Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis

  “He shouldn’t have taken the book,” she said.

  “No, that was dumb,” said Simon. “But what’s done is done. Now he wants to fix it. He told Gordon he was going to do it alone, that it was his responsibility and he didn’t want to get anyone else involved. You have straw in your hair.” He reached toward her and pulled a couple of strands off her head.

  “What do you think he’ll do?” said Amanda, reaching upward and fluffing. Some straw came down in her eyes.

  “If it were me, I’d try to find Philip and Gavin,” said Simon. “That would be the first thing.”

  “We can tell David we saw them in London,” said Amanda.

  “Do you really think it’s a good idea for him to go running down there by himself?” said Simon. “Oops. What am I saying? You did, didn’t you?”

  “I did,” said Amanda, “but I’m not David. Not to be conceited or anything.”

  “No, I get it,” said Simon, taking off his fedora and pressing down his cowlick. “He is a bozo. He’d probably get himself killed.”

  “Okay, we won’t tell him,” said Amanda. “You should listen some more though. Maybe he’ll say something else.”

  “Yes,” said Simon. “Are you sure you’re okay? You look like a zombie.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “Nigel was snoring and kept me awake. No biggie.”

  “Does he always snore?” said Simon.

  She ignored him. “How about if I listen too?”

  Amanda did listen, and she heard plenty. David told Gordon that he had tried to text his roommates and appeal to their better natures. Not that they had them, because apparently they had taunted him. Then he’d tried phoning with the same result. He hadn’t been able to get a useful word out of them, except for one thing. When they were connected he heard what sounded like wind and water in the background. It was obvious to him that they were on a boat.

  He told Gordon he was pretty sure it was somewhere near the sugar factory, or that they had got on a boat near there and were sailing somewhere. It was even possible that they were with Blixus, maybe even sailing to the continent. It was a lead, but he had no idea what he was going to do next.

  He didn’t, but Amanda did. She phoned Holmes.

  32

  Windermere

  By the time Amanda arrived at the statue of Agatha Christie on the north side of campus where they’d agreed to meet, Holmes was already there. He was grinning so much that she was afraid he’d get lockjaw. For that matter, so was she. If this kept up, everyone would know about them within ten minutes, and she didn’t want that. The gossip would be unbearable.

  “I had fun talking to you last night,” Holmes said.

  “Me too.” She giggled.

  “Tonight?” he said.

  “Same time, same station.” They held each other’s gaze for a moment and then Amanda said, “Scapulus, I hope you don’t mind, but I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Anything.” He was making puppy dog eyes at her. She hoped he didn’t mind a bit of business.

  “The missing whatsit. It’s the original Detective’s Bible.”

  “Ah,” he said. “No wonder the teachers have been so upset.”

  “Yes, and there’s more,” she said. “We sort of found it except that it’s gone again.” He looked at her quizzically. “David Wiffle—you know David Wiffle?” He nodded. “David Wiffle took it. He found it in the library.”

  “He did?” Holmes looked incredulous. “He seems so proper. Why would he take it? But what was it doing in the library? Isn’t it supposed to be hidden in some secret place?”

  “He is and it is. He thought he was protecting it. The problem is that it’s gone, and he thinks his roommates took it.”

  “Puppybreath and Niven? Why would they do that?”

  “We don’t know. We think they might be trying to sell it to Blixus Moriarty. Or using it to join his cartel.”

  “Seriously? I knew they were a bit dodgy, but I didn’t think they were as bad as that.”

  “We don’t know that they are,” she said. “But there’s some circumstantial evidence that implies that’s what they’ve done. Also, we think they might be on a boat. As you know, Simon and I saw Blixus on a boat—in the Thames. Sailing away. We don’t know where.”

  “You think they may be with him?” asked Holmes.

  “It’s possible. Apparently David tried to get in touch with them, and he heard water and wind or something in the background.”

  “He told you this?”

  “Er, not exactly.”

  “You didn’t eavesdrop?” said Holmes. “Tsk tsk, Amanda.” He gave her that crooked smile.

