Summary: So many problems to solve, so little time.
It was yet another morning where I laid in bed thinking. Only three days left until everything was over.
Not a single cure for the crop failure had been found. There wasn’t even a cause that made sense. It seemed like no one understood how bad the situation really was. Not only did it mean the life of Dr. Sterling, but also the lives of other people too, even our own.
Bridgett, Lydia, and Linzie were working hard. Cheryl—I didn’t understand. Here she is, the leader of the group that the emperor has put his trust in when there is no more hope, and she says that he’s the cause of the problems. Even if he was, she could at least try to help us find an answer to the food shortage for the sake of everyone else, but instead all she does is waste time going to the mall and sleeping. The only thing important to her is her morning jogs.
Where does she go on her morning jogs?
I climbed out of bed and got dressed. I waited a few seconds after hearing Cheryl’s door open before quietly venturing into the hallway myself.
I watched her step into the glass elevator and cruise down to the bottom floor. I waited for it to return and stepped in, getting a good view of the lower floor of the palace and of Cheryl walking towards the garage as it slowly descended. I wished it would go faster. But then I also saw someone else. It was Levi.
When the elevator came to a stop on the first floor, and I saw his face on the other side of the doors, I couldn’t help but groan. The doors opened.
“Hi, Levi.”
I tried to rush out and continue my pursuit, but he put his arm across the elevator door.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Move!” I forced out, pushing on his arm with no success.
“What are you doing stalking people at this hour?”
“For your 411, I’m trying to follow Cheryl because I think she does more in the morning than just going for a jog.”
His face changed to a weird, almost serious, look. He moved his arm suddenly while I was pushing on it, causing me to stumble out the elevator.
“Thanks,” I said with a huff, brushing my blue jacket. It’s not like the prince to let me off so easily. I ran to the garage.
When I got there, Cheryl was already leaving in the car. This does not look like a jog around the block, I thought. Maybe I could drive one of the other cars and catch up with her.
I frantically ran to the other cars and tried to get in one of them, but they were all locked, and there were no keys. I could not let her get away. In the corner of the garage was an old blue bicycle lying on the floor. I picked it up and rode out after her.
I pedaled as hard as I could, trying to trail the car, but keeping out of the rear view mirror at the same time. After about ten minutes of fast pedaling, my legs began to get tired, and I fell behind. Then with no warning, the motorcyclist cut out in front of me, causing me to burn some bicycle tire rubber.
“What’s with this?”
“Here,” he said, getting off of his motorcycle. “Take this.”
“But I don’t know how to drive a—”
“It has automatic pilot,” he said quickly, helping me on. “Now go. This is the only way you’ll catch up with her.”
I looked at him. One major question stayed on my mind. “But, who are—”
He pushed a button on the motorcycle, and it took off. I closed my eyes and held onto the handlebars tightly at first, but then, one by one I opened them. The wind blew against my face and hair as all of my surroundings whizzed past me. The motorcycle’s engine had a quiet hum. It perfectly took a curve. I had always wanted to ride on one. It was just as exciting as I thought it would be, but the electric motor was so much quieter than a gas one. I kind of missed the noise.
I followed Cheryl at a careful distance through the tunnel to the Twisted Forest section of Avila. She came to the fork in the road. I managed to bring the motorcycle to a stop and hide behind an oak tree with gnarled branches. She rested her hand on the palm scanner next to the gate and was admitted. She drove the car through the gate. I didn’t even think the labs would be open at five in the morning. I had seen all I needed to see.
I returned to the palace and told the others what I saw. When Cheryl came back, we all stood in the entrance from the garage, waiting for an explanation.
“Cheryl, how could you go to the labs without taking us!” yelled Linzie.
“Yeah, we suppose to be solving this together,” Bridgett put in.
Cheryl looked at us with an expression of fake bafflement. “What are all of you talking about?”
“You know what we’re talking about,” I said. “Your early morning ‘jogs’ to the Greenhouse Laboratories.”
“The Laboratories? Why would I want to go there so early? Besides, they don’t open till nine.”
“But I saw you!”
“Prove it,” Cheryl snarled.
Everyone looked at me, waiting for an answer. I didn’t have one. “Don’t you all believe me?” I said in a voice that sounded small in my own ears.
They averted their eyes, embarrassed. No one said a word.
