Cragbridge Hall, Volume 2: The Avatar Battle (12 page)

Half of his mouth curled up into a smile. “I must warn you, Abby. This battle is about to . . . ,” he searched for the right word, “
escalate
.” His smile broadened. “Those who oppose me”—his smile disappeared—“will first tremble in fear, and then they will lose. Checkmate.” Muns moved a chess piece on the board in front of him, then toppled over the opposing king. “Leave this alone. If not”—his eyes didn’t blink—“I will treat you like the rest.”

Abby quickly sent another message to her grandfather.

12

The Sentinels

Derick hadn’t given his grades another thought.

He sat in a class where he recognized almost no one. It was another change from his original schedule. He could feel his heart thumping.

The hum for class to start sounded, but there was still no teacher. Derick struck up a conversation with the brunette sitting next to him. She was two years older than him and absolutely loved squirrel monkeys; apparently a squirrel monkey named Miss Baker was one of the first two creatures to be sent into space and return alive.

“Good morning,” Dr. Mackleprank said, walking slowly into the room. “I apologize for being late. It shouldn’t happen again.” Perhaps he didn’t teach a first period and had slept in after all the excitement over the weekend. Or perhaps he was sore. Chances were he hadn’t had to flying kick anyone in a while.

He sat on the desk at the front of the room, letting his legs dangle as usual. Something about it seemed slightly different, less natural. Again, probably sore. “Because this is an advanced avatar class and you were all invited to be a part of it,” Mackleprank said, “you have shown a certain degree of competency with the avatars, as well as knowledge about the animals you have studied so far. However, because this is an advanced avatar class, I will also expect advanced performance.” Derick couldn’t help but remember the teacher spinning through the air. He would love to see what he could do in an avatar. It would definitely be advanced. Mackleprank was completely qualified for his job.

“Most of you are in your third year and have mastered the squirrel monkey, as well as having worked on the rhino and the gorilla.” In their third year? So most were the same age as the brunette he had spoken to. Derick was still in his first year. No wonder he didn’t recognize most of the other students in this class. He sat up a little taller in his seat.

“But today, we’re going to challenge you,” Dr. Mackleprank said. “Follow me.” The class followed their teacher down a hall that was something like a path in a zoo. Off to either side were various habitats with live beasts inside. Derick had seen it many times, but still loved looking at the rhinos and gorillas. Both species were usually not very active—though the trees full of squirrel monkeys were always filled with chaos and movement.

Fish. Please say fish.
The idea of darting through the water with fins and gills sounded fantastic. Derick had seen lines of fish avatars on the shelves in the lab. He had seen the massive aquariums. In fact, they were approaching them now.

But they didn’t slow down.

Okay, so maybe not. As they passed the aquariums, Derick watched all sorts of vibrantly colored fish swimming effortlessly through the water. One day, hopefully soon, he would be in there with them . . .
as
them.

Maybe they were going to the bird habitats. That would be even better. He could only imagine what it might feel like to glide across air currents and shift with the wind. But were the birds in this direction?

“Giraffes,” Dr. Mackleprank said, as they approached a large glass wall with a safari-like scene behind it. The tall, lanky animals reached their long necks up into the trees and pulled off leaves with impossibly long twisty tongues and chewed, their jaws moving in a bizarre circular fashion.

Giraffes? Derick’s stomach sank. Who would want to be a
giraffe
? So they had long necks—that might be thrilling for a minute or two, but after he got used to having a head higher than a basketball hoop, what else would possibly be interesting? He could get the same experience climbing a ladder. He didn’t need to waste avatar time for that. Plus, this was an advanced avatar class—weren’t they supposed to be doing something advanced?

“I can tell this isn’t what some of you had in mind,” Dr. Mackleprank said, still moving slower than normal, “but we’ve found it is rather helpful in the development of your skills.”

He continued. “Some things you should know about this lanky wonder: Its Latin name is
Giraffa camelopardalis
; it is the tallest animal that walks on land. You may have heard the word
camel
in the root of its Latin name. If you will look at our giraffes,” Dr. Mackleprank gestured toward the room filled with the towering beasts, “you will notice the hump to support the neck.” He pointed at a giraffe slowly swinging its head from one branch to another for more food. Derick noticed the hump. He also noticed how lurpy the creature seemed to be . . . or, rather, how lurpy it seemed it
should
be. The giraffe seemed like it should move awkwardly, almost stumbling over itself, but it didn’t. In a way it was graceful. “It also has ossicones on its head. That’s the technical term for its stubby horns.” They looked like the bottom ends of two black canes poking out of the giraffe’s scalp. “But of course, the giraffe is best known for its neck. Anyone want to guess their height?”

A few students gave it their best shot.

“They usually range from sixteen to twenty feet, or from just under five to just over six meters. Not only are they tall, they are heavyweights. The average female weighs a little less than a ton, and the average male about 3,500 pounds. These guys are not light.”

Dr. Mackleprank motioned again for the students to follow him, and walked them back to the classroom. Passing the other animals seemed like torture. Derick didn’t have to try the fish or bird avatars; couldn’t they just swing from some more branches as squirrel monkeys? Or spend some more time perfecting the big powerful movements of a rhino?

Dr. Mackleprank just kept teaching. “Other animal herds, such as zebras, like to stay close to giraffes. Any idea why?”

“Because they’re tall and can see predators coming,” Derick mumbled. The giraffe’s one talent.

“Correct,” Dr. Mackleprank said, pointing at him. “They can serve as sentinels. But if predators get too close, a giraffe isn’t helpless.” The class, now back in their desks, watched as Dr. Mackleprank flicked his rings and footage of giraffes in the wild played on the classroom’s wall screen.