  “I’m afraid we did,” she said. “What are you smiling at? It was necessary.”

  “I know,” he said. “I just like teasing you.” He touched her hair. She felt a bolt go through her. “So you think the roommates are on Blixus’s boat with the book and they’re headed . . . where?”

  “We don’t know,” she said. “It could be anywhere. Simon and I saw the boat head out toward the North Sea.” She sat down on the base of the statue. He joined her and took her hand. Another bolt.

  “You’re right. That could be anywhere. Europe, either coast of the UK, or in a circle back to the factory.”

  “You don’t think they just went for a joyride, do you?”

  “Who can say?”

  Bing! Amanda took out her phone. It was a text from Simon: “Teachers looking for Philip and Gavin.” She turned to Holmes and said, “The teachers know David’s roommates are missing. They’ve launched a search.”

  “Do they know they have the book?” he said.

  “No. We haven’t told anyone we even know what the book is. We wanted to get it back and then tell Thrillkill.”

  “Let’s think about this a second,” he said. He looked off into the distance. It was a fine day, and his face was highlighted perfectly in the morning sun. “I’ve got it. I can hack their GPS and find out where they are.”

  “Philip and Gavin?” she said.

  “Yes.” His smile was like Christmas.

  “Great idea. But what if they have their phones off?”

  “I don’t think they will. They need them for navigation. Come with me.”

  He grabbed her hand again and started to run. She didn’t want people to see them like that, at least not yet, so she said, “You go on ahead. I’ll catch up.”

  He looked behind him and said, “Cyberforensics room,” then took off. He was a fast runner. By the time Amanda had arrived at the classroom, he was settled amid an array of electronics and was hitting keys at breakneck speed. When she entered he looked up and said, “I’ve got it. And you’re not going to believe where they are.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. In the closet?” She flashed him a smile.

  “You laugh, but you’re very close,” he said.

  “They’re here at Legatum?” she said. With Blixus?!

  “Not quite,” he said. “They’re at Lake Windermere. Let’s go.”

  The campus was still so chaotic that it wasn’t difficult to slip away again. This time the whole group went: Amanda, Holmes, Simon, Ivy, Amphora, Editta, Clive, and Nigel. Holmes had relented on the issue of helping with the virus, but in the short time he’d been working on the problem he hadn’t made any progress.

  This time they took a bus, which had just started running between the town and the outlying communities. Holmes had grabbed a seat, and as Amanda approached he patted the spot next to him. She glanced around, saw that no one was paying attention, and slipped in beside him. She imagined that the others were buzzing with gossip, but she didn’t want to look. As the bus pulled away from the curb, he took her hand. This time she didn’t pull away. He smiled at her and squeezed tight. She felt her heart leap.

  During the ride, Holmes kept track of the roommates’ GPS location and made sure the group disembarked at the stop closest to them. Simon and Amanda had brought their skateboards, but the others
didn’t have any, which was probably a good thing because they would have been too conspicuous. As they neared the roommates’ coordinates, Amanda recognized Moriarty’s boat. This was a terrible discovery: Blixus was nearby, as close to the school as she’d ever known him to be!

  Now they split up. It wouldn’t do for a group of kids and a dog to descend on the Moriartys. While the others hid nearby and Holmes kept trying to hack the virus, Amanda and Simon snuck on board—very carefully.

  With each step they listened—hard. Each one of them had inserted their ear device, and Amanda could hear wavelets lap at the sides of the boat, the sound was so clear. They didn’t hear anything coming from the deck, so they tiptoed to the door of the cabin and looked through the round window, which was pretty filmy but still gave them a decent view of the interior. There was no sight of Blixus or the roommates, and no sound. Simon pulled a crystal out of his pocket but it didn’t blink. He showed Amanda and they shook their heads. It seemed that the crystals, if they ever had been on board, were gone.

  Simon opened the door slowly. It creaked a little. Amanda winced. If anyone was there they’d be toast. He stuck his head in, then turned around and shook it. Nothing. Treading softly, the pair entered the cabin, which was old and worn. And then they heard it.

