Brass Monkeys (14 page)

Jack snorted. “Well, maybe you need to tell your driver that. Who is it anyway, Rebel number Two?” Jack grinned at Lilah.

“Go ahead and laugh at us,” she said, “but we are rebels.”

“Hey,” I jumped in, “I think you guys are terrific rebels. And your equipment is great. Man, without it, we would have been dead ducks. And Jack, you were fabulous back there. It was like the Wild West.”

He was signing all this to Lilah, and she jumped in and added, “I hate to admit it, Hastings, but you were fairly impressive.”

“‘Fairly’?” said Jack.

“Lilah, I have to ask you something,” I began. “Jack, sign this.”

“I already am, your Royal Heinie.”

“How come you gave me the trumpet?” I asked.

Lilah gave me a serious, dark-eyed look. “You seemed so interested in it, I thought maybe you played one up above in your school. And I also thought,” Lilah went on in that even-toned voice, “that it would give you inspiration and courage. You know, to save your friends and get back home.”

“Wow, that’s so great,” I said. “I do play one up above. And what did you sign to me? You know, when you tossed the trumpet to me?”

Lilah nodded and seemed to get emotional. She went on signing something to Jack, and I saw the same motions she’d used before.

Jack kind of rolled his eyes. “She’s got confidence in you, yadda yadda, but the main thing she signed was, ‘You’re the one.’ She means like you’re the big deal.”

I didn’t know what to say. I blushed and said “Thanks.” Then, to cover myself, I started burbling stuff to Jack. “This is so great. We got away, I got a trumpet out of the deal, and we’re safe!”

“Yeah, well let’s not do a group hug yet. I still want to know why the entire Stormie army is after you, kid. What’s this stupid book thing?”

I grinned. “It’s the book Ming wants more than her favorite toenail sandwich spread.” I pulled out
Brass Monkeys
and held it up dramatically.

Talk about different reactions. Lilah’s face took on an ecstatic glow. “Oh my heavens,” she breathed softly. “I never thought I’d live to see it.”

Meanwhile, Jack looked like he had just bitten into the toenail sandwich. “Wait a minute,” he groaned. “Don’t tell me. Is that the stupid red book that belongs to McGinty? The half-done, hotsie thing that’s supposed to expose the Big Lady?”

I nodded triumphantly. “You got it.”

Jack slumped back and looked heavenward. “Oh man, I should have guessed. We’re dead people right now, Bumpus. I hope you understand that.”

“We’re not dead!” Lilah signed and spoke back in a furious tone. “Billy is going to deliver the book to McGinty just like we planned from the start. Right, Billy?”

“Exactly,” I said. “He’ll help get my friends out of Ming’s school, and then finish the book and expose Ming. And on top of that—”

“Kid, get a grip.” Jack broke in. “Your classmates are toast, trust me. Ming’s got them and that’s it. Period. End of story.”

“It’s not the end,” I snapped back. “I’m getting them out, and on top of that, Webster put a map in the back of the book that shows how to get out of here!”

Jack sat up and stared at me. “Whoa, hold the phone. You’ve got a map in the book that shows how to get out of this place? Am I hearing this right?”

“Absolutely right,” I replied, “but it’s in code and we need McGinty to read it.”

Jack snorted in disgust. “Then we’re back to square one, Bumpus, because no one knows where McGinty’s hiding. Not even the Big Lady.”

“But I know,” I said. I mouthed it largely for Lilah, even though Jack was already signing it.

“You know where he’s hiding?” Lilah’s dark eyes were wide.

I was enjoying myself. “Yeah, I’ve got the big clue you guys need.”

“Well, are you going to tell us, Bumpus, or just sit there looking funny?”

I was about to answer when the small door leading to the van’s cab slid back. I could see part of a dashboard that was made from a hodgepodge of computer parts and a steering wheel that appeared to be the swivel legs from a desk chair. The driver leaned into view and peered at us. He had bushy brown hair, gappy teeth, and a silly frown that made you want to laugh. He was turned just enough so I could see the “D” on his tunic. Incredibly, it looked like he was steering with his knees while he talked and signed.

“I think we’re finally out of danger,” he said to Lilah in an irritable voice. “I think. So do you mind telling me what the Sam Tunkett you’re up to this time?”

“Teddy, listen to me,” said Lilah, and her hands flashed back at him.

“Yeah, yeah, okay, they’re wanted by the Stormies. I figured that out already.”

“No, Teddy, pay attention to what I’m saying!” snapped Lilah.

“While you’re listening, Ted, better watch where you’re going,” Jack cut in.

