The Prisoner of Cell 25 (12 page)

“Absolutely we are.” Dallstrom leaned back against his desk. “Michael, I have some terrific news. Two of Meridian’s pupils have been awarded the prestigious C. J. Hatch Scholarship to the acclaimed Elgen Academy in Pasadena, California. And you are one of them.”

He stuck out his hand. “Congratulations.”

I gulped. How had they found both of us? I timidly offered my hand. When I could speak I asked, “Why me?”

“Why not you?” Dallstrom said. “Elgen Academy selects their elite student body using a closely guarded process that involves scholarship, citizenship, and character. I am told that this is the first time in the academy’s illustrious history that two students have been invited to the academy from the same city—let alone the same school. We are very proud indeed.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Say hurray!” he said. “This is the chance of a lifetime! The academy’s board will be contacting your parents directly and extending the offer. I’m certain that they’ll be as proud and excited as we are.”

“It’s just my mom,” I said. I was suddenly very afraid for her.

“And, Michael, the best part is that your good fortune is shared by the entire student body of Meridian High. If you and the other student accept this remarkable offer, our school will be given a two-hundred-thousand-dollar grant to use however we best see fit.

We could restock our library, refinish the basketball court floor, pro-cure new music stands, buy new wrestling mats, and still have plenty to go around.” He leaned forward. “This is the biggest thing ever to happen to Meridian High. Your picture will hang proudly on our Hall of Fame.”

“What if I can’t go,” I said.

His expression fell. “And pass up this incredible, once-in-a-life-time opportunity?” He leaned forward, looking at me with an expression that was oddly both friendly and threatening. “I’m sure we can count on you to do the right thing.”

I swallowed. “Yes, sir.”

“I better let you get back to class. Don’t want to stand in the way of our greatest student. Do you need a tardy slip?”

“Uh, no. I don’t think the bell’s rung yet.”

“Right you are. You can go. Have a great day.”

I walked out of his office more terrified than I had gone in.

Ostin and Taylor were waiting for me outside fifth-period biology.  Taylor didn’t look like she felt well.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

She had a hand on her right temple. “I’m just upset.”

“What happened?” Ostin asked. “Why did they call you down to the office?”

I was still processing everything, and I didn’t want to upset Taylor any more than she already was. “I’ll tell you later.”

Ostin’s brow furrowed. “Did you get in trouble?”

“I’ll tell you later,” I repeated.

“Let’s just go to class,” Taylor said. “I need to get my mind off of this.”

“Good idea,” I said.

Taylor didn’t say much during biology. Actually she didn’t say anything. She looked like it was all she could do to not go running out. More than anything I wanted to reach over and hold her hand. I didn’t blame her for being afraid. I was afraid. Actually, I was terrified. I had no idea who those people were and what they would do.

I met Taylor in the hallway after class. “Are you all right?”

She nodded but said nothing. Ostin walked up. He looked as nervous as we were.

“You remember the plan?” I asked Taylor.

She nodded again.

“Okay,” I said. “We’ll pick you up at five.”

“I’ll meet you at the front of the school.”

“Are your parents home?” I asked.

“They don’t get home today until after five. Why?”

“Just in case my mother needs to talk to them.”

“I hope not.” She sighed. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you.”

She turned and walked off to the gymnasium.

Ostin and I walked in the opposite direction out of the school.

We hadn’t even left the schoolyard when I said to him, “I don’t feel right about this. Maybe we should stay with her.”

“That would seem weird.”

“So?”

“If she’d wanted us to stay she would have asked.”

“Yeah,” I said. “You’re probably right.”

“So what did Dallstrom want?”

“I’ve been offered a scholarship to Elgen Academy.”

Ostin blanched. “Oh no.”

“It gets worse. They’ve bribed Dallstrom. They’ve offered the school two hundred thousand dollars if Taylor and I go.”

“You’ll have to change schools—Dallstrom will make your life miserable if you don’t go.”

“I know.”

“When are you going to tell your mom about all this?”

“I’m more worried about
what
to tell her. What if she wants me to go?”

“This is bad,” Ostin said, shaking his head. “Really bad.”

