Cragbridge Hall, Volume 2: The Avatar Battle (30 page)

“But they’re armed,” Mr. Trinhouse said, and sent his gun up out of his sleeve. “Don’t you think I should join him?” Mrs. Trinhouse and Abby’s father also triggered guns out of their sleeves. Abby had no idea her father even owned a gun. This was serious.

“No,” Grandpa said. “Dr. Mackleprank is the best qualified to go in.” Of course, it was because he was a robot. He would feel bullets, but not like a human. If the intruders shot enough, they could probably destroy the avatar, but Mackleprank should have enough time to get the job done.

Abby placed her key in the console, standing next to her grandpa and her mother. She looked again at Dr. Mackleprank ready to enter into the past. The machine looked completely human. Abby never would have guessed. Those druglords and governments who wanted to use an animal avatar for their secret assassins should have really thought about using a human avatar. No one would suspect it. And anyone could control the avatar and no one would know who it was. It was a good thing Rafa’s mother was on the right side. If she wasn’t, she could probably log out and use any other avatars at the school. She could spy on or even attack them. And her name obviously couldn’t show up on any of the logs here—they had to protect her identity. No one would know who it was.

It wasn’t Mackleprank, right? Rafa’s mom couldn’t be the bad guy. No. She and Grandpa had too strong of a bond. He had helped her too much. She wouldn’t betray him. But what if Muns found out who she was and where she was hiding and . . .

Abby immediately felt sick. Did that add up? She turned on her rings and typed a message to Rafa. It was only a question, but was it right? The more she thought out it, the more it terrified her.

“On my count,” Grandpa said, asking Abby and her mother to be ready to twist their keys. “One. Two.”

Abby was about to click send when Mackleprank spun around in a whirl. Abby heard something whizzing through the air, and then Abby’s dad, Mr. Trinhouse, and Mrs. Trinhouse all crumpled to the ground. Dr. Mackleprank stood with a thin straw in his mouth.

“How—” Grandpa began to say, but after another two darts, he and Abby’s mother also fell.

“Don’t move,” Dr. Mackleprank said, glaring at Abby. “Don’t twitch a finger. Or you won’t wake up for months.” He had the straw pointed at Abby and then at Carol, who waited steps behind her.

Both girls froze. Not this. Abby had been right.

“Good,” Mackleprank said. “Now remove your rings and set them on the floor.”

Abby could feel his eyes on her, watching intently, but she had to try. She slipped all her rings from her fingers and dropped them onto the ground with a series of pings. But the last one she twitched slightly, hoping the slight movement would be enough to send the message.

Mackleprank stared at Abby. She knew they were just robot eyes, but someone was behind them—someone willing to terrify and tranquilize. Had they seen? It felt like those robot eyes watched her forever. Then Mackleprank glared at Carol.

The avatar of the zoology teacher walked across the room and kicked the rings, scattering them across the floor. It glanced at Grandpa, Mom, Dad, and the Trinhouses. “I thank you for your keys,” it said, “and I have something special waiting for you, Abby.” She didn’t like the sound of that.

Abby doubted her dad had had time to get off a message to the other council. She hoped Rafa had received her message.

• • •

“
Não pode ser
.”

“What?” Derick asked. The two friends spoke, hearing each other in the avatar lab, but it was their gorillas who faced each other.

“She may be right,” Rafa said. “It could make sense.”

“You aren’t making any sense,” Derick said.

Rafa shook his head. “Your sister just sent me this.” His fingers moved as he forwarded the message to Derick.

Is there any chance someone has kidnapped your mother and someone else is in the Mackleprank avatar?

It took a moment for Derick to follow the logic. If someone had found where Rafa’s mother was and captured her, they could have replaced her with someone else. As long as that person was a convincing actor, no one else would know.

“But they couldn’t fool you, could they?” Derick asked.

“She has been acting a little different,” Rafa said. “She distanced herself from me a bit. I thought it was because she had been attacked and was afraid that someone would discover her secret.”

