The Impossible Race: Cragbridge Hall, Volume 3 (11 page)

Anjum

If we hadn’t decided to make our own team, someone would have fixed their awesome detector,” Carol said, “and figured out that we are off the scale.” She did a short celebration dance, including a heel click at the end. “Someone would have invited us to be on their team.”

“I’m not sure heel clicks have ever been a sign of awesome,” Abby said.

“Oh, yeah they are,” Carol said, and did a few more.

“I’m still nervous about Muns,” Abby admitted. “And I wish we knew why Landon and Mr. Silverton met up.”

“Me too,” Carol said. “I also wish we had finished changing those objects.”

Abby did too, but right now, they had to convince Anjum he wanted to be on their team for the Race. They both walked to the booths where they could be part of the virtual meeting. Anjum had set it up and chosen the virtual location. Everyone invited to be on the team was going to meet together.

Abby put on her visor and suit and entered the code with her rings. As soon as the virtual world appeared, she gasped in surprise. Her feet were off the ground. She was hanging in the air, completely weightless.

It was disorienting at first, but she saw several other students floating inside the large room. The girls’ hair stood out like large tufts of cotton candy. Maria’s hair was especially crazy; her long dark locks that normally rested on her back nearly down to her waist were now floating straight up at least a foot and a half above her head. It looked like she was standing on a huge fan. Piper’s red hair looked like a big red shrub on the top of her head. Malcolm’s dreadlocks spiked outward in every direction. Even Rafa’s ponytail stood up in the back.

Abby waved to everyone. Of course she knew her brother and Rafa. She had also met the members of the Crash and remembered their names, though it took a moment with Nia. Just next to her, though, was someone she didn’t know—a rather tall girl with a thin nose and blonde hair.

“Hi, I’m Abby,” she introduced herself and offered her hand.

The girl nearly whispered back, “Jess,” and smiled a big uncomfortable smile. She didn’t shake Abby’s hand. Abby always felt shy, but Jess was another level of timid.

Abby felt her own hair floating wild while she surveyed her surroundings. Her mouth dropped open. One large wall was nothing but window, and Abby stared out at a huge planet, an endless expanse of stars surrounding it. She recognized the planet, but it took several seconds to completely grasp the wonder of it. She was floating in a zero-gravity room on a space station orbiting Jupiter. Bands of varying colored gases stretched across the world, with a swirling red spot toward the bottom. Abby stared, transfixed by the spectacular scene. She thought she could pick out moons moving in orbit.

“So incredible!” Carol said. “Seriously, I don’t know what to say, except:
beautiful
and
crazy
and
awesome
and . . . who transported me into
space
? I’m not complaining. It’s ridiculously amazing. I’m just wondering what’s going on.” She spoke as fast as ever.

“Hello, girls,” a boy’s voice said. He had a thick Indian accent. Abby turned to see a boy with dark skin and black hair. He pushed off a wall and slowly floated toward them. “I’m Anjum. Welcome to my version of outer space.”

“You
built
this?” Abby asked, steadying herself with a handhold.

“Yes,” he said with a nod. “I’m decent at putting together virtual environments. It is, of course, based on real Space Agency footage. If you count, you’ll find all sixty-four of Jupiter’s moons.” He gestured out the large window.

“Well I give you an A,” Carol said. “A+++ . . . and some extra credit . . . and some cookies. But I guess here they’d have to be virtual cookies and they wouldn’t be nearly as cool. Except—if they were virtual, you could taste them, but not actually gain the calories. Oh, that would be genius.”

“Thanks,” Anjum said, letting out a high-pitched laugh, which was a bit shrill and grating on the ears. “But I don’t think a grade from
you
will help me much—or your virtual cookies. No offense.” He laughed again.

“So is this the team?” Carol asked. Abby had no idea how Carol could walk into a room of strangers—or, in this case, float into a virtual room—and act as if everyone was her best friend. “All right, let’s get to winning the Race.”

“Let’s not jump to any conclusions,” Anjum said. “I assumed you were here to ask me to be on your team.”

“I thought we weren’t jumping to conclusions,” Carol said, pointing at Anjum and winking.

Anjum laughed. “Very good. Very quick. I apologize.
Is
that what you are here for?” He spoke fast, but not as fast as Carol. Few people did.

“No,” Carol said. “We’re putting together a dance party and we were wondering if you have any interest in dressing up as Elvis or a disco king. Oh, or maybe doing a riverdance.”

“Sorry about her,” Abby said. She could see concern on the others’ faces. They were worried that Carol was spoiling everything, and frankly, Abby was too. “We
are
asking you to be on our team.”

“Yes,” Derick said, pushing off the wall toward Anjum. He overshot a little and Anjum had to move across a rail to keep Derick from colliding into him.

“That’s interesting,” Anjum said. “And much more tempting than the dance party.” He smiled at Carol. “I don’t dance.”

“What? Who doesn’t—” Abby cupped her hand over Carol’s mouth before she could finish.

Anjum kept talking. “I have been busy assembling my own team. Of course, Rafa and Jess, you know this.” Rafa and Jess both nodded, though Jess’s was so subtle you could barely see it. Obviously he had invited them. “And to be frank,” Anjum continued, “I believe my team will win again, so you don’t have much chance of persuading me.”

“Before you decline,” Rafa said, “you should know that the team we are proposing is my first priority. And if the Crash is all on one team, we will likely beat you in any avatar events.”