“Well,” said Cheryl cheerfully, “I was hoping that we could have a picnic lunch in the garden today. Let’s go to the kitchen and get things ready.”
The others left immediately for the kitchen, as if they couldn’t put this awkward moment behind them fast enough. “You can join us if you want,” Cheryl offered to me half-heartedly.
“No, thanks. I prefer to have lunch in my room.”
“Fine then,” she said, turning her back to me, but giving me a glance over her shoulder. “Lila, I know how much you like attention, but don’t try too hard.”
I sat in my room, humiliated and sadly sipping the soup I had brought up for lunch. How could Cheryl be such a liar? I knew that was her. I saw her when she drove off in the car, and I followed her the entire time. Why didn’t she tell the truth? Now everyone was probably thinking that I was some crazy girl that saw things that don’t exist. I didn’t care what they thought. I knew what really happened.
I heard laughter outside of my balcony window. I went up to it and cracked open the blinds. I saw Bridgett, Linzie, Lydia, and Cheryl giggling up a storm, while Levi set a cloth on the perfectly green grass and laid out the food. The garden already looked its best with all the colorful blooming flowers, but it looked even better with the satin blue cloth that was covered with chicken, biscuits, and mashed potatoes. I looked back mournfully at my bowl of soup. They all reclined in the grass and began to eat. I closed back the blinds.
I rested on the ledge of the marble fountain in the middle of my room. The constant splashing of water often comforted me when I couldn’t sleep at night. It had the same effect as I sat there thinking about how many more days were left to find some sort of solution for the famine and save Dr. Sterling’s neck. I haven’t even seen Dr. Sterling since the day he held that conference. He was probably packing his stuff.
I couldn’t believe at a time like this all Cheryl wanted to do was go shopping and have picnics. I began to think she didn’t actually want to help Dr. Sterling at all. I had to prove that I saw her go to the laboratories this morning somehow. I had to show the others. Then a plan popped into my head.
I e-mailed everyone, telling them that we all should follow Cheryl in the morning to see where she was going. Everyone gave me a positive reply, but Lydia also asked me why I didn’t trust her. I didn’t respond to that. They would have to see the truth for themselves.
The next morning, I was dressed and ready. I had told everyone to wait about a minute after they heard Cheryl’s room door open before venturing out. As expected, I heard her quiet footsteps. They weren’t quiet enough. After the recommended minute had passed, I ran up to my room door and…it didn’t do anything.
“Why won’t it open?”
It’s supposed to be automatic. I began to hit on it. Nothing happened. I tried wedging my fingers between the crack in the door to push it open, but it was stuck tight. At that moment, e-mails came on my laptop like crazy. I ran to it and read them. Everyone was locked in. I began to beat on the door and yell for help, but then I got a better idea. I picked up the phone and dialed a zero.
“Can I help you?”
“Annie, please help us! We’re all locked in our rooms!”
“Locked in?”
“Yeah, and I’ve done everything I could to get out besides breaking the door!”
“Okay, Miss Collins. We’ll try to get some help up there.”
I walked tiredly up to the door and rested my head on it. There must have been a leak. How else could she have found out? It had to be that, or in some way she intercepted one of our e-mails.
All of a sudden the door began to jerk open. I moved back from it. On the other side was Levi. Some idea of help.
“Someone did an awesome job of jamming these doors.” He smiled almost reflectively. “I hope you didn’t have any plans of following Cheryl this morning.”
“Why do you always have to show up at the worst time?”
“It’s like I said Lila, I don’t know why father thinks the ASG can help Avila, especially with you on it. Why look, you can’t even open an automatic door.”
“Get away from my door, you loser!”
“Lila, aren’t you the least bit grateful that I actually took the time to come up here and help you get out of this mess? I could have left you in here all day if I wanted,” he chatted on. “You know, you’re the only person that ever calls me insulting names. The fact that I’m a prince usually deters people. You are the most unconventional girl I’ve ever met.”
“Unconventional?”
He rolled his eyes. “Lila, if you don’t know what it means, just look it up.”
“Shut-up!” I pushed him out into the hallway, and the doors closed. Avila is going to need all the help it can get when he becomes emperor.