Sure enough, when the guy turned around, he yelped and twisted the wheel, and we barely missed a slow-moving drone cart full of soccer balls.

“Beautiful,” muttered Jack as the junk clattered wildly.

Teddy was getting some irritated signing from Lilah. “I am watching what I’m doing,” he said. “What? I got that part. The older guy—okay, Jack—with the dirty face and clothes is a renegade.”

“Hey, hey,” said Jack, “let’s watch our language.”

Lilah paid no attention and went on signing to Teddy, whose eyes suddenly widened. “You can’t be serious. The boy is who? It’s actually him? I don’t believe it!” Teddy’s face broke into a gap-toothed smile. “So Webster did make it to the surface and sent someone back. This brave young man!”

“Why don’t we play a fanfare,” muttered Jack.

Lilah eyed me proudly. “Tell Teddy your name. Show him what you brought.”

“Billy Bumpus,” I said. Again, Mom’s nickname for me rolled easily off my lips, and for some strange reason I felt bolder using it. I held up the red book.

“Oh, my Aunt Miffy!” Teddy cried. “I’m actually looking at McGinty’s book!”

Jack curled a lip and said, “Aunt Miffy?”

“And there’s more,” Lilah went on. “Billy knows where McGinty is hiding.”

Teddy stared at her, dumbfounded. “Jeezo-peezo,” he managed to get out. “We’d better pull off and discuss this. And I mean right now.”

“Hold it,” said Jack. “This street is packed. Let’s find another spot.”

Teddy held up a hand. “Don’t interfere, please. A perfectly good place to stop.”

He swung the van sharply to the curb, pulling in behind some parked vehicles and bringing us to a clattering halt. Teddy turned off the engine, then climbed over the cab seat and dropped a grocery sack and thermos bottle in our midst.

“I think it’s time to parleyvoo,” he said with a grin, “and have a sandwich at the same time. Maybe a little hot tea, too. And then, yum yum, the clue.”

“Good idea,” said Lilah. It’s almost noon blink, and if there’s action ahead, we should eat now.”

Jack grinned. “By all means, let’s eat before the action.” He turned to me. “Food’s scarce down here. The drones raise some and the Stormies steal the rest from the surface schools. The point is, you eat when you can, noon blink or not.”

“What’s noon blink?” I wanted to know.

“That’s how we tell time,” said Jack. “Like everything else down here it’s a bit crazy, but it works. In the morning the Big Lady starts off the day by blinking the big overhead lights once. That means it’s seven o’clock and everybody goes to work. Then at midday she blinks the lights twice and we stop for lunch. Then at six in the evening, she dims them and it’s dinner, then bed. It’s kooky, but that’s the way it works. And trust me, kid, one day down here seems to go on forever.”

Teddy passed out baloney and cheese sandwiches and then handed around mugs of hot tea. When I unwrapped my sandwich, I noticed my hands were shaking. I hadn’t realized how hungry I had gotten.

Teddy gave us a smile. “Notice that no one paid any attention to us when I parked. There are no Stormies in sight, and we’re snugly out of sight. Pretty clever, I’d say. And not bad for a drone who’s supposedly a big ‘D.’“

“Yeah,” I said, “what’s the ‘D’ on your tunic mean?”

“It means ‘Disorganized,’” replied Teddy. “Can you believe it? Of course the letter is totally meaningless. Lilah and I simply picked up tunics willy-nilly off a pile right after we got down here.”

“How could that happen?” Jack asked. “It sounds a bit too convenient.”

“It happened very easily,” replied Lilah. She put her sandwich down so she could talk and sign. “Mingley and her friends brought our Iowa school down about three years ago. I was the music teacher and Teddy taught seventh grade science. For some reason Mingley didn’t feel well on the kidnapping day, so she turned over the unloading to Strobe and Fundabore. And things got chaotic. Teddy and I managed to sneak away and find some tunics, and a week later we found the empty shop and set up business. Teddy lives upstairs and I have a room below. We simply fell through the cracks.”

I was amazed when Lilah said she taught music. I wanted to ask how she could do that if she couldn’t hear, but I thought it was too personal so I kept quiet.

Teddy took a sip of tea, then picked up the story. “The Big Monkey took our kids and teachers back home and we got left behind, but it hasn’t been all bad. We never went through the three-day ordeal in Mingley’s awful school.

“Also, Teddy and I don’t have families back on the surface,” said Lilah, “so we don’t have that worry. Still, more than anything, we long for home.”

“Me too,” I added. “But there’s something that bothers me about getting back. According to Ming, we won’t recall any of this when we get home. Is she right?”

Jack nodded. “That’s what we’ve heard. The trip back is so fast your memory goes. Unless you know the secret memory trick.”