  Crunch, crunch, crunch. They looked down at their feet. There was pink sugar all over the floor. It was critical that they not speak so Amanda put her head in her hands to indicate how upset she was. Where there was pink sugar there was the virus, and where the virus was crystals could grow. Amanda’s worst fears were being confirmed. Wherever Blixus was, he was trying to make more.

  Simon’s crystal wouldn’t blink. That meant there were no crystals on the boat. But if that was true, where were they? Was it possible Blixus hadn’t taken them after all? No, that couldn’t be. They had discovered evidence that many crystals had formed at the factory, but they had found just a few. He had to have taken the rest.

  It seemed that the boat was deserted, which gave Amanda and Simon a chance to search it. Room by room they scoured the place, looking in drawers, compartments, cupboards, closets, and even checking for secret hiding places, but it wasn’t until they came to what looked like a little workshop that they found something. Amanda gasped. Lying on a workbench were two dozen dead crystals and some lab equipment. Now they knew that Blixus had taken them, experimented on them, and learned some, if not all of their secrets.

  Amanda couldn’t understand why, if the criminal had the crystals, he would have come here. Was he planning to use them against Legatum? Yes, that had to be it. He had the Detective’s Bible, and using whatever information was in it, plus the strength of the crystals, he would destroy them.

  If Moriarty had the book, why should they bother to keep searching? No doubt he’d taken it and the crystals to the school. Because the earthquake had caused so much damage, the perimeters weren’t as secure as they might be and he could penetrate the campus easily—if not through the tunnel gates, then some other way.

  She found Simon searching the sleeping area, pulling out a drawer under one of the trundle beds. “He’s got the crystals,” she whispered. “Probably the book too. He’s going to use them against Legatum.”

  “Not good,” said Simon, feeling under a spare blanket, “but we don’t know that he has the book.”

  “It isn’t here,” she said. She touched all around the mattress. Ouch. The last time she’d done that . . .

  “We haven’t finished yet,” he said. “Let’s make sure.” He palpated a spot underneath. “Okay, not there.”

  “But why would he come here?” She tried the pillow. “Nothing here either.”

  “Probably to do what you said, but do you really think he and Mavis can bring the entire school down?”

  “It depends what’s in the book,” she said. “We have no idea what it is.”

  “Let’s not panic just yet. We need to be systematic.”

  “Okay, but I’m getting worried.”

  “I know,” he said. “But he’s obviously fallible. We’ll find his weakness and stop him.”

  Amanda was unconvinced, but she returned to her searching. She desperately wanted to text Holmes and tell him about the crystals, but she didn’t want Simon asking nosy questions so she continued to search. Between the two of them, they turned the entire boat upside down but they didn’t find the missing book. Had Blixus taken it, or did the roommates still have it? Either way, the criminal would have access to whatever was inside, which scared her half to death.

  They left the boat and returned to the others, except that they had disappeared. Amanda thought they were going to wait for her and Simon to return, but for some reason they’d gone off.

  “What’s happened to them?” she said, turning in all directions.

  “Dunno, but I’m about to find out,” said Simon. He whipped out his phone and sent a text. Within a moment he’d received an answer. “They’re on another boat,” he said. “Scapulus found Puppybreath’s phone.”

  “Are David’s roommates there?” she said.

  “Nope, gone. Maybe they took the other boat and followed the Moriartys. They’ve probably gone after them.”

  “But where is everyone?” Amanda said.

  “Don’t know. Scapulus says they’re searching the boat but haven’t found anything.”

  Scapulus. He and Simon seemed to be getting pretty tight. That was awkward. Now Simon would know all her private business, although he seemed to already, so who cared?

  “Should we try to find them?” said Amanda, imagining Holmes’s smile.

  “No,” said Simon. “There are too many of them already. We’ll just make the group more obvious.”

  “Right.”

  Suddenly there came a loud noise from off in the distance. Amanda looked around but didn’t see anything. Simon turned around 360 degrees. Another noise. It sounded like an explosion.

  “Where’s it coming from?” she said.