I walked through the garden with a dictionary in my hands. It was my first time actually walking through it since I’ve been here. Everything was perfect. The grass was a bright green, like a freshly watered football field, and flowers sprung up everywhere.
All the colors were luminous. Butterflies would light on the ornamental rocks, but there were no birds. I guess because they are too messy. The leaves on the trees were perfectly still, with no wind to move them like on the surface. I could hear the faint chant of protesters. More were coming everyday, and the riots in the streets had been getting worse.
Taking Levi’s advice, I found a bench under a tree and looked up conventional in the dictionary. I found contumely, a word that perfectly describes Levi, and contuse, what I would like to do to him. Then I found conventional. It means to go by accepted standards or rules, and being usual or ordinary. He called me unconventional. I guess in a strange way, he was giving me a compliment.
I closed the dictionary and my eyes. I wished to be home. Life in Avila was weird. It’s unconventional. I missed my parents and my friends from Bridgeman—if they still were my friends. I saw mom and dad at home eating dinner without me. I saw kids at school taking their final exams. I saw an envelope falling out of the tree above me and landing on my head. What?
I felt a slight tap on my head. I opened my eyes and shook my head. An envelope fell to my feet. I looked up in the tree. It was quiet and still like it had always been. I bent down and picked up the letter. It felt slightly heavy. Should I open it? It did look very important, maybe another clue. I stuck it in the dictionary. Then I decided to show it to the others.
Cheryl had gone on an unusually long “jog,” since she wasn’t back when I came inside to show everyone the envelope. I had all of them come up in my room. I locked the door to ensure privacy.
“Okay,” said Linzie, excitedly. “Open the letter.”
I broke the seal carefully with my fingernail and took out three sheets of paper. The first page said: Bring your friends to the entrance of the Avila Greenhouse Labs at 10 P.M.
The second page was filled with tiny print and was entitled “Surveillance Project,” and the third was a floor plan—a complete floor plan of Avila Greenhouse Laboratory One, including all of the secret underground compartments and passage ways that we didn’t even know existed. On seeing the paper, I shook like I had just discovered gold.
“Lila, what is it?”
“This,” I said, turning the paper towards them, “is a complete floor plan of Avila Greenhouse Laboratory One!”
We all began screaming at the same time. I hugged Lydia, high-fived Bridgett and Linzie, and did a football player victory dance, dropping the other papers on the floor.
“This is great!” Lydia laughed.
“Let me see it!” Linzie snatched the plans out of my hands. Her eyes moved back and forth across the paper.
“Lila, you were right about another room being attached to room ten.”
I walked over to her and looked at the plans. Her finger pointed to a large room that was in between rooms ten and nine. The door was on the wall that had the shelf of plant specimens and samples.
“It really does exist. Thanks Lydia for noticing that on the DVD. I would have never caught it.”
She smiled shyly and shrugged.
“Now the question is, what’s in that room?”
“These look like the instructions on how to find out,” said Bridgett, bending down and picking up another piece of paper. I got a quick glance of it over her shoulder. It was labeled “Surveillance Project.”
“I saw that paper,” I said, examining my fingernails, “but I don’t understand it.”
“This paper not only gives specific details as to how to set up a camera in the room of question, but also how to over run the laboratory’s surveillance system. Here is a list of equipment needed, but where are we going to get it from?”
“I have a feeling that all the equipment will be brought to us,” I said, picking up the first paper I dropped. “This is a note that says to meet at the entrance of the labs at ten o’clock.”
“Meet who?” asked Linzie.
I forgot. I hadn’t told anyone about the motorcyclist. I was shy about telling them since I didn’t think they would believe me. Every time I saw him, I tried to find out who he was, but for some reason, I could never get around to it.
“It’s the same person that gave me that DVD.”
“And who is this person?”
I looked down at the note, shielding my eyes from their gaze. “You’ll see when you get there.”
I parked the car at the fork in the road. To our relief, the tall gate was open, since Cheryl wasn’t with us. Street lights illuminated the white pavement. I turned off the headlights. By the gate we saw the silhouette of a person leaning on a motorcycle. Linzie took out her compact and nervously brushed powder on her face.
“I’m scared,” said Lydia.
“Don’t be.” I sounded braver than I felt. “And Linzie, stop powdering your face. I don’t think anyone will see your pimple in the dark.”
“Are you kidding? There are lights all over this place!”