“But how would someone know how to teach and know all the students’ names and everything?” Derick asked.

“Katarina,” Rafa said, his voice growing angry. “She has been my mother’s assistant for years. She is quite good in the avatars and she knows enough.”

Derick placed his hand on his head, his gorilla doing the same. Dr. Mackleprank could have been a complete imposter for days. Derick’s jaw dropped. “They are inside the Bridge room with Mackleprank right now.”

“Yes,” Rafa agreed, “and the door is locked.”

Derick bounded forward, his gorilla fists raised.

“Wait,” Rafa said. “If Abby is right, my mother needs help, and that is the best way to help them.”

“What do you mean?” Derick asked.

“Even if we could break down that door—which I doubt—whoever is impersonating Dr. Mackleprank will escape and could come back as another avatar. But if we could stop their real body in Brazil then we can stop the whole threat.”

“I really don’t understand.”

“Talk to me in person at the lab,” Rafa said, then his gorilla fell limp to the floor.

Derick pressed the button on the back of his neck, knowing his avatar would follow suit. In a moment, he stared at his friend back in the avatar lab. “So what are we going to do?”

“My mother has always controlled the avatar from a location in Brazil. The signal is strong enough to go halfway around the world and is uninterrupted.” Rafa started moving his fingers, searching something on his rings. “But where she is, there are also other avatars—robots she works on.”

That made sense. She would always be working on avatars. She could have some in Brazil just like she had some here. Derick immediately thought about Dr. Mackleprank fixing avatars and realized what that meant—Rafa’s mom built avatars with an avatar. Wow. “But how is the fact that your mom was working on avatars going to help us?”

Rafa looked back at Derick, then to whatever he was searching on his rings. “If she left me access to those avatars—and she promised to leave me access to everything—then they will be very helpful.”

Derick smiled, realizing what his friend had planned. “You could use the avatars she has been working on in Brazil to fight against whoever captured her. You could fight them from here—halfway around the world.”

“
Exactamente
.”

“Can you get me in as well?”

“We are going to find out.”

30

A Fitting Revenge

Dr. Mackleprank looked at Abby. “Muns gave you a chance. He was willing to let you back out, but you wanted to play with the big boys. Well, now, we’ll see how much you like the game.”

She backpedaled, coming closer to Carol.

“Muns thinks it is important for you to know how we outwitted you, how you lost what he called an Immortal Game—this one vastly more important than the famous chess match. This one will become immortal. The first attack on the
Hindenburg
was only a gambit. We were simply trying to distract your grandfather and all who side with him so Muns’s men could attack several trailers in the jungles of Brazil, where this avatar is controlled.” He pointed to himself, identifying himself as an avatar, and waited. He was probably hoping for a look of surprise. Abby didn’t give it to him. “Perhaps you cannot understand.”

“Yes, I can,” Abby said. “Dr. Mackleprank is an avatar that is usually controlled by Rafa’s mother, but you took it over.” Mackleprank slowed down his movements, probably surprised at what Abby knew. She spoke louder. “You are probably someone close to her, who knows how to act like her, even knows the names of the students she has. I imagine she needed someone’s help every day. Someone to protect her as she was focused here at Cragbridge Hall. You’re a complete traitor.” Mackleprank stood up straighter. Abby was right.

“You tell him, Abby,” Carol said. “Tell that freaky robot-stealing weirdo what’s up.”

Mackleprank spoke loudly, cutting off Abby and Carol. “Rafa’s mother was exhausted from fighting those who had tried to enter the
Hindenburg
that night. She didn’t see it coming.” Mackleprank turned for a moment, looking at the faded image of the
Hindenburg
floating in the other half of the basement. “That was the
Hindenburg’s
only purpose then. Well, that and to bring in my equipment and my reinforcements.”