  “Behind us,” said Simon. “It’s pretty loud with these ear things in. I’m going to take mine out.”

  “You don’t think it’s the school, do you?”

  Simon listened. There it came again. “Wrong direction,” he said. “The explosions are coming from over there.” He pointed to a spot behind them and to the left. “Legatum is over there.” He pointed to a location south of that.

  “What’s over there?”

  “The old quarry,” said Ivy, coming up behind her. Amphora, Editta, Holmes, Clive, and Nigel followed. Nigel did not like the noise. Every time he heard an explosion he whined and clung to Ivy.

  “OMG, that’s right,” said Amanda. “He’s blasting. He’s trying to make more crystals.”

  Amanda was certain that they had to get to the quarry and stop Blixus, but she had no idea how to do either. The quarry was way out in the boonies, far off the beaten track. It was too far to reach on foot, and no buses went there. The only thing she could think of was hiring a taxi, but they’d left in such a hurry that no one had brought money with them.

  “What are we going to do now?” she said.

  “We can’t walk,” said Ivy. “It’s got to be six miles away.”

  “You think it’s that far?” said Amphora. “I’d say closer to three.”

  “Trust me, it’s six,” said Ivy. “I can tell from the way the sound attenuates. Anyway, a lot of it is uphill so the skateboards aren’t going to do any good.”

  “What about hitching a ride?” said Amphora.

  “You think someone is driving out there?” said Simon. “What a dumb—”

  “Don’t make me fine you, Simon,” said Ivy.

  “Sorry,” he said. “I’m sorry, Amphora.”

  What was this—an apology? Amanda couldn’t believe her ears. Maybe he really was broke and couldn’t afford one more fine. Now that was a way to get the two of them to stop fighting. Ivy must have planned the whole thing around Simon’s budget, although how did she know his financial situation?
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  “Thank you, Simon,” said Amphora. “You’re right, though. Who’d be driving out to the quarry? There’s nothing there.”

  “Call Thrillkill?” said Editta. Everyone turned and stared at her. She’d been so quiet that Amanda had forgotten she was there. It seemed the others had as well.

  “Sorry, Editta,” said Amanda. “We can’t do that. The teachers will go even crazier than they already are. Plus when they find out that David took the Bible, they’ll expel him.”

  “Since when do you care about David?” said Amphora.

  Amanda glanced at Holmes. Was he jealous? He did have kind of a weird expression on his face. “He’s human,” she said. “Well, sort of. And he just lost his dad. I’d hate to see him suffer any more.”

  Holmes looked relieved. “Right,” he said. “Let’s not add to David’s worries.”

  “I think it’s too late for that,” said Simon. “If Moriarty has the book he’ll be in deep trouble anyway.”

  “We don’t have to add to it,” said Ivy.

  “So we’re back to square one,” said Amanda. “What are we going to do?”

  “There,” said Amphora, pointing. “A tourist tram.” She ran toward the vehicle, which was painted a glossy red. It reminded Amanda of those people movers you see at Disneyland. A middle-aged couple was sitting in the front. By the time the rest of them got there Amphora was already flirting with the driver.

  “Oh, brother,” Simon said.

  “Si-monnn,” said Ivy.

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “You did, but I’m going to let this one pass. But will you please, for the love of 3D printers, stop it?”

  “Sorry,” he said. “It won’t happen again.”

  Amanda had her doubts about that. Considering how much Simon and Amphora disliked each other, and considering that they had been paired up for the disguise project and had to spend extra time together, it was amazing they were both still alive.

  “I’m sorry,” said the driver, a young man with long blond hair who was wearing a Sorrento Beach T-shirt and sandals. Amanda wondered if he’d actually been there. Sorrento was one of her favorite places, although maybe the T-shirt was from Italy, not Santa Monica. He had the right idea, anyway. “I’ve got to take these people on a tour.” He pointed to the very large woman in a flowered blouse and blue pedal pushers and her short, bald husband. The woman was giving Amphora a dirty look. “Anyway, why do you want to go all the way out there?”