We stepped out of the car and walked up to the glass gate. In the dark shadows stood the motorcycle guy. The others cowered behind me as I walked up to him. I was just as scared as they were. I didn’t know what he wanted or why he was giving these clues to us. I didn’t know if his intentions were good or bad. He spoke first.
“I’m relieved that all of you were able to get here. I have to give you instructions quickly since there’s little time—here are all the things you will need.”
He opened a compartment on his motorcycle and pulled out a small camera, some wires, a blank DVD, and four flashlights. He handed the things to us.
“Do you still have the letter?”
I nodded and pulled it out of my jacket pocket.
“Good. You will go to the security room. In that room is a vent in the wall that leads to the supply closet. In the supply closet is another vent that goes into the ceiling of the hidden room next to room ten. Once you’re in the ceiling, place the camera in the third vent grill. Point it down at a 45° angle and wire it according to the directions in the letter.”
“Meanwhile in the security room there is a computer that controls all camera operations. Follow the instructions I gave you. Do not begin to install the camera until it is completely wired. The security room is located at the end of the underground hallway. You’ll find the entrance under the second group of bushes you see.”
He closed the compartment and mounted his bike.
“And one more thing. This gate will only remain open for thirty minutes. So get everything done as quickly as you can.”
We found the entrance to the underground passageway right where he said. Under some bushes was a pair of rusty iron doors that looked like they would lead to a cellar. Linzie pulled open the heavy doors, revealing a dark passageway. Spiders and cockroaches scattered out of the dark void. We went in without a second thought.
We filed through the dark concrete tunnel with our flashlights making huge shadows. The sounds of our footsteps bounced off the concrete walls. We spoke to each other in whispers.
At the end of the hallway we saw a pair of iron doors. I shined my flashlight on their rusty metallic surface. It looked like someone had used a stencil to paint the words “Security Room” on it a long time ago. This was it. It took all of us to open the doors, and when they finally opened, we were surprised to find a well-kept modern space.
Inside was a desktop computer about the size of the one I have at home, but instead of being hooked up to one monitor, it was hooked up to seven. All of them showed pictures that the cameras were picking up. There were no signs of people in the complex. The computer had three DVD burner drives. Other than the computer and a few chairs, there was nothing else in there except an elevator that led to the room above the security room. It looked like it had been used recently.
We spotted the vent that the motorcyclist had told us about. There was a pair of metal rungs that led from the floor to the vent in the ceiling as if it was designed for easy access.
We decided to split up: Lydia and Linzie would go install the camera, while Bridgett and I worked the computer. We had twenty minutes to do everything before the gate closed.
Lydia and Linzie took the plans and camera instructions and went crawling up into the vent. Bridgett and I began to examine the computer. We decided to keep in touch by cell phone. I held Bridgett’s cell phone nervously in my hand, waiting for the call from Lydia and Linzie, while Bridgett re-read the instructions. I was glad she understood them, because I didn’t.
She pushed some buttons and the screens turned dark blue. Then she typed something else, and they turned black. Numbers appeared. I am good with computers, but she knows way more than I do. I know how to work one, but to me it looked more like she was programming it. While she was busy typing in computer language and codes, I felt the cell phone vibrate in my hand. I quickly picked it up and pushed the talk button.
“How are you guys doing up there?”
“Great. We’re now above that room.”
“Awesome! Bridgett, they found it!”
“That’s good,” she said, half conscious of what I said.
“What do you see?” I asked Lydia.
“Believe it or not, there are still a lot of scientists working here. The laboratories have always closed at nine, but it’s eleven o’clock, and it doesn’t look like many people have gone home yet.”
There is life at the Avila Greenhouse Laboratories at eleven.
“Have you guys wired the camera yet?”
“Linzie’s working on it right now. I’ll call you back when she’s done.”
I pushed the button, ending the call. I turned back to Bridgett.
“How’s it going?”
“It’s fine. Just fine.” She punched a few keys and pushed her glasses up on her nose. “There!” she said, leaning away from the computer. “All I have to do is push enter, and the installation process will begin. Is the camera wired yet?”
Just then the phone began to vibrate. I picked it up.
“Lila, the camera is wired. We’ll be coming down.”
“All right.” I turned to Bridgett. “Let a rip!”
