm’s desk. After a few seconds of listening for footsteps, she pressed the second one.
The letters on the board cleared. Indira saw a much more organized list take their place. This time, Indira recognized the names of her classmates. These were Ketty’s assigned students. She saw at least fifty listed.
Her own name and about twelve others were tucked into their own section. Indira saw that several of the characters had been crossed out. That was strange. She also noticed that she still had a massive star next to her name. A few lines down, another star had been scribbled beside the name ALLEN SQUALLS.
“The missing kid,” Indira whispered. “That’s the missing kid.”
Indira’s heart pounded as she found a third star etched in the top corner of the board. There was a legend there explaining each symbol. Beside the star, a description: IMMINENT THREAT. She took an involuntary step backward. What did that mean?
Indira didn’t have time to puzzle out the meaning, because behind her the door handle started to turn, and her heart just about leaped through her chest. She shoved a finger back at the first button, and Ketty’s random notes filled the screen again. The door started to push inward, but there was nowhere to hide. Only Ketty’s looming desk and a little shelf of books.
Indira’s breath stuck in her throat, and her eyes widened as the door opened.
Gavin Grant stood on the other side, peering in.
“Brainstorm Ketty?” he asked uncertainly.
Indira nearly knocked Gavin over trying to get back into the hallway. He let out a little surprised half shout. “I was waiting for her,” Indira said. “But she’s not here. Sorry, Gavin.”
His eyes narrowed. “You were waiting in her office? Isn’t that like her private space?”
Indira took a step closer. “Please don’t say anything, Gavin.”
There was a brief silence. Gavin’s eyes darted between the room and Indira.
“Fine, but you owe me one.”
She nodded. “Thanks, Gavin. I’ll catch you in Darcy’s class.”
“It’s canceled,” he replied. “Thunderstorm.”
She gave him a nod and took off down the hallway. A few turns and she was back among the other characters, passing from one class to another, in the clear. She breathed more easily as she made her way to the front of the building.
Outside the front doors of the school, dark clouds loomed overhead and the sky crackled with excited energy. The world had been reduced to gray and purple and black.
Indira didn’t have many new clues. The names that kept showing up in Ketty’s notes. The label of IMMINENT THREAT that made no
sense whatsoever. And then there was the assignment that Maxi had given her: to visit the Librarian Hall of Fame.
She glanced outside and figured the building was about fifteen minutes away. She frowned, though, as a slow trickle began outside. Then steadier. The skies opened up.
The mystery would have to wait for now.
Indira was still thinking about Brainstorm Underglass’s reaction, and the clues she’d found on Brainstorm Ketty’s board. And she couldn’t help thinking about the other buttons on that desk. There had been at least four more. What was on those boards? Still more clues? Delayed by the storm, Indira decided to go to the one place she knew she could take out her frustration: the Arena. Odysseus waited at the center of the great room, as unnaturally tan as ever.
He didn’t look up, but he grunted, “Back for more?”
“I want to hit something,” she said, smiling.
Odysseus laughed. “Remind me, what’s the first rule of Bartitsu?”
“Disturb the balance of your opponent.”
“Close enough. We had you fighting five bads, right?”
Indira nodded. “I think I can handle more.”
He considered her, shook his head. “Show me you can and I’ll give you more.”
Indira rolled her eyes and went to the black square. Odysseus fiddled with his bracelet, and the ground hummed with energy. Her vision distorted, and five creatures surrounded her in a blackened pit. Two were archers, Indira noted, and the other three had spears. A longer reach. Indira set her feet and waited as the archers strung their bows. She backed away a little, drawing the spearmen forward. As the archers strung and released, she smiled and threw her hammer.
It whipped across the narrow pit, and Indira felt the magic of it tugging her across the space in the blink of an eye. She caught her hammer on the opposite side and rained down blows on both archers before the spearmen could come to their defense. Seeing their fallen comrades, the spearmen hesitated. Indira pressed them: a flashing, aggressive charge on the one on the left. As expected, the one on the right came in overeager, and she spun, bringing her hammer up into its stomach. The other two fell quickly.
Indira’s breathing was a little ragged, and she felt an ache in her forearms, but she received a round of applause from Odysseus as she appeared back in the Arena.
“How did you do that?” he asked. “I saw you blink across like magic.”
She held up her hammer. “New tricks.”
Odysseus laughed. “New tricks, new game. Try the blue square.”
Indira nodded. She stood on the blue square and the world vanished again. She waited for the normal bad guys to appear. For a few seconds she thought it hadn’t worked, but then a grunt announced something else. Something bigger. A shadow fell over her, and she rolled to the left as a war hammer crashed down where she’d been standing. It sent sparks flying from stone. Indira turned. A greenish monster growled with menace. It wore thick charcoal armor along its chest and upper thighs. Indira backpedaled. How am I supposed to imbalance that?
The creature let out a battle cry and came forward again. Indira let her feet do the work. She slid aside from the first few blows, gauging her enemy, analyzing weaknesses. She saw that the legs of its armor were more of a skirt and didn’t protect the monster at the knees.
Indira baited the creature into another swing and then pressed forward, going low and striking at the exposed kneecap. A sweeping backhand turned the blow aside and sent her spinning. Wow, she thought, it’s fast, too.
The two of them circled. Indira waited patiently and was rewarded; the creature stumbled into a wide stroke that left it imbalanced. She feinted at its knees, and when it repeated the same defense as before, Indira aimed a counterstrike at the soft spot beneath its shoulder padding. The beast roared, but Indira didn’t have enough power to make the blow really count.