“What’s the secret memory trick?” I wanted to know.

“We don’t know, kid, that’s why it’s a secret,” replied Jack. “But then again, if we can find your hotshot McGinty, he’s supposed to know.”

Jack downed his tea and slapped the mug down. His blue eyes had taken on an antsy look. “And speaking of McGinty, I think it’s time for the big clue, Bumpus.”

I wiped my mouth and turned to Lilah. “Okay. Here’s Webster’s clue. He said to tell you that ‘McGinty’s in the ruins.’ And you’d know what it meant.”

I started to say it again, but Jack cut in.

“I got it covered, kid. But what ruins?”

“Yes, what ruins?” asked Teddy, looking baffled. “What does that mean?”

Lilah shook her head in bewilderment. “I’m not sure,” she began.

Jack frowned at me. “That’s the big deal clue? ‘He’s in the ruins?’“

I nodded. Lilah continued to look blank and I had a terrible sinking feeling.

“Ruins?” Jack started up again. “The whole city down here is in ruins.”

Lilah nibbled on a knuckle and looked down intently. It was a gesture I’d seen her make before. Her dark lashes shrouded her eyes. Now she looked up with a slow smile spread over her face. “I know what ruins.”

“It’s Adjana’s old school,” said Lilah, her face flushing with excitement.

“You gotta be joking,” Jack burst out. “He wouldn’t be out there on a bet. That’s desert country—the Sand Hills! Hot, dry, and no water for miles.”

Lilah shook her head and spoke and signed fiercely. “That’s where he is, I know it! Before he left us, Webster mentioned Adjana’s school, how beautiful it once was and how much McGinty missed it. And then he said, ‘John likes to go there sometimes, even now.’ That’s where he is. It all makes sense.”

“Exactly,” added Teddy. “McGinty taught there in the old days. It’s only natural he’d hide there.” He turned to Jack. The ruins are east of here, about twelve miles out.”

“I know where they are,” Jack rapped out. “But there’s no way he’d be around Adjana’s old building. He’s way too smart for that.”

“Who’s Adjana,” I asked, but like the adults they were, they ignored me and blatted right on.

“I think it’s a perfect place to hide,” said Teddy. “Hidden, but still out in the open, so no one would suspect he’d go there.”

“Who’s Adjana, for crying out loud?” I raised my voice this time, giving it my specialty—a nice, whiny edge. Jack must have gotten my frustration into his signing, or maybe Lilah read my lips. Anyway, she nodded sympathetically.

“Adjana’s the person who discovered this place to begin with,” she said in her even-toned voice. “She found a secret tunnel to the underworld and came down here years ago, way before Mingley, and set up a wonderful school called Shimmering Pines. She began training what she called Master Teachers and secretly sending them to the surface so they could make the schools better.”

“But somehow,” Teddy broke in, “Mingley, who was a rotten teacher in one of the surface schools, heard about Adjana and Shimmering Pines. You see, Mingley had once known Adjana when they taught together years before, and Mingley hated her and all her great ideas. So she vowed to find Adjana and destroy Shimmering Pines.”

“And basically,” Jack said, “that’s what happened. The Big Lady had more troops and better weapons. Adjana relied mainly on swords, but by that time Mingley’s people—the first Stormies—had developed chalk pistols and eraser guns and they were far superior.”

“After Adjana was defeated,” Lilah went on again, “Mingley stole all her secrets, including the memory trick, then drove her and her followers through a tunnel into a place called the Blue Grotto. And as far as we know she’s still there, running a school for the survivors. The drones say McGinty is the only one who knows where the Grotto is, but he doesn’t dare go there because once you’re in you can’t get back out.”

“That’s terrible,” I said. “And we ought to do something about it. Kick some Stormie butt and get old Adjana out of there and back in business.”

“Bumpus,” said Jack, “you’re getting a little wacky. Face the facts. The Big Lady runs things now. She’s got her own school and she’s training and sending up her good old Storm boys. And anyway, you can’t even find McGinty so he can help your school buddies, let alone rescue Adjana.”

I flushed. “Well, it just seems like the right thing to do. I mean, how many people do you know who go around trying to make our schools better? Bet you can count them on one finger. Anyway, I am going to find McGinty and get his help. And if he’s out in Adjana’s school ruins, then that’s where I’m going.” My voice had begun rising and sounded choked. “I’ve got to help my friends, Jack. I’ve got just three days to do it. If I don’t get them out, then Ming will get their Amberlight.” I could feel my eyes filling. “I’m not going to let that happen. You hear me? I promised them I’d get them out. And I’m going to do it.”