She pushed the enter key and the installation began. But seconds after it started, a screeching alarm went off, sending all of the lights in the room blinking in alert.
“Bridgett! What’s going on?”
“I don’t know! The camera is being installed okay—Quick, call Lydia!”
I dialed her number as fast as I could. I began to feel sick from the constant blinking of the lights.
“Lydia, what’s going on up there?”
“The most horrible thing—Linzie’s compact fell out of her jacket pocket, through the air conditioning grate, and to the floor. We got spotted. We’re—we’re on the run. Someone might be headed your way!”
“Where are you? Maybe we can help.”
“Don’t worry about us! Just hurry up, install that camera, and get out of there!”
She hung up. I stood out of my seat and looked at the computer monitors. There was fifty percent left on installing the camera. I looked at my watch. Ten minutes till the gate closes. A quiet hum came into the room. It was the elevator. I ran over to Bridgett and began pulling her out of her chair.
“They’re coming!”
“But the camera isn’t installed yet!”
“Forget the camera! Let’s go.”
I continued to pull on her, but she wouldn’t budge. I dropped my arms and gave up. The sound of the alarm rang in my ears, and the world around me was blinking. The camera was only seventy percent installed.
It was like being in one of those nightmares I always have where there’s a tornado coming, and I try to tell everyone to run for their lives, but no one listens.
I heard the elevator come to a thump on our floor. My heart stopped.
We are so caught.
I gave one final tug on Bridgett. The elevator door opened. Our heads turned.
Out came Lydia and Linzie. The room stopped spinning and the alarm wasn’t so loud in my ears. All of a sudden my strength came back. The elevator doors closed behind them.
“They’re coming behind us,” gasped Linzie. “How much more do you have to go?”
“85 percent.”
The elevator began to hum.
“Oh, great,” I said. “What are we going to do?”
“We have to find a way to stop them from getting in,” said Lydia. She walked frantically around the room, looking for something that could be used.
“Maybe we could find a way to jam it.”
“Great idea, Lila.”
The elevator returned with a thump. Linzie leaped over to the elevator like a cat with her blond hair flying. Before the elevator doors could open, she gave the control box one good kick. Sparks flew.
“That should do it.”
There were knocks and thumps coming from behind the elevator doors.
“90 percent left,” said Bridgett, standing up and getting the blank DVD ready.
The thumps at the elevator doors grew louder.
“You don’t think they’ll get in, do you?” Lydia asked Linzie.
“It isn’t likely.”
Then one hard whack echoed throughout the room. One of the elevator’s doors began to bend.
“On second thought—Bridgett, how much is left?”
“95 percent.”
The doors began to give way.
“97…98…”
I looked at the door nervously. It seemed to open more every time the lights blinked.
“99…100 percent!”
The door on the DVD drive popped open. Bridget stuck the blank DVD in, and it slowly closed. Then monitors blinked and went back to the camera pictures they were picking up before. On the monitor in the middle, scientists could be seen working in the secret room behind room ten.
Then the elevator doors shattered. We ran out of the security room’s doors faster than we had entered them.
We ran through the passageway with our flashlights shining and our feet pounding on the concrete floor. I took a glance at my watch.
“Two minutes before the gate closes,” I announced. We began to pick up speed.
Our shadows flashed against the wall and our lights illuminated spider webs. We ran as fast as our legs could take us without looking back.
We came to the iron entrance doors. Lydia and I tried pushing the doors open. Then Linzie came and gave them one powerful kick. They flew open, and we climbed out. Bridgett closed the doors behind us. Lights lit up the road and the gate that was yards away from us. We began to run towards the gate. The motor in the large gate clicked, and it slowly began to close.
“Hurry up!” yelled Linzie, running ahead of us.
Lydia and I weren’t too far behind, but Bridgett was falling back.
“I can’t make it!” she yelled, plodding tiredly behind us.
“Yes, you can!” I ran back to her and began pulling her by the arm.
The others were already on the other side of the gate. Three more feet and the gate would be completely closed. I ran faster, pulling Bridgett behind me. We both got through the narrow opening. The gate closed and clicked behind us, but we didn’t stop running there. All of us ran to the car. I pushed a button on the keys. All the doors unlocked, the lights came on, and the engine started. We all jumped in, and I buckled myself up hastily in the driver’s seat.