Derick watched a giraffe turning, almost spinning in its half-awkward, half-graceful way. It looked confused. Maybe they were lanky
and
dumb. Then Derick saw the lions.

Derick moved up in his seat.

The lions crouched low to the ground, creeping up on their prey. One sprang out from hiding, its paws raised, claws out, ready to grab onto the giraffe’s hind leg.

It didn’t make it. The giraffe kicked back and caught the lion midair, knocking it back like a rag doll.

“Ooohh,” the class called out.

“Rejected!” Derick added.

The giraffe lurched forward, flinging its front legs stiff and straight. The lions backed up quickly to avoid the attack. “A giraffe,” Dr. Mackleprank explained, “will do its best to defend itself and its kick can injure—or kill.” The image faded.

“Giraffes can also battle among themselves for dominance.” New footage started. Two giraffes stood hip to hip. It looked like the two were just good buds who liked to stand close to each other—really close. Bizarre.

And then it happened.

One of them swung its neck and crashed its head into the other’s body. It was like the neck was a giant chain and its head a wrecking ball. The other quickly responded by slamming its head into its opponent. Crunching sounds rang out through the class. They were
definitely
not acting like friends.

“Ooohh!” the kids in the class cried out again.

Derick’s heart beat faster. He had no idea giraffes could do that.

“The giraffe’s neck is built to be able to take the pressure,” Dr. Mackleprank commented.

Out of the corner of his eye, Derick saw many girls who couldn’t watch, but he couldn’t look away. The two beasts stepped forward, then backed up again, each trying to keep the other on their hip. As soon as one attacked with its head, the other responded. Crunch. Crack. One blow knocked the other up off its feet for a moment before it came back down.

“That’s enough power to move a nearly two-ton opponent. There is a lot of force behind a giraffe’s attack.” Giraffes were so much cooler than they had been a few minutes ago.

After a few more blows, one of the giraffes surrendered, disappearing into the trees.

“That’s it for instruction today,” Dr. Mackleprank said. “So feel free to move into your lab spaces, hook up, and begin to practice. Begin with simple movements. Then try to pick something up from the ground. You’ll have to stick at least one leg out to the side. It will be tough to keep your balance. If you would like to try to kick or hit with your head as you’ve seen here today, you can, but be sure to hit one of the hanging pads in each of your labs. However, I should warn you that being a giraffe will take practice. We simply aren’t used to having our head so far away from our legs. Also, whipping that head around can be quite dizzying.”

Before stepping into his lab and hooking up his sensors, Derick let the other members of the class filter out into their assigned spots. He approached Dr. Mackleprank. “Thanks for letting me into this class.”

“Oh,” Dr. Mackleprank looked at him. “You deserve it.”

“Thanks. I’m not sure that’s true, but I appreciate it.” Derick lowered his voice. “And after having seen you fight, I’m not so sure I want to race you anymore.”

Dr. Mackleprank’s eyes opened wider for a second. He probably didn’t expect Derick to bring it up here. Dr. Mackleprank looked around and then let out a tired laugh. “Well, you’d have to expect that the teacher of a certain subject would have the ability; otherwise why would they teach?”

“And thanks for the locket,” Derick whispered. “I finished the challenge and got a final key.”

Dr. Mackleprank smiled and whispered back. “Well then, another set of congratulations are in order. Not many people can do that.”

That last phrase rang in Derick’s ears. It was a true statement. Not many people could do what he had done. He had and would do great things. No more failing. No more losing—and no more worrying about it.

Derick stepped into his own booth, his own lab space. He hooked up his sensors and his suspension system. He pulled down the large visor and selected his giraffe avatar. Almost immediately, he became disoriented. It was like he was looking down from the roof of a house. He had never been this tall. He looked to his left and saw a tree. Not the trunk, but three-fourths of the way up the tree was at eye level. It was like they were equals. He glanced down. His feet . . . his hooves . . . were so far away. This was better than he thought.

He took a step. Whoa. He stumbled a little, which led to a little more. He could only stop himself when he leaned up against the wall. He must have stepped on something. Most of the avatars came pretty naturally to him.

He took a deep breath and took another step. He nearly toppled forward. He felt completely off-balance. What was going on here?

What if he wasn’t going to be any good at this? No. He would get it.

“Here we go,” he whispered to himself. After a little practice, he could walk. He didn’t feel sturdy, more like a little baby—every step was unsure. He slowly felt more secure.

Finally, with only five minutes left in class, Derick felt confident enough to try to swing his head at one of the pads. He reeled back and let his head sweep through the air. He felt it hit the pad with a snap, the pressure pushing against his cheek. It hurt, but it wasn’t anything he couldn’t take. He made a mental note to try to hit more with the stubby horns and less with his face.

Awesome. That was a lot of power. But he couldn’t stop his momentum. One moment Derick was relishing the force of the hit, the next he was flat on his side, his straight legs wriggling around.

He tried to maneuver himself up, but his legs stuck straight out, giving him no leverage. He shifted to one side, hoping to roll back up somehow. He only succeeded in toppling more. He pushed his head against the ground, hoping to prop up the rest of his body. Just when he thought it was about to work, he fell back to the ground.

He hoped Dr. Mackleprank wasn’t watching. He hoped no one was. Maybe he shouldn’t be in the advanced class. Maybe he wasn’t gifted with the avatars at all. He sighed and pushed the button on the back of his neck.

He had just hung up his equipment and was walking out of the thick doors that kept the avatar lab locked up and safe when his rings vibrated. A message from Muns.