The fight lasted only a minute longer. The creature couldn’t land a blow as Indira danced, but her hammer hung low at her side, and she couldn’t even swing when Odysseus brought her back out of the illusion. “Not bad,” Odysseus said. “When they’re that big, you have to use their own weight against them. Play with their momentum if you can. That teleportation trick? That would have been useful. Time for the second rule of Bartitsu: subject the joints to strains that they are anatomically unable to resist.”
“Anatomically?”
“The body,” Odysseus replied. “Look at how they’re built and strike the weak points.”
“Easy for you to say,” Indira muttered. “How many rules are there?”
“Three,” Odysseus said.
“Can’t you just tell me the third one?” she asked.
“Earn it first. Try fighting that last battle again. Try to imbalance the creature by striking at weaknesses, and try to use your strengths to limit its strengths.” Odysseus grunted. “Or, if you happen to be a fire mage, you can just blast them out of your path.”
“What?” Indira asked in confusion.
“Hey, Indira.”
Phoenix stood behind her. Indira grinned at him. Seeing him still made her stomach dance a little, but at least now it wasn’t dancing because she was afraid to lose his friendship.
“Here for the gauntlet?” Odysseus asked Phoenix.
He nodded, and Odysseus went over to make preparations at his table.
“The gauntlet?” Indira asked.
Phoenix shrugged. “Just training.”
Indira lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’ve found a few more clues.”
Phoenix was about to respond, but Odysseus returned. He nudged Phoenix with a shoulder. “Be careful! This one bites!”
Indira shot Odysseus a glare, and Phoenix blushed horribly. The bronzed warrior shrugged in return and began punching buttons for whatever sequence Phoenix was about to go through. “Ready?” he asked. Phoenix glanced at their instructor and nodded.
As the simulation rumbled beneath their feet, he locked eyes with Indira.
“Can we meet in Hearth Hall?”
Indira smiled. “Sure. Tomorrow morning. I’ll see you there.”
After a few more practice rounds, Indira doubled back to the front of the school. Outside, the storm had paused. Dark clouds were hanging overhead, waiting to unleash more damage, but Indira had the rain-free window she needed. Mrs. Pennington would probably scold her for being outside in this weather, but she had a mystery to unravel.
She left Protagonist Preparatory, one hand squeezed tightly around the dragon scale in her pocket. Maxi’s clue led her onward. The word Checkshire was waiting in the Librarian Hall of Fame. All she had to do was find it.
A bookish-looking clerk stood at the entrance to the Librarian Hall of Fame. Indira’s first visit had been incredibly brief, as Maxi had gotten bored rather quickly. Her chances of a more thorough search weren’t looking promising now, either.
“I’m afraid we’re closed,” the clerk was saying. A small crowd had gathered, come to check out books or see the legendary librarians. “There have been some technical difficulties today. All the statues have come to life! Until we figure out why things are so wonky, we’re not admitting anyone. We don’t want there to be any accidents!”
Indira frowned. She couldn’t afford to wait. Maxi was out there putting the pieces together. Indira needed to do the same. She was about to push forward and explain her situation to the clerk when she spotted a more promising option to her right.
There, along the first floor, a window had been left open. She glanced at the clerk, who was busy answering questions, and slipped away from the crowd. The window was ten feet up. Indira eyed the distance and knew it would be difficult to climb.
Luckily, she wouldn’t need to climb at all.
She slipped the hammer from her belt and centered herself before the open window. She wasn’t sure what she’d find insi
de the room, but she took aim and threw.
The world around her shifted. The open air was replaced by the stuffy interior of an office. Empty desks, scattered papers, half-open books. Indira almost forgot there was a hammer flying at her. She snatched the spinning metal from the air and ducked. Voices were echoing down the hall. As quietly as she could, Indira moved toward the doorway and glanced out. A pair of women were walking in the opposite direction. Indira waited until they rounded the corner to head the other way.
Indira passed by several offices and was just thinking there wasn’t anything weird going on in the Librarian Hall of Fame when an open doorway fed into a vast, carpeted ballroom.
The clerk was right.
The Librarian Hall of Fame had come to life.
Thousands of golden statues waited in the polished hall. They were all evenly spaced around the room, their plaques boasting their names and favorite books and the number of patrons they’d helped in their lifetimes. Indira walked forward, overhearing conversations well outside the range of whispers. Her previous notions about librarians as keepers of quiet and stillness slowly vanished. Some were shouting animatedly to friends, some were discussing their favorite books, and others were laughing heartily at jokes.
When she could manage to get their attention, Indira asked if any knew of Checkshire. Most shook their heads and returned to their conversations. Some took a curious interest, wondering if it was the title of a new book. The truth was that Indira didn’t know if she was looking for a book or a person. Indira climbed four staircases and examined four separate levels, all full of statues that had come to life. It was a long time before she finally found a hunchbacked little statue that had heard the word.
“Checkshire? That devil! He’s up on the eighth floor, restricted section.”
Indira thanked the statue and moved along. Even with directions, the search took a while. She walked nearly every row before finding an unlit wing in the darkest corner. Two statues stood at the entrance to the shadowy alcove. Indira could see a line of statues beyond them, tucked out of sight from the prying eyes of students such as herself. A great pool of melted gold glittered on the floor beside the two closest statues, who were speaking in low voices. One of them, she realized, was a cat. She watched it pace atop its golden pedestal, hissing occasionally.
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