“Put on your seat belts,” I shouted back. “You’re going to need them!”
I threw the gear into drive, made a wild u-turn at the fork in the road, and sped down the street. The accelerator steadily moved up to 120 MPH.
“Lila, where did you learn how to drive like this?” asked Bridgett from the back seat.
“At Go-Kart World.”
I gripped the wheel as I took the car around a deep curve. I felt focused and crazy—like a death row inmate who had just escaped from a federal prison or something. I felt good. I felt free. Then I realized, this was stupid.
Here I am driving at night going who knows how fast, just waiting to fly off the road and land into a ditch. I got a hold of myself and slowed down. A little bit. No one seemed to be chasing us. That was worrisome.
I entered the tunnel that left the Twisted Forest area and led to the palace. The blue lights passed by like stars in space. I was going slowly enough for everyone to catch their breath and talk.
“So what are we going to do now?” asked Linzie smartly.
“Well—maybe we can go back tomorrow, pick up the DVD, and review it,” I said. “Hopefully, it has what we’re looking for.”
“How are we going back?” asked Bridgett. “Don’t tell me we’re going to have to go through all that gate stuff again.”
“Sometimes things that are the most worthwhile take the most work.”
She moaned. Linzie sat up from the back seat and said, “That guy—on the motorcycle—how does he know so much?”
“I don’t know,” I said, keeping my eyes on the road. “But I think we should listen to every clue he gives us.”
“Do you actually think he’s trustworthy?”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “I do.”
No one else asked me any more questions. My eyes glanced over at Lydia in the passenger’s seat. She wore a faint smile on her face. I moved my eyes back to my road. The palace rose up before us.
I parked the car in the garage and followed the tradition of leaving the keys in the ignition. I went up to the doors that led to the inside of the palace and rested my hand on the scanner. It tickled as the beam ran across my fingers. Then the green light came on and the door began to open. I was happy to be back. Now I could finally get some sleep, but as the door opened, my dreams of rest and comfort were shattered.
Standing there tapping her foot impatiently was Cheryl. Her face was red and her bottom lip jutted out. She stepped out of the doorway, pushing me back into the garage. The others stopped talking. The color drained from their faces.
“Cheryl,” I said, putting a smile on my face as fake as Dr. Robert’s, “Why are you up so late?”
“I was up wondering where you’ve been all night!”
“Oh,” I said cutely. “We were just driving around, you know. We wanted to get out of the palace some and—”
“If you went to the Greenhouse Laboratories, why don’t you just say so?”
“Okay,” I said, dropping my smile. “I did go to the labs, and I would do it again if I had to.”
“Why did you leave behind my back?”
“I asked you the same thing when you came back from your so called ‘jog.’”
“Okay, maybe I did make a stop or two by the laboratories,” she confessed, “but it’s all right for me to leave you guys. What’s wrong is you leaving me!”
“Maybe it wasn’t right for us to leave you,” I said, examining my motives. “However, it isn’t right for you to leave without us either. We’re the Five, the ASG. We’re a team.”
“And as a member of the ASG, you are to obey my orders.”
“Your orders? Cheryl Hart, your job is not to order us, but to lead us. I don’t know about the others, but I am not going to go with your every selfish whim and empty command. You don’t care about Dr. Sterling, Avila, or anything else but yourself.”
My words echoed through the garage. Everyone was silent. I looked back at the others. They stared at me blankly. Cheryl rocked on her toes and looked away from me. She rubbed her mouth as if trying to stifle a cry. Then she swung back to me with a fire in her hazel eyes.
“I don’t know who you think you are,” she said through clenched teeth. “It is obvious that Dr. Sterling is behind the scourge that Avila is going through. I don’t know why you try to deny it when it is so—so obvious.”
I stepped closer to her.
“Then why don’t you follow your own advice for once and prove it?”
Cheryl got up in my face, and we stood as eye to eye as we could get. Then in one quick motion she grabbed my hand and pulled the ring off. I didn’t flinch. I stood there with the intention of killing her with the look in my eyes. Her hand closed over the ring, hiding its relentless sparkles.
“Lila, you’re out, and you’re never coming back. And I don’t need to prove anything to you.”
Note to my 14-year-old self: Be prepared to do a lot of driving when you’re older.