We walked the rest of the way home in silence.

My mother got home from work a few minutes later than she planned—around a quarter of five. She called as she opened the door,

“Michael, Ostin, you guys ready?”

“We’re over here, Mom.” We were sitting in front of the television watching the Discovery Channel. It was Shark Week.

“When is Taylor done?”

“She has cheerleading until five.”

“It’s almost five now,” she said. “We better hurry.”

Mom, Ostin, and I climbed into the Toyota and drove over to the school. My mom pulled up to the school’s front steps and put the car in park.

“Where are we meeting her?” my mom asked.

“She said she’d be in front,” I said.

“Maybe they’re running late,” Ostin said. “Or she went back inside.”

My mother said, “You two run in and see what’s up.”

I opened my door. “C’mon, Ostin.”

We ran up the stairs into the school’s main lobby but Taylor wasn’t there. We walked down to the gym. Inside, groups of cheerleaders were practicing stunts. I looked around but I couldn’t see Taylor. “Where is she, Ostin? Use your Tay-dar.”

“She’s not here,” he said.

“She has to be.”

“She’s not.”

Mrs. Shaw, the cheerleader advisor, was on the other side of the gym. I walked over to her. “Excuse me, Mrs. Shaw. Do you know where Taylor Ridley is?”

She looked up from her clipboard. “Taylor said she wasn’t feeling well, so she left early.”

“She walked home?”

“I don’t know. She might have called her parents.”

“Thank you,” I said.

Ostin and I walked out of the gym.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Ostin said. “Why didn’t she call?”

Just then I spotted Taylor’s friend Maddie. She was wearing gym clothes and walking down the hall texting. I called out to her. “Maddie!”

She looked up and smiled. “Hi Michael. How are you?”

“Fine. Have you seen Taylor? It’s really important that I find her.”

“She left practice early. She had a really bad headache.”

“Did you see her leave?”

“Yeah.”

“How was she acting?”

“Well, she was upset because of her headache.”

“Was she alone?”

She looked at me with an idiotic grin. “I’m not telling on her.”

“This isn’t a
thing
,” I said. I looked at her phone. “Look, will you call her? Please.”

“She never answers her phone. I’ll text her.”

“Great. Just ask her where she is.”

“Sure.” She thumb-typed a message. Less than a minute passed before her phone buzzed. “She’s at home.”

I felt some relief. “Tell her I’m here to get her and ask if I should come over.”

She began typing. Her phone buzzed again. “She says she’s sorry she forgot to call. She’s not feeling well and will have to pass on tonight, but happy birthday.” She looked at me. “I didn’t know it was your birthday. Happy birthday.”

“Thanks.” I turned to Ostin. “At least she’s okay,” I said.

We walked back to the car and climbed in. My mom looked confused. “Where’s Taylor?”

“She went home early,” I said. “She had a headache.”

She looked as disappointed as I felt. “That’s too bad. Maybe next time.”

15. The Man Who Wore Sunglasses at Night

None of us spoke much as we drove downtown. I have to admit that Taylor’s absence had dulled my excitement. I think even Ostin was upset.

When we got to the aquarium my mother looked at me and smiled sadly. “Let’s have a good time, okay?”

“Okay,” I said.

Even though it was a weekday, the aquarium was running a Family Night Special so the place was crowded. The busiest exhibit by far was the sharks, with their unblinking eyes and their teeth bared beneath them, gliding through the water just inches from the tank’s glass, as if death were only a few inches away from you. I suppose that’s how I felt about everything right now, as if something bad was circling just inches away, waiting to bite. I soon discovered that Ostin was feeling the same way.

“Do you think Taylor’s safe?” he asked me.

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think we are?”

“Not if she isn’t.”

It was hard keeping my mind on the exhibits. The three of us wandered over by the electric eels.
Electrophorus electricus
are ugly creatures with little holes in their skin as if they’d all grown up with a bad case of acne. There were three eels in the tank and the largest was about six feet long with a dark gray back and an orange under-belly. There was a voltage meter connected to the outside of the tank with a red needle that occasionally bounced around as the eels sent out surges. Out of curiosity I slid my hand over to the metal corner of the tank and pulsed a little. The voltage meter jumped with my charge. Then, to my surprise, the eels in the tank all swam to me. I turned back to see if my mother had seen this but she was looking through her purse. As I looked at her I wondered if I should tell her about Taylor and my invitation to the academy. I wasn’t even sure where to start. A few minutes later I walked over to her.