Equipment? Oh, the suitcase. Whoever had been controlling Mackleprank must have used another avatar to go through the vents, use the code to get the equipment from the suitcase and leave again through the vents. And because of Rafa’s mother’s access, none of it would show up on the avatar log.

But Mackleprank had also said “reinforcements.” Abby thought of the men in the cell, only down the hall.

Mackleprank continued, “The second blast before the Fire of London did the same, with the added benefit of telling me where you all kept your keys. I snuck in as a spider avatar you probably didn’t know existed. Rafa’s mother, the real Mackleprank, had been working on it for quite some time. It is stored in the safe at the end of his office. That, and another human avatar I used.” He smiled. “The real criminal was right here, next to you.”

Mackleprank turned back toward the girls. “And today . . .” Mackleprank moved the controls on the Bridge. The scene of ten armed men in the desert returned. “. . . I need to invite a few more friends to the party.”

Abby imagined what would happen if Mackleprank had a small army at his command. Were they going to try to break out of Cragbridge Hall with all the keys? This couldn’t be good.

“All right, Carol,” Dr. Mackleprank said. “I need you to turn one of the keys with me.”

“What kind of idiot do you think I am?” Carol asked. “Yeah, sure. I’ll happily help Mr. Crazy Robot guy bring in his army of mindless cretins whom are dumb enough to follow Muns just because he asked me to.” She shook a finger. “No, wait. I don’t think I will.”

“Twist the key or I use my ‘crazy robot’ arms to crush your friend.” Dr. Mackleprank stepped toward Abby.

Carol looked over at Abby, who shook her head.

“Threatening teenage girls,” Carol said, tsking in disgust. “What kind of a wimpy freakshow are you?”

“Just turn the key!” Mackleprank bounded toward Abby, slamming his fist into the floor feet in front of her. Abby could feel tremors through the room and saw that the fist had made a small crater in the stone.

“Don’t, Carol! He can’t do this without one of us,” Abby cried out, but she knew it didn’t sound very convincing. She didn’t want to be on the receiving end of such a blow.

“Okay. Okay,” Carol said. “Just don’t hurt her.”

“No, Carol,” Abby cried out. “We can’t help him.”

Carol bowed her head. “I don’t have any other options here, Abby.” She did not sound playful anymore.

Dr. Mackleprank returned to the console with Carol, gave the signal, and they turned all three keys. The faded image of desert grew clearer, vivid. A gust of dry air off the hot sand swirled through the basement. Stray grains of sand slid onto the hard floor. The soldiers could now come into the basement of Cragbridge Hall.

Abby expected them to come marching in. But they didn’t. Then she remembered they could not see the basement from their side. Mackleprank would need to signal to them. He stepped toward the Sahara.

This was their chance. At first Abby thought she and Carol should try to take the keys and run, but Mackleprank could get them back. He was an avatar. It wouldn’t take him much effort to find and capture two girls.

Abby had another idea. She slowly crept to her feet and stepped light-footed behind Mackleprank. If she could push him into the past and then Carol could pull the keys—he would be trapped.

Abby pointed at Carol and then at the keys. She hoped Carol got the idea.

He was only steps away from the opening.

Abby rushed forward and heaved Dr. Mackleprank from behind. “Now, Carol!” she shouted. “Twist the keys!”

But Dr. Mackleprank recovered too quickly. Though he lurched forward a foot, he twirled around and with one fluid motion placed a straw in his mouth and loaded a dart. He was going to send Abby into a long slumber.

Abby swung at the zoology teacher, flinging her arm with as much power and speed as she could. She hit the straw just as a dart shot out and heard it clink against the wall. The straw flew several feet and hit the floor.

“Not bad.” Dr. Mackleprank stepped closer. “Good reaction, but very naughty.” Abby backpedaled away from him. “Now what are you going to do? Fight to keep the keys? Fight your way out? You punch, you hit coated metal. I kick you, and it feels like you got hit by a tree. There really is no way out of this.”