Anjum nodded. “Yes, you would.” He tapped his finger on his cheek. “That’s a really strange move. It’s like you’re shooting the moon. It would obviously give you an overwhelming advantage in a few events, but you would lack strength in others.” He looked at the team. “I understand why Derick would be on the team. He’s in the Crash. But why these two?” He pointed at Abby and Carol. “Why invite two unproven seventh graders? Won’t they just get in the way?” He tilted his head a little toward the girls, but not enough to throw his floating body off-balance. “No offense. I’m just speaking frankly.”

Derick looked like he was going to say something, but Rafa spoke first. “We like to work together.” He had definitely taken the lead in the discussion. That was probably smart since Anjum had tried to recruit him; he might have some extra influence. “And you’d be surprised what those girls are capable of.”

“No—really,” Anjum said. “I did my research before we met, and they don’t have much to offer. Again, no offense.”

“Oh, yeah?” Carol said. “Well, you’re not very nice and probably don’t have much to offer on the dance floor.” She broke out into a few moves, which she had to modify since she was floating. No offense.” She giggled. “I kind of like this. It’s like we can say whatever we want and then just put ‘no offense’ on the end of it.”

Anjum smiled. “She does have spunk.” He gazed at the rest of the team. “If by chance, I were to accept, you need to know that
I
run the team.
I
make the decisions. Like all good leaders, I do welcome your thoughts, and in fact, will rely upon them—but I’m in charge.” He watched them carefully for reactions.

“We thought you’d say that,” Rafa said. “And yes, we’re prepared to let you lead.”

Anjum nodded. He didn’t say anything for nearly a minute.

“Well, I guess we’d better get going and let you think about it,” Carol said. “But the correct answer is
yes!
”

When Anjum didn’t respond, everyone started waving good-bye. It would only take a flick of a finger to get out of the virtual meeting.

Anjum raised his hand. “Here is where I stand. If Jess and the Crash are in, I am tempted. However, I’m still not sure about the seventh-grade girls. I have a few names I’d suggest to replace them.”

“No offense.” Carol said the phrase before Anjum could. “We know.”

“No,” Derick said. “They’re on the team.”

Anjum thought some more. “Jess?”

Jess smiled wider than the situation called for and she mumbled, “I’m in if you are. But if not, I’ll probably walk.” That was the most they’d heard her say.

Anjum nodded. “There is a stipulation to the Race,” Anjum said. “And that is that if a team chooses, they can release up to three players of a team and replace them during the games. Of course, their replacements can’t be from any other team.” He unconsciously moved himself up and down in the zero gravity. “The rule exists to save a team when members get sick or have emergencies, but I know the rules well. I know the loopholes. I’ll join your team, but if Abby and Carol mess up significantly even once, or if they hold us back, they’re off the team.”

Abby took a deep breath.

“Wow,” Carol said. “No pressure.”

“No offense,” Anjum added.

Suspects

Right on!” Carol said, once again standing in Rafa’s mother’s office. “I’m ready to win the key, protect the secret, get that awesome trophy, and flash a killer smile when I’m standing on the podium.” She waved and beamed, then pretended to be handed a trophy. She took a bow, and when she came up, she had tears in her eyes. She
was
a decent actress.

“I’m still nervous about messing up,” Abby confessed, sitting next to an array of robot fingers. “Because if Anjum replaces us, someone else gets the key and finds out the secret. Or what if we’re on the team and we don’t win? Then an entirely different team finds out the secret.” Derick hoped his sister could relax and do well. She had done it before.

“Let’s not worry about that now,” Rafa’s mother said, sitting on a tall work chair near a lab table. “You’ll do fine. That’s assuming I don’t sense it’s too dangerous and pull you from the contest.” She looked at each of them intently, then sighed. “In the meantime, we were all assigned to look into those on the committee,” she said, changing the subject. “What did you find?”

“I haven’t had a lot of time,” Carol said. “And I’m still disappointed that you assigned me to the bald guy and a girl. Abby and I found that Landon and Mr. Silverton were meeting together. We really didn’t find out any more than that. I think Landon might have realized we were following him. Sarah, the girl who announces the Race, doesn’t seem that into it, really. I mean, she volunteered to emcee, but she’s never played on a team and didn’t submit any of the challenges.”

“I looked into Mrs. Flink,” Rafa said. “She’s a biology teacher and seems to be pretty wrapped up in her work. I haven’t found anything suspicious yet, but she’s been very busy. I remember that she was there when we first met Mr. Sul. I think she may have a key.” Derick used his rings to find Mrs. Flink’s picture on the faculty page. He recognized her bushy red hair. He had seen her that day too.

“I looked into a few of mine,” Rafa’s mother said. “Oh, excuse me.” She typed on her rings. “I just got a video message from Mr. Sul.” She looked at them. “I asked him to investigate the key being offered as the prize in the Race. I see no harm in watching this all together. We need all our minds on this. I’ll put it on the screen.” With a few more movements of her fingers, Mr. Sul’s introductory message appeared.

Please watch the attached video message. And forgive the fact that you have to go through several layers of security to open it.

Rafa’s mother did have to go through several layers of security. Not only did she need to put in several passwords, but she had to have her rings authenticated and scanned for viruses. The message must be important.

Finally, Mr. Sul appeared on the video screen. He was an Asian man with dark hair that hung just below his ears. “Hello, I apologize for all my precautions, but you’ll understand why in a moment.” He clasped his hands together. “We have some serious concerns. Those concerns have led me to make some difficult decisions. You see, when Jefferson and Hailey Cragbridge were left unconscious, my Council of the Keys became quite small.” Just hearing his parents’ names made Derick tense. He knew that they had been members of the other council. Grandpa had probably put them there so he was sure he had people he could trust in both councils. Now they were unconscious. He hoped Mr. Sul was trustworthy.