Before I could say anything, Ostin said to my mother, “Did you know that electric eels are not really eels?”

“Really,” she replied, no doubt prepared for Ostin’s upcoming monologue. My mother always looked genuinely interested in what Ostin had to say, which was probably one of the reasons he had a crush on her—which, by the way, still grossed me out.

“They’re a species of gymnotiformes, also known as knife fish. Biologically, they’re closer to the carp or catfish than the eel. And they breathe air, so they have to come to the surface every ten minutes.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“They are at the top of the food chain, which means they have no natural predators. In fact, even a baby electric eel can paralyze an alligator with its shock.”

I knew most of this already. For obvious reasons, I had always taken great interest in electric eels. When I was nine I used to write “EEM”—secret for “Electric Eel Man”—on the corners of my papers, as if it were my secret identity. Still, I let Ostin talk. I think he would explode if he didn’t.

“They’re basically a living battery. Four-fifths of their body is used in producing or storing electricity. They can produce a charge up-wards of six hundred volts and five hundred watts, which is powerful enough to be deadly to a human. Though some experts claim they’ve produced up to eight hundred volts.”

“I’d hate to take a bath with one,” she said smiling.

“Or give a bath to one,” I said.

She looked at me and grinned. When I was three years old I accidentally gave her a shock while she was bathing me. It knocked her over. It was pretty much showers after that.

“Eels use their electric shock to stun or kill their prey, but they can also use low voltage like radar to see in murky waters. It’s called electrolocation.”

“Sounds like electrocution,” I said.

“Not the same thing.”

“Speaking of eating,” my mother said, “is anyone getting hungry?”

That was one way of shutting Ostin up. “Is that a trick question?” he asked.

“I’m hungry,” I said.

“Good,” she said. “I’m starving. Off to PizzaMax.”

The pizzeria wasn’t actually called PizzaMax. Its real name was Mac’s Purple Pig Pizza Parlor and Piano Pantry, which is as dumb as it is long, but they have awesome pizza. My mother and I ate there the first week we lived in Idaho, and a few weeks later when she asked me where I wanted to eat, I only remembered the Mac’s part. The name stuck.

We ordered six pieces of cheesy garlic bread, an extra-large Mac’s Kitchen Sink pizza, which has every thing you could imagine on it (except anchovies—gross!), and a cold pitcher of root beer. While we were eating, my mom asked me, “What do Taylor’s parents do?”

“Her dad is a police officer. Her mom works at a travel agency.”

My mom nodded. “She’s a really nice girl. I hope she comes around again soon.”

“I hope she does too,” I said.

“Still like your watch?” my mother asked. I think she just wanted to see me smile again.

I held up my arm so she could see that I was wearing it. “Love it.”

I could tell this made her happy. She looked into my eyes. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“You’re kind of quiet tonight.”

I was never very good at hiding things from my mother. “I guess I just have a lot on my mind.”

“Are you still upset about Taylor?”

I shrugged. “A little.”

She put her hand on my shoulder. “Things don’t always go as planned, do they? But in the end they seem to work out.”

“I suppose so,” I said. I hoped so.

We had been at PizzaMax for nearly an hour when Ostin excused himself to go to the bathroom. My mother smiled at me, then slid around the vinyl seat of our booth to get closer.

“Honey, what’s wrong? You’re really ticking.”

I slowly looked up at her. “Mr. Dallstrom called me down to his office today.”

Her brow fell. “Oh. What happened?”

“Nothing happened. I got offered a scholarship.”

A broad smile crossed her face. “What kind of scholarship?”

“It’s to this really prestigious school in California.”

“Michael, that’s wonderful. What’s the name of the school?”

I was relieved to see her happy. “The Elgen Academy.”

Her smile immediately vanished into a look of fear. “Did you